Personal Statement

I have submitted a selection of my work from both my previous A-Level Product Design course and also my current Art and Design course as well as other projects I have been a part of. Some of these projects include; a brief to redesign my schools 6^th form prospectus; a book arts project which required me to create a book, based on Elvis Presley. Other pieces of work, which I have submitted, have come from life drawing classes and project briefs from a short introduction to photography.

I enjoyed these projects and felt that I improved my drawing skills and confidence as an artist especially whilst taking part in life drawing classes. My knowledge of art, design and the areas that are available to me has widened, however I feel that graphic design is still my forte as I feel the most comfortable and happy with this area. I feel I have gained a lot so far and I can either relate or use my knowledge gained from my previous art and design subjects or projects, and aim it towards my future career in graphic design.

As I have only recently started my graphic design, and digital imaging project briefs, I don’t as of yet have any work to show for them because I am only in the research stages of the projects. My digital imaging brief requires me to redesign the Fray Bentos brand, to do this I am creating a new advertising campaign, which involves me creating adverts using Photoshop and possibly new packaging for the brand. My Graphic Design brief is to make a propaganda poster on a recent world event such as the swine flu epidemic or the global recession.

I am interested in studying graphic design at Manchester Metropolitan University as I like how the course is studio-based and offers pathway options, opening the wide variety of areas within graphic design. As well as the course suiting to the method in which I learn, the university is in the center of a thriving city of culture and history.

A2 Product Design - Travel Storage

For my A2 Product Design project I had to redesign a product of my choice, my product area was multi-use, travel storage and organisers. My product was a fold-up table which had a storage unit below the table top, this  was designed to be used by someone in the back seats of a car so that it could be securely attached to the back of the seat in front.

Life Drawing

  

 

     

       

Whilst on my current course, I take part in life drawing classes. This involves drawing both a male or a female model in a variety of mediums, such as pastels, charcoal and pencil; as well as concentrating on different aspects like proportion and skin tone. I feel that these sessions have greatly improved my accuracy in drawing, confidence and my general drawing ability.

Pop-Up Card

While studying on my Art and Design Foundation course, one of my projects was to design and make a pop-up card based on an artist, designer or architect. My pop-up card was based on architect Daniel Libeskind. I was influenced by some of his drawings as they feature angles and lines, as shown on the first image I have presented which is the front of the card. Also, unusual angles are a key feature in the design of many of his buildings, which have an irregular shape as well as being covered by sheet metal to give the buildings an unusual finish. The bottom image is one of my mock ups but it clearly shows the pop-up design.

For this project I had to design and make a piece of jewellery and a presentation box based on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. My main influence was his famous 'rose design' which featured in some of his work such as one of his stained glass windows.

Product Design - Mobile Phone

This project involved ergonomically designing a mobile phone which would be suitable for a disabled user, I aimed my project mainly at those who may have joint problems such as arthritis. For example, it has large easy to use buttons and the shape of the phone has been designed to fit naturally and comfortably into the users hands.

Product Design - Mood Lamp

The project brief for this project was to design and make a working mood lamp which used LED bulbs, and the design had to be based on either a classic design or a piece of architecture. My lamp design was based on the above building in Kuwait.

Photography

Here is some of my work from a 4week rotation of photography in college, the theme for this brief was structures, in which I focused my work on natural structures. The first image shows one of my development pages where I was creating test strips so I could work out how long my film should be exposed to light, to successfully develop my film. The other two images in this post are of some of my developed photographs.

Research Pages

Here are some research pages from various projects. The top page presented is from my current graphic design project which is to create a propaganda poster on a current world event. The second page I have presented is from a Fine Art project which was based on an overall theme of 'Heroes', which was used for all subjects in that term at college. My 'Hero' was Elvis Presley, this then led me to research pop-art as he was a major part of popular culture in the 1950 - 60's.

Book Art

For this project I learnt the craft of constructing books, by learning bounding and folding techniques. I then used this knowledge to create an interesting book based on the overall theme for that term at college 'Heroes', my 'hero' was Elvis Presley.

6th Form Prospectus Project

As part of extra curricular activities within 6th form I worked in a small team which redesigned the school's 6th form prospectus. My main role in this was to chose the layout and what photographs should be presented.