Alan Keys

It's always nice to see a bit of fun and humour in a design, and here Pete Dungey has done just that. He's only a second year student so I feel humbled that he has done something worthy enough to be posted on a few websites!

Stella's big raquet

So, even though i'm not a big tennis fan, no one can escape the hype of Wimbledon. However, I wasn't focusing on the tennis, instead I couldn't help but notice the big fuss that has been made over Stella McCartney's new season tennis dress.

It really is a gorgeous looking thing, beautifully made, with all the right materials used for the court, including mesh for ventilation, whilst retaining a very pretty and feminine design. No wonder amateurs are clamouring for this dress, it can't help but make you look so professional!

French Postal Advert

This is an advert for the French postal service, unfortunately I dont speak the language but it looks like an advert for tracking packages on the web.

This is a really good example of how ordinary things can be transformed into really amazing adverts! Its quite topical too, reminds me of the Transformers movies, one of which is coming out this summer.

Anyways, its really cool so have a watch!

Bruno....

As a lover of Sacha Baron Cohen's brilliant comedy sketches, I loved Borat the movie, released in 2006. This is why I was greatly excited to see that he has made a movie, with one of his best characters, Bruno! The film is out this summer, and I cant wait to see it.



If you liked this, and Borat, check out Sacha as chat show host Ali G! Below are some of my favourite clips:





He really is a comic genius, so enjoy!

OMGPOP

If you're into online gaming, then this site is for you! Its got loads of fun games, and the site is designed really well too. You can play against your friends or anyone else. OMGPOP combines social networking with gaming.


I would really encourage you to check it out, you can waste hours on this site - omgpop.com

Brand Spanking New Website

This year I have been on my Year in Industry, the majority of which has been spent working for charity/youth movement BBYO. I came on board and was given the broad title of "Fieldworker" which didn't really have a defined role. I took it upon myself to take on all the marketing/design, as this wasn't something BBYO ever really addressed before.

Something that has been a project of mine for the past couple of months has been the BBYO website. Our website had been taken offline as one of the volunteers wanted to work on it, however, after 6 months of a site with no content, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I have been working with a professional web designer to create the new BBYO website, and put together most of the content and designed the look of the site. There was much development, but I am very happy with how it has turned out, and although there is still some tweaking to be done, the website now looks really good.

This is what the website looks like now, to check out the whole site, go to www.bbyo.org.uk or just click here. Feedback is definitely welcome!

Kate Moross

On my daily travels through the internet this week, I came across a familiar name. Kate Moross is a new upcoming artist/designer who was in the year above me at school (South Hampstead, London, which was recently closed due to swine flu!). I remember her vividly, she stood out, looked really cool and was forever winning awards!


Kate has done incredibly well for herself, designing a range of tshirts for Topshop, as well as lots of other clients, such as Computer Arts, La Roux and Le Coq Sportif amongst others.






I'm really drawn to her illustrations, I think they are cute and quirky, and there is a sense that Kate really loves what she does. She has a lot of fun, whether designing logos or painting murals.
Check out her website here for more information on all her work!

Westfield London

This weekend I visited the shopping centre Westfield, for the first time.When I first drew up to it, in the car, it looked massive, like an awesome glass dome, and it made me feel really excited to get inside.



We parked the car, taking advantage of the 2 hours free parking, and noticed that the parking system is really useful, it has a green light over free spaces,a nd a red light over full ones, meaning that you dont have to waste time cruising in the hope of finding a space.

We entered Westfield through "The Village," the high end part of Westfield containing the really posh shop, such as Prada, De Beers, Hugo Boss etc. I have to say that if I was spending that kind of cash, that place would really make me feel at home, it is a lovely high end shopping experience.



We walked through the village, and came to the main shopping centre. It is a massive, open, light space that makes it feel very Mediterranean oddly, and kind of like you're outside. It is not cramped, there is food availiable everywhere, and I really enjoyed shopping there.


I am told that Westfield has a retail floor area of 150,000m² making it the largest shopping centre in London, and the third largest in the UK.

I thought Westfield was incredible, and had a large array of different shops and experiences. I hope it does well, in making London some money, being an attraction for tourists, and hopefully creating jobs and making money to help draw us out of this "credit crunch."

Ha-Bua (The Bubble)

Ha-Bua, translated as "The Bubble" is the newest film from acclaimed director Eytan Fox. This is the second Fox film i've seen, and it definitely lived up to the last one, "Walk on Water."

The Bubble is based around life in Tel Aviv, personally my favourite city in Israel, also known as the gay capital of Israel.

It depicts the relationship of the 4 main characters, and the difficulties they face. However, this is not just an account of love, all the time there is the story of the war still raging between Israel and Palestine, brought to our attention by the relationship between Israeli Yali and Arab Ashruf.

This is a beautiful film, with a simple but compelling script, shot simply and wonderfully. If you want to borrow it let me know, its an incredible film with many famous middle easter actors.

Watch the trailer below to get a taster.

Tales From Earthsea - The Book

After seeing the Studio Ghilbli adaption of the book, I bought the story. I have to tell you, if you are interested in fantasy books, Tales of Earthsea is a must. Originally it was a trilogy, and a fourth installment was added two decades later.

Tales is a sometimes dark, but incredible series, taking you into the world of Earthsea, populated by men, women and wizards. It centres around the use of the "True Speech" in which everything has a true name.

You are led through this story by Ged, and his journey through life as he discovers his powers, and evernutally becomes a powerful wizard.

This is not a children's book, it is definitely up there with the works of JRR Tolkien, and worth a read!

Tales From Earthsea

A film I saw last year at the Leeds Hyde Park Cinema was "Tales from Earthsea," the newest Studio Ghibli film. I just purchased it on DVD, so here is my review!


I'm a massive fan of Studio Ghibli, so my expectations were high, being the second only Ghibli film I'd seen in the cinema. I own lots of Miyazaki films, even his first, Castle of Cagliostro. Tales From Earthsea is the directorial debut of Miyazaki's son, Goro. There was much contention over Goro directing this film, and I have to say, I can see why.

The music, and scenery of this film were typical, glorious Studio Ghibli, and didn't disappoint. What did disappoint though, was the storyline. The story was quite hard to follow, and there was very poor character deveopment.

After seeing the film, I went out and bought the book, by fantasy writer Ursula LeGuin, and now I can see why Goro had a hard time cramming it all in. Tales From Earthsea the film is the last installment of LeGuin's books, and the previous history is really important.

Overall, I enjoyed this film but I was recommend you to watch other, classic Miyazaki films first, such as "Spirited Away" or "Nausicaa."

Toshiba

I have been on my Placement Year for 2008/2009, and part of my time was spent at Grey London, an absolutely amazing advertising agency, part of the WPP Group. Amongst other things, they have worked with Toshiba to develop their website and adverts.

The Toshiba website is a completely new website, instead of using the mouse cursor normally, you draw a series of shapes to navigate your way around the website and interact with the website. The shapes do different things to each of the creatures you encounter. It is so much fun, try it for yourself here!

Grey also developed an incredible advertising campaign for the new Toshiba products. They use the "bullet time" technique (seen in the movie "The Matrix") and is dubbed, not as a tv ad, but as a "time sculpture" which shows 10 people filmed doing a range of activities.



You can view the whole video above. As the new girl, I was lucky enough to be the one who packed away all of the 270 video cameras used, with all their wires and accessories, a task that took all day!

Banksy vs. Bristol Museum

Banksy vs. Bristol museum is the new exhibition running for the summer by British "guerilla" graffiti artist Banksy. Banksy has gained notoriety in recent years by using stencils to paint images on a diverse array of outdoor locations. This is the first exhibition in a three storey Edwardian museum.

I haven't had a chance to visit it yet, but I have been lucky enough to glimpse a Banksy, which was on the main road my street runs off, the A1.
I'm actually not the biggest fan of Banksy, I don't like his anti-Israel attitude, however I can appreciate good design, and I still feel honored to have viewed an original artwork.

Post Secret Website

http://postsecret.blogspot.com is a site i've been addicted to for a while. It plays on the inherent nosiness of humans, but instead of being seedy and somewhat taboo, it displays people's secrets in an arty and sometimes beautiful fashion.

These secrets range from the shallow, secrets such as "My secret is I want to be an Outlaw Biker" to the more heavy such as "I haven't spoken to my Dad in 10 years.... and it kills me every day."

People are encouraged to respond to secrets, and so great has this phenomenon become, that Frank, the founder, has set up galleries of postcards, and published books. I received one myself.

I think that the reason this website is so popular, is that people can find pieces of themselves in these little postcards, so take a look and I hope you can find something to relate to.

Other similar, more humorous websites are: secrettweet.com and fmylife.com.

Summer Project Brief

Introduction/Background

In our day-to-day lives we are constantly bombarded by visual stimuli and as designers we have to take advantage of these opportunities in order to develop our awareness towards everything that can stimulate our imagination. Designers feed their creativity from knowledge and understanding of current issues, trends and culture. As a result they often express their creativity by applying personal experiences and knowledge to their work to overcome many design challenges. Inspiration can be fuelled by anything within society ie; films, television, internet, architecture, consumers experiences, and most of all general living. Imagine a world where everyone walks around with blinkers on and only sees things that are under their noses. Now imagine yourself and your limited stimuli, inspiration and experience. Limited knowledge produces repetitive and clichéd designs and most of all constrains the imagination to the extent that all the solutions become similar and predictable. It is a positive way of learning and generating original work.

The Brief

As part of your ongoing creative and cultural development you are required to analyse and critically review any inspirational material that falls in the following categories: books, films, architecture/places, museums, artist, websites/online, designs. Your challenge is to respond critically to at least 35 different things (at least five for each category) that you find interesting and stimulating. Your response must be coherent and logged online into your personal Blog, moreover you’ll have to comment on and discuss other students findings in order to critically start an online crit in which all of you will take part. The approach to this brief has to be professional and your Blog must not to become a collection of summer holiday snaps and a record of your social life/events.