Ice in London!

Another trip into London with Mr. Reiss Cleal.. oh wait sorry.. another FREEZING COLD, icy, snowy, hail stones, rain and windy day in London with Mr. Reiss Cleal.. that’s better.

Arrived at Fenchurch street station via the nice comfortable, quick C2C train.. no terrible tube for us today! Took a stroll across Tower Bridge and at this moment the sun was still out, although the wind was picking up…

The aim of this London trip was to find Nissan’s latest advertising campaign.

At Potters Fields, in between the mayors office and Tower Bridge, Nissan had built up giant ice cubes around its latest “Nissan Cube” car the campaign was titled “cube in a cube”. The idea is, that over a period of 3 days the ice gradually melts down to reveal the car. I thought this sounded like quite an interesting opportunity for some pictures and even some filming for my video podcast. It was however a little bit of a disappointment… I was expecting a car completely stuck fast in a giant ice cube, it was however as I said above, a lot of giant ice blocks about 1.5 feet in length by 0.5 in height stacked up around the vehicle.

I have one photo to show you of the ice cube, it is not a very flattering image, nor one of any real quality, coming from someone who would like to call himself a photographer but none-the-less – here it is:

After our visit to the “cube in a cube” (that name really is the best thing about it) we walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern. I was not looking forward to this, as it would be my second visit and the first time was one time too many, but it was free so we went. As I predicted the best thing about the Tate was the fact it was warm inside and I was able to use a decent toilet. How people can call (most of) that art I do not know.

Nando’s warmed me up further with a spicy chicken before setting off home.

Overall an interesting day, quite enjoyable, if not overly productive. Going into London is always fun though. I left with one other image that I am happy with and I share that with you here:

Tom out!

CWDC “Be the Difference” campaign!

The Children’s workforce development council (CWDC) has recently launched a new advertising campaign called “Be the Difference” which has attracted my interest. So much so that I actually go out of my way to read them, and find myself looking at every bus shelter advert, just to see if there is a new one…

To read the FULL REVIEW please visit Theoretically Interesting.

Tom out!

Kinetica Art Fair!

I went with Reiss Cleal to the Kinetica art fair in London today.

To read a FULL REVIEW visit my new blog Theoretically Interesting!

It was a very interesting experience; plenty of things to look at, interact with and lots of lights plus sounds. Went there with the intention of getting some photography, although came away with more filmed material for my first Graphic Design pod cast (due out March 1st). It was more of a place to look and touch rather than take pictures. I came away with a couple of images none-the-less and here they are…

Tom out!

Barnardos Icon…No.2 Complete!

Well… after much worrying about getting at least one more icon finished and sent off to the Barnardos/Cardiff Half Marathon competition, I managed to get my act together and complete the design of number 2 (number 2 also being the final one I am going to send to them).

Lately I have got very involved in personal ventures and my attempt to “brand” myself… this has been quite an enjoyable experience and very exciting, although at the same time frustrating, because my college work is suffering.

Since finding out I was only 3% from a 1st in my theory module I have taken it upon myself to massively improve on that side of the course in the hope of getting into the 70’s for my next theory module.

Anyway.. here is the second finished logo that i have officially sent into the competition.

Tom out!

Barnardos Icon… No.2 Idea Development!

My initial development and ideas for my second submission for the Barnardos/Cardiff Half Marathon brief.

To read what the brief is about and to view the first completed design please Click here.

[UPDATE]- Further advancements of the logo.  I have smoothed the dragon wings and person, making for a simpler, more effective logo. I have also added in some thicker lines to add perspective.

Tom out!

Barnardos Icon…No.1 Complete!

Hey guys,

As i mentioned in an earlier post i am working on a brief for Cardiff Half Marathon and Barnardos, to produce an icon which will evoke the marathon to its fullest and enhance it into being one of the main UK and  world marathons.

I have completed my first logo design, that being the Daffodil with the speed stripes around the outside.

Please feel free to pass comment on this post as it will help for future tasks.

To view a larger image please Click Here.

Globalisation… an Opinionated Look!

So, the world is increasingly less about individual countries and nationalities and more focused on becoming one collective entity. Is this “team work” or is this simply another form of neo-colonialism?

Globalisation is the process of the world coming together as a whole, the removal of individual countries, organisations and maybe even cultures. This is a bi-product of colonialism, which is, in turn, the process of (mainly) western civilisations moving into poorer countries and practically saying “we own you and all the resources that you hold.”

As more and more countries came together during World War 2 to form larger alliances and trading partnerships the world got a lot smaller. Technologies such as the aeroplane and cruise ships added to this process, and as people were able to move more freely around the world and explore other areas, it became increasingly harder for individual countries and dictatorships to keep hold of power and separate themselves from the world.

Of course there still exists firm dictatorships and separation of culture in today’s global society, North Korea for example keeps its borders shut from most outside interference (mainly western countries like USA and UK,) but the availability of mobile phones and the internet is making it increasingly hard for these countries to keep their business in and the outside world out.

China, as another example, is a dictatorship although one that is becoming increasingly dependent on the outside world for its own sustainability. The Chinese government wants to keep full power over its citizens whilst being able to openly trade with the world. I see this as an impossibility, because already, China has access to the internet (although censored heavily across the nation) meaning they can access things from the outside world and see what lies beyond Chinese boarders. The increase in tourism into China adds to this issue and also the increased level of Chinese people exploring the world and coming to western countries.

Globalisation has some positive points, one of which being that global war as a whole has decreased due to the closeness of large groups and organisation such as the UN (United Nations) and EU (European Union), less smaller entities, like North Korea and communist Cuba, exist. However it has been a cause of a few radical extremist terrorist groups forming such as Al Qaeda.

Another positive is the standardisation of technology across a worldwide basis, different industrial companies across the world can communicate to try and make their products work together to make life easier for consumers all round. An example of this is mobile phone chargers; they want to bring in a standard charging connection point for all mobile phones.

In conclusion I think globalisation can be a good thing in some situations and a bad thing in others. For example, the bringing together of lots of countries into one organisation can be a good peace keeper and problem resolver, although this does further alienate countries that are not part of the group.  Differences between international and individual country laws can create problems for communities when companies take advantage of corrupt governments to get their own way, an example being when Coca Cola went into India and used their main drinking water source to supply their product with water and only gave back sewerage.

Barnardos Icon Progression!

I thought i would upload a post which shows what i have been doing for my barnardos brief so far.

The brief is to design an icon for the Cardiff Half Marathon, which is an event run by Cardiff council but organized by the children’s charity barnardos.

They would like a serious looking icon, which evokes the marathon and its ties with Wales.

Here is my idea so far: I have used a basic daffodil shape as this is the national flower, and the stripes are used to try and evoke speed.

Tom out!

Africa Type Experiment!

This is the latest type experiment that I have played with.

It is yet unfinished and this is just the initial stage of the design. I would like to create a whole typeface in this style.

I have tried to evoke Africa through the use of sharp triangles, the reason for this is i feel this shape represents africa best. A tough place to live, hard terrain, elephants tusks, dead trees, the bones of dead animals, spears of tribes and the teeth of predatory animals.

For a larger view click here!

Tom out!

Stop Motion – Plates

Another Stop Motion i made with some old plates which were going to be thrown out.

Tom out!