Daniel Samson

On Thursday I had two sessions, one of which was the VCT session and the other a Letterpress introduction.

The VCT sessions purpose to present a piece of work that had both Text and Image, then talk about why we chose this particular piece. The group then asked questions and discussed it fairly in depth. Some interesting debates arose about the modification of typefaces and whether it is morally correct to do so. Unfortunately only about 2/3 of the class could talk about their choice as we discussed so much, which is a good outcome. I will be talking about mine next week.

The Letterpress introduction was really interesting, although it was cut short by a fire alarm. We set our own names and had a go on the proofing press. Then we started to create a grid on which to place a larger piece of work. This is going to be concluded next week and I will post some pictures and progress then.

So this is the first post of my new blog. This week was my first proper week of the new course I just started, FdA Design for Graphic Communication. So far its been fairly laid back, not too much to do, quite different to working full time as a web designer.

So on the first day we did an all day web 2.0 workshop, building a basic blog using blogger and working as a team, there were other aspects in the morning, such as constructing lists and about writing. I think a major aspect of this was just getting to know people and their skills. Our team did everything together, we headed out onto the streets of Elephant & Castle, then wandered about till we found some interesting spots, most notably a community bike shop, it was closed, but we seem to think its somewhere you can go and build a bike. On the corner connected to it, is a cooperative food shop and information centre. We also came across a coffee shop, some artists studios and a Buddhist centre. We then rushed back with not much time to cobble together our group blog. We got everything on there, but it was rushed, I think we spent too much time trying to find the right images.

Edit: The bikeshop and food co-op is called 56a.

The second day was VCT (Visual & Cultural Theory) a shortening I find a little unnecessary, along with PPD. I think most people find them confusing, lots of people asking what they stand for etc. But I am sure in no time that will change. The class itself was really enjoyable, getting together and discussing the meaning of text & image. A task was set where we had to match up postcards with phrases, then justify it. I found it quite interesting peoples varied ideas on organisation and matching. I think initially we had some really interesting choices, but by the time we democratised it and chose the two we all agreed on, the solutions became quite bland and mediocre. I think it ended up lacking any authorship. I am looking forward to more of this class.

So far, that is all we have done this week, I have another class this afternoon, it is labelled ‘Research’. I shall take a stab in the dark and presume it is a class on how to conduct research for graphic design, as we did on the introductory day with list making. Only time can tell. This week I also had a good look around the library, looking at some of the books I have wanted to see for a while, a book on the visual programming language ‘Processing’ and ‘Grid systems in graphic design’ by Josef Muller-Brockmann. It was nice having access to a wide range of books on all sorts of topics again, something I have really missed.

So thats it for now, a summary of my first week at LCC.