Four Deadlines & a Dinner

Ellie Woodman – Folie à deux

Four Deadlines & a Dinner was a MOTH collaborative practice project working with 20 Stage 2 Graphic Design students within the School of Communication Design along with external partners from medicine, palliative care, writing, design for the live environment and VR. During this four week period, students worked across a range of death & design projects, they discussed and delivered ideas and potential solutions relating to end of life experiences.

With Dr Mark Taubert Clinical Director/Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff, we explored how visual communication designers and medics could benefit from sharing knowledge and skills to impact on policy and practice with regard to end of life matters, in particular with patients with life limiting illness and their choices regarding DNACPR. The work produced from this will be exhibited at the Bevan Commission Health and Social Welfare Conference in Wales in September 2017.

In collaboration with Ben James, Creative Director at Jotta Design and Anna Kiernan a Senior Lecturer in Writing, we considered our own personal eulogies and innovative ways in which to store our digital selves as either a digital future or digital archive beyond our physical life.

MOTH hosted a Death Over Dinner party, where our guests were invited to eat and engage in meaningful conversations and questions about the end-of-life, we also held a film night where we screened Afterlife, by Hirokazu Kore-eda: Newly deceased find themselves in a way station somewhere between Heaven and Earth. With the help of caseworkers, each soul is given three days to choose one memory from their life that they will relive for eternity. The project also included a tour of artist’s graves at Falmouth Cemetery run by Glyn Winchester from Falmouth Art Gallery.

Theo Penrice – Childish Perspectives:
Wrong But Not Forgot
James Cook – To Top it Off
Poppy Andruskevicius – I’m never drinking
again

Haruka Kondo_ What do I want to do?

Joe Arnold – Pair No 8

AVTUR at J G Ballard Day

First year Graphic Design students Paul Merritt, Dylan Young, Reuben Morley and Alex Bassett have worked together on two group projects: BAUEN and AVTUR.

Our first project BAUEN, was the realisation of a micro-nation for which we designed a 63 page book documenting a dystopian village based on the write/re-write motion of a computer hard disc. BAUEN designers constantly build and demolish to satisfy their modernist creative aesthetic indulging themselves in continual updates with no care for inhabitants or environment. Design is all.

After BAUEN we decided to work together again for an end of term film project. We were asked to make a 60-90 second film on the theme of ‘A new experience’. Alex, Reuben and Dylan had never read the work of J G Ballard before. Taking the RE/SEARCH Ballard special and ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ as our starting point we began to look for film locations in Cornwall. We accessed M.O.D. facilities and hung out in car parks. We found concrete structures near tin mines and irrigation structures in fields. Finally we pieced together the 90 seconds of vision and sound that is AVTUR. The film was shown at the end of year Graphics Oscars where it won an Oscar for ‘Best Cinematography’

The J G Ballard Day conference took place on Saturday 24 June at Birmingham City University with the theme J.G. Ballard and Making, our film AVTUR was accepted as part of the yearly academic event. This one-day, multidisciplinary symposium showcased student projects at Birmingham University alongside academic papers and other creative responses to Ballard from elsewhere.

Objects, artefacts, performances, papers and discussion panels that respond to any aspect of making in J G Ballard’s work were included in the day’s events. Our film was shown as part of a visual and film themed section of the day where several films were shown and followed by questions and discussion. AVTUR was shown twice and we had an excellent reaction from other contributors. We answered many of interesting questions regarding both the technical side of the making of the film and the creative links to the themes of the world of J  G Ballard.

It was a great opportunity to find out what kind of reaction our film would have from Ballard scholars and to find out if we were successful in translating at least some of the feeling and ideas present in his work. It was also a fantastic opportunity to spend some time in the beautiful modern building where we presented our film.

After the event its organiser Dr Thomas Knowles (Birmingham City University) said that AVTUR was “A really excellent addition to alternative cinema influenced by Ballard. AVTUR really captures the mood/tone of his works” He also confirmed that “It went down a treat” in a posting on his blog about J G Ballard day.

Falmouth Graduate wins Design Week 17 Rising Star award

BA(Hons) Graphic Design graduate Katie Cadwallader, now a designer at Supple Studio, has been awarded ‘Rising star’ at this year’s Design Week Awards. Now in its 26th year, the Design Week Awards are the leading accolade in the design industry. The Rising Star Award is open to those who’ve been in the design industry for up to three years and aims to discover the design industry stars of the future.

“To be recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ is incredible for so many reasons. I’ve been subscribed to Design Week since college so seeing my name up there with some of the world’s greatest designers will take a long time to adjust to. It’s a category in which you have to be nominated by someone – in my case, our clients at Royal Mail and my boss. That in itself was compliment enough.

So many people can take credit for this award – starting with the lecturers on the BA(Hons) Graphic Design course at Falmouth who nurtured me both in my work and in my transition into adulthood. The teachings from Falmouth about the power of ideas and the importance of work ethic, stand me in great stead. I swapped this support system for that of my colleagues at Supple Studio, who constantly push me to be bolder, take risks and have conviction in my work.

No one said it more succinctly than Kevin Spacey bizarrely, “If you’re lucky enough to do well, you have to send the elevator back down” So thanks to everyone who gave me a lift.”

We are extremely proud of Katie’s achievement, which is well deserved. Katie is the fourth Falmouth Graphic Design student to receive this accolade. Previous winners of this award have been Craig Oldham, Josh Turner and Phil Skinner.

Design Dice

‘…Design Dice are a tool to help the creative process – to aid design thinking, idea generation & problem-solving…’

Created by Andy Neal (Senior Lecturer, and former course co-ordinator at Falmouth University) they are the result of over 25 years of experience as a graphic designer & teacher, and have grown out of a deep belief in the value of encouraging creativity in others.

‘…The main idea is simple. The dice work when you need a change in direction, are feeling stuck, or want to take a lateral leap in your thinking. You roll one (or more) of the dice – which offers a key-word ‘prompt’, and invites a series of creative responses, encouraging breadth and depth to your thinking. Every word is ‘interpreted’ by you in the light of the project you are working on, so the meaning of each suggestion changes due to the context. Even though there are a ‘fixed’ number of words, there are arguably an infinite number of combinations…’

The resulting dice have been tested over the past three years with undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate designers from a range of creative disciplines (not just graphic design), and are now live on KickStarter (hopefully) ahead of going into production.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/303501430/design-dice

 

 

Stage 1 Graphic Design Oscars 2017

Stage 1 Graphic Design were set a collaborative film project entitled: I’ve Never Seen Star Wars. The project was based on a comedy talk show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and hosted by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, where in each episode a celebrity guest tries out experiences that are new to them, but common to many others. The title comes from the show’s producer and creator, Bill Dare, having never seen the Star Wars films.

Teams were asked to deliver a 60-90 second short film demonstrating playful, compelling story telling. Continuing in the spirit of Stage 1, they were asked to embrace risk and experimentation, (but, it also had to be: a. within the law, b. safe and c. decent for public viewing. Most of this criteria was met!).

We celebrated the films at our annual Red Carpet Oscars event on Thursday 25th May. The films were funny, beautifully shot and edited with some skillful post production techniques. They revealed great talents, showed brilliant collaborative practice and were above all thoroughly entertaining. It was a great end to a great year group who now enter into Stage 2 in Sept, looking forward to the next set of challenges and new experiences on offer at Falmouth.

18 Films were shown and the judges had a very difficult job of shortlisting the Oscar winners down to 5:

Best Cinematography and Post Production

Avtur- A film based on the first impressions of the writings of J G Ballard: Alex Bassett, Paul Merritt, Reuben Morley, Dylan Young.

Best Action Movie

Learn to skate. Emma Barraclough, Martha Galilee, Annie Haines, Rachel Potter.

Film that most honoured the brief! (+ most records broken).

Never have I Ever. Millie Hacket, Andy Horner, Fern Partridge, Amy Shortis.

Best Directors Cut

I’ve never danced in public, I’ve never cooked before, I’ve never drawn a perfect circle. Tom Benford, Abii Birkett, Matthew Cannon, Suin Lee.

Best Film

I’ve Never Made a Film. Connor Edwards, Tom Heath, James Hopkinson, Emily Sorrel.

Graphic Design Summer Show 2017

The BA(Hons) Graphic Design degree show celebrated the breadth and diversity of work from our graduating students from the class of 2017.

It was great to see a show so full of challenging, provocative and successful projects including three students nominated for D&AD New Blood awards. The rich array of work on display showcased many areas within the discipline, including – amongst others – branding & identity, design for social change, user experience, editorial design and typography.

You can see many of the graduate projects from the Class of 2017 here: http://newblood.falmouth.ac.uk/

 

Creative Advertising Summer Shows 2017

There was a very broad mix of work showing in the Creative Advertising Summer Show reflecting the highly diverse media environment today’s advertising creatives inhabit.

John Baggot and Sam Huckle’s Creative Advertising work on display at the Falmouth University Grad shows. Falmouth University, Woodlane, Falmouth, UK, 19/05/17

Harry Crotty and Sam Turnell’s Creative Advertising work being exhibited at the Falmouth University Grad Show. Falmouth University, Woodlane, Falmouth, UK, 19/05/17

Work exhibited included films and TV commercials, radio commercials, print campaigns, websites, digital advertising, social media campaigns, experiential and events, new product concepts, brand work and packaging.

To be a top advertising creative today you certainly have to be versatile.

 

RSA Vaults Portfolio Review Night

Each year, we have the privilege of hosting a Portfolio Reception Evening for our final year students. Traditionally, this falls in the last 4 weeks of our teaching year – just ahead of the students completing their work and submitting it all for assessment.

The event was held earlier this year due to a changing timetable at our end, the lateness of Easter, and was disrupted by the fallout of mindless Terrorist attacks, but was no less valuable for all involved.

The venue has (for many years now) been at the RSA Vaults building in central London, and our ‘portfolio evening’ is now affectionally known as ’The Vaults’ in the minds of the designers who attend each year.

It’s a significant time for a number of reasons – the opportunity for our burgeoning designers to rehearse talking about their work and respond to feedback from some of the UK’s leading agencies. It also allows industry the chance to see up-and-coming designers in their prime and to take the opportunity to build key relationships that lead to placements, internships and – occasionally, the first job offer.

Our course has always been based on the premise that – at the end of the day, both the design ‘industry’ and design ‘education’ is very much about people, with names and faces and stories to tell, and we have worked hard over many years to build connections & relationships that have weathered many-a-storm. We continue to value everyone who gives us their time and support each year, and this feeds directly into our students’ experience of studying with us, complimenting the regular support they receive back on-campus at University.

At the end of the day, the event is at it’s most rewarding at both the beginning, and end of the evening. The beginning, as you watch nervous faces anticipating the next four hours ‘Can I do this?’, ‘Will I make a fool of myself?’,  ‘What if no-one likes what I’ve done?’, and then the end, as those same people are literally set-to-burst with the knowledge that they’ve been there, done it, and got the reward; ‘I can…’, I didn’t…’ and ‘They loved it…’.

Future Creative Stars

Congratulations to advertising students Arif Abdillah and Roan Laenen who has been short-listed for a ‘Future Lions’ award. This is a tremendous achievement as they were in competition with students from all over the world. Fingers crossed they win it, they’ll be in huge demand if they do.

Student Work Placements

Some of our final year advertising students are starting their careers and they haven’t even graduated yet. Chelsea Thorley and Hannah Fortune have secured a placement at St Lukes and Raquel Frietas Tomé and Charlotte Benbow have secured a placement at Ogilvy and Mather. Well done to both teams. There are other student placements in the pipeline – watch this space.