Forgetting to post!

I’ve been so busy in London that I’ve forgotten to sit down to post! So here is a ‘catch-up’ of the first week…

Classes – going full steam ahead. Just two more official classroom sessions and then the students split up into three teams and are briefed on their three day project, which will be presented back to the client on Friday – no pressure.

When we’re not in class there is always lots of walking up and down tube escalators, and the occasional ‘pit-stop’ to recharge the batteries!

  

We went to visit one of my favorite London museums – the Museum of Brands and Packaging. New, bigger venue, same amazing collection going back over a hundred years. Always intriguing to see the development of certain brands over the years.

Then we visited DesignStudio London. Dervla and Fred, thank you so much for making us feel welcome and showing us some of the wonderful work you do (The EPL rebrand – so interesting).

After a hard day of walking and visiting, what better than a beer and dinner at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

In between class related stuff, I also had chance to catch up with friends from afar – in this case my buddy, Dave and co from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, my friends.

And finally, for today’s post….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM.

Sightseeing then down to business

Day two in London always starts with the wonderful morning sightseeing tour on a coach. Always informative – I learn more each time I go on them and out tour guide Phil and his driver Sean were excellent.

After a lunch break it was time for my first class session. Always enjoy delivering my ‘Creative Strategy’ course and expecting great things from this particular group of students. It’s an important ‘bonus’ to their regular courses but I also want them to enjoy the challenge.

First Day ‘running’

So how do you avoid jet lag… Keep moving.

The 2017 J Term Study Abroad to London kicked into action with a group of weary travellers stepping off the Unite Airlines ‘Red eye’ and immediately embracing the local culture – well, they are taken out to various destinations in London, and then abandoned to find their way back to their hotel. So we lose a few along the way, but it certainly acclimatizes them to their new environment.

In the case of my Art300 Creative Strategy students, I took them out to Borough Market, via Tower Bridge. Not too difficult to find their way back from, but not straight forward either. The big disappointment for me was that the market was still closed for the holidays until tomorrow 🙁

After settling into the hotel, I finally made it back out for a quiet pint and this wonderful homely dish at the Lamb on Conduit Street – a consistent favorite haunt of mine.

Creative ‘Journey’ Process Book

Always an interesting final project for the Editorial Design students. Essentially, take all your creative process for the first three assignments of the course and use them as the content for this, final project. Display your process in a clear, sequential way, while at the same time ensuring you are presenting it as a ‘Personal’ creative journey. If the students have worked hard throughout the semester, with an abundance of ideas, from sketch to computer, then this is a really nice Editorial Design assignment to conclude the semester with – however, if they have very little thought process from their previous projects… then it gets tricky!

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And here is a selection of finished Creative Process pieces:

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Pre Press Piece

Create a keepsake piece that is both a strong editorial piece and also presents a variety of pre-press steps and processes in a clearly defined and accurate way. This guide should be the ‘go to’ for any up and coming design student or young professional designer who needs to know the correct way to set up files, convert to cmyk, select paper etc.

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The students worked in teams of three. Here are examples from all three finished pieces:

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Library Wayfinding System

A wonderful opportunity to work on (potentially) a real life Information Design project. In this case, the senior students had to work in teams to create a complete way finding/signage system as part of the library ongoing renovation. Initial research, including walk-throughs and a thorough understanding of the environment and foot traffic was imperative. The deadline presentations were in front of several ‘clients’ and the hopeful outcome will be the development of selected student team concepts through to the final implementation of the system throughout the library.

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Here is the complete presentation from one of the teams The other two teams were equally wonderful – just not enough room to include all of them!:

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