Exhibition Opening Night and Personal Learning

It was great to see everyone together with their work. The evening was slow to start but it did pick up about an hour before the end. The people there were mainly friends and family but it was still nice for them to see others pieces of work. It was disappointing that none of the businesses that had been contacted turned up be it may turn out that they come later in the week. All in all I think it went well and I am proud of everyone who worked hard to put it together.

Even though most of the modules have involved working as a group, I have never had to work with as large a groups this before. We were split into teams but ultimately it was everyone who had the final decision on things. This meant pleasing 19 other people which is difficult to do. There were a few negative opinions in the group but conflicts were resolved and matters dealt with.

As part of the exhibition team it involved being organised and on top of what needed to be done. Helen was the perfect leader for the group as she is extremely organised. I feel she maybe felt it difficult to delegate tasks but everyone in the group was responsible enough to take on tasks themselves or support Helen by helping her with tasks.

I learnt that the amount of work that goes into an exhibition far exceeds what I expected. It is not until one thing is done that you realise something else needs to be addressed. Once everything is done though it is worth it to see your work displayed and noticed by others.

I have really enjoyed this module however I do feel the week of the exhibition would have been better a week later as this was the week of everyones hand ins.

Exhibition Vinyl Bowls

I came across a video online which shows you how to turn vinyl records into bowls. I thought this would be ideal for the sweets we will be giving out at the exhibition. I spoke to Helen and it was agreed that I would make some:

The vinyls were purchased from a local charity shop. They were placed on top of an oven proof dish and put in the oven for 2 minutes.

Once out of the oven it was pushed down into a large bowl and moulded to give shape.

Portfolio Work

Below are the chooses pieces of work that I chose to put in my portfolio. They mainly consist of photography and Photoshop work that I have done as this is where my best skills lie:

Portfolio Ideas

My portfolio idea consisted of creating business card sized examples of my work to then display so that they fanned out:

Ref: http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/promotional_article.php

To be able to do this design I needed to find quotes from companies who would eyelet the business cards. After contacting different companies I had a quote for £859. This was beyond my student budget and so I thought of ways to do this myself.

Eyeleting machines can be bought from lots of different retailers:

Ref: http://signworld.en.china.cn/selling-leads/detail,1079427130,grommet-machine.html

I watched and read many things on how to eyelet and considered giving it a trial run. However, when I went to order my business cards I came across this:

This is a business card holder which fans out. It did not work in the same way that I had hoped but I felt with the time given it could work.

I idea would be to place one of my business cards either side of the middle slot to show both sides and then insert my portfolio in the middle.

New CV

After discussing my CV with Mariana, a few changes were made:

In the Post...

Today my business cards arrived with a few little extras which should help with the coming together of my portfolio. I am pleased with the outcome and relieved that there were no mistakes!

Invites

Stephen brewers had been designing the invites, a few adjustments were done by myself to change the date and Anglia Ruskin logo. These were sent out to the list of companies. Anna also helped with this task by sending some out to other companies she had found.

CV

I wanted to keep my CV clean and simple like my business card. I used the same colours to keep consistency. 

Possible Finished Business Card

Yellow line = Safe Zone

Red line = Trim Line

Blue line = Full Bleed

I decided to go with orange as my main colour because it was the one colour which had meanings linked to my brainstorm about me. I also felt like the black and orange was a good combination and helped it stand out.

I chose to just use the outline of the elephant so that it was not so defined, I also decided to keep only the head of the elephant within the trim line. I felt this gave it a less obvious feel so that it did not end up taking over the card. At first I was not sure about the uneven lines of the elephant but now I actually like it.

Personal Blog

I have created a personal blog as I have not yet been able to set up my own website. This is temporary but I have done the best I can to set it out as though it were my own website.

http://katfitzpat.blogspot.co.uk

I have also set up a separate email address to link to the blog.

Business Card Ideas

Rounded edge business card with logo and full name. Still not sure I like having my whole name on the front.

Trying out the logo with texture - when printed it was not as effective.

Originally the back of the card just had my contact details on but I felt this did not say much about what I can do - decided to add a strip of key words.

Rounded edge business card with logo and shortened name. Elephant still has texture which I like, but only on screen (shame!). Definitely prefer the shortened name.

Back detail with texture - does not look as good as on elephant.

List of Company Invites for the Exhibition

List of Possible Design Companies

• Space & Time Design - (http://www.spaceandtimedesign.com) - Digital Design Agency (Chelmsford)
• Mischievous Media - (http://www.mismedia.com) - Creative Digital Agency (Leigh On Sea)
• 2D Media - (http://www.2dmedia.co.uk) - Web Design (Rivenhall)
• Enovate - (http://www.enov8.co.uk) - Web Design (Chelmsford)
• Yellow Duck - (http://www.yellowduckwebdesign.co.uk) - Web Design (Chelmsford)
• Heart New Media - (http://www.heartnewmedia.com) - Web Design Agency (Maldon)
• Zero Above - (http://www.zeroabove.co.uk) - Web, Graphic and Branding (Bures)
• Full Circle Media - (http://www.full-circle-media.co.uk) - Video Production (Witham)
• Rider Comms - (http://www.ridercomms.co.uk/about.php) - Communications Design Manufacturer (Braintree)
• Rendertime - (http://www.rendertime.co.uk/) - 3D Visualisation Consultants, specialising in product and interior design (Chelmsford)
• Retail Design Solutions - (http://www.retaildesignsolutions.com/) - Computer Aided Design and Building Surveys (Colchester) - Have vacancies for junior CAD Technicians
• GBL Associates - (http://www.gbl-associates.com/) - Bespoke Manufacturer (Witham)
• K2A - (http://www.k2a.co.uk/) - Acrylic Fabrication Specialists (Bishop Stortford)
• Rubber Cheese - (http://www.rubbercheese.com/)  - Design Agency (Herts)
• Elan - (http://www.elancm.co.uk/) - Digital and Creative Marketing Specialists (Little Bentley)
• Tonic - (http://www.toniconline.co.uk) - Design House (Colchester)
• Mackman Group - (http://www.mackmangroup.co.uk/) - Research, PR, Marketing and Graphic Design (Sudbury & Colchester)
• Juice - (http://juicecreative.co.uk/contact/) - Graphic/Web Design (Herts)
• Coverdale Studios - (http://www.coverdalestudios.co.uk/) - Multi Media Company (Colchester)
• NBS Studio - (http://www.nbs-studio.com/) - Promotion Video Production Company (Sudbury)
• Pixie Vision - (http://www.pixievision.co.uk/index.html) - Video Production (Colchester)
• Take 1 Productions - (http://www.take1.co.uk) - Video Production/Editing/Design (Chelmsford)
• Graphic Evidence - (http://www.graphic-evidence.co.uk) - Creative branding,Web Design and Marketing (Ongar)
• Impact Media Design - (http://www.impactmediadesign.co.uk) - Creative branding,Web Design and Marketing (Canvey Island)
• New Brand Media - (http://www.newbrandmedia.com) - Digital Agency (Saffron Waldon)
• Coker - (http://www.cokerbranddesign.com) - Brand Design (Brentwood)
• The Complete Media Co - (http://www.thecompletemediacompany.co.uk) - Design Agency (Braintree)
• Shout - (http://www.shout-sf.co.uk) - Design Company (Leigh on Sea)

Logo Sketch

After looking at many elephant logos I came up with two basic ideas:

I sent this image to various family and friends and asked them to choose which one they felt was "more me". It was a unanimous decision (and secretly the one I had hoped for myself), and so, the winner is...

The main feedback was that although both were simple the winner looked more like an elephant and was less masculine in it's design. I personally preferred this one as I felt it flowed better, the design was one continuous line which I felt gave it more stability and definition.

My Second and Third Exhibition Pieces

This image will represent my second exhibit which is a soundscape called: A Paris Metro Journey

This is my third exhibit piece which is a render of my 3D Character 'Sonny' 

 I was hoping to be able to show the animation for this piece but as it is a third year project and time is going so quickly I decided to stick with a still image.

It's all about me...

I have decided that as part of my personal branding I would like a logo that represents ME! After giving it a few thoughts and ideas I have decided to go with the basic image of an elephant.

From since I can remember I have always regarded the symbol of an elephant with it's trunk raised as good luck (let's face it, in this job market I will be needing all the luck I can get). Before I confirmed my choice I did a little research and came to realise that elephants are also regarded as symbols of strength and determination, these words were all power words that I had chosen to describe myself so it couldn't have worked out any better!

Colours That Present Me!

Words That Describe Me!

The Chosen Exhibition Theme

As a class it was decided that the Graphics Teams exhibition theme would be best to pursue. This theme was 'Retro'. The theme had a lot of scope for providing a great exhibition and now that it has been decided we are able to continue with designs and advertising the event.

As members of the exhibition team Steve and I were delegated the task of contacting newspapers for support in advertising. Steve provided me with a mock letter which could be sent by email to the newspapers. Polly also gave me some graphics so that I was able to give the email some life.

This was then forwarded to several newspapers, I have yet to here back from any but will chase the email with a phone call.

My Exhibit Work

After considering what I would like to exhibit there are only a few pieces which I would feel comfortable displaying to future employers.

The first piece would be from my Digital Imaging Module:

The second piece would be from my Advanced Sound Techniques Module where I produced a 3 minute soundscape for a Paris Metro Journey

The third piece will hopefully be my animation from my third year module 3D Character Animation.

The Exhibition Theme Presentation

As part of the exhibition team we all had to decide upon a theme to present to the rest of the groups in the module. Our group met up to decide on a final theme from what we had all come up with. A few ideas that had been suggested were:

• Film
• The 80s
• A Charity

We created a table for each theme and decided on the pros and cons. Our chosen theme was Film. We then delegated tasks to individuals within the group to contribute towards the presentation. I was asked to research lighting possibilities for the theme. It was decided that Tracey would gather the information and present it with Helen.

Facebook Group

The Exhibition Group has created a Facebook group which allows us to keep in touch when we are not at uni. Below is some ideas that I had thought about and posted to the group:

" Things I would like to exhibit:

·         Photographs from our Digital Imaging module (possibly including my dissertation photographs).

·         My sound piece from Advanced Sound Techniques (I know it’s not visual but I think it would be cool to have some kind of sound station!? Plus it is the one piece of work that I don’t mind sharing with randomers!).

·         Third one to be considered.

I like the idea of photographs of everyone; I’m thinking we could make it a little more interesting. Have you ever seen those photographs using a laptop with a picture of the image on? We could do a similar thing holding up a laptop with a picture of our face already on....that was hard to explain so I attached a link. I also have a D60 at home if it makes it easier? I’m not sure the studio is available still but perhaps we could do it in front of a brick wall for example to make it a bit more interesting than a white background (depending on theme). I’m literally just reeling off ideas here so feel free to shoot me down lol.

(Smashing Magazine Online)

I am quite happy to put in £20 to help funds as putting money in our selves would save a lot of time and effort. At the end of the day I think it is a waste of time organising an event to make money to organise another event. If everyone is willing to do that it would give us around £600 to play with. I think £600 could get us far providing we haggle a few things.

I think there should be at least two people in charge of finances as more than that would probably be unnecessary.  This would be quite a big task but key decisions can be made as a group and then those in charge of the outgoings can way up what it would cost and if it is possible.

Maybe we should make a list of our strengths and weaknesses as individuals for  Wednesday and work out from there what the exhibition will need from us and who is best dealing with those tasks.

We should also decide on the important invites first. I’m not sure about you guys but I’d rather have companies with the potential to hire me there than family. We should have a group of around 3 to maybe take on this task? Contacting local companies such as Britvic (in Chelmsford and always advertising), Heart FM? I work for Cineworld who help Heart FM advertise, maybe I could have a word... May as well think big, what is there to lose? We could also get the graphics team to knock up some leaflets and go into companies. Persistence is key!

Definitely need to get an idea of space. Maybe we could take a trip to the mezzanine and get a visual then maybe try and speak to someone about floor plan."

• Today I emailed Martin Case to see if he would have an idea of where we can get the floorplans from.

Exhibition Ideas

Optical Illusions

• Using optical illusions to give the space we have been provided with a bigger feel.
• Use of mirrors and wall dividers.
• Could be visually impressive and interesting.

Futurism

• Using images to give the flow of movement around the room.
• Abstract images.
• Lots of  bold colours.

Splitting into Groups

The exhibition would be created through three groups, the exhibition organisers, the website creators and the graphics team. Even though we will be apart of three groups we will still need to communicate with each other to ensure that everyone is on the same path.

I decided to join the exhibition team as I feel my skills lie in organisation and interacting with others. I feel as though this could be a really interesting experience.