OUGD402: Austin Kleon Talk - Vampires & Human Spam SXSW

Relevant to PPP

The Vampire Test

During his talk he gave an analogy of The Vampire Test which said that if you come back from talking to someone feeling positive and energised than that person is not a vampire. Whereas if you remove yourself from them feeling drained and demotivated then that person is a vampire.

He does not like the idea that artists see every other artist as their competitors. He believes that you should network by making friends with likeminded people, not force your works upon them and promote yourself. It should be more of a community so that you can learn from others and teach each other. You will learn more from each other, as students than you will from a teacher because you are at the same level.

Human Spam

He also brings up a point of "not being human spam." Human spam are the type of people that ask you to follow them back. These are the types of people that promote themselves and force their work upon you.

"Sharing is an act of generosity. You're putting something out there because you think it might be helpful or useful to other people," says Kleon. "You're not just sharing it because it furthers your own agenda or it self promotes."

An extract from Steal Like An Artist

Show Your Work 

http://austinkleon.com/2014/02/19/10-ways-to-share-your-creativity/

OUGD402: Alt-J Gig

In a previous blog post I mentioned that the gig I was most looking forward to this year was Alt-J. They are one of my favourite bands and on the 6th of December me and Polly were finally able to see them. It was a nice experience because this is what I would describe as my music taste (indie/alternative) which I think will help with the self branding brief because I like the art work behind band posters and a lot of merchandise now features artistic graphic design instead of an image of the band. It is also incredibly calming and good background music; stuff to listen to whilst you're doing work and it was amazing experiencing it standing in the Leeds First Direct Arena. I feel like there is a way to combine art and music but it will be something I need to develop further. 

In reference to the self branding brief I think that music and ticket designs could be a massive influence on my outcome for this project. 

OUGD402: Etsy Made Local

On Sunday the 6th of December the Etsy Made Local craft fair was in Leeds so we decided to go have a look at the little independent shops. It was nice to see people that had online stores in person. It is quite a contrast from a digital shop display and how it was set up in person; it was really interesting to speak to people about their work.

OUGD402: Letter Press

I never usually experiment with practical forms of print such as letterpress or screen printing. Recently, I stayed behind during uni and experimented with creating my own letterpress. I found the task very difficult in placement of letters as they had to be reversed so that they would print the correct way and then I accidentally put a space before the full stop which was my second mistake. However, I still really like how they turned out for a first attempt. I think that a gold foil print would be a really aesthetic idea for a self branding piece.

OUGD402: LAW Issue 7 Launch

The Law issue 7 Launch was at The Village Bookshop at The Corn Exchange. It was interesting to see the set up for the magazine launch. The Village Bookshop is filled with a lot of independent publications. 

OUGD402: 10 Year Presentations

Before uni, I used to blog and own a little online shop - this slide was what I did before uni and the following slides are what I wanted to do in the future.

Feedback after presenting:

Reflecting back on this I feel like my goals aren't big enough. They're very business based whereas I would like to think I will achieve more with my life than just a view count and becoming a company. I would like to travel more and do more with my life. 

3 Things about other people's presentations that made them good:

Humour in presentations:
I think this aspect of presentations makes them memorable and takes the nerves away. It adds a personal element to the presentation too instead of just answering questions given.

Visual presentations:
The presentations that only had images and the person explaining what they wanted to do seemed better than the ones with words because then the person could just talk about what they were interested in instead of the people watching reading the words whilst the presenter says them.

It was also nice that people linked videos in their presentations. It showed they researched beyond images and adding text to their presentations.

Passion:
It was really nice to see people being passionate about what they wanted to do in the future and talking about their ambitions and what they were motivated to do in the future.

OUGD402: Study Task 02 - Why am I here - What do I want to learn?

Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this course:

1. I knew that an art subject would always keep me interested in a degree. I originally applied for Law then retracted my UCAS application because I wanted to have a degree in something I was passionate about. I found towards the start of A2 for Law my interest in it was dying and if that's what it was like in only the second year of studying the subject then I would have hated it by the end of my degree. I also cannot imagine myself as a solicitor. Quite a few people in my art class said they can imagine me being a graphic designer which was really encouraging. A Level killed my passion for art as a subject but I was determined to study Graphic Design at University because I always found it an interesting hobby; everything I knew from A Level was self taught as I felt like I wasn't given the help in Art & Design at sixth form. My interview at LCA was the best one, it was the university I could genuinely imagine myself at. It's nice that LCA care a lot about your interest for the subject rather than dismissing your portfolio or passion like some universities do.

2. The employability rate is high which stabilises a career in the arts.

3. Leeds College of Art has a high reputation for this course.

4. An art institution would specialise in art and be the most suitable for an art course evidently instead
of an academic university.

5. Because Graphic Design includes a variety of art related practises, it rounds you as a designer rather than specifying in a subject. It is a more flexible course.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the course:

1. Develop my own design "style."

2. How to use the Adobe software such as photoshop, illustrator and in design and learn techniques. As previously mentioned, everything I knew about Graphic Design before coming to LCA was self taught so I'm going to take time everyday to learn how to use these programs through watching tutorials and asking people.

3. How to hand letter.

Work by Steph Baxter

4. How to illustrate logos, titles and websites.


5. How to do different techniques on illustrator and photoshop to replicate a brush stroke and to create patterned designs.


Identify and explain 5 things that you think are your strengths:

1. Creating concepts and ideas behind a piece of work. I could go on forever about why I chose colours or why I did this to a piece. I think conceptualising is a very important aspect of art. I studied English Literature at A Level so I'm good at reading too far in-depth to things.

2. Developing ideas. Earlier, I explained I used to work backwards from a finalised initial idea but I am good at producing the development to back up the reasons I did certain things and came to the final piece.

3. Analysis and theory work. I really enjoy essay writing and reading so evidently I think I'm good at theory, especially analysis because of my love for English Literature.

4. I'm eager to learn different design techniques and highly motivated. I'm open to going out of my comfort zone to better myself in my field of art.

5. I'm good at following design briefs to what I believe is expected of me.

Identify and explain 5 things you would like to improve:

1. Refining ideas.

2. I want to learn more about the Graphic Design industry. My mindset at the moment is focused on being a freelance type Graphic Designer; the types of people that own a blog and set up multiple shops on different websites and attend craft fairs and events but I really want to learn more about more corporate and industry level design work.

3. Finally, I want to improve the way I develop my work. I used to be one of those people that go straight to the final idea without the series of processes. Since my last A Level project I have begun creating more development work but I have a tendency to go straight to the final design and work backwards from it. I would rather see the work come together through processes and trying different things instead of working backwards.

4. I want to improve on my public speaking skills. 

5. Confident in my own work, being more driven to improve and finding inspiration.

Identify and explain 5 things that inspire you:

1. Friends. I find that you learn the most from the people you chose to surround yourself with. I'm really lucky in that I found people at LCA that inspire me everyday and teach me new things. We're all learning and developing our design skills together.

2. Other designers/illustrators. As mentioned in a previous blogpost I really admire the work of Gemma Correll and Sophie Corrigan who both specialise in illustration BUT Gemma Correll does have a Graphic Design degree.

3. People's desk space and work environments. For some reason I find this very motivational. I like the Pinterest, pristine looking work spaces. However, people that place room or desk tours online have very personalised desks which I also like.

4. Blogs. I really enjoy scrolling through blogs whether they're on tumblr or blogger. Ones I always read are Milk Bubble Tea which is a lifestyle blog; everything on her blog is just pretty and nice to look at for inspiration, Zoella which was originally a beauty blog but has progressed to a variety of categories such as lifestyle and fashion etc because Zoella has become a brand name and Creative Boom is my favourite art & design blog.

5. ???



Identify and explain 5 examples of design that demonstrate your fields of creative interest:

1. Logo's & Branding.

 Baby Cafe branding in Montreal 

2. Gold foiling digital work - Dean Robert Smith

3. Nick Barclay - has a very specific style. It is very minimalist and works with geometric shapes a lot to depict characteristics of certain things. This example shows the planets, he also does works of film references and food. 

4. Gemma Correll - I really like that she's witty with her illustrations and her work almost always includes some form of pun.

5. Sophie Corrigan illustrations. Hers are different to Gemma Corrells because hers are more cute and girly. They are mostly based on animals.