Trevor Johnson

Creative director Trevor Johnson from Creative Lynx came in to give us a talk. With his client / work list containing big names such as New Order, The Haçienda, Simply Red, MOSA, 24hour Party Peopleand many more it was great to see a graphic designer with a branding / corporate Identity background. As this is what I want to go into it was a vital lecture. Being a Manchester designer made him more appealing as most designer have uplifted from their roots but not Trevor.

Based with the company Creative Lynx and with 25 years of iconic designs to his name he has always stayed in Manchester, bringing with him the attention of the design world to 'Madchester' with his industrial and typographic designs for Factory Records and the Haçienda (alongside Peter Saville), Trevor has earned a place at the very heart of Manchester's creative legacy. Ever since, Trevor has been a consistently notable contributor to the city's urban renaissance through his work for many of Manchester's most prestigious brands and organisations, playing a key role in establishing Manchester as an international city of creative excellence.

He showed us some of his early work in where he started his career as a commercial illustrator which demonstrates his great hand drawn illustrations. I love how when he started he created beautiful work using his hand drawn skills, I think I liked him becasue I always prefer to work with my own hand drawn things rather than computer generated thing. Back then in the 70's, designers had to have the skills to draw as there were no computers till the mid 80's, Johnson spoke about this and how to compete with other designers he even took up a Calligraphy course to understand other letterforms and to stand out against the others. 

It was clear to see that Johnson loved working for musicians and creating record sleeves from a young age, however once his client list had grown his work became more commercial but still keeping the hand drawing skills intact. Recently he revamped the Manchester food & drink campaigns, which now feature lyrics from Manchester bands such as Oasis and Stone Roses. I loved the art direction of these becasue they were produced using bright colour but not too bright to look horrible. The colour scheme and the different types of type just looked perfect! The logo itself is a great piece as it has a 'double visual' as the knife and fork create a wine bottle. Nicely done!   
 

Joana Niemeyer

Joana Niemeyer was invited to come and give us a talk about her work and the 'real world'. Joana is from the design company ‘April’, which is a female based studio run by herself and fellow designer Lisa Sjukur. The lecture was very honest, informative and to the point, something some guest lecturers fail to do. 

She broke the lecture into sectors which features the different type of clients she's worked for, the first one was 'The Aurthor'. BAA - Heathrow: The Book: A week at the airport by Alain de Botton, he was given unprecedented, unrestricted access to wander around Heathrow, one of the world’s biggest airports, having been appointed its Writer-in-Residence. He spoke with everyone from airline staff and senior executives to travellers passing through, and based on these conversations he produced this extraordinary account of life at an airport and what it says about modern existence. He explores the magical and the mundane, and the stories that inhabit this strange ‘non-place’ that we are usually eager to leave. Taking the reader through the departures lounge, ‘airside’ and the arrivals hall, de Botton shows with his usual combination of wit and wisdom that spending time in an airport can be more useful and more revealing than we might think. I really liked the art direction of the pages as they were designed in a flip book style with the plane flying off and I loved the photography.

 

The next was 'The Architect'. For this she worked alongside the architecture company John McAslan + Partners. Joana helped redesign the signage to go with their new identity an individual office signage was created. The signage consists of a floor plan next to reception and is then repeated as a super-graphic on each floor. I really like the identity that she created for the company. It's simple yet effective and gives the company a brighter yet professional look.  

Another sector was 'Collaboration'. For this Joana showed us a book called Graphic Europe, It contains guidelines to 31 different cities in 31 different countries which was produced by a local designer in each city over Europe. This gives both the content and the graphic identity unique and distinctive character.
It was great to have someone come in and tell us all the things that we really need  and want to know about the industry and design.

Teal Triggs

A few weeks ago Teal Triggs was invited to give us a talk about Fanzines. Teal Triggs is Professor of Graphic Design, Course Director of MA Design Writing Criticism, and co-Director, Information Environments, at the London College of Communication. As a graphic design historian, she has written extensively for the international design press and authored several books on design including The Typographic Experiment and more recently Fanzines. Hearing about this lecture got me excited as I was told to make my Static work into a Fanzine and at the time I was too sure what a fanzine was exactly.

A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest. During the lecture she showed us mainly the covers of fanzines but she explained what exactly makes a zine, and referenced a lot of really interesting pieces during the lecture.

Fredric Wertham a German-American psychiatrist and in the 1970s he focused his interest on the benign aspects of the comic fandom subculture; in his last book, The World of Fanzines (1974), he concluded that fanzines were "a constructive and healthy exercise of creative drives" he had also said that fanzines were a 'special form of communication.'

I really like the idea behind fanzines and will defiantly be creating my own...considering that I still want my static work to be created into a fanzine as all the images are currently in separate books.

 

Designed Disorder I AND Festival - CUBE Gallery

During October there was an exhibition / festival called Designed Disorder I AND Festival in Manchester, similar to the Liverpool Biennial this exhibition was showcased in various locations over Manchester. I went to the exhibition which was on at the CUBE Gallery on Portland Street.

CUBE presented artists who have 'proposed absurd and practical solutions' to future implications and changes that may occur from a future defined by engineering and science. The exhibition invites you to question the design's potential role in our society, asking if they are probable, potential or preferable.  
This exhibition reveals the ethical and behavioural implications of a future defined by engineering and science . From the recycling of urine into whisky to the simulation of phantom limbs, Designed Disorder radically inquires into how we behave, mass consume, self medicate and travel, making the design of human experience an altogether uncomfortable encounter. 

The work of James Chambers 'Red Goods' is what struck my eye. The meaning behind one of the poster 'Strangle Poise Lamp' is 'Research from the 1960s onwards has repeatedly found that exposure to media violence leads to increased aggression. Red Goods are a range of products which provide surrogacy for aggressive behaviour through our interactions with everyday products.' The way he designed his posters to reflect his ideas is perfect. I love the colour palette and the font chosen. 

Unspooling - Cornerhouse

In October we went to see the exhibition which was put on at the Cornerhouse. Unspooling showcased work from 18 different artists, they review the relationship and concerns of art and cinema, presenting contemporary artists' current reflections and interpretations of its form. Inside presented a range of cinematic/artistic strategies which were spread over two floors including sound, gesture, spoken word, painting, drawing and sculpture.

I really enjoyed looking at Alex Pearls work. His work features 'a series of lo-fi and improvised films shot each day in a makeshift temporary film factory that was based at Islington Mill in Salford in early August, where camera carrying contraptions were left to their own devices to gather footage.' The images that appeared on the screens looked amazing and reminded me of scary film and gave me a sense of unease as it felt like something was going to come out of the screens!  
'His installation, strewn with furniture and monitors, can be read as distinct films or one larger film across seventeen screens. Intriguingly Pearlville recalls wider cinema references; clockwork double acts evoke Bonnie & Clyde and Laurel & Hardy; David Lynch's Eraserhead is uncannily evoked in Embankment and, curiously, The Man from Lieksa appears to cite Juhana Moisander's The Manager, also shot at Islington Mill.'

The advertisements for the exhibition themselves looked great. Designed by a Manchester based studio company Design By Day the main poster itself is a great piece of art direction. It clearly represent the exhibition and the idea of films with the film spools. Great Work! 

 

Liverpool Biennial

A few months ago we went to see the Liverpool Biennial. This year's theme was Touched which  presented the work of over 60 artists; around half were commissioned to make new work. 

A biennial has been said to be always a game of hide-and-seek. Where is the art exactly? This year it was almost everywhere – in pubs, public spaces, derelict department stores, between decrepit 19th-century buildings and in five art galleries – A Foundation, the Bluecoat, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Open Eye Gallery, Tate Liverpool – and several non-gallery sites as well. The event was promised to an immediacy of emotional response.

Even though the biennial is meant to be amazing I didn't take to it. The whole exhibition on show in the semi-derelict shops on Renshaw  Street wasn't as good as I thought it would have been, the randomness of the work was confusing and half of it I didn't understand. It's nice to see a wide range of work in one place but it just wasn't for me.
The piece that I did like was Rosa Barba - Free Post Mersey Tunnels because it was usual and it was interactive to the extent that you could go around it and hear the sounds of the Liverpool underground.

OWT Creative

Helloo...not been on here for a while so I thought it needed an update!!

Well a few weeks ago three members from OWT Creative, Ben Kither, Jon Hannan and Sarah Stapleton, came in to tell us about thier journey from university to the business world! Considering they graduate from D&AD was vital! It was great to see what can happen if you put your mind to it. It was a very helpful and relaxed presentation which is the total opposite to my presentations!! They gave us some good advice on how to cope with all the uni workloads, different approaches our briefs, how to stay in contact with designers, how vital it is to have designers on your side and how to produce a good portfolio. They are currently studying thier masters.

I think that the way they got together and have started up thier own zine is amazing and inspirational. The great aspect is that they allow other graphic designers to contribute and submit work. I've recently sent work in and hopefully see it in the next issue! Fingers crossed!


But overall I think that the members of OWT have done really well since graduating!! Keep up the great work! :) 
xx