Category Archives: University of Lincoln

Show Thirteen – BA (Hons) Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln

So it’s that exciting time of the year where all of the degree shows start popping up. Unfortunately for anyone who follows my blog, the Lincoln Graphic Design degree show isn’t going to be a total surprise as I’ve blogged about it quite a bit. In both first and second year I ‘reviewed’ the shows  - sharing my favourite pieces of the brilliant work the 3rd year students had worked so hard on. Now that it’s my own show, I found it really hard and quite awkward trying to ‘review’ Show Thirteen which is why this post comes quite late. I’ve been so involved in the making of the show and know the people so well – I don’t want to upset anyone by not including them etc. However, I decided to bite the bullet and share my favourite work from Show Thirteen – it wasn’t easy picking from 76 students!

Welcome to Show Thirteen:

I love these fun photos of us in Thomas Parker House’s window – they show our fun side. Work hard, play hard, right?

Show Thirteen boasts a brilliant range of print design:

From hand bound books to newspapers and glossy magazines, the reading area showcases the students’ great editorial ability.

Hand bound, gold foiled and edible paper – students have considered every detail when producing these publications.

(Lloyd Shand‘s edible sugar paper book)

The first panel to catch my eye when I walk in the room is Harry Winfield‘s  Metamorphosis response. He produced a fabric swatch book with sewn typography – which he scanned in and used as his panel.

Next to Harry is Leanne Kitchen, whose Caslon revival project was really interesting and had every detail covered:

Detail is something that Jack Slater‘s not afraid of either, which shows in his beautiful illustrative style. I always get green eyes when I see Jack’s work, specially his Pen Pals campaign (which Emma is modelling in the portfolio) and his ISTD response to the Food for thought brief:

His panel shows the food illustrations from his recipe book which is beautiful:

Lucy Perkins’ final project looked at body language and behaviour which I found really interesting. Lucy has a great editorial style which translated well in the spreads of her publications:

Lloyd Shand‘s winning ISTD metal plaques are beautiful, as is his Metamorphosis project for which he produced a film of a stack of paper being blown apart – a must see! (I’ll find a link)

Obviously I’m not going to feature myself, but just wanted to highlight that my panel glowed. There’s no electrics involved, just one of Tullett’s top tips to make the terrible swear words glow a slimey green:

I think it looks pretty cool anyway. To see my panel, check here.
Opposite my panel is Jack Kingham’s final project about the Falklands war, for which he produced a publication detailing the events:

It’s always a good sign when  you walk up to a board where all of the cards have been taken – Ryan Vardy’s work has proved popular and it’s clear why. I love his Ted Baker project – quirky and cool with a chalkboard typography focus.

Rebecca enjoyed looking through Ash Watkins‘ portfolio….

… whilst Emma had a spin of David Morris‘ metamorphosis project. (Note: another empty business card holder!)

Great digital style work from Talveer Uppal. I loved his Ted Baker campaign and also his collaboration with Harry Winfield for the Pen Pals brief. Their animation uses brilliant music (La Samba!) that will be in your head for days – infectious.

Here, on the left, we have something a little different to the other panels from Emma Dawson. It definitely stands out and communicates craft and a hands on approach. On the right is a series of Penguin book covers by Jenna Brightwell. The design is constructed from layering different fonts – I think it’s really effective and striking..

I thought Jake Brennan’s Lego style Pen Pals campaign was really quirky and clever, as was Avril Whitehart’s depression awareness campaign:

She also used my quote in her final project about people’s ideal worlds: ‘Everything would be triangular’ – tri-tastic of course!

Rebecca Allsopp’s ISTD Food for thought included some tasty type…

…and I thought that Mia Donockley’s Forestry Commission campaign was a great combination of imagery and sarcasm.

I just loved these woodblock printed text speak abbreviations by Rebecca Riley – so ironic!

Luke Hilburn’s packaging range caught my eye (pyramid!)…

… as did Amanda Revell‘s Pen Pals campaign – cute little envelopes made from different papers to show personality.

So that was quite short, but they are my very edited down, highlights of Show Thirteen. Obviously there is still so much more to see, so if you haven’t already, make sure you visit before we close at 4PM this Friday (tomorrow!). Let me know what you think of Show Thirteen – what did you like or dislike? Get in touch!

I just don’t want it to end!

Leave a Comment

Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Graphic Design, University, University of Lincoln

Call me maybe

A long time ago (back in November would you believe!) I posted about my business cards, but with the degree show in mind they’ve had a bit of an update:

With my panel focused on my dictionary of swearing and insults, ‘Mind your language’, I decided to use my typographic explorations to match. I thought it was a good idea to get my work ‘out there’ and end up in random places. Even though creatives are renowned for swearing, it’s still quite unusual to see swear words out in the open. They’re almost like a novelty, receiving giggles and sniggers. If you took one of my cards and have stuck it somewhere (the more inappropriate the better), send me a photo pretty please! That would make me very happy.

I used a variety of my experiments, and ended up choosing 16 because I couldn’t whittle it down anymore. It was quite amusing watching people choose their favourite card/ swear word on the private view night – that made me smile. I’ve had nearly 70 taken so far, but I still have 130 left – it’s sad to see them go but as long as other people are enjoying them I’m happy.

I ordered them from moo if you’re wondering – I’d recommend it. Good quality, fast delivery and not a bad price (£50 for 200) considering I had a lot of different designs!

If you haven’t got one of my cards, get yourself down to Show Thirteen! You’ve got until Friday 14th June… but I’ll probably still have loads left afterwards ha Maybe I will give a couple away on here? Would anyone be interested in winning a couple, I don’t know? Get in touch if you’d like to get your hands on some…

2 Comments

Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Graphic Design, Me, Typography, University, University of Lincoln

LSDT

I mentioned in my last post about being welcomed into the LSDT - Lincoln Société de Design Typographique. What is the LSDT? Philippa and Barrie began the LSDT for students that weren’t awarded ISTD but in their opinion deserved recognition. When submitting to ISTD you need quite thick skin as they are quite harsh with their feedback and particular about who they pass, but sometimes they get it wrong. Lincoln Alumni Dan Collier’s Typographic Links was failed by the ISTD in 2007 but was displayed in the MoMA in New York in 2011 – I’d say that’s 1-0 to Dan!

I was really surprised when Barrie said my name – I’m still not really convinced that I deserve it, but am very honoured! This year the LSDT members voted on who they thought should join, so thanks to everyone who voted for me – obviously you all liked my swear words :)  So I wasn’t awarded ISTD, but being a member of the LSDT is so far a lot better if you ask me – just look at the goody bag:

To quote Lucy, ‘It’s like Christmas!’ ha As always, Philippa and Barrie have brilliant attention to detail with lovely hand printed name tags:

We each received a badge (which matched my fluoro green dress on the private view night a treat) and certificates which I need to get a frame for:

Now for a closer look at the goodies kindly donated by the other members of the LSDT:

From Sophie Adams there’s a beautifully hand painted wanker bat and lovely Norn Iron risograph print which I had seen on twitter and was going to buy, so thanks Sophie! It’s about the slang she heard whilst on holiday in Northern Ireland – something I find really interesting after doing ‘Mind your language!’.

The Caseroom Press (Philippa and Barrie) gave each LSDT member a typographic element print of their initials from their periodic table series (see the others here), so for my initials I got ‘nice numerals’:

I pinched this photo of Lucy & I taken today by Philippa from The Caseroom Press blog :) I absolutely love it – such a lovely idea and I can’t wait to display this on my wall!

From Barrie, a copy of his sold out typewriter art book ‘A Poem to Philip Glass‘ (of which mine & Emma’s awards are in the style of):

From Philippa, ‘Five go on…and on‘ – a lovely set of 2 books about the overheard conversations of 5 women:

Jo Mansfield kindly donated this lovely  letter pressed heart print…

…with a Paul Smith notebook too.

Along with fluoro orange christmas card from Fliss Gibbeson, The Tate’s Design Basics from Matt Mear and a LOL postcard from Philippa too.

Thanks so much to Philippa, Barrie and all of the LSDT members – I will wear my badge with pride. I’d also better start planning my contribution for next year – the pressure is on! Maybe something triangular… or is that too predictable? :)

2 Comments

Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Me, Typography, University, University of Lincoln

Show Thirteen – The private view

So it crept up on us – Friday was the private view of Show Thirteen! Friends, family and the Lincoln family (alumni) all gathered to celebrate the completion of our degree:

With Pimms (and Peroni and wine and lemonade) and cake kindly made by Dave and Avril, we celebrated…

… and the second years ran the bar for us – thanks again guys.

There were great speeches from Chris, Emma and Barrie (‘TPH has been a good ship’) as well as awards:

James was awarded ‘Student of the year’…

Emma and I were awarded ‘Outstanding contribution to the course’ and the LSDT (Lincoln Société de Design Typographique) kindly welcomed 3 more members – Leanne, Lucy and I. (I’m going to do a separate post about this!)

I’m really honoured to receive 2 awards – I couldn’t really believe it! It’s a rare occasion, but I’m pretty much speechless. Thanks so much to all of the tutors!

These cute button awards (made by Philippa – thanks!) were placed on my panel. Look – it’s a triangular button!!!! How often do you see one of those? I’ve never seen one – Glen said he found it just for me :)

The Dawsons (my adopted family) posed with Emma’s 3D panel…

… whilst I said ‘Look at that big arrRsss’ next to my panel. I’m really pleased with how it turned out! For the full effect though, I think it needs to be seen in person really ;)

One thing I found was that if I saw someone looking at my work I couldn’t hang around and eavesdrop because obviously my face is on the front of my portfolio so they know what I look like ha So (as always) any feedback on my work is welcome – drop me an email or something?

Also if you picked up one of my swear word business cards, I want to see what you  do with it! I want to see them in some weird and wonderful places :)

Overall it was a surreal night – it was great to see everyone and catch up with the alumni:

We grabbed Barrie, Ben and Sophie for a photo ha

The night went really quickly – it was over in a flash! So now Show Thirteen is officially open, and with 76 great student’s work on display, it would be rude for you not to come and see it all!

Show Thirteen is open now until 14th June – weekdays from 10 – 4pm but also next Saturday 8th June from 10am – 4pm. So I’ll see you there?

For those of you who can’t make it, I think I will do my usual ‘show review’. I wasn’t sure if I should with it being my own show, but I still have my own opinion about the work, so why not?

I mentioned a while back that I’ve been running the Show Thirteen blog and twitter, and we’ve had some really great feedback from alumni and visitors – it makes it all worthwhile! I’d love to hear your opinions too…?

I can’t believe it’s all ‘over’ – what am I going to do with my life now? I’m feeling pretty emotional as a new chapter begins…

Leave a Comment

Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Graphic Design, Me, University, University of Lincoln

Planel

This week it’s been all about planning my panel (planel) in preparation for Show Thirteen. I’ve chosen to just show one project (you’ll be able to see the rest of my work in my portfolio next to it!) and it was approved:

Oh look, there’s Barrie arrrsss-ing around!

The tutors have placed everyone now so we can get to work on our panels – some people have painted their panel but I’m keeping mine white as I think my swear words are colourful enough ;) I’ve not got anything to hang just yet as the plotter broke this afternoon (typical!) so I’m just using odd ends of paper at the moment:

Can’t wait to get it all finished. The Private View night isn’t too far away now – eeek!

In other news, I’ve also been working on finishing my Metamorphosis project:

It’s only taken about 3 days to cut, photograph and edit all of these. I’m still waiting for all of the feeling to come back in my fingers from all the scalpel-ing!

Oh, also take a look at the quick video invite I made for Show Thirteen:

I’m looking forward to meeting some new people between 1st and 14th of June – are you coming to see Show Thirteen? Now back to work I go…

Leave a Comment

Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Graphic Design, Typography, University, University of Lincoln