Speakers Day 1
/Here we feature the first 2 speakers from the conference week line up who will be spreading their 'words of wisdom' on Monday the 12th February.
Conversations in Creativity: Design Disruptors - Film Screening
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Join Forepoint for an exclusive screening of the InVision-produced documentary DESIGN DISRUPTORS, brought to you as part of Conference Week in association with Creative Lancashire & Forepoint and supported by UCLAN Innovation Zone.
DESIGN DISRUPTORS reveals a never-before-seen perspective on the design approaches of 15+ industry-shaking companies, and how they’re using the power of design to disrupt billion dollar industries.
Grab a drink, some movie treats, and be first to see the film. Then take part in the Q&A discussion with our expert panel representing Forepoint, Creative Lancashire and UCLan, plus a special marketing guest from an internationally renowned business.
18:00 – 21:30 Thursday 15th February, The Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JP
Seating is limited so reserve yours now!
Conference week 7 - Luck
/This year heralds our 7th annual conference week event and we have an outstanding selection of guest speakers from the world of Graphic Design, Illustration & Advertising who have all kindly agreed to come into our studios here in Preston.
With it being our 7th annual event, this years theme is based around the 'role of chance & luck within the design process'. The week commences Monday the 12th of February running through until Friday the 16th.
The week is kicked off by Gary Holt, founder & creative director of Someone - London followed by Mark Elwood, executive creative director of Mullenlowe - London.
On the Tuesday we have Karen Hughes, founder & creative director of Edit Brand Studio - Manchester who will be teaming up with Rachel Simpson, founder & creative director of Bird - Preston. Then in the afternoon we welcome artist, illustrator & writer Paul Davis.
Wednesday sees the traditional visit of Paul Crowley and the BBC UX&D team from Salford. This will be their fifth year at conference week. They will be running a series of workshops that give our students an insight into how they approach idea generation.
Thursday is somewhat of a show stopper as we have two double-headers. In the morning we have Garry Blackburn & Simon Elliott, co-founders & creative directors of Rose Design - London. Followed by Jim Sutherland founder of Studio Sutherl& as well as copywriter and poet Nick Asbury, partner at Asbury & Asbury.
Also, in the evening we have a special screening of Design Disruptors at The Continental public house hosted in conjunction with Forepoint, Creative Lancashire & UCLan.
Then if that were not enough we round the week off with Ben Tallon, illustrator, art-director and host of the podcast series Arrest All Mimics, followed by Jack Renwick, founder & creative director of Jack Renwick Studio - London.
All talks will start at either 11am or 2pm daily, but we advise you to take your seats early to avoid disappointment. It just remains for us to say watch this space for more information as and when we get it.
You lucky people!
ADvent
/ADvent is the latest project from third year UCLan advertising students Gail McFadzean and Olivia Hampson. A series of clips and quotes featuring advice from members of the design and advertising industry - useful for students and peers alike.
Running every day throughout December, the videos features tips for students on how to enter the industry along with opinions on where the advertising and design industry is heading.
Follow @uclanadvent on Instagram and Twitter for daily instalments, starting this Friday.
Design talk in Preston
/Time & Date: 5-8pm, Thursday 23rd November
Society1 in collaboration with Digital Lancashire and Creative Lancashire are hosting their first creative collaboration evening. Lets Talk ... with guest speaker Andy Walmsley - artist & creative director of award-winning Wash Design
Lets Talk... is a regular post work gathering bringing together creative & digital businesses and freelancers and practioners to discuss and debate the key issues faced by creative practitioners.
The format of the evening will be relaxed and informal providing a space for emerging talent, established businesses and freelancers to share ideas and inspirations.
For each event there will be a different topic to encourage conversation and ideas sharing.
We will begin the discussion by inviting a local business to present about a topical talking point to get the evening started.
Following the talk and Q&A there will be an 'open floor' opportunity to share any relevant news and ideas.
This months topic: What drives us as Creatives?
Andy Walmsley from Wash Design will speak about his experiences and what has driven him to create his style of agency and work they do at Wash. It will be an open floor for discussion so bring with you your thoughts on where the group could help you with any issues in your business or if you have something topical to discuss as inspiration for us all.
Lets Talk is free to attend but pre registration is essential via the Eventbrite Page
Andy Walmsley - Creative Director, Wash
Born in Preston 1966, Andy left school in 1982 and started work at Hamilton Press, Preston as a trainee ‘paste-up artist’ working in newspapers and print. Andy now runs his own Design Agency (Wash Design Studio) in the town with clients far and wide.
“As computers are now a main tool to our creative output in my line of work, I felt I needed to get back to using my hands as well as my mind. I started dabbling in oils in 2005, mainly working on portraits. However, I’ve always had a love for the outdoors and the fells, but in 2006 I found a real passion for cycling.
I now spend my time riding around this part of Lancashire, taking photos on my iphone and working them up in oils. I have a strange fascination of what’s just over the next horizon – the urge to keep moving on.
I’m trying to keep my work lose and slightly abstract, I’m not attempting to copy exactly what I see, but attempting to inject that atmosphere you absorb when you are out on the bike, that sense of open space, freedom and colour that surrounds us – even on a bad day.
Having left my educational journey at 16 to then go on working my way through many jobbing studios and eventually in to design studios, I now bring almost 30 years industry experience to the Wash Design Studio team. I've worked with all sorts of clients in all sorts of sectors over the years, from large global companies to public bodies and many SMBs."
I've directed documentaries, art directed photoshoots, managed major brand development projects and worked on countless projects to generate and tailor marketing & communications materials of every sort imaginable."
A Seat of Learning
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'A Seat of Learning' - Sight specific installation - 2015
Every unique style of chair that the curator could find in the Victoria building over a period of 4 hours was extracted from the studios and base rooms from all 3 floors. These chairs were then placed at random, in the PR1 Gallery, to form a square - nine chairs by nine.
What people read into this sight specific artwork at the time was very much up to the viewer. However the curator would like to think that one aspect of the piece was how it reflected the unique nature of all those creative individuals who practiced within the School of Art, Design & Performance. Both students & staff.
In the two years since this piece was first shown the building has undergone a furniture standardisation and refit. Sadly the majority of these chairs have now left the building. Therefore this piece could never be recreated again. Let us also hope that the individuality and creativity didn't leave with them!
9x9
Time lapse of the installation.
A portrait of every individual chair.
DM17: The Design City Reframed
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Last week one our 3rd Year Advertising students, Jemma Redpath, attended the 5th annual Design Manchester all-day conference. She's kindly sent through some of her thoughts for Disciples...
The Design City Reframed conference was an experience full of diverse speeches and presentations that have certainly left an impression on me. The conference covered all sorts of topics including branding, architecture, film and modern art that were very refreshing. However, some were a little more random. One designer (not to mention names) spent his whole allotted time talking about writing songs for his LP- which would have been fantastic if we had seen some of the actual process. Half way through the talk he revealed, “by the way, you’re not actually going to hear any of my songs.” Not the best start to the event I must say!
There were however some really great speeches that made up for the disappointing start of the conference. Louis Mikolay from North gave a fantastic talk all about the rebranding of the Science Museum. As we know there was a lot of public backlash about ditching the existing brand image, but he represented his agency well and stood by North’s decisions and final work. I took away 3 main lessons from his talk… Number one: research is important. Number two: making visual observations of a brand will help you to identify ways to develop it further. Number three: be brave and stand up for what you creatively believe in, even when other people’s opinions might differ.
Tash Wilcox who is currently working with Hyper Island and Jane Murison, from the BCC, talked about very similar topics. Murison talked about how a lot of the time, we don’t make informed decisions due to our tendency to wait to be given information, and how social media has emotional consequences if we use it too much or too less. Wilcox relatedly discussed how we often seek the approvals of others on social media and how that can stop us from exercising our brain. Both talks were slightly anti-tech but amongst the humour and jokes they both highlighted some important advice. Firstly, we can make our own choices by making the good popular and the popular good. Secondly, we can put technology aside and strengthen our mind by developing our physically talents such as drawing and painting.
Overall, I would definitely attend the conference again. It was full of creativity and I genuinely left feeling motivated and more excited about my own projects. The general atmosphere was great to be in and it was reassuring to know that some of my own student creative worries were echoed amongst such successful and accomplished people. I look forward to attending similar events in the upcoming months and I most certainly am looking forward to attending the next Design City Reframed.
DM17 - Design Manchester - Manchester’s fifth annual festival of design
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The fantastic Design Manchester festival will be taking place this year between the 11th and 22nd of October. There are a wide range of events (both ticketed and FREE) taking place, with the highlight being the Design City Conference.
It has been a great, inspiring event in recent years - plus there are potential networking opportunities and a chance to meet other designers.
