Matthew Leonard : newcastle upon tyne

Showing posts with label newcastle upon tyne. Show all posts

Its Grim Up North...

Having posted a work in progress a month or two ago about a project I had going on for the D&AD New Blood Awards. I can now post my entry, based around the statement of "Its Grim up North" its a reply to the Pantone brief of reimagining my hometown in a colour led graphic identity.

Looking at what my classmates were thinking about this brief I noticed everyone was trying to focus on the how great their hometown is and were going polished and technical with their ideas. I decided to step away from this point and try and take the brief in a completely different direction, celebrating the side of my hometown that the tourist board doesn't show everyone, Newcastle has a lot more going for it than the Quayside, so why not show the grubby side in a new and exciting way?

The concept behind my piece is to take abandoned and run down buildings around the city and add splashes of colour to them with the use of the boards on their windows, this in turn would allow the public to change their perception of these buildings and not see them as an eyesore but celebrate them as part of the cities character. My final concept is a city/region wide installation, using paste up posters to cover up boards on windows and run down areas to grab peoples’ attention using colour and imagery on places they would usually walk right past.

Photos by Andy Oman

Designs by Matty Leonard

Its Grim up North Inspiration...

Like in the Entrepreneurs Forum brief, this post will show the inspiration behind the idea I had for my D&AD New Blood Awards entry, after coming up with the main concept I started simplifying it until I was happy with the result. As shown in the In Progress post, film photography played a major part in inspiring this idea, making the most of the grungey feel and imperfections in both the photos and the area of Newcastle. The main outputs of this brief are wheatpaste posters that will weather over time and add some character to the area they are applied to.

I also have to analyse the way I have went through projects with the use of a SWOT analysis. Here is my analysis of this unit:

Strengths: My time keeping in this unit was definitely one of my strong points in this unit as I planned out everything that I was going to do, including photo shoots and hand ins, getting my entry in on time for the D&AD hand in.

Weaknesses: At the beginning of this project when I was brainstorming ideas I was trying to overcomplicate things, making the concept to complex and concentrating on how good it would look in the end, this in turn made me have a bunch of ideas that I wouldn't be able to do.

Opportunities: This brief was the opportunity to create a nice looking final piece with a strong concept behind it and also get it professionally photographed instead of using mockups, this in turn will make a great piece for my portfolio as well as the New Blood Awards.

Threats: Having more than one deadline and project going on at one time is always a threat when keeping time management in consideration, I planned out my time well enough in this unit for it not to be a problem.

A Grim Work in Progress...

Recently I've really liked the look of Film Photography, following people on Instagram that use this medium really well. I love the imperfect, grainy effect it gives to photos, a big contrast to what you get on photos taken with a DSLR. The way light effects photos also gives this method of photography its own particular style. Being interested in this medium I decided to go old school for a recent project, buying a disposable camera, I hadnt had my hands on one of these since I was little and it was a little nostalgic, top tip from me for this kind of photography, make sure your finger isnt over the lens! Yes, I made that mistake (idiot).

Overall the photos came out exactly how I wanted them, I wanted to capture a grungey feel in them and some of them came out perfect, especially the ones that are under/over exposed. Definitely a fun little way to take photos, I think only having a set number of photos on a film makes you think about what youre shooting more too.

Keep your eyes peeled for my new project, full post coming soon!

Byker Culvert...

Helped out a mate with a photoshoot today at Byker Culvert, a crazy tunnel that goes from the Ouseburn to Jesmond Vale in Newcastle. I've always wanted to some Urban Exploration and its crazy to think that places like this are there without a lot of people knowing about it. We set off flares for the photography and had a bit of a wander, the surroundings were great, weathered walls, graffiti and this reinforced space. Definitely need to go down again, maybe I should take wellies this time, a pair of Sneakerboots and jeans didnt quite cut it when going through the enterance.

"I'm All In"

Todays industry talk came from Sarah Hanley, an ex Newcastle College student (where I study) and Creative Director of Sumo, a Newcastle based design agency that has done work for the National Trust, Sunderland City Council, Newcastle University and the National History Museum to name a few.

This talk was a great insight into what life in the industry is like, going from what it was like when Sarah was a student trying to get into agencies, to what its like being in one of the most influential agencies in the north east. She admits she wasn't the best designer on her course, but this made her work harder, this was also the case with her first project in an agency for After Eights, at the pitch the other designers went in with one idea, Sarah went in with 20, going above and beyond what was asked, this is also apparent in her recent work. Three words that definitely stood out in the talk for me was "I'm all in", do everything 100%, surround yourself in the project, dive in and have fun, definitely something I try to do and will do in future projects.

Knowing that we were in our last year of the foundation degree and that we were going to be looking for places to do placements and get experience in agencies, Sarah gave us some useful tips on what we should be doing to be in with a greater chance of getting into the industry. The first tip we were given was think about what agency you want to work for, whether it be a digital agency or a print based, it is better to get in somewhere that is tailored around the kind of work you want to do; however, it is good to get experience in other fields too. The next was to not just stay in Newcastle, try different places around the country, every agency has a different way of working, so why not experience them all? The importance of Twitter and social media was also mentioned, tweet your work to designers, ask for opinions, have an opinion and put stuff you like from agencies etc onto your profile, it should be a representation of you.

Overall this was a great talk, I feel like I've now got a greater understanding of what I have to do/should be doing to get placements in the industry and some places to get inspiration from in the future. A big thank you to Sarah for a brilliant insight and some lovely freebies!

Check out Sumo's work at: http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/work/

Good Work Gets Good Clients

The first industry talk of the year came from Anthony from Founded, a local design agency in Newcastle that have done work for the Baltic, the Turner Prize, Ryan Edy, Cotton Love and Mushka Music to name a few. An agency that prides itself on the fact that a good idea is always the most important aspect of a design; this however, paired with professional execution can make the idea that much better.

The talk started with looking through projects that Founded had completed, one of which being the Baltic, a centre for contemporary art on the Gateshead Quayside the branding is very bold and simple, the custom typeface used throughout their strategy is Baltic Affisch and is based around the original typeface used on the building and the print letters made by using wooden blocks. Sune Norgdren, the director of making this typeface said "Baltic was an old industry building, rough, black and white and simple. So that is the basis of the choice for the Graphic Identity". Every finished piece was actually made and then professionally photographed instead of being placed on a mockup. Founded and the Baltic have had a very successful partnership together, celebrating ten years of the Baltic and ten years of working together Founded created a piece machined out of a piece of Walnut, the Me, We pieces were also made into posters.

After looking through their portfolio of work, which was both great ideas wise, but well executed throughout, Anthony told us some of his influences design wise. One of the things that stood out for me when he was talking about this was that his influences weren't all graphic design based, he was inspired with what ever he would see, looking at interior magazines and being inspired by music (which plays a big part in the Founded office). Even though some of his influences came in other creative industries a big inspiration for Anthony is Tyler Brûlé, who is behind the publications Monocle and Wallpaper* as well as being part of Winkreative.

The most important things I took away from this talk is that good work gets good clients, this has to be from the start and is based around a good idea. To get noticed you need a good portfolio that is well rounded with digital skills and ideas at the basis, it should show a good thought process and give an insight into how you get to a finished piece. The portfolio shouldnt be crammed with ideas either, it should have a handful of well executed, well thought out, nicely presented works that shows your strengths.

Thanks to Anthony from Founded for the talk, if you want to have a look at them and their work check out their website: http://wearefounded.com/