Millie Davies

2011-03-23T04:17:00.003Z

I HAVE MOVED

I first started this blog in 2008 When I embarked on my first adventure abroad - to study at MCAD. Now 3 years later I am on a new adventure this time working at a design studio in NYC so it only seems a fitting time to move on to Tumblr. I will miss you blog but I am excited for you Tumblr, please continue to follow me here http://milliescarlettdavies.tumblr.com/

It has been wonderful

:)

2011-01-29T23:18:00.000Z

SKYPE :)

2011-01-29T19:35:00.001Z

GIG POSTERS

Here is a set of gig posters I designed today for a band called The Special Ks, It also uses the new logo that I designed for them. I am still working on the artwork for their latest album...

2011-01-29T13:17:00.002Z

just stumbled across this on my flickr.... :)

2011-01-17T21:53:00.002Z

CLEAN UP

Yay I finally have space on my laptop

2011-01-05T22:06:00.008Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing everyone a wonderful start to 2011

2010-12-24T10:53:00.003Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Im wishing you all a very Merry Christmas
eat, drink and laugh too much this festive season

2010-12-01T19:02:00.002Z

SNOW DAY 01.12.10

A beautiful day.

2010-12-01T18:57:00.004Z

NEW CV

On my Snow Day I at least managed to redesign my CV.

2010-12-01T18:50:00.000Z

THE POOFS

A quick funny poster i did for my friends on the side band called The Poofs!

2010-11-21T14:09:00.002Z

BOOKSHELF

Its a good thing my dad built me these amazing bookshelf's then to hold all these wonderful new books I have!

2010-11-21T13:58:00.005Z

BOOKS

Ok so my collection of books has been increasing lately. I acquired two lovely science books and an old gold foiled history book while visiting an old home one weekend with my parents and they had a great book sale as you can see, all 3 of them cost me £5 total! Amazing. Then I also recently got this amazing typography book which as well as having a cd of all the typefaces has a little image of where it came from and where it was used - I cant wait to use them!

2010-11-21T13:57:00.003Z

YCN

I know that I did this project a while ago but Camilla at YCN emailed these pictures of me putting it all up so I wanted to post some nicer images of it! Enjoy.

2010-11-19T16:59:00.004Z

SMILE

Such a nice piece of work and all from a 6 year old! Check out more greatness here.

2010-11-16T10:49:00.003Z

WAGAMAMA CHRSITMAS VINYL

Over the weekend myself, Toby, Bron and Pete assisted Matt Wingfiled in fitting his vinyl designs to Wagamamas around London. It was a lot of fun and great to work with Matt and my friends from uni again, fingers crossed I can help him out more soon!

2010-11-11T21:51:00.007Z

TWELVE

Twelve are up and running here are the beautiful set of Christmas cards that I and 11 other creatives designed,check them out and buy them here.

2010-11-02T11:11:00.001Z

MAKE A WISH

2010-10-31T20:41:00.002Z

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

A few of the decorations at home.

2010-10-30T11:56:00.008+01:00

UPDATE

Ok so I havn't blogged for ages but it is a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and I have found the time to finally update before I head down to Brighton for the weekend. I have been super busy since leaving university interning and Freelancing. I have recently been interning at Pentagram which is going well and have also been asked recently to work on some freelance projects which is great.

I have been asked to come up with some ideas and designs to brand a new design consultancy. I have also been asked to come up with ideas and designs for rebranding a band which have just been signed. Liberties of London have asked me to contribute to their underground paper the liberated press and Rebecka Behrman the creator and graphic designer at Liberties has also asked me if I want to collaborate with her on a screenprinting project! Lastly after buying my bike I have decided to do some research into its history and create something on it. So watch this space as fingers crossed some exciting things will be happening.

Lastly I just want to say a huge congratulations to Alice Pattullo who is getting some well deserved coverage as an illustrator check here out here and here. We have also both designed some Christmas cards for two friends of mine from Kingston who are setting up "a new platform for artists and designers to showcase their talents in a product based format, run by new designers for new designers and artists" under the name of TWELVE, so look out for them too!

2010-10-30T11:46:00.002+01:00

PHOTOS

Ok so it might seem a bit crazy but for a while I have been printing off photos, I find otherwise I end up with hundreds of folders on my harddrive and rarely look at them and to me there is nothing better then having physical photo albums to look through and enjoy. So I have finally finished chronologically organising my life into albums, there are 10 in total which makes 1632 photos from when I was a baby till now recording all the best bits from Minneapolis to New York to traveling, family and University.

2010-10-30T11:41:00.002+01:00

HOLIDAYS

I realise I went away a while ago now but lately I decided to organise my photos and actually print all of my favourite ones off and here are a selection of photos from my trip to Paris, Florence and Barcelona. Enjoy.

2010-10-30T11:38:00.002+01:00

NUMBER 6

I also found this on the way home from interning at Pentagram one night last week, It is HUGE almost as big as me, but I love it!

2010-10-30T11:00:00.002+01:00

DIY

One morning while walking to work I came across these amazing DIY magazines from the 50s and 60s they are so beautifully laid out and the type is exciting, I wish more magazines were still like this today.

2010-10-10T20:31:00.002+01:00

MY NEW BIKE

I am so excited I have brought a brand new (old) bike. After mine was stolen in Brighton I am very happy to now have this 1958 Hercules Balmoral town bike. I have been cleaning it and giving it some tlc today and soon I hope to customise and do it up a bit to make it really mine!

2010-10-09T17:42:00.002+01:00

BIKES

I am just about to buy a new bike tomorrow after mine was stolen from Brighton i am very excited, like I was when I found this amazing website where you can find all the old bike graphics... check it out here.

2010-10-09T16:04:00.003+01:00

TYPE

I found this and i really want to find out who designed this typeface and what its called... I think it might be Herb Lubalin but help would be amazing! Thank you

2010-10-03T21:37:00.003+01:00

MY FIRST BOOK APPEARANCE

I was asked last year to design a CV an covering letter for a book by Lawrence King aimed to help students once they have graduated and now just as I have graduated the book has been published and I have a double page spread in it!

2010-09-29T23:05:00.006+01:00

CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER

It is a little early but I have been asked to design a Christmas card illustrating 11 pipers piping as part of a really exciting new collaboration between two of my friends from Kingston. When I looked up the origin of the phrase I found that 11 stood for the 11 faithful apostles after Judas betrayed Jesus and pipers were often shepherds who would play carols so I decided to make two pipers into the number 11 to keep it simple. It will then be screenprinted and sold so watch this space.

2010-08-30T21:38:00.007+01:00

TRAVELS

It is finally time for a new adventure for me. Starting tomorrow I have 4 days in Paris, then 4 days in Florence followed by 5 days in Barcelona. I am very excited to catch up with old friends and see many new things :)

2010-08-29T08:49:00.002+01:00

LIZ PLAHN

This girl is someone I miss a lot. She is currently working at Mass Moca a beautiful gallery in MA. I really like how bold and confident she is in her approach to design, it is classic yet always new and refreshing. I know she will be do really well. Check out more of her wonderful work here.

2010-08-28T22:44:00.000+01:00

BROWNS

I have just completed a month long internship at Browns in London. It has been a great experience and I have learnt a lot. I even got to attend the Paul Davis book launch for 'What Happens is Good" and "The Twinkling of an Eye" This is a really beautifully designed publication with the wonderful work of Paul Davis, you can buy your own here. Thanks Browns.

2010-08-26T22:56:00.002+01:00

YCN

Young Cooper Nicholson

A project I was commissioned to do by Nick at YCN. It explores what YCN as an advertising agency in the late 1950s would look like. I wanted to get a real feel for what the 1950s were all about so completed some detailed research and found many beautiful graphics, logos and typefaces. The feel of the 50’s is very much about style and making things visually appealing with the use of multiple typefaces and striking icons. In my designs I took my favourite elements from my research and have ended up with a number of possible final solutions to the brief. As a whole though it is the journey which is the most exciting. Here are a few pics of me putting it up!

2010-08-25T13:43:00.000+01:00

INTERESTING

This is some really interesting new branding for French Connection by Fallon.

2010-08-25T10:34:00.006+01:00

JUSTIN MCKINLEY

This guy is awesome he was so hard working and always inspired me. I love how he has such a strong interest in furniture design and as you can see a real talent for it. His work always has strong ideas and is visually exciting, I would love to collaborate with him one day. Check out more of his stuff here and here.

2010-08-24T23:35:00.004+01:00

BEAUTIFUL

A really beautiful picture and interesting project from Pentagram.

2010-08-20T10:51:00.007+01:00

DYLAN LATHROP

I am currently unemployed and I remember when many of my friends in Mpls USA were in the same boat and now a year on they are all doing great so while I am quiet I wanted to share their greatness with you. First is Dylan, he is a super nice guy who has been working at Good creating beautiful design and illustration, check out more of his stuff here. He worked so hard to get to where he is and it inspires me to do the same.

2010-08-09T11:56:00.001+01:00

MOVING

Moving back home is quite strange once you have graduated. My room didn't feel like mine at all, it was more like a storage room or a guest room full of boxes and junk so yesterday I cleared it all out and now it feels like mine again, at least for a while till I decide to move on again. I even managed to put up some of the lovely post and work of my great friends.

2010-08-09T11:38:00.001+01:00

I GRADUATED

26.08.10
It was a really great day graduation, dressing up in a huge gown and wearing a silly hat and throwing it in the air with all your friends and family. Its a day I will never forget.

2010-07-17T16:36:00.000+01:00

Typography

I wish I could say that this work is mine, it is simply beautiful and I love it. It is the work of Super Script a French based Graphic Design studio, I would love to work here it looks amazing, have a look at some more of their work here.

2010-07-17T16:16:00.000+01:00

Job

I have finally handed my notice in at my retail job I will miss the people but hopefully I will be onto bigger and better things, I wont miss the sales though and the t-shirts they make us wear, even though I do love the Elton John reference this year and I am still standing just!

2010-07-16T12:31:00.000+01:00

Night at The Museum

On Monday night I went to the Natural History Museum in London at night, we got to go around and talk to different specialists at the museum and were allowed to see things that you cant usually see, it was a really great insight into a museum that I love.

2010-07-16T11:01:00.001+01:00

SHOW TIME

It has been a crazy week, full of mixed emotions, happy, sad, relieved and excited but now its all over I just wish I could do it all again. The past 3 years have been amazing and the Show in London was a great achievement and here are just a few pics of the wonderful things I did all week.

2010-07-05T20:23:00.000+01:00

Fun Without The Sun

Although the sun has been out most of the time, the one evening Darrin and I decided to go the pier it was super foggy, we did have lots of fun on the old 2 penny slots though.

2010-07-05T20:06:00.000+01:00

Mailer

I have been designing a new mailer, so wait and see a few have been sent out and a few more to go, here is a sneak preview, the colour was created on a Risograph machine with the lovely help of The Entente.

2010-07-05T19:55:00.001+01:00

World Cup Moments

This is an exciting project organised by Pat Bradbury who is interning at YCN, each match is illustrated by a different illustrator and my good friend Alice did the latest one - Netherlands vs Brazil which was such an exciting match, her voodoo dolls explore how the brazillians were doomed from the beginning due to their doll being pinned. To see more of her wonderful work check here

2010-06-28T16:35:00.000+01:00

Summer is Here

I feel like Summer is here, it has been sunny basically everyday, I even raided the freezer to find a deeply frozen lolly but it was well worth it. A paddling pool all be it a little small is amazing, not to mention the beach ball that is actually too big to go in the pool. Lots more lovely summer activities to come.... :)

2010-06-28T16:27:00.000+01:00

Micah Lidberg

This is one talented guy, check out more of his work here I particularly love all the hand rendered type. This book though called the Rise and Fall is a really great buy. A double sided concertina book with so many lovely images in such vibrant colours and interesting textures not to mention all the wonderful creatures that feature - I love the dinosaurs. the best thing I have bought in ages and it will be sitting on my desk for a very long time.

2010-06-26T21:39:00.000+01:00

People Collective

This is an amazing studio, set up by my good friend Colin Trechter and his very talented friend Aaron Moodie. The work is so beautiful with many stunning hand crafted pieces of type. I really hope that they are highly successful and I have no doubt they will be! Good luck!

2010-06-23T12:39:00.000+01:00

SHOW 2010 come along....

2010-06-18T15:45:00.000+01:00

Preparation for BIG 2010 London

Ok so although the Brighton Show is finished we now have lots and lots to do for the London Show on the 8th July! Hand duplexing, hand foiling, hand cutting, hand addressing, hand sticking and hand stamping 350 invitations was just one of them!

2010-06-08T19:17:00.000+01:00

BIG 2010

Our class of 2010 have created a portfolio website for the shows, please enjoy looking through all of the lovely work at www.big2010.co.uk

2010-06-07T20:27:00.000+01:00

2010

My website is now updated, I would really really appreciate as much feedback as possible, I feel I might have too many projects but ENJOY and thank you. www.milliescarlettdavies.com

2010-06-06T14:22:00.000+01:00

The Show

I cant quite believe that it is nearly all over. The Private view for my class of 2010 was on Friday evening and it was so lovely. It has been a crazy few weeks preparing for this, but that night getting all dressed up in a dress and heals and being together with all your close friends and family you could just step back and enjoy. The decision for me to go to Brighton was not an easy one but it was the best one I have ever made and I cannot begin to describe how amazing it has all been, from study trips, to sidewinder, to getting to study at MCAD and making such wonderful friends there congratulations to all of you, to all the simply AMAZING friends I have at Brighton and all the laughs and fun we have shared. To every single one of you thank you for making my university experience the best. It has had its downs but that is life and the ups have by far outweighed anything, I have no regrets and would do it all again exactly the same. It is a lil scary now but more exciting, I am so excited for the future and all the future adventures that lie ahead with new and old friends. I feel very lucky and very happy, Graphic Design and Illustration class 2010 you are all amazing Thank you :D

Also here is our class website, check out how wonderful everyone really is www.big2010.co.uk

2010-05-30T20:24:00.001+01:00

New Work

With the Private View just a few days away I have been photographing my work and updating my website... lots of new work to come.

2010-05-25T17:18:00.000+01:00

Time

Now that I have some time on my hands it has been so nice to just relax and enjoy myself. My days have consisted of sleeping till late and then reading my book in the garden, having bbqs in the park with friends, going to the circus, going to the deisgn museum, listening to a lot of Ratatat, watching the sun set on beautiful hot days and I even baked my first proper cake - yum! I also got my ear pierced again, end of another era I guess, but I could get used to this life :)

2010-05-21T10:24:00.000+01:00

I am Done

I cant quite believe that 3 years is up, it has gone by so fast. From preparing my show space in my room to actually hanging it, to speeches in the pub and too many well deserved drinks, it has been a really great week, although it is sad its also really exciting and I cant wait for the two shows in Brighton and London. Im not sure what else to say I love Graphic Design and Illustration class of 2010!!

2010-04-25T13:48:00.000+01:00

Spring is here

Ok so the work load is pretty intense right now but its important to find time to get outside especially when the weather is so beautiful. Here are some lovely photos taken with a disposable camera.

2010-04-19T08:17:00.000+01:00

Jason Koxvold

I think it is about time that I started blogging about intersting things! I might even turn this into a tumbler and get with the times, but for now here is a simply beautiful photographer Jason Koxvold.

2010-04-16T10:06:00.001+01:00

Missing

I have a lot of fond memories here and I hope to go back and make new ones.

2010-04-12T14:45:00.001+01:00

Working

The sun has made it a lot harder to sit down and do work but perseverance does pay off. I have been working on new projects and playing with old ones, its been nice to do a bit of both. I really liked my idea behind my broken britain project but it was a little dull in the end, so instead I wondered what I could do with the shapes that were created, I have played with them in a much more abstract way and feel they could make really beautiful screen prints. I have tried to colour combinations, one more bright the other more patriotic, I kind of like them both. I hope the rest of my projects come along to a point where I like them!

2010-04-12T12:52:00.000+01:00

Easter

It so nice to be at home enjoying the sun :) I had a really great day in London too with my sister. We went to the Museum of Brands and Packaging which is so beautiful, it goes through the ages showing such beautiful packaging until it gets to 1990's and onwards and it becomes very uninspiring. Then the museum of Transport in Covent Garden which was a surprisingly large museum full of beautiful old ephemera and huge buses with fake wax people sitting in them which is always a plus point! lastly the Imperial War museum, where we walked through the children's war section and the Holocaust exhibition, both were really interesting and moving. A great day which im sure will provide me with much inspiration for future projects.

2010-03-31T23:49:00.000+01:00

Georgia Davies

My little sister has just received an unconditional offer from The University of Brighton to study Graphic Design. This is such a hard course to get on to and I am just so proud. She is so talented and I know she will do well. Well done Georgia you make me smile :)

2010-03-31T00:17:00.000+01:00

I wish

I was looking through old pictures for a new project and saw my beautiful mpls bike. I wish I could go for a ride, until I can it will be my desktop picture :)

2010-03-26T16:32:00.001Z

Close up Images

2010-03-26T16:18:00.000Z

Exam Project

For my exam project I chose to celebrate 350 years of The Royal Society. I wanted to explore the creativity behind discovery and decided upon a puzzle format. The pieces all tesselate and fit together in many different ways alluding to the trial and error methods of science. There are also 5 unique pieces which have qualities directly related to a certain discovery by a specific fellow of The Royal Society, for example one piece changes colour when rubbed showing James Joules' discovery that movement generates heat. This piece of design enables the viewer to see science differently, science becomes innovative and exciting. It also pushes the viewer to try things for themsleves. I am really pleased but I would like to work in the finish of the 5 unique pieces, not being a 3d designer they aren't to as high a standard as I would like. Overall it was a huge project and I really pushed myself to try something new so am happy :)

2010-03-26T16:17:00.000Z

Feels Good

For the last few days my desk top as looked like this...

Now it looks like this... :) Exam Project finally over.

2010-03-18T09:04:00.000Z

Working

a few pics from the designs im working on for my exam project! so much to do! feedback would be great...

2010-03-17T11:16:00.000Z

Apfel

Yesterday we went to interview Apfel, a practice for everyday life. This is a really beautiful studio in East London which has even more beautiful work. Kirsty and Emma gave us a really great interview, it was very honest and really inspirational. They expressed how they felt design education was essential and that its the people you meet in education who are invaluable to you. Like I said they have a really beautiful portfolio so check it out, it would be a dream if I could be working there or interning there soon after graduating, I simply loved it.

2010-03-17T11:15:00.000Z

The Royal Society

When doing a project you can usually only get so much from the internet, then after that its much more beneficial to actually go and visit the place. I emailed the Royal Society and they said I could come down and see the exhibition, I also got to meet Chris the Graphic Designer for the Society and Rupert from the Library. I even got my own name badge which I wasn't expecting! It was really great Rupert even gave me a tour of the whole building which is beautiful. I got to see where all the meetings take place as well as their amazing collection of portraits of all the fellows I even got a sneak peak of the archive room containing so many artifacts. Talking to Chris was really interesting designing for such an academic place can definitely be a hard task but it looked like an interesting one, once we got talking about the society and design I realised I actually knew a lot about the Royal Society which felt great. He also was excited about my hands on approach to celebrating the 350 years anniversary. He said it was something they struggled with - letting the public know about who they are in an innovative way that doesn't make them seem like stiff academics, as they are actually some of the most creative people in the world. He asked that I keep him updated with what I create, so we will see... It was just a great trip and well worth a visit, its so important to do primary research for a project and speak to the people who you are designing for, makes it all a lot more exciting.

2010-03-17T11:08:00.000Z

Sunday Market

These are just a few of the amazing things I bought at the Sunday Market, I only spent £19 but I got, a type book, a mini aeroplane and box, a microscope game, a lovely old stamp, 2 lovely bags, a gorgeous free lemon yellow jumper, a navy red and white silk scarf and a free dinosaur toy, so good :)

2010-03-16T00:41:00.001Z

Finally

I am currently in the middle of my exam project, I have the hard task of celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society, the academy of Science in the UK. It is a mammoth task but I am making good progress after two weeks of lots of researching and experimenting my idea is coming together.

The approach I have taken is in a puzzle format. When the world began it contained all the pieces we could ever discover, a basic set of blocks that the Royal Society then built upon to create what we know today as ‘modern science’. Some of the puzzle pieces also have inherent qualities that relate to some of the great achievements of the royal Society including the discovery of Gravity, and Bayes Theorem of probability. These pieces push people to do something for themself to find the answer. Furthermore the puzzle pieces are of a nature that means they can be built up in many different ways alluding to the trail and error and constant experiments of the fellows of the Royal Society. Eventually however for those who like to know the answers the pieces make a triangle that then mirrors the graphic logos I have created, based upon the shorthand ‘therefore’ sign.

2010-03-10T10:01:00.000Z

London

So I am now over a week into my exam project, actually by friday its exactly 2 weeks till hand in! Anyway I was feeling really excited by my project but needed some inspiration so I decided to go to London for the day by myself and I had a great day going to a total of 6 museums of which 5 I had never been to before, they included, the Huntarian museum which was beautiful full of exciting things in jars including a human face. Then I went to the Grant museum of zoology at the UCL campus as well as an egyptian museum there, then to the Welcome Collection which had an interesting exhibition on Identity, then the British museum and lastly Pollocks Toy museum, all such little gems. Then a trip to Magma books and London Graphics before I met a friend for dinner and went to a great pizza place and bar, it was a great day for doing new things in areas I thought I knew really well, and I think I now have my idea, yay.

2010-03-09T08:33:00.000Z

A New Website

Here is new site, with new logo, a home page where the image changes every time you refresh, a menu bar which scrolls and highlights, as well as the ability to enlarge the images so you can see them even better. I am really happy with the new site it works so much better, there will also be new work feeding onto it in the next couple months as i get closer to graduating so enjoy and let me know what you think thank you.

2010-03-08T11:06:00.000Z

I love ....

The Natural History Museum

I am not sure what it is about them but I find all natural history museum fascinating. I could spend hours and hours exploring them especially the Taxidermy animals and dinosaurs. They are just so beautiful representing so many different species from all over the world some that are even now extinct. I have attempted to go to every museum of the sort in every country i have been to and here are a few pictures. Also some scans from an amazing book documenting the history of the Natural History Museum London.

2010-03-07T15:49:00.000Z

Sun- Day

Today was a real sunday as the sun was shining really brightly. It was good to get out of the house and gather my thoughts and enjoy the cold air on my face and the warm sun on my back, lovely.

2010-03-07T13:20:00.000Z

Amazing Books

I have had a stressful yet great week of research. My final Exam project has begun and I am attempting to create something to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. It is an amazing brief and so I have already produced a lot of research and I now also have my idea and a nice idea for a logo too but I still have no real format to my idea but fingers crossed by just jumping into some work il get somewhere... but while researching look at the beautiful books I found. I am the very proud owner of all these books especially envisioning information by Edward Tufte. he is an amazing man who has created a simply beautiful book its my favourite! I also love the odd signs book, there is definitely a project in that book... and then also some more lovely diagrams from some old books I have, so nice, enjoy.

2010-03-04T09:47:00.000Z

Alice

I just wanted to blog about my great friend Alice and she is really amazing at what she does, and every print she does is more complicated and more gorgeous than the last and I cant wait to see more :)

2010-03-01T10:50:00.000Z

Birthday

I have had a really great birthday, which inlcuded a lovely lunch with my parents, a visit from a friend from home, a dance party and then a night of bowling and games! It was so much fun and I also got some great presents including a lovely 'm' necklace, and a dinosaur balloon, what more could a 22 year old girl want. Thank you to everyone.

2010-03-01T10:46:00.000Z

Lovely Post

I have had the best weekend for gifts and one was sent from post from my very talented friend Adina She does Print, Paper Book at MCAD and has sent me this huge A0 or maybe bigger print of fish heads, its a huge wood cut print and its a shame the photos just dont do it justice but I hope you enjoy it and thank you Adina.

2010-02-26T22:10:00.000Z

Keep Working

Had a good day today, my design for my project i talked about before is coming along quite well, got some great feedback today from our tutors so i can push it even further! Also is another project I have been working on on the side along with an illustrator, for a charity called Community Support Its a great organisation aiming to teach children skills and trades so that they can pass them on to the younger children. This is a fold down leaflet to get people wanting to donate. Lastly had a great evening in the pub with great friends and our great tutors Chris Big and Martin Anderson, I think at Brighton we are really lucky and no matter how hard Im finding this year Im enjoying the challenge even more.

2010-02-23T22:38:00.001Z

Advice

"I think what we’ve found here that yeah we’ve got things to do, we’ve got interviews to transcribe, blogs to write, essays to research, things to design and websites to update, but we’re here, in a city, it’s about balancing the two. I think that’s been a really valuable thing. I think if you can balance your work, your life, and your interests, you’re going to be successful at what you do because you’re going to be enjoying your life. You can’t think I’m going to work solidly for a week and then have a week off, life doesn’t work like that, you’ve just got to take every day as it comes." - Millie

Sometimes you say things that are really true and its not until someone points them out to you that you realise at times you should really listen to your own advice.

2010-02-22T12:25:00.000Z

Now

I am currently working on a project called 'Boundaries' It has definitely been a slow starter I am now entering my 3rd week out of 3 on the project and am loving it but it hasn't been like this until now! As the brief is so open I wanted to tailor it to something that I was really interested in and my initial thought was looking at us, as people and how we can physically break boundaries within our won bodies. I then spent the last two weeks researching all about amazing feats people have achieved from women lifting cars off of children to a man climbing the dangerous North face or 'Murder Wall' of the Eiger mountain in just over 2 hours and then the traditional Ama translated meaning 'Sea Women' off the East Coast of Japan who can dive up to 100 feet and hold their breath for 3-4 minutes at a time to fish for pearls. I could go on as there is then Usain Bolt who broke the 100m and 200m world records in the same year, or the 17 year old boy who circumnavigated round the world alone, but you get the idea. I have now picked 6 of these remarkable stories to create a physical journal which will fold and change to mirror the activities it visualises and describes. I am excited but its definitely proving harder then I though, but i like a good challenge enjoy the pics of my work in progress ....

2010-02-21T15:41:00.001Z

Belated Valentines

This was a lovely little present sent to me by Mandy Pattullo, thank you it made my day.

2010-02-21T12:53:00.000Z

Winter Olympics 2010

To me sport is something really amazing, it shows people pushing their bodies to extreme limits everyday. I used to be part of a running team when I was growing up, it all started from when I was about 14 or 15 and I ran the 100 meters at school in 13 seconds my tutors were amazed even I am now looking back so they asked me to compete for the school at the county athletics where I did the 200 meters and came 2nd and then the 300 meters and came 3rd all with no training so then I started training and loved every second of it. I miss it a lot now but although it will only ever be a hobby am determined to get back into it in someway this year. But for now watching the Winter Olympics quenches my thirst, its simply amazing and we won our First Gold Medal yesterday with Amy Williams in the Skeleton if you want to watch her win check here. Also I hope you like my very own Olympic Scarf found in a thrift store in New York this summer.

2010-02-21T12:52:00.000Z

Something Funny

It was brought to my attention on Monday by nearly everyone in the class that Martin (my tutor) and I were wearing very similar shirts! Looking at the picture I have to admit they are pretty similar, oh the joys of coincidence.

2010-02-21T12:20:00.000Z

Typography Talk

Thursday 11th February there was another great talk on Typography mainly by Bruno Maag. He was quite the character expressing his dislike for the typeface Helvetica saying it was boring and plain with no real character to it. He too was very interested in Arabic type. he felt that he had explored the western typography a lot and wanted a challenge, as arabic was such a scripty type that typefaces never really differed for it. He also explored the creation of a typeface, its seemed like a lengthy process with many technical terms like 'hinting' which I had never heard before. But it was really fascinating and my favourite part was when he said '"I don't want stark and austere. Twirlies!" - Bruno Maag. A great talk that opened up my eyes to another area within design.

2010-02-21T12:08:00.000Z

Lectures

I decided to go home for a couple of days last week and then to visit Kingston where I have some friends also studying Graphic Design, it is always good to see what other people in other places are doing when it comes to Design. While I was at Kingston I also managed to sneak into a couple of great lectures. First by the Israeli typographer Oded Ezer, he had a really 3D approach to his typography which was really interesting, he also worked with the Hebrew language, which was great to see, he was very expressive and experimental and gave great advice on using simple ideas to communicate strongly. Then in the evening I went to a talk by the well know Jonathan Barnbrook. This guy has achieved a lot and is also very 'morally' driven. He explained in his talk how he wont work for large companies like Coca Cola and Nike out of principle, which is admiring and he spoke well about his reasonings. The talk was very inspirational and made me realise just how much you need to believe in yourself and stand by what you believe in. It was a good two days but Im very happy to be back in Brighton.

2010-02-21T10:44:00.000Z

More Transatlantic Design

Sam Winston

On Friday 29th january Chloe and I went up to London again to conduct another interview with the great Sam Winston. I have always been a fan of him so it felt great to actually go and meet him. He was a really incredible guy, very inspiring and he also gave us jam doughnuts so what more could we of asked for! Well the interview was great, he had to leave by 5.30 but by 6pm we were all still there getting to see first hand some of his beautiful work. I think Ian Wrights interruption was a big factor in the over running but it was his birthday and hes super cool too and we enjoyed the conversation immensely. Sam being both a designer and a lecturer gave a really interesting perspective on the topic of design education, he also just gave some great advice, like when a tutor criticises something you do and it really bothers you and you get upset or angry about it, well thats because it has an element of truth in it but then when you work on those faults and if someone criticses again and you feel nothing you know its untrue. Simple but such great advice. A down to earth guy with so much to give, he wants to see us again in a years time to see what we are up to so watch this space I will definitely keep him up on that offer.

2010-02-21T10:28:00.000Z

A New Project

Soon after (the same day actually as our hand in of all our work) we were set the brief to design the Degree Show poster for the entire University Show. These sorts of projects are never easy as somehow you need to visually represent the entire school covering Graphic Design to Fine Art Painting. I wanted to work in a group and so asked Danny and Andy in my class who agreed so the fun started! It was such a great project I found two people that I really loved working with, plus we all had different skills and opinions which made for a great balance when it came to ideas and then later design. We wanted to look at the idea of making a 3D poster, as we are people with depth and a 2D poster just doesn't do us justice. So we started the research looking in to 3d type from loads of beautiful old books in the library, we took loads of photocopies and then did it all the old fashioned way laying all of the letters on the floor and arranging them into a composition we liked combining lots of typefaces and shapes. This was looking really great but we needed to make it all cohesive so after a while stuck to just a couple of typefaces and the title 'Flat Out' which means at full speed, with maximum effort, absolute, thorough and definite. This sums up beautifully how we as a university work, striving to be the best we can in the fields we specialize in. We did not end up winning but we came runners up and we are all really proud of what we have achieved and are excited to make it perfect for our portfolios. Danny and Andy are amazing guys and graphic designers so Im just so glad I got to work with them. Enjoy looking through the pics of the development of the design, pics of 'behind the scenes' to come soon.

2010-02-21T10:21:00.000Z

Transatlantic Design

Andreas from Six Creative

I have not blogged about Transatlantic Design in a while and since we have had two more interviews. Firstly on Thursday 14th January we went to the very trendy Six Creative Studio to meet the talented Andreas Neophytou.I think we were all feeling a little low on energy with our own work but the interview was really great and gave us all that realisation that we are doing the right thing as well as much needed inspiration for our own work. Andreas reminded us of the importance of ideas in a world that is saturated with design. He also gave us a tour of the studio and let us take a sneaky peak at some of the wonderful projects they have been working on which were really beautiful. I cant wait to listening back to the interview very soon.

2010-02-21T10:09:00.000Z

Away

It has been a while since I have blogged anything at all, at times I have been struggling this year and not always felt as 'motivated' or 'inspired' as I normally do, that alongside the large work load of 3rd year means it has been my blog that has taken the hit. However I have been doing and seeing many exciting and great things I just haven't been documenting them and so at times I have been forgetting them. So on this wet and rainy Sunday I am sitting in my room very warm and wrapped up ready to share some of the great things that I have neglected to until now so enjoy and apologies. Here is my collection of m's so far its such a lovely letter!

2010-02-12T13:41:00.001Z

Inspiration

I am finding it hard to come up with ideas of late, and its amazing how quickly you can become demotivated and uninspired. Sometimes design can be a very superficial place to be. I need to get away for a bit, but for now these Seb Lester new JD Salinger book jacket designs are looking great.

2010-02-04T10:29:00.000Z

Enough Said

I think for me this is a little harder and with the stress of assessment and then now back to work Im finding it even harder, but whats the worth in anything if its too easy.

2010-01-31T19:37:00.000Z

Wonderful Words

Although the festive season is far behind us, I came home this weekend and found this from when I was just 9, Oh the words of wisdom I had to give at such a young age. Plus what a great idea, Christmas being everyones Birthday, that way we all get two a year just like the Queen.

2010-01-30T13:48:00.000Z

Happy Accidents

Sometimes you just come across beautiful things like this, I decided to take a picture to make the moment last a little longer.

2010-01-26T13:19:00.000Z

Post

It is always lovely to receive post and after my stressful day yesterday getting these made me smile. Thank you so much to Jenny for the lovely bird (I do love it) and Darrin for the cute keyboard stickers.

2010-01-26T13:00:00.000Z

Evaluating

I have been absent from blogging for a while now due to the intense workload I had to complete for my assessment which finished yesterday. I have spent the months since September creating the work below and it all came down to a half an hour slot yesterday. Getting criticism on your work can be really hard, what we do is personal and we become attached to it. My assessment went well, but they were harsh explaining my weaknesses and areas I need to improve and I had preempted all of their comments which in some ways made me feel better, but I did come away feeling quite down, I had worked so hard but It still wasnt good enough and maybe im not so naturally talented at design, I guess we are always learning and thats what design is all about and after photographing my work today and reflecting I see that although I can still improve I am actually quite pleased with what I have achieved this year and look forward to doing even better. So enjoy and let me know what you think.

2010-01-14T23:19:00.000Z

This picture was posted first by my good friend Dylan but i agree Minneapolis I miss you.

2010-01-12T03:31:00.000Z

Typeface

It has been a while since I have last posted, working towards assessment is eating up all of my time but as part of that work I have started to create my own typeface. I wanted one that wasn't too round but also not too angled around the edges so I made my own its been quite exciting although I have a long way still to go, heres how its starting to look, id like to do a lot more of this.

2009-12-26T23:08:00.000Z

Festivities

Here are just a few of the things that made me smile this Christmas. As you get older it feels like the magic fades but spending time with the family is always nice even if a bit stressful. I just wanted to share my Christmas.... :)