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Andrew Bell

I recently came across a 3rd year student called Andrew Bell who is studying visual communication at ECA. He's created several posters for different purposes all of which are so simple but very effective. He has also taken a step back from the macs and used real life objects within his work, even using cress to create typography.

making art

while on the creative review website i came across this quirky little book which shows you how to create art, giving you inspiration and ideas. http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/july/lets-make-some-great-art on the wesite are a few short videos showing the book in use.

Kist Designs jewellery

One of my friends has just graduated Product design in her 3rd year at Duncan of Jordanstone, and her plan now is to start a jewellery business with her older sister.

They have named the business Kist Designs Jewellery, they came up with this name as kist is created from the first two letters from the start of their names Kim and Stacey, it also sounds like kissed when read so they thought they could play on this.

They asked me to create the logo for them, so i put a few together for them to choose from.

This is the design they chose as they wanted something girly which would reflect there personalities.



The logo can also be simplified for use on tags or boxes etc.



I was also asked to create the business cards for them, so again i put a few ideas together for them to look through. This is the one they selected.



The Kist logo in the bottom right hand corner is being cut out with a heart shaped stamp to leave a heart filled hole within the business card, the heart itself is then being used as the tags for the product.

If you want to check out any of their stuff then visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kist-Designs-Jewellery/223806727648764

I have recently just returned from New York, which was a 21st Birthday gift from my parents and it was definitely one of the best and unforgettable gifts ever.

The first night in New York we were woken suddenly by thunder and lightning, it looked and sounded like something straight from a horror film. Luckily the next day we awoke to sun shine and it stayed that way for the rest of the visit :)

The majority of the holiday was taken up by "touristy" things such as, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, the Empire State Building, Central park, the Rockafeller Center, Bryant park, Times Square, 5th Avenue, Madamme Tussaudes, shopping and two shows.

Jersey boys was the first show we went to see which i really enjoyed, it was very upbeat and you could sing along, The Phantom of the Opera however i did not enjoy quite as much. The people involved were all very talented and put on a good show but the music just really wasn't my thing. I felt the story line dragged on a bit and resembled Beauty and the Beast but unlike Beauty and the Beast it failed to grab my attention.

My favourite day in New York was definitely the day we visited the Statue of Liberty, the weather was gorgeous we got a free trip on the ferry across to Staten Island which allowed us a great view of Lady Liberty and we saw the legend that is Will Smith filming the new Men in Black 3 movie :D. Seeing Will Smith in action was without a doubt the highlight of my holiday.





Shopping in New York was not as successful as i hoped, i had been told by many that America was really cheap and that i should take an empty suitcase, i nearly did but i'm so glad i didn't. Clothes, Shoes and accessories were all the same price as here if not dearer so i only left with a few items and some memorabilia. Food and drink was even more expensive, i wouldn't have minded if the portions were as big as i had been told, but they were just the same size as you would receive at a restaurant here. Breakfast although, was by far the best and biggest meal of the day, pancakes, French toast, bacon, waffles, strawberries mmmm!


Lunch was the worst meal of the day as we struggled to find places to eat due to everywhere having "grab and go" system to suit the hectic life style of the New York inhabitants. We just wanted somewhere to sit down and relax after having walked about all day but instead we had to settle for a "grab and go" sandwich which consisted of mustard mayo every time. There was no way of escaping the mustard mayo :P

The Empire State Building and the Rockafeller Centre allowed us a fantastic view of New York City from an incredible height, both during the day and at night.



The day we spent at Central park was also a very enjoyable day as it gave us the opportunity to enjoy the weather and stroll along the famous park which appears in many films and sitcoms.


We also saw this being shot in Bryant park not sure what the sitcom or actors where called but i recognise the guy in the glasses from something.


All in all i had a great time, it was a once in a life time experience and will never forget it :)

Mitch Steinmet has created a coffee table which resembles a photo album and also is a photo album. It allows you to store all your photos in prime location in your living room allowing guests to easily access them. I think this is a really nice idea as people love to show case photos of memories, but theres only so much room in your house for them without the place looking cluttered. This table allows you to show case all your photos in a convenient and de-cluttered way, love it :)




The coffee table is the center of any living room: a place for conversation, gathering, and storage. The photo album preserves memories, giving life to past events and emotions. Remembrance combines the social interaction of family gatherings with the nostalgia and enjoyment of remembering the past. Instead of acting as a liaison between the user and their entertainment, Remembrance becomes the source of entertainment. It creates new memories while simultaneously cataloguing and cherishing old ones. - Mitch Steinmetz (http://www.nmusalonesatellite.com/)

Pimp your mac

Maison Binocelette lets your pimp your apple mac. By choosing from one of the 9 designs and applying to the apple on your mac to give it personality.

Quirky designs and a pretty pointless idea but hey who doesn't want to bring there mac to life :P

my personal fave


want to pimp your mac http://www.maisonbinoclette.com/

old school meets new school

As amazing as touch screen is you cant quite beat a joystick when trying to play old school games like pac man on your iPad. So why not try the JOYSTICK-IT iPad Arcade Stick from http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/e75a/

music that suits your face

When hosting a party it is always hard to know what music to play to suit everyone's taste and what music people actually like but now that problem can be eliminated.

Automatic Dj takes a picture of your guest matches it to their facebook profile and uses Hunch, an app that creates a preference-based playlist and plays it through spotify. This allows you to play a song suited to every guest and even have it playing while they enter the room.

I love the idea of this and will definitely be trying it out, i will let you know how it goes :P

bluetoothirsty

Rachel Harker a former Dyson engineeris part of the i-dration team who have created a bottle with bluetooth technology which knows when you're thirsty.

As a runner it is important to drink before you're thirsty so that you don't dehydrate. Runners carry the bottle while wearing a heart-rate monitor, this connects to an app which calculates information to detect how much water the user has already had and when they will need more.

This is a very clever product which i think will take off with keen sports people.



This is how the bottle looks just now but it is being redesigned to be more ergonomic

Wired, Jargon watch (Paul McFedries)

Social steganography

n. A social-network status update that hides its true meaning within innocuous text.
Kids often conceal important friends-only messages using song lyrics that have meaning to friends-but not parents.


Wordquake

n. A word or phrase (usually suggested by a major news event) that erupts and ripples through the blogosphere and social media, mimicking the pattern of an earthquake and its aftershocks.

A coat of concrete

A new material called "concrete cloth" makes constructions tasks easier, as it sets faster than normal concrete.

Once wet the material is pliable for about two hours, making it easier to shape.

It can even be used underwater and has many uses from cladding building to lining ditches.

The material is also fireproof and creates a secure cover for shelter.




Shelter made from concrete cloth.

Finally!

After what feels like forever Kate's fruit potions is finally complete :D I managed to get the labels all hand sewn and put together to create a hand made, motherly look which i really like.

Allotleft

In our group we created the post-consumer friendly service Allotleft which offers the opportunity to save the lives of discarded fruit and veg. We had done research in to the allotments in and around Dundee and found that a lot of what people grow goes to waste so we decided to take this surplus and sell it.

We plan on collecting the surplus from Dundee allotments and selling it at farmers markets in Dundee which will not only offer fresh fruit and veg to consumers but prevent waste.

We decided that our company would be advertised through blogs, social networking and word of mouth as this is the way a post consumer works best when finding new products and services. We would also have merchandise and our logo would be printed across our car meaning the company was being advertised every time the car drives through the streets of Dundee.

Over the following years we aim to better known and branch out to other towns and cities creating a bigger and better service for the post consumer to enjoy.

Walk along the Waterfront

Seeing as it was such a lovely day to day i thought i what make the most of it and go and take some pictures along the waterfront.

Kate's fruit potions

So yesterday marked the day for our final presentation to Keith Forbes of Good Creative.

All went well and they seemed quite positive with my idea and the thinking behind it but they would like to see it all sewn so now i'm either going to have to become super amazing at sewing and develop the patient of a saint or find someone willing to sew it for me. Right now my designs look like this


and they would like me to develop them so they end up similar to this



Logan wines has successfully achieved something similar to what i hope my end product will look like

so does anyone know anyone who can sew?

assignment 2a

We were asked to meet in our groups and discuss post consumerism, we were to have researched it before hand and create a profile of who we think a post consumer would be.
We were then to gather all our info together and make a research poster to express our ideas.
We decided that post consumers were the type of people who go against trends, listen to word of mouth and are eco aware, thinking before they buy something. When making a purchase they always ask the question "do i need this?" and "will it last?" they are established individuals allowing them to buy more quality high priced items which are longer lasting.
They are the type of people who are big in to recycling and up-cycling and will buy produce locally sourced.

We created several mind maps to express our thoughts then created a poster to show the profile of what we think a post consumer is like.

Why?

One of our current class projects is to design the packaging for an all natural kids fruit juice. The current name of the juice is Kate's Fruit Potions but we can alter this if we wish and long as we are able to fully justify why.

Every decision we make within this current project has to be justified, but why can't you just do something because is looks good? why does there have to be a reason or answer to everything?

To answer the brief i created the bottles below





I was asked why i had chosen those particular animals and why each animal had been assigned that particular fruit. My answer was that i was trying to suggest the product was natural but by still appealing to the kids so i thought i would choose animals which could be found in your garden or on a nature trail. I also thought the animals were fitting for particular slogans which could go along with the drink; badger - "it's black and white", suggesting its a simple product full of goodness, hedgehog- "no nasty shocks" i.e you won't find anything that shouldn't be in here such as artificial flavourings etc, Butterfly - "beautifully natural" as like a butterfly its beautiful and natural and finally the deer - "strong defences" as Kate's fruit potions contains an ingredient which helps boost the immune system and i thought the fact a deer has antlers suggest it has strong defences.

The reason for why each fruit went with each animal was more simple in that we were given four colours which suggested the flavours but we were not given the flavours themselves. We were told there was crimson, pink, purple and orange potion i therefore guessed the flavours based on the fruits and put the fruit with the animal based on which colours were most suited to there natural skin/fur colour. I was told this wasn't a good enough reason but why not?

I now have three days (well i would if i didn't have to work at the weekend) to come up with some other idea or further development and justification for this one and i don't have a clue what to do ....

AAAAAAAH!

Semester 2 Assignment 1

After taking a test to reveal my learning style my results showed that i was a moderate activist and reflector and a very low theorist and pragmatist.

This means that theoretically i like to be involved in new experiences and i am enthusiastic about new ideas (Activist) and i like to view the situation from different perspectives, i like to collect data, review and think carefully before coming to any conclusions and enjoy observing others and will listen to their views before offering my own (Reflector).

I agree with the results that i got although i would say i think i'm more of a reflector despite scoring the same for both.

Everything stated within the reflector column i agree with, the activist column however there are only a few things i would say are true.

I would also say i am quite a theorist despite the test not showing this.

Aftter doing the test form myself i then had to guess what results people in my group would get and surprisingly we all guessed the same results for each person;

Kirsty Turpie - Activist
Fiona Harper - Theorist/Pragmatist
Lynsey Hutchison - Activist
Leanne Evans - Theorsit
Gary Gourlay - Activist/Pragmatist

My group also correctly identified me as a reflector.

The dominant mode of my team is activists and theorists.

I admire thats activist like to be thrown in at the deep end and work well in this way and that theorist are perfectionist, how reflectors take time to reserve and review and pragmatist are eager to try things out.

our group is quite varied so i don't think major adjustments wiil need to be made however ther are a few activists how might need to learn to take on other roles.

Black Swan

I really like these posters which have been designed for the new film Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Future Advertising

Billboards generally consist of a flat poster advertising a certain product or sometimes you see the billboards which flick through several advertisements but now JC Decaux are working to create more innovative advertising campaigns.

These include touch-sensitive "intelligent" tables at Heathrow terminal 5, which allow the user to interact with the advertisement using touch, "thermal campaigns" which alter the advert depending on the current weather conditions and also interactive show screens in bus shelters.


"Yell.com brought its search facility to UK locations via interactive showscreens in bus shelters to demonstrate the breadth of local expertise and information that it offers."

For more information visit www.JCDecaux.co.uk