CONFERENCE WEEK 12

Here we feature nearly all of our Conference Week 12 speakers talks. To watch each talk simply click on the highlighted names below.

Nick Asbury & Greg Quinton talk smile in the mind

Nick Asbury talks about writing

Greg Quinton talks about the day job

Monika Fosberg talks about her working practice

Tom Farrell talks ideas

Andrew Griffin talks Illustration & Animation

Martin O’Neill talks all things collage

Dani Molneux talks all things Dotto

Maisy Sumer talks about her practice

Owen Hughes talk strategy

Andrew Ross talks about ideas in Graphics

Jo Moore talks about ideas in advertising

Jamie Supple talks about his process

Craig Oldham talks all things film

Jim Sutherland talks about the importance of play

From 400 to 4,000

Going through our hard drive we came across some rare snaps of what was to become our annual conference week event.

Back in December 2007 we initiated 3 days of speakers under the title ‘The Christmas Lectures’ and here is a short review of the event that we also happened to find on a word document attached to the file.

“Over three days the department played host to a series of informative a well attended visiting speakers from a variety of disciplines. These included Andrew Griffin from ‘up the resolution’ a multi-disciplinary design agency, specialising in music videos, film and animation. Claire Norcross - head of lighting design at Habitat UK and Richard Scholey creative director of Elmwood – Leeds.

Over 400 students attended these informative lectures which were followed by brief question and answer sessions”

Fast forward 14 years.

We have just recently celebrated our 10th conference week event, themed around ‘Making your Mark’. which consisted of 24 speakers, from a wide cross section of design disciplines spread over 5 days.

Over the past several years the event has become a mainstay of our wider alumni family as well as other professional practitioners currently working in the creative industries.

This year we also broadcast the whole week via teams as well as making the talks available on youtube and between those tuning in live on the day and those watching on youtube catch up, this years figures were estimated at around 4,000+.

Should you have missed the event all the talks are archived and available to watch here.

Wise Words from a Wise Man

It was sad to hear of the passing of Sir Ken Robinson recently, his Ted Talk on creativity and education in our schools were an inspiration and voted some of the greatest Ted Talks of all time.

“Perceptive, profound and beguiling talks delivered with more than a modicum of wit and gentle humour.”

Please click to play the film.

For all those who are unfamiliar with Ted Talks…welcome!

Three Hours Required: An Introspective Retrospective

Andy B’s latest exhibition is now ready to seduce you. Drawing from his vast array of collected design, objects and ephemera, there are examples of top drawer ideas, thinking and crafting; not to mention the fascinating, the never-seen-before and collections of pure wonder.

As Mr Bingo said last week:

“It’s nice to collect stuff, it’s nice to feel useful. It gives you purpose in life.”

The exhibition is on until Friday 1st March with a Private View from 4pm to 7pm on Wednesday 27th February. Andy is also offering guided tours from 12.30pm on 25th, 26th & 27th February, simply congregate on the ground floor. We’ve featured some quick photographs below, but they go nowhere near towards doing the content justice.

Enjoy. (Thanks Andy!)

(PS Mr Bingo’s talk is up on Facebook along with those of our other Conference Week guests, for those who want a double dose.)

Letraset — The DIY Typography Revolution exhibition

Last week, Pete, Kev & Ted headed over the Pennines to visit the Letraset exhibiton at Sheffield Hallam University.

Before being a student of design, before even knowing what design was in fact, I was fascinated by Letraset. My dad was a typesetter, and as such used to bring home abandoned type ephemera from work as the industry became gradually more and more affected by technological advances, on the way to its complete digitisation which we know today. Mind boggling though it now is, there was a time when skips across Trafford Park and beyond were full of metal type, presses, furniture and Letraset. On receipt of the Letraset I would take great care in rubbing down its letters from the blue sheet to a page, not creatively in memory, but mainly in the challenge of getting the letters down both straight and intact. (Top tip: draw a baseline.)

There is a beautiful (as ever) Unit Editions book available, and the exhibition itself is on until 28th October, and well worth a train ride during reflection week.

The exhibition tells the Letraset story from its early days as a difficult-to-use wet system, to its glory years as the first truly democratic alternative to professional typesetting.

Celebrating the launch of the Unit Editions book Letraset: The DIY Typography Revolution this exhibition is a comprehensive history of Letraset, the rubdown lettering system that revolutionised typographic expression.

The exhibition also celebrates Letraset’s present-day revival amongst a new set of admirers who recognise the typographic excellence of the system’s typefaces.

GRexit - Year 3 Graphics - Manchester Degree Show

As we bid farewell to the graphic design final year graduates, you can spend one last night with them in the EU. Kindly hosted by True North, the Manchester degree show will be on from 5pm on the 5th July. Are you in or out?

GRexit
05 July – 5PM Till 10PM
True North, 24 Lever Street,
Manchester, M1 1DZ

*The UCLAN Graphics class of 2018 will officially be the last year to graduate from within the European Union.

Degree show set up 2018 - the last day

Here are a few sneak preview shots of the degree show set up and hand-in 2018. 

The private view is on Thursday 14th June at 5pm - 9pm, and is open to the public from Friday 15th June for a full calendar week (10am - 8pm).  Here is some more...

Oh Sh*t… What Now

Former conference week speaker and friend of the course Craig Oldham is hosting an event created specifically for students, graduates and young creatives, i.e. the readers of this website.

Building on his recently released book, it will be an invaluable opportunity to glean some advice, tips and first hand experience. 

The event is free, is on May 24th in Manchester, and at the Whitworth which itself is worth a trip over either way.

Oh Sh*t… What Now? attempts to make a genuine and honest attempt at bridging the gap into the creative industry. And though many might think this was an already well discussed topic, the reality is that the problem is almost never fully addressed in a meaningful, insightful, human manner. The majority of advice available to young and aspiring creatives is a sort-of feedback loop of inane maxims and idle advice, constantly spinning the same strained clichés.

Craig's aim is to try and remedy this. In his honest and direct (Yorkshire) manner.

Book your tickets here.

Secret 7" 2018

Yesterday Secret 7" returned after a year's hiatus, The event, established in 2012 by Kevin King and UCLan alumni Jordan Stokes, takes 7 tracks from 7 of the best-known musicians around and presses each one 100 times to 7” vinyl.

Creatives from around the world are then invited to interpret the tracks in their own style for every 7”.  All in all 700 unique sleeves are exhibited before going on sale on a first come first serve basis. The money raised is given to a selected charity, this year the mental health charity Mind. 

Since 2012 they have produced 3,500 one-of-a-kind records for 35 different tracks. Raising over £175,000 for great causes. 

Whilst open to the general public the event also invites renowned and respected creatives from around the world to participate too. In its five years, the event has attracted renowned and respected creatives such as David Shrigley, Jenny Holzer, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Paul Smith, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Gilbert & George, Yoko Ono, Julian Opie and Peter Blake.

The tracks this year are:

Help – London Grammar
I Saved the World Today – Eurythmics
The Clash – I'm Not Down
No Surface or Feeling – Manic Street Preachers
Damaged – Primal Scream
Love You Should Have Come Over – Jeff Buckley
Castles Made of Sand – Jimmy Hendrix

Secret 7" is open to anyone. Submit away here.
The deadline is 24 April 2018. Get cracking.

https://secret-7.com/

Lubaina Himid: 'Hard Times' exhibition

Lubaina Himid, A Fashionable Marriage, 1986

2017 Turner Prize winner and UCLan Professor of Contemporary Art, Lubaina Himid, has an exhibition opening at the Harris Museum next week. The title of the exhibition is a reference to Charles Dickens' novel, itself inspired by a visit to Preston in 1853.

You can read about Lubaina's Turner Prize win here, and an interview with her here.

Remember that answers to creative problems are not found on Google, but in books, museums and your wider interests, hence we recommend paying the exhibiton a visit.