In our creative community, everyone’s experience and journey throughout the course of their degree is unique.
Below you’ll find posts from a selection of students, highlighting some of their favourite moments and projects from their last three years.
I was asked how could it be possible to mark the middle of a line without using any common measuring instruments - only using dots.
I thought about scale – how have we measured the world around us? And is the way we’ve chosen explanatory and clear enough for anyone on earth or beyond be able to understand it?
I looked at the Golden Record that was sent to space in 1977 (with photographs, greetings, sounds on Earth and 90 minutes of music) where it’s assumed that the concept of unit is universal. So I used two units as the basic element that allows to determine half of the line.
A tool to help us look at type and composition as an abstract image - translating specific elements into simple colours. Everything was made by me, by hand in the university workshops.
Its main goal is to convey an abstract and playful way of representing elements on a 2D medium – being text/image/etc: the visual weight of these elements would be represented by colours.
There are five levels of weight available: white, red, green, blue, yellow and black and the grid has 96 squares.
In the end, the user would have an abstract piece of artwork and translate the balanced weight of colours into their desired elements.
A book that illustrates both words "increase" and "decrease".
increase (v.) mid-14c., encresen, “become greater in size or number” (intransitive); late 14c., “cause to grow, enlarge” (transitive), from Latin increscere “to increase, to grow upon, grow over, swell, grow into”.
decrease (n.) late 14c., “detriment, harm;” early 15c. as “a becoming less or smaller”.
Inspired by Josef Albers work “Homage to the Square”, this book has no beginning and by changing its order it alters its meaning to its antonyme.
The brief asked to design a printed publication that celebrates the life and work of Adrian Frutiger.
The Birth of Univers is a book, shaped by the physical structure of the Univers grid, that tells the story of how the typeface was developed. By turning the grid into a three-dimensional piece, the reader is taken on a journey through one of Frutiger’s most important pieces of work. The grid literally unfolds the story of Univers and is illustrated primarily in black and white in accordance with the majority of Frutiger’s work.
WWF Echo is a membership campaign designed to empower its supporters by providing a platform on which they can connect and organise actions.
WWF Echo is a network designed to unify individuals in the effort to protect and nourish the planet and its population. Founded on the idea that actions, both large and small, echo globally, WWF Echo provides a community that values, celebrates and broadcasts the efforts and contributions of every member.
The concept for an interactive library system
Most library systems use the Dewey Decimal system which is a great and very precise tool but it is not visual. We are provided with a 6-7 digit decimal to find our book. The majority of students at the University are very visual, so I thought for my project I would create a new library system. To see the full project and video – visit www.stevenoneil.com
Intent, the power of our words established in one neat typefacetabitharaedesign.com
This typeface explores the meaning behind graphology, showcasing the negative(-) and positive(+) qualities of a persons personality through each distinct letterform. Distinguished in two separate families, Intent- can help send a message in an unpleasant tone while Intent+ showcases a message of encouragement.
Individual Response to a Theme
With the given theme of Design and Ethics, and a brief to create a hypothetical exhibition, this is my individual response. I focused on moral judgement, or right and wrong, creating a tool of self-expression to brand someone’s views.
Group project with classmates to write, design, print and bind a publication with the theme - Design and Ethics.
For my university brief, I was working with a team of 10 to write, design, print and bind a publication addressing Design & Ethics since 1860. As one of the designers of the group, I designed the publication layout and also the front cover in the latter of the project. I worked with: Will Durant, Hannah Dorban, Callum Corless, Minhao Zhang (Theo), Jessica Gohl, Isaiah Haakmat, Hannah Spearman-Oxx, Tegan Price and Samuel Hinckley.
A cross course collaboration with photography
This project was an inspiration driven shoot. We aimed to make Gif images of humans posing as statues. Helping modeling and conducting the movements, photographer Oda and I used this as a test shoot for her final major project.
A 200 page, 7 month long brief, designed book about the power of one and Henry Thoreau's essay on Civil Disobedience. This was submitted for the ISTD competition.Tabitharaedesign.com
This brief, Roots, asked to reconsider a historical text. I chose Civil Disobedience. Through the typography and aesthetic, this book communicates the power of one.
This is a test for an outcome in my final project. I have made two typefaces based on graphology. These floral/thorn sculptures take the ironic route of beauty.
I have designed two typefaces-one showcases the immoral and nasty characteristics in people and the other beautiful traits. I took the ‘mean’ font and sculpted one of the letters in something that the world holds beautiful, and vice versa (with thorns). The ‘g’ in flowers is beautiful-but in its hiddenness and reality it is not.
Stay tuned to see the release of both final typefaces on my website!
A 3D Typography collaborative project, with Perry Rowe, allowing us to learn new processes and team building skills.
The brief was to work collaboratively with Perry Rowe and receive a randomly selected well known person, Jack the Ripper. The task was to take their two initial letters and design and make three dimensional letters which amplify and reflect the essential elements of the subjects character and personality. We were also briefed to produce a photograph and design a piece of printed material as a promotional item. See more: http://on.be.net/1IagbU0
A typography based unit with assignments allowing us to work with various mediums including print, screen and 3D models
This project allowed us all to really hone in on the typography skills we had been taught. Each given a typeface, we were briefed to design an A2 black and white type specimen sheet and produce a 3 second TV Ident Animation. I was given the typeface Bodoni to work with. To see the short animation, follow this link: https://vimeo.com/116889041
I was able to use brush calligraphy and then screen print my strokes for two separate clients. They both have very different feels. Client one, Hotel Keith; they are filming an outdoor documentary in Alaska, USA and needed branding. Client two...
I was able to play around with Hotel Keith’s branding – they have a very Pacific Northwest of America feel, vintage, handmade. This is the first round of their development, the handmade feel of the screen print helped get the appeal they wanted. The brush calligraphy made the “lovely” very authentic and graceful once it was printed. They printed beautifully on cream card and the client was very pleased.
A collaborative project between the courses of Visual Communication and Graphic Design, at Arts University Bournemouth, where they curated and branded a pop-up shop in Poole.
The theme of the shop was ‘upside down’ in a black and white tone. I created a series of flip-books which can be read upside down and front to back. Along with those, some promotional materials such as posters and badges corresponding to the theme.
A visualisation of time as an experience. The project is a proposal for an interactive room of a larger exhibition on the subject of time.
Time is something everyone interacts with either way we want it or not. As humans we have created mechanical ways to help us interpret and capture time, creating an illusion that we have control over it.
The room is a visualisation of time being vacuous and moments experienced in each time frame is what gives it meaning.
A collaboration with James Marshall.
Find out more about Moments in Time.
Learning the crown jewel in binding- the Coptic bind.
This bind is beautiful, a craft-mans work, however, it holds pages together in a very sturdy way. It is practical but it is very time consuming. This is the result of my first attempt of a coptic bound book with a bright blue cover.
This project utilises Jenga as a visual metaphor for the game of politics.
Due to our cultural backgrounds and shared interest in politics, Daniela Osorio and I chose to subvert the image of the Red Budget Box, re-imagining its contents as the game of Jenga. We redesigned each block to display, on opposite sides, a positive and negative quality of governance. When the blocks are repositioned at the top, they destabilise the tower by replacing its good features with bad ones, illustrating the effects of bad politics.
A great experience with a vast amount of help to tackle this open brief with.
Briefed to choose 1 of 3 articles, I chose one about the invasion of privacy. Using this theme, the brief opened up and allowed us to produce a campaign to be posted Through the Letterbox.
I was very much interested in the privacy controls on social media so I set out to protect it’s younger users by creating a campaign to raise awareness of the consequences surrounding teenage sexting. For the full animation: http://youtu.be/mBTE4XRUcM0
As the first course unit drew to a close, we were briefed to compile all of our recent work into a display workbook which we would all design, print and bind.
This display workbook featured content from thought processes and scribbles on a piece of paper, through to finished and photographed assignment outcomes. A great chance to re-visit bookbinding after our workshop in the first term.
The project was called Visual Synthesis; we had to identify and analyse systems in our world, collect data and produce a hybrid system.
Thinking like scientists as well as designers, my group and I decided to analyse our university campus literally through a microscope. Our focus was the creative process artists go through to choose and manipulate materials, with a selection of tools, in order to create artwork. In our study we decided to visualise the departments of Textiles, Model making and Fine Art.
This is the final project of our Level 4 BA (Hons) Graphic Design course. A collaborative project focusing on Art Deco.
This project explores the Art Deco style through visual communication and the production of various 2D and 3D outcomes relative to the subject.
In a group of 7 people, our goal was to produce a body of work that communicates the essence of Art Deco and is presented as a concept through an exhibition.
View the work in full detail here>>
I was able to collaborate with my peers in the creation of this book, through the practice of photography and design.
This book is a collaborative project with my peers, for the second unit, ‘Visual Thinking’, of our Graphic Design course. The unit gave us the chance to engage in thinking visually through a range of mediums and skills. For this task, our goal as a team was to explore the town of Poole and photograph urban typography. The theme of the book is textured and found type, challenging your perception and understanding of letterforms.
An abstract mixed media piece portraying violence in human nature.
As part of my degree work I have explored abstract mixed media piece portraying violence in human nature. It was interesting working in real time and with unpredictable medium to present the message. This was a beneficial piece because it incorporated many steps. I set up and executed a photo shoot and then edited two posters and a final video to portray the message of violence in human nature. This idea was generated from Swarthout’s book Bless the Beasts and the Children.
A mixed media project with wood, glass, laser cutting and print.
An info-graphic displaying the information that a trees growth ring can provide. These rings can show what has happened over the hundreds of years in one region. The graph is laser cut into the wood and the overlaid map on top (in glass) shows the information. This exhibition piece is tied in all together with a poster explaining in detail further.
This project took extreme time management and reliance on other departments, but it was worth it.
Exploring screen printing
I was able to make a few posters using the screen printing process. Our facilities make it very easy to get a job done quickly while exploring the options that different printing methods can offer.
Creating a poster to visually communicate our dissertation topic
My dissertation is about sociological type, how humans view typefaces due to memories and discriminations. I needed to portray this for a poster show. I choose to create the effect of type on a rainy city window- you can either look through type on a page or look at the type itself.
I have learned to build and finished my parallax scrolling website.
Building sites have become one of my favorite things, this one was my first and was a great way for me to explore the programs used and learn from start to finish how to design and publish a site — TabithaRaeDesign.com
A week long course trip to Berlin, documenting this vibrant and cultural city.
It was my first time in Germany and Berlin was one of the destinations I have always wanted to visit. Berlin has such a historical value, which is visible throughout the city, and so much to see and do. From museums to guided city tours by Berliners, the transportation system is easy and available for you to explore the urban environment own your own. The highlight of the trip was visiting Eden Spiekermann (a design agency) and Museum of Letters.
The first project of the academic year was to illustrate our journey from home to university or vice versa.
A very interesting project as I explored the depiction of my personal thoughts, conceived on a bike ride from my house to AUB, through typographic illustrations. This project allowed my to further explore typography and the ability to approach a brief in a more personal way. I ended up with two different outcomes, one was a simple poster and the other a foldable map that unfolds in such way that guides you step by step through the journey.
A 'rebus' is a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters.
From randomly chosen quotes we had to produce imagery that responded to the phrases or words we had been assigned. I had to work with the phrases: “To be or not to be” and “What goes must come down”. This project allowed us to study and explore semiotics in order to stylize appropriately our images to communicate the right message.
A project exploring the meaning of life (left) and death (right) by putting our imagery on the back of a lorry truck.
Quite a broad project because it was up to us to choose our interpretation of the meaning of the words. Various ways to depict life and so goes for death. The key was to be able to communicate that to the viewer. My interest was in contrasting imagery such as liquids (water and oil) and medals (Olympic and war).
A workshop about hand-lettering and illustrating words in various ways.
During a project called Visual Thinking we had the chance to sign up for a series of workshops from various practices around the university. One of the ones I chose to attend was hand-lettering, where we explored different techniques of illustrating words and phrases through exercises using different materials and time limits.
A workshop abour Risograph printing, taught by an AUB Visual Communication graduate who publishes his own free magazine called 'PCTGRM'.
During a project called Visual Thinking we had the chance to sign up for a series of workshops from various practices around the university. This workshop was held in Visual Communication where they have the risograph printer. Our brief was to create a poster for a band of our choice and the only limitation was the use of black, blue and pink as colours. I chose MUSE and recreated their logo using visuals from one of their video clips.
A workshop about the traditional method of letterpress using both metal type and linocut woodblocks.
During a project called Visual Thinking we had the chance to sign up for a series of workshops from various practices around the university. This workshop was about traditional letterpress. We made our own linocut illustration and combined the image with the text of a chosen quote/phrase.
A group project working with Semiotics and 3D outcomes.
Part of a project called Visual Thinking we had to create a three dimensional model of a letter that represented a chosen word. We worked in groups of two and my group had the letter ‘O’. After some experimentation and thinking we decided to recreate the letter ‘O’ to represent the word ‘organic’. Along with a 3D model we had to create an A6 postcard.
Two different binding techniques, perfect binding and Japanese stab binding.
Part of our Visual Thinking project, where we learned how to do a perfect binding and Japanese stab binding. After all, the skill to put together a book, more than just designing on the computer, is very essential in our practice.
I was asked to create a publication for other designers to read, that would inform them about upcoming events at three museums in London, during the design festival week.
This was designed as a newspaper that could be rolled or folded in order to carry around easy to each place. The spreads were spacious and easy to read. The Science Museum also wanted to include tweets which are seen in a fold out in picture three.
I was able to create a couple's wedding invitations. They love the outdoors and had a causal, very creative, upbeat celebration.
The bride wanted foxes somehow incorporated into the invitations so I tied the tails together for their ‘save the date’. This project was printed on heavy weighted brown paper was very organic.
Learning the craft of all types of binding.
It is such a joy to be able to create my own books. I have learned multiple ways to bind- this session was practice towards ‘perfect bind’ and ‘stab stitch’. tabitharaedesign.com
