Dust Presentation by Alun Cocks...

Alun Cocks came from Sheffield and was a student at Stockport College 18 years ago.

He was showing us some of the things that his company has produced recently, I was unable to copy a few of their works to my blog so I have supplied a web address of theirs if anybody would like to take the time to have a look at what this list means.

• Arts/ Music
• Mark Making - Man Utd Treble
• C90
• Almana fact - Type setting to perfection
• Vodafone Billboards
• Orange - 7 minute guide to Rome
• Dairymilk - Marvellous Creations
• Cogs and the great Machine - Penguin
• Keep the faith
• DS93
• Deichniur fear
• Corridor 8 - (Manchester Based)
• Unloud

I must say that I did like the Dairy milk designs, however, I'm not quite sure but I'm positive that Alun said that they were unsuccesful in the end but in my opinion they were fantastic. However the only thing that I wasn't keen on was the Man Utd Treble work. I know he said this piece of work took him back to the drawing board quite a few times. I think you would understand if you saw the complication of the design it is black and white and very abstract. For me personally it is a little too much to look at but I do like Dust's other works.

Thoughtful Presentation...

During the second year, the tutors arranged for 'Thoughtful' a design agency that has a base on the fifth floor of Stockport college to come in and have a chat with our year group about what inspires them and what makes them feel good about themselves. They also gave us a few clips at the end of the presentation which were "wise words" from some important people. I jotted down quite a few notes during this presentation and will share them and what I thought of them on here.

Inspirations:

• Wise words
• Thoughtfulism

Stu's Inspiration:

Posters/ Daniel Eatock/ Free kick by David Beckham/ Orange peel/ David Lachapelle/ Hype Williams/ Hammer and Tongues/ Spike Jonze/ Films by Stanley Kubrick/ Radiohead/ Droga 5/ The Great Schlep














I have to agree with Stu on this one, I really like this big brother logo that Daniel Eatock has created. It is very abstract, simple but also works very well. He has also made many other different variations in this logo that are very pleasing to the eye.




















I also really like the idea that David Lachepelle used the Louis Vuitton logo designs and put them all over the famous rap singer Lil Kim as though she is a luxury item. I really think this is clever, his work however mostly relates to fear, death, the meaning of the existence itself, the presence of the divine and the idea of the sublime. So again I agree with Stu on this one.


Chris's Inspiration:

Blue Apple logo/ Apple/ Oasis/ Hamster shredder/ Split keyring/ Bic cutlery/ Money box hammer/ PUYL bike light pump/ 15 below jacket/ The rolling bench/ Metal detecting sandals/ Ricebaby

With Chris's inspiration I think I have a little bit more to comment on I like everything that he has spoken about but there are a couple that I think are really clever ideas.


















I really like this idea of doing two things at once. Getting rid of unwanted paper and making it so a hamster has a bed/ home. A little unusual and quirky is what makes me tick.












Another thing that made me laugh was the BIC pens, and how they have cutlery shaped plastic as their lids. Very clever and would work brilliantly in an office environment!



















Finally the best one I have to agree with is the rolling bench. They can be used in public places and kept outside yet if they get wet because of the rain you can use the roller at the side of the bench to roll it round so you can sit on the dry part. In my opinion this is absolutely brilliant! Really good idea!


Wise Words and Thoughtfulism:

Patrick Baglee - Navyblue

• To be interesting you have to be interested...

Thoughtful related this to their work: Honda Live TV ad / Tate Colour Chart


Paula Scher - Pentagram

• Only work with the best even if you don't get paid...

Thoughtful related this to their work: Liverpool Biennial / Big Archive / Friska Food / Nous Vous / Friska food on Twitter


Greg Quinton - The Partners

• You must earn the right to do great work

Thoughtful related this to their work: Howies / Thought for the day one idea a day for 1 year / Low impact advertising / Teepay


Michael Wolff

• The chair is your enemy...

Adrian Shaughnessy - Shaughnessy Works

• Preparation
• Prevents
• Piss
• Poor
• Performance

Johnathan Baldwin - Lecturer in Design History, University of Dundee

• Learn to make connections

Thoughtful was involved in: Andrew James Jones + Super Furry Animals / The Crying Bride at the Tate


Tony Davidson - W+K London

• Embrace change...

Nokia and Heineken


James Corazzo - Lecturer Stockport College

• "Never, Never, Never give up!"

I think that all of these short statements from these people are very useful for undergraduates. They have been especially useful to me as they have explained that you need to work very hard to where you want to be nothing is going to be handed to you on a plate. It's time to go out there and grab oppertunities when ever possible and now that is exactly what my mindset is.

Research for the Southbank Centre...

Here is the research I found for my End-Sting of the Soutbank Centre. Thomas Edison was a huge inspiration to me. I liked the clip of Mark Twain the author which is the only seen footage of the famous author alive and well. The film is distorted and flickers alot due to the film deterioration. I liked the feel to this so I used it when the curtains open on my animation all you can see is the flickering of the letters to make up the Southbank Centre. Here is the clip of Thomas Edison's short film of Mark Twain below...

Research for Photograph Narrative...

Here is my research for my photograph narrative. I researched quite a few photographers, some that I really like such as Man Ray and Mari Mahr because they work in black and white and mostly greyscale, however I didn't think that this would be effective in my work so I tried looking at others. I think the photographer that really influenced me would have to be Kristina Kotarski as she takes fantastic colourful images of close ups of objects or things mostly nature. I used this technique in quite a few of my photographs but one that really stands out is the photograph of the 3 leafed clover, where it is a close up of the leaves and my hand and the background is a little blurry because it is not really relevant to what the viewer is supposed to be focusing on. I really enjoyed researching for this brief as I found many talented photographers and it has really helped my skills in taking my own photographs.

Photograph narrative...

The Man's mind is in a whirl.
Harsh stones against the soft grass. Stones show that he is stuck in thought.
Tulip= woman in Fribourg, Dandelion= Simple, Weed= Boring
3 Pathways.
Different pathways. Complicated.
Simple, boring, Lust.
Simple, boring, lust.
Taken from a pub hill in Stockport an overview of what he can see.


In response to a short chapter taken from Alan Lightmans' seminal book 'Einsteins Dreams', I was required to produce a photographic narrative consisting of 8 images.

My chapter was about a man who was in 3 frames of mind. As it says, " To the east, he can see the fragile steeple of St. Vincent's Cathedral, to the west, the curved roof of the Zytgloggeturm. But the man is not looking east or west. He is staring down at a tiny red hat left in the snow below, and he is thinking. Should he go to the woman's house in Fribourg? His hands grip the metal balustrade, let go, grip again. Should he visit her? Should he visit her?" This to me seems like his mind is split 3 ways and he is stuck around time and is unsure what to do.

The whole chapter goes on about how this man should either go and visit a woman in Fribourg who he lusts for, stay put with his life carry on drinking in the oub with his friends and meet a woman who cooks, cleans, who he takes long slow walks with.. basically a simple easy, life, or should he buy a new coat. 3 options...

I took this and carried on with the 3 options in my photographs you can see that the ones that consist of 3 objects you can see which is the exciting, safe and simple boring one.

Brief for the 3rd Year Photography Students...

For this brief we were given many different photographs by different photography students in the third year and we were to name the photograph and put the information where the show was being held on it. I came up with neurotic as you can see from the photograph there is a man opening cans of beans on his desk looking rather shifty. I think this is a really odd but effective photograph and that's why I named it 'Neurotic'. I also like the fact the photograph is in black and white. I love working in black and white. I had my heart set on this picture and really wanted to refine it, I used the Didot typeface in different sizes to create the information on the page. I came up with many ideas in the beginning about where the text should lie on the page and how big, also the hierarchy. I like the fact that the title 'Neurotic', is in italics and is upside down yet we can still read it without a problem. I think this works well as is does not overpower the photograph itself.

Howies T-shirts

For this project we had to create T-shirts for the company howies, using our imaginations to include what howies is interested in, eg. the environment, sports, etc. Here are some above that I have come up with so far... I really enjyed working with the letters to create something else to the name of howies. The first green T-shirt represents recycling. The second blue T-shirt represents mountains upside down. The third T-shirt represents two rainbos to make the 'o'. The fourth T-shirt represents nature and I have used the flower as the 'i'. The fifth T-shirt shows all of the letters of the name howies in a different format to create a face. I think they are all unique in their own ways and I like them all.