Nearly the end...

I think we must have all said it but it is so true; this year has gone by extremely quickly.


I have enjoyed it; even though I had a few lows and have been struggling.
If this year has gone that quick, I can only imagine how much quicker next year will be.
When I first applied for this course, I never thought I would do a 3rd year; then at one point during the year I thought it would be better if I did, now however I am not so sure.  
Not because I would not enjoy it or because I think it is not worth it but because I have really struggled this year.  I have so much "commitments" in my personal life that I have really felt as thought I could barely keep my head above water.
Next year will be much harder; there is a degree at the end.
If I am still struggling as much then I do not think I will apply for a 3rd year; as they say it is quality not quantity.  I do not want to hand rushed pieces of work.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.


Although, it has not always been obvious for me, I do think I have learnt; it is only now that I can actually see that I have developed ( I hope!).  
Although, when you study design, your eyes automatically attracted towards "design" (leaflet, posters, magazine...) and you become quite critical.  I have actually noticed recently that I do this much more (even pieces of design on TV!) and I am not just critical, I am processing it.


I have also enjoyed keeping a blog; it is nice to look back at what you've done throughout the year; funny how something you though was completely rubbish I am able to say it is not as bad as I thought, or something you've done you can't bear to look at it...lol!


What brought me to graphic design in the first place is magazine layout/ brochure, and I know now it is still what I want to do.  After having designed the packaged bottle for the collage extension; I looked at a lot of packaging and I must say that it is also something I would be happy to carry on experimenting.  Working 3D is very different than flat but I really did like it.


Well I think this will be one of the last entries for this year, although I will try to keep blogging and put up things that hopefully I'll be working on this summer - for myself, for my portfolio, I have a lot of unfinished business to make presentable.

London Through the Eye of a Designer - Book

I just started to put things together for my research book; I struggled a lot at first, there are a lot of pictures of all different sizes and shapes which makes it quite awkward.  I think were I went wrong is because I took it for granted that I could just put stuff in and sort of arranging around as I went along but that clearly did not work.

Those spreads look all over the place; but although I had a grid I still struggled with the captions, quotes, text...

I spent a bit of time designing the grid; as well as master pages for chapters.  I need to figure out how to put 2 page numbers in one page; I'm afraid so far I've been unsuccessful.

London Through the Eye of a Designer - London in Map

I really enjoyed this workshop; I love working with type.

We were each given a section of a map, then using Illustrator, we had to duplicate it with type only.

Ooops - Didn't mean to do that but turned out great anyway

I was just working on a photos, actually quite a few, this is why I was using shortcuts; I typed this (thinking it would brink the image size box) but it gave me a nice unexpected effect instead...now I just need to find out what it is...!

Ctrl+I

From this

To This

I know what it is now, it's invert...

Interesting use of Typography

I saw those design a little while ago

On both those pieces, I like how the type is very much part of the design as opposed to being informative.

Out of London

I went away for the Bank Holiday Weekend; was really lovely to get away from the madness than London can be at times...

I visited an aquarium there (well the visit only took half an hour but hey...!) and was really quite amazed by how much colours and shapes natures has to offer, in this instance the sea/ocean.  There were some really amazing fishes, some little "Nemos" and some little "Daureen".  I must say it is really hard to take a picture of a fish: they don't stop moving!. I saw baby sharks too but the pictures did not come good.  As I said some really beautiful ones but unfortunately some not so lucky in the "look department"

Just a normal fish...

Quite amazing

Playing hide and seek...

Those are so cute

Hmm quite scary and a bit ugly...poor thing!

Beautiful shapes and colours

Visit to Pick Me Up Gallery

The Gallery located near between Coven Garden in the Somerset House.

There was a lot of work on display.

London Through The Eye Of A Designer - 3D Workshop

We had quite a lot of fun, trying to build elements of London in 3D design.

It could as well be monuments/buildings or letters or a combination of both.

I chose to do London Bridge, although I simplified it a lot.

I simply drew the front of both towers, which I joined by words: London Bridge.

I did not foresee the problem I encountered with the letters, but it is nothing I can't fix.

This would be a really nice element to add to the book.

Although, this is just a prototype and I would not leave it as it is.

 Starting by just a rough sketch of the outline.

Just tracing some handrawn letters.

Which I transferred onto light cardboard.  Next time, I will draw them straight away on it.