OFFF 2014

This time last week I was in Barcelona and it was the start of three days of OFFF, a design conference/festival which was boasting a line up I couldn't turn down this year. The three days were pretty overwhelming with an abundance of advice and inspiration, so I'm going to cut it down to the top 3 pieces of advice and thoughts I'm taking away.

Lesson 1. Learn calligraphy. This piece of advice I took from Seb Lester, his stunning lettering was a intimidatingly good. From the way he spoke it seemed you can develop a real appreciation for letterforms and type design through the the process of calligraphy, not to mention the value of craftsmanship

Action: take a calligraphy course, or get online/books/reading and start self-teach this.

2) "Everything starts in a sketchbook" says children's illustrator and author Oliver Jeffers, as he spoke about his process and work it was more than apparent how vital a sketchbook is. This was also reiterated by a few other talks from speakers. I feel I've become more absentminded about sketchbooks recently, especially whilst freelancing so this thought really resonated.

Action: Invest in a sketchbook you'll love and don't be afraid to scribble and make a mess, this is part of the design process. I also bought a copy One Sketch a Day from one of the stalls at the festival, which pretty much does what it says on the tin. So far I've done one a day to get me in flow of things, (but it's only been week yet!)

3) Don't be lazy. Kate Moross's final slide pretty much summed up a work ethic which I'm slowly internalising. Don't be lazy, don't do things half-arsed, over-deliver if you have to; sometimes that can feel amazing.

Action: Get into the habit of over-delivering and learn new skills. Don't waste 'free' time, there is no such thing by using every second and throwing yourself into immerse yourself through learning new skills it can stop your from feeling or being lazy.

That's a very, very brief round up, overall the conference was brilliant, my only criticism would be the ridiculously over sexualised branding they had this year, it was verging on cringe-y at times. Aside from that there were thousands of attendees and the entire vibe oozed creativity and design, I loved it. I really recommend a visit next year: the location and time of year is perfect for breakfasts on the beach and topping up that tan too!

The Open Quote Initiative

A little snapshot of my current project focusing on the under representation of women in design. The Open Quote Initiative aims to create a discourse within the design community, capturing some existing conversations already occurring in our industry on the gender disparty.

Each pull quote from the book has a corresponding number which links to The Open Quote Initiative Forum where the debate continues and provides a platform for designers and thinkers to further engage in the issues highlighted.

The book is set in Mrs Eaves, a typeface which pays homage to one of the many women in typographic history. 

DVD Cover

Update: This is my 100th post.

I'm currently doing a bit a design work for my old college, it's nothing exciting, they just need a DVD cover designing. So as part of my post-a-day for summer I thought I'd post up my design response to the brief so far.

Re-branding project

I'm currently working on a rebranding project for uni (see previous post)  for which we have to re-brand St Bride Library. Below is my response to the brief, I've gone for a textured feel to keep in within the tradition of the insituation. alongside this, l've used Akzidenz-Grotesk condensed to make it feel a little more modern.  I'm hoping to print the logo onto some tote/canvas bag and t-shirts, depending on how adventurous I'm feeling. 

A beginners guide...

Currently I'm working on a personal project and have made a little mock-up for 'A Beginners Guide to Time Travel'. It's a quirky how-to guide filled with tips for any would-be time traveller. It's a working progress and so far only has a  few pages, but hopefully over the holidays I plan to develop it further. 

Diagrams

This unit has been all about diagrams, the brief was to design a map for the olympic athletes as a primary audience. I've found the overall project really challenging, as trying to cram in all the information, making it look good, and have it make it sense is a real mission. Below is an A2 poster, designed to sit outside the Olympic Village so athletes can navigate their way from there.  There's also a hand held map, a wallet card and app to come. 

A Chip in the Sugar, again

Here are a few spreads for the interactive book; designed for the iPad. The concept mirrors the printed book, so some layers will be semi-translucent or transparent etc. A bouns feature with the interactive book is that it will include all the monologues from Talking Heads, ao you are able to flick through. Additionally, they all work in portait and landscape so you can shake the iPad about and watch the images and text fall into place for the new orientation. 

Science Museum

After reading about johnson banks's (no caps) branding for the Science Museum I decided to pop by and see it in action. First off, what I find most striking is the typography; it's fantastic (see first picture below). Everything about the geometric style of the typeface, constructed by The Foundry say's 'Science Museum' without stating the obvious. Not only because of the angular type somewhat reminiscent of a digital calculator, everything about the new brand identity is gracefully subtle from the airbrushed faceless face to the primary coloured circles. If you've been around London these past few months, you may have seen some of the posters (second picture below) around the tube stations, with the airbrushed face; I find that sharp lines of the type really draw a distinction between image and type. The only thing I could complain about is how eerie it can seem, the faceless face that is, a little off putting at first: but regardless a fantastic piece of design.

P.s: Shelly, I promise to take you to the Science Museum soon.