Pintsized’s Weblog

This is the one thing which has cheered me up 2day, found via http://szymon.tumblr.com/page/25 yes sad I know, but it made me smile and i’m seriously thinking of getting myself one. 

Still managing to stay at uni, its getting tough now. At the moment I’m trying to do my essay and its sooo hard, they want it to link to our final major if possible, oh and to our paper last year, its a nightmare and I’m struggling to get some good information on my topic of Ethics in Graphic Design I’m just looking at the subject in a broad sense right now, there’s plenty on the history but I’m struggling to find what I want on the current issues and future ect, our library has little selection on ethics, well within design anyway.

I’m just going to have to plod along I think. With relation to the essay in particular it seems to be one road block after the other. Nothing worth doing is easy I’m just going to have to keep motivated and get my arse in gear.

Whilst I was cleaning the floor earlier, I noticed some of the beautiful typography featured on the tops of wine bottles. I think I may have to start collecting them. Some designs are are beautiful. I have posted a picture its just a taster really, go and check out your wine/bottle rack etc I bet your be pleasantly surprised! Look at that letter “R” just gorgeous! 

I borrowed a copy of Creative review from the library today. (August 2007 issue.) I was reading the article “A month in the life.” For this issue, the article was on Michael C Place; a graphic designer who is self employed under the design consultancy Build.

Cd case designed by Build. 

I was reading through the diary entry’s, I came across this from Michael;  ”I love seeing the beauty in objects/places that to most people, are ugly or ignored. I think that’s the job of the designer, reacting to the environment, seeing beneath the crap of everyday life, seeing the beauty below.” He then continues on to say; “Someone asked me the other day what my other passions are and I couldn’tthink of a single thing other than design, and it made me really depressed…Is it important to have an outside interest?… should I/we be getting out more? Michael C Place.  

I think it is so important for designers to have interests other than just design. This is just my personal opinion though, I have no experience when it comes to working in the “real world,” please forgive me if I come across as-if i know it all, because I most certainly don’t! I see it now with designers being really up their own asses and acting as though they know it all, some have such a high opinion of their-self’s. It makes me so sad, how can they have that attitude? How can they be so ignorant and self absorbed? The only thing which comforts me is the saying “pride comes before a fall.”   

I really never want to become this type of arrogant designer ever! Bear with me this does have a point, so for me having interests out of the design world, such as cinema every Wednesday with my girlfriends, ice skating, dance, going down the pub with friends for a good catch up, or lunch with the parents. These things make me very happy and in turn make me produce better work, I personally need this kind of grounding, and I know my friends would knock me down a peg or two if I got cocky. I find having these interests invaluable to me, they bring me more inspiration than I would find looking at a screen, they bring a lifetime of happy memories, they give me a break from the consuming world of design and keep me from being “THAT” designer. And if nothing else it makes me a better communicator and is that not what design is all about?  

Home; so many memories, this is what makes me a better designer. 

Today me and my sister went into Bristol to take some Photographs. On the way home we decided to go to @Bristol. This a interactive science centre, aimed more for children than adults, although it was definitely the highlight of our day! We really enjoyed all the experiments, and i think we both learnt something. Outside of @Bristol (dock side.)   Whilst we were there, we spotted a board which said “What do you dream of?” and on the board were lots of scraps of paper which contained the dreams of visitors of @Bristol, it was a really nice personal exhibit to find. We added our dreams and really enjoyed reading the dreams of others. Below are a few pictures i took of the display… Anonymous dream                    My Dream   

Ok so after much deliberation I have finally chose what I want to cover for my double page spread. Horray!
Well firstly I was looking at banning all advertising and looking at how it would effect the world, then I thought to myself thats going to be a very broad subject. But I started researching into it, then got really messy and complicated as there was so much information to digest.
So i’m going to forget about that idea, and now i’m going to look at Fly posting, and how it effects the enviroment from both a visual and a more serious sustainable approch. Its much more concentrated, than my first idea, which will make it a lot easier for me to focus on, and get the work done.

I think this could be a good theme to run with, at first I thought boring, but in the future if I become a designer i’m sure i’ll have penty of boring briefs given to me, its my job to spice things up a bit surely? How good this looks is down to me, not the content of the article, well thats how i’m trying to think about it anyway. So now I have my idea properly fixed I can really get on with it.
I’m thinking of trying if I can to maybe get involved with fly posting I could go undercover perhaps! Or even work with some people who are trying to get rid of it, talk to the council ect, although I think a trip to Bristol is needed, as theres not a hudge problem of flyposting in our town.
There’s so many ideas in my head, I dont know if i’m going to have enough time to implement them all as I need to get the layout for the magazine sorted out. Looks like i’m going to be a busy lady!

Today me and Chris went to Wookey hole caves. Suituated near Wells in Somerset.

It was a nice day out, the caves were beautiful; I’ve posted some pictures I found on Flickr, your not allowed to take any photos in the caves itself anymore.
We went on the tour, and learnt about all the iron age settlers who inhabited the caves for 600 years, and of course the witch of the cave who was turned to stone along with her pet dog. Well as the myth says.
It was really intresting to listen to the stories and the facts about the caves, I love history nearly as much as graphics, so I personally really enjoyed this tour. One of my favourite parts of the tour was when the guide demonstrated how good the acoustics were in the cave, and played some classical music, that was fantastic it sounded amazing and filled the whole chamber we were in, I would visit the caves just to hear that music again. Its strange how music can effect your mood so much.

The whole trip was really inspiring to me personally, because of my love for history. I was thinking of those tribes of iron age men an women and how there life mmust have been hard, but i wondered if they would of been happier than we are today? The planet would not be in such a mess if we had stayed living the way they did, i know we evolved but to what? Technolgy is certainly far far far more advanced, but the people, the newsheadlines of people being murdered everyday, we havent evolved much from the “un civilised man.” I wonder where we’ll be in 50 years from now? Back living in caves or on the moon perhaps? Who knows predicting the futures a mugs game!