'Learning to love more'

'Learning to Love you more' is a book I stumbled across whilst having a "quick look" in Borders. It's photography and endearing name meant that this particular book warranted a peek. After reading the introduction I bought the book. 'Learning to Love you more' is made from the general publics response to assignments set by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. All these completed works were then published in this book. The assignments are intended to guide people towards their own experience. For example one assignment reads 'Write a phone call you wish you could have.' With so many people providing a variety of outcomes the collected work shows many different styles and interpretations. What is perhaps most interesting about the book is how the different lives and backgrounds of each person reflects the different work that is created. Seeing so many talented designs/artists/photographers respond to the same question is fascinating.

(Learning To Love You More is also an ever-changing series of exhibitions, screenings and radio broadcasts presented all over the world.)

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a dream follows the paralleled lives of four individuals and their addiction to heroin, cocaine and diet pills.It shows the direct and indirect effects that drugs and various addictions have on each of the individuals, and then portrays their downward spirals from their hopes and dreams. What I found inspiring about this film was it's abilities to push the boundaries when representing the effects of drugs on the body. By playing with camera angles and effects, lighting and narrative director Darren Aronofsky created some very effective visuals to go with this impactful storyline.

Love New York

This summer I was lucky enough to visit New York for a third time. Having had to previous trips there and still not seen everything I had wanted I was determined to get up early every morning and explore. Art museums were my first targets before visiting the other tourists attractions. After being overwhelmed by time square on my first visit I was now used to the fast moving city and the typical new yorker. In New York inspiration can be drawn from everywhere. I hope to move to New York on a permanent basis some day to experience this forward thinking culture. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Having heard a lot about this film I felt I should have a look for myself. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind was released in 2004 and was directed by Michael Gondry. Eternal Sunshine picked up numerous Saturn awards, as well as an two oscars for best writing and original screenplay. Eternal Sunshine follows the story of a couple who undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship ends. The film, which takes place mainly in Joel's (Jim Carrey) mind replays events from his relationship with Clementine (Kate Winslet) who has had all memories of him erased. We see the events unfold from most recent to oldest memories. Whilst each memory is recovered by Joel they are erased within by the medical procedure. It is only when Joel replays all his past does he realize what he has lost, and decides he no longer wants to erase Clementine. It is at this point in the film where it's creativity is at his strongest- in an attempt to save his memories he tries to hide Clementine's memories in places where she does not belong. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind takes a clever story line and produces a radical example of Maze cinema- in which the story is told backwards. This film keeps you guessing at every turn and you are desperate to see how this story ends. 

Madame Tussaud's, London

The world famous Madame Tussaud's is definitely somewhere a hopeful designer should go. I was astounded at the attention to detail and the careful observation that was used in order to re-create famous characters. It was however quite expensive on entry, and is not a place you would want to re-visit but is a good place to go for the one-off experience.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

After visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield I was impressed by the scale and attention to detail of each sculpture. Although it is only home to a small number of artists the Yorkshire Sculpture park is a great place to visit for inspiration when working in 3D. Designers Edward Padozzi and Antony Gormley (famous for his design of the Angel of the North) have work on display here, with a large section of work dedicated to Gormley. A great place to visit on a warm day!

National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford

The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, in Bradford displays a variety of information ranging from the earliest television footage, stories behind photography, and early animation. It's interactive displays means that you can get involved and request what television, film and animation clips you would most like to see. The museum has a number of permanent galleries, temporary exhibitions and three cinemas-including an i-Max. During my trip I was intriged by the 3D i-max screen so requested that we go see a show. Although the show was on sea life (something that I'm not particulary interested in) I was impressed by the 3D animation and the general experience. With an interest in photography I spent a lot of time reading the background information that explained the certain images. An excellent place of reference when learning about the media.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a place in which I would recommend to anyone looking to take high quality photography. The overall architecture is impressive and there are some innovative building designs to be seen. e.g. Arcam information centre.

Guggenheim, New York

During my time in New York I made sure I had enough time to visit various museums- the Guggenheim being at the top of my list. What is most striking about this museum is it's architecture. It's famous swirled design has inspired many other building and places to have a similar structure e.g. The City of Manchester stadium built for the commonwealth games and home to Manchester City football club have used a similar ramp designs to enable people to get from different levels. The work displayed inside the building provides a wide variety of styles and features, although is not as big as the MoMA I preferred the museum layout and overall experience. 

Gaudi Architecture, Barcelona

During the summer I organized a trip to Barcelona, whilst I was there I made sure I was able to visit the Gaudi museum. Within the museum there is a small, mock version of the actual building which was used when designing it's layout. Its impressive, and well thought out plans show the thought processes behind this unusual design. On the top floor of the museum you are able to look out across Barcelona whilst surrounded by Gaudi sculptures. If the sculptures weren't enough to look at there is always the surrounding scenery which I believed to be equally inspiring. A must see for any designer!

"5 Preview"

When reading Dazed Digital I came across an article on the new brand known as "5Preview." Keeping their sir-names secret two graduate students met and decided to make their own brand. In the recent interview with Dazed Digital designers Emeli and Diego described how the idea of '5Preview' came about. "We did a T-shirt turning the classical Chanel logo upside down, took a picture of us wearing it and put it on MySpace with no intentions whatsoever. In the next days we got so many requests from all over the world of people who wanted to buy that shirt that we decided to organise ourselves." After looking at the products that '5Preview' make I emailed the designers to find out about their sale date. Their distinctive t-shirt designs are definitely something to watch out for come spring! 

Fabric night club

Fabric nightclub is based in the Smithfields area of London. Smithfields is an area of London that was heavily hit by the outbreak of the plague and was also home to a number of plague burial sites. With this in mind designer Tom Darracott create a series of characters to represent different aspects of this heritage. For the final mask in the series, Darracott wanted to reference the plague doctors who tended to the victims of the 17th century disease that swept through London. “The long snout would have been stuffed with aromatic herbs and flowers in the belief that the pungent fragrance would protect the wearer from the disease,” says Darracott. “I’d read about the Smithfield area of London, where Fabric is located, so it’s a bit of a historical tribute to the area.”

The use of photography and layout is appropriate for the concept and the visual images are extremely striking and memorable. Darracott has used a small, san-serif font so as not to draw the attention away from the images, with heading and titles in bold with the same point size. He has used aligned columns to organize text and has kept this style consistent throughout. Theses designs were deserved winners of the Creative Review Annual awards for 2008.

Ben Toms Photography

Ben Tom is a London based photographer who's work can often be found in Dazed and Confused magazine. Like Frederick Helwig's work it is often used for fashion layouts-most recently used by clothing brand Penguin. His black and white photos contrast with Helwig's work as do not rely on colour but his photo's are just as effective.

The New Coolbrands book

The annual 'Coolbrands' book and website has seen a complete make-over ahead of it's release next month. Coolbrands will sport a fresh image that will be displayed across a new website and will accompany the flexi-bound Coolbrands book. The interactive design company 'Clusta' were appointed last autumn to design the new look and have created a new bold and modern font for this year, 'We wanted to break away and try something a little more contemporary, so we developed a bespoke font to reflect Coolbrands’ cutting edge reputation, It’s fresh and modern,’ Spokesperson for 'Clusta' also states that ‘the focus of the book had to be the brands themselves, so the grid system we used had to be flexible enough to work around some quite strong images –without giving preferential treatment to any one brand,’ Now in its eighth year, the Coolbrands programme pays tribute to the UK’s 500 coolest brands, judged by a panel of experts and consumers. It's gives a detail description of each brand and reviews their success, as well as displaying fact and figures on sales over past years.

Coolbrands is an excellent reference book when learning about brand design, and as it's free with Dazed and Confused theres no reason not to grab one. The new design is bright and bold, and will stand out more than previous 'Coolbrands' books. It's new font is up to date and modern although text is not as legible as previous designs. 

'Levis creates denim's future'

The brand 'Levis' has always seen huge success from the sales of their distinctive designs, however you should check out some of the new, rather unusual jeans from the 2008 Levi's Red collection. On a quest to challenge the perceptions of jeanswear and create innovative styles in denim, the Levi’s RED designers began by deconstructing a pair of traditional Levi’s 5 pocket jeans and re-interpreting every single part by blowing seams , warping details and playing with proportions. What is also interesting about the new designs is that a hundred percent of materials have been used up, 93% making up the jeans and the 7% of 'wasted' fabric is used to create the bag you take the jeans home in. The early Levis machinists had their own signatures, which meant that no pair created was the same. In these new, and throughly modern designs this is also true meaning your jeans are exclusively yours. In order to promote this product Levis have used poster and postcard designs. Like all Levis adverts the photography used is up to a high standard and is filled with style. 

Assume Vivid Astro Focus

Artists 'Assume Vivid Astro Focus' aka 'AVAF' work in a wide variety of media, creating wallpaper designs, music videos, large-scale installations, t-shirt designs, and floor stickers.  In recent months 'AVAF' have created a new piece in an ignored temple in Rome. This exhibition is inspired by 'energy.' The sculpture in Rome takes the form of scaffolding, layered with colourful images and projections. What is noticeable about designers at 'AVAF' is that they remain anonymous, claiming that they want to be unreachable, "We want to be inclusive, not exclusive. We all like to party together."

Their bright and electric designs means that instalations are always exciting. With their distinctive style the work of 'AVAF' is always likely to catch your eye and is capable of producing memorable exhibitions.

Frederike Helwig

Frederike Helwig's photography can often be found in magazine layouts and covers- featuring in Dazed and Confused on more than one occasion. His bright, refreshing photography provides modern and trendy images and he is often called upon to direct visuals for fashion photography. His used of natural light and shadows help provide complementary and visually pleasing colours within each shot.

'The Knowledge' photography

When I was flicking through The Knowledge television guide I couldn't help but notice the interesting photography that featured on the front cover and throughout the magazine. As 'The Knowledge' is a 7 day television guide I did not expect to see such impressive visuals. I was therefore  pleasantly surprised, something for TV quick to aspire towards. The typography throughout the magazine is constant and a bold san-serif is used- although when text is displayed over certain imagery the white letters are not always legible.

David Hockney Museum, Saltaire Village

Saltaire Village, Bradford was designated a World Heritage Site in 2001. I was attracted to Saltaire Village when hearing about the Hockney exhibition based in one of the renovated mills. As is it only a small space there are not many designs displayed, however the ones that are, are highly inspiring and varied. With a shop selling a range of illustrated books there is no better place to spend a weeks wage.

Carlsberg Sports Drink

Being familiar with Carlsberg beer adverts I was not surprised to find another successful advert connected with the brand. With the recent phone video craze this advert makes you believe that this is all it is, however a clever and intelligent twist makes for a memorable ad.