Archive for the 'Communication' Category

Forthcoming Events

Published by Neil McGuire on May 4, 2012 in Cities, Communication and Design. 0 Comments

TLATEHIIN PAVILION 2012

Monday, 14 May 2012

The island of Tlaethiin rose from the melting arctic ice like a glimmering jewel, establishing itself as a country of wealth and opulence.

To celebrate the unveiling of the new arctic nation you are invited to the opening of:
TLATEHIIN PAVILION OF THE 2012 WORLD EXPO.

Opening to the world from 8pm May 14th.

For more information please contact solveigsuess@hotmail.com

Before this special opening an exclusive dining extravaganza will be taking place, exploring Tlatehiin through the decadence of confectionary. Places for the dining event are limited, with a raffle being held to secure a seat.

If you would like to be in with a chance of experiencing this arctic treat, please come equipped with one gold coin ready to be transferred into your lucky number and contact:

Izzykertland@gmail.com
or come by the office:
Graphic Design,Visual Communication.
floor 2, Skypark 5.

Image: Tlatehiin- Jewel of the Arctic

Perspectives on the City

Published by Neil McGuire on April 12, 2012 in Architecture, Cities, Communication, Political and Society. 0 Comments

News that a group of urban explorers had broken in to and climbed the as-yet unfinished ‘Shard’ in London, got me thinking back to an amazing thread of articles on BldgBlog about explorers of urban tunnels. Finding new perspectives on the city creates some interesting opportunities to push at the definition of what is or isn’t public space, and how our cities are planned, built and run, (and who owns the view). It also raised the question of space vs population, and what if we need to start building down, as well as up?

There’s a further article here, called What it’s like to (illegally) climb London’s tallest building, and John Thackara uses this unusual perspective on urban living as a route in to looking at the bigger picture here.

Look out! Look out! Yr1 are about!

Published by Michael Dancer on March 26, 2012 in Advertising, Art, Communication, Creativity, Environment, Inspiration, Perception, Places, Society and Student Work. 2 Comments

Good weather, good humour and an ability to challenge assumptions, brought the Yr1 ComDes students out into the streets of Glasgow recently. Working in groups of five, the students took some risks to make places in Glasgow famous.

We had: commemorative plaques dedicated to singer songwriter Darius, sheltering walkers in Kelvingrove Park under a canopy made from a matrix of umbrellas, turning the Duke of Wellington statue into Dukearoo! (his equestrian pal had a unicorn horn) and a forgotten underpass near to SkyPark brought to life with an installation made from woolen thread (see below).

The group of Sarah Jones, Isaac Neviazsky, Chelsea Frew, Lois Langmead and Louisa Reyce gilded a crack in the pavement with Tunnock’s Tea Cake wrappers. The students approached our national institution and got permission to use the iconic design and make something beautiful. Enjoy…

Yr1 ComDes Study Trip to London

Published by Michael Dancer on February 11, 2012 in Art, Books, Communication, Creativity, Design, Drawing, Education, Illustration, Imagination, Magazines/Editorial, Photography, Publications, Talks and Typography. 0 Comments

Tuesday 24th January

11.00am
APFEL (A Practice for Everyday Life)
Contact / Emma Thomas  t 020 7739 9975

Former RCA students producing intelligent graphic design from a small but perfectly formed studio in Bethnal Green. Best quote of the week “We would never want to get too big that we wouldn’t be able to sit around one table”. Check out an article about them in Elephant Magazine Issue 9 (available from Analogue Books ).
APFEL can be found HERE
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1.00pm
GAIL ARMSTRONG Illustrator
Contact / Gail Armstrong  t 020 8291 9153

Busy former GSA student producing intricate paper illustrations for a varied London and American client base. A great example of how to maintain a thriving creative life, be a mother and a Photoshop guru.
Check out Gail’s work HERE
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4.30pm
BIG ORANGE ILLUSTRATION STUDIO
Contact / Ulla  t 020 7739 7765

Great to catch up with Dan Williams and a few old friends at this vibrant illustration studio. Great advice and insight from Paul Davis who let us see a sample of his published work. Former GSA student Emma Houlston was also generous with her advice for shaping a career after graduating.
See Emma’s work HERE
Check out Paul Davis HERE
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Wednesday 25th January

10.00am
OPX
Contact / David Bennett  t 020 7729 6295

Multi award winning design agency welcomed GSA for an hour of shared thoughts and ideas. Pleased to see that they fill a wall in their board room with inspiration (Post-it notes, ephemera, colour printouts, drawings and scribbles) to assist idea generation for each project. Their philosophy is to involve the client as early as possible in the design process – a blend of inspiring and interrogating them – asking who, what, why and when.
Check out some of their studio work HERE
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1.00pm
THE PARTNERS
Contact / Alex Woolley or Jess Harvey  t 020 7689 4625

Alex and Jess are younger designers at The Partners and took us on a creative journey through their favourite projects. Each team works with an ideas book or sketchbook before any refinement of a concept on the Mac. This approach means that the designers are less precious about the work and allows them to reflect on the qualities of communication and meaning.
Check out the award winning work HERE
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4.30pm
THE CHURCH OF LONDON
Little White Lies Magazine
Contact / Matt Bochenski  t 020 7729 3675

Thanks to Matt, Willo and Adam who gave us a unique insight into the ‘architecture’ of LWLies covering every aspect of its production. For students in the first year of a four year progression, this was invaluable. It was useful to see how they constructed their typefaces, the programmes used and where the inspiration comes from. Read some more HERE
GSA students might be interested in a LWLies creative brief HERE – great opportunity to work on a ‘real’ project.
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Alternative Art Schools and Plenary Discussions

Published by David Kerr on February 2, 2012 in Communication, Critical Studies, Design, Education, Inter-discipline and Society. 0 Comments

A really interesting article on the AN Blog by Pippa Koserek exploring the relationship between recent occupations in art schools across the UK and various alternative art school models going back to the sixties.

Got me thinking about a great book about the use of plenary discussions during an occupation of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (Filozofski fakultet) at the University of Zagreb.

Another relevent resource is  the Carrot Workers Collective’s website. They recently organised an event at the now homeless Bank of Ideas.

Launch event: How can design help communicate science?

Published by Dean Pauley on November 18, 2011 in Communication, Data, Design, Events and Science. 0 Comments

Live debate between Imperial College graduates and Central Saint Martins.

Monday 28 November 2011
Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons
35–43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London WC2A 3PE

Extreme Writing

Published by Neil McGuire on November 4, 2011 in Books, Communication, Design, Digital, Inter-discipline, Publications, Technology, Theory and Web. 1 Comment

“New Art/Science Affinities” is a new publication focusing on artists working right now at the intersection of art, science and technology. Co-published by The Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University and the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, this 190-page book was written and designed in one week by four authors Andrea Grover, Régine Debatty, Claire Evans and Pablo Garcia and two designers Thumb in a collaborative authoring process known as a “book sprint” derived from “code sprinting” for open source projects.

You can download the book for free, by following that ‘via’ link, there, down below.

via CreativeApplications.Net.

GSA Pecha Kucha VI

Published by Neil McGuire on October 19, 2011 in Communication, Creativity, Events and Talks. 0 Comments

Like another Phoenix from the flames, GSA Pecha Kucha returns. Please do come along. And spread the word.

Whose Legacy?

Published by David Kerr on October 6, 2011 in Cities, Communication, Design, Education, Environment, Inspiration, Interviews, Media, Political, Society and Talks. 0 Comments
Friday 21st October, 2-30-4.30. Clubroom, Upstairs at The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD

The Commonwealth Games 2014: Whose Legacy?

Short introductory talk by Dr Libby Porter (Urban Planner and Researcher, Glasgow Uni) and Neil Gray (Writer and Researcher, Glasgow Uni) about the Legacy of Mega-Events,  and large-scale urban regeneration plans in the UK and worldwide.

A discussion will follow with a series of live accounts by residents – including carers from the Save the Accord centre, who are campaigning to retain a day care centre for people with learning disabilities, and Margaret Jaconelli, who has recently been evicted from her home. The residents will talk about about the impact the Commonwealth Games development is having upon their lives.

This discussion, focusing on media portrayal and the right of residents to ‘stay put’ in the face of large-scale urban transformation and displacement, will be interspersed with a series of short films that highlight recent  experiences on, and nearby, the site of the Commonwealth Games Village

Includes special screening of a short film about Margaret Jaconelli and the forthcoming Commonwealth Games  by Glasgow documentary photographer and filmmaker, Chris Leslie. (14 mins) www.chrisleslie.com

Riots by Design: Blaming the London Olympics

Published by David Kerr on October 6, 2011 in Advertising, Architecture, Cities, Communication, Creativity, Critical Studies, Design, Environment and Inspiration. 0 Comments

An interesting article on the Design Altruism blog by Daniel Drenan on the role designers and design education could play in helping communities to resist Gentrification and the numerous negative affects Mega-events such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games have on their host cities.

Amongst many interesting observations the article gives an account of a series of workshops that happened in a college in Beirut in which students were given four groups to research in terms of particular Olympic games cities and their communicated messages: The Olympic Committee itself, the host city government, the design firm responsible for the corporate identity, and any protesters they could find. The article then goes on to discuss the information gathered by the students research and the work that was created in response to it.

For up to date  information on the London Olympics the Gamesmonitor site is worth a visit.  I would also thoroughly recommend watching Five Ring Circus a film about the Vancouver Winter Olympics available to watch free online and Olympicfield a film found in the year 2015 near the London Olympics site.

in 2015 near the London Olympics site

On ‘Thinkering’

Published by Neil McGuire on October 1, 2011 in Communication, Creativity, Design, Digital, Fabricating/Making, Hacking, Inter-discipline, Interaction, Media, Networks, Product Design, Technology, Web and Workshops. 0 Comments

From States of Design 03: Domus.

Bookishness

Published by Neil McGuire on September 7, 2011 in Books, Communication, Design, Digital, Print and Technology. 0 Comments

Mrs Tsk (aka ….. ) on the bookishness, resolutely sensual rather than conservative, of French books. Interested in this as recently created a homage of (copied) a Gallimard book for someone.

Vault

Published by Neil McGuire on September 7, 2011 in Alumni, Art, Communication, Creativity, Drawing, Exhibitions, Illustration, Inter-discipline and Working Life. 0 Comments

Oliver Pitt (Vis Com Person) is one of a group of alumni representing Glasgow School of Art at this weekends Vault Art event. I might be missing something but the main vault website seems a bit thin on information, but there are various talks and events and things happening too.

OASE Journal for Architecture

Published by Neil McGuire on August 29, 2011 in Architecture, Archives, Communication, Critical Studies, Design, Digital, Magazines/Editorial, Media, Publications, Theory and Writing. 3 Comments

OASE Journal for Architecture has a new website and better still, editions 1-81 are available as PDF’s to download to your non-brand-specific portable tablet device. OASE is/has been designed by Dutch designer and educator Karel Martens.

Visual design students today

Published by Neil McGuire on July 4, 2011 in Communication, Creativity, Design, Digital, Education, Technology and Web. 5 Comments

Lists are always tricky things, and often come across as attempts to create order (or patterns) where there are non, but I thought Adrian Shaugnessy’s observations on Design Week were interesting and quite thoughtful. The one I’m most interested in is point 7;

7. Few students seem interested in web design. Most admit to being print fixated. This is a worry.

I wondered what you think about this? If this is true, I’m interested in why? In our false-dichotomy driven world, this is often presented as a choice between one or the other, as if the two were mutually exclusive, and radically different fields of expertise, rather than related on at least a few significant levels. It also limits what we might explore as ‘technology’, ‘craft’ etc by restricting it to web design (as opposed to networked design, technological artifacts etc), and seeing those things as part of an eco-system that also includes more traditional forms of communication. But there are (at GSA) unexplored and very different ways of communication design thinking/doing in the digital/networked world, and it does raise an important question about how we could do some more interesting and exploratory projects with digital, technology(s) and networked objects, and not just as a fringe concern… anyone interested in discussing further please chip in… Note to self: Do more of this. And stop rambling on.

A vocation

Published by Michael Dancer on July 4, 2011 in Communication, Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Print, Publications, Society and Travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Jill Calder cover illustration

Jill Calder drawings

I had the pleasure of working with illustrator Jill Calder (former graduate) recently. I was asked by Turning Point Scotland to design a publication that tells the story of a service user with Asperger’s Syndrome. Nigel (a pseudonym to protect anonymity) always wanted to travel on a Boeing 747 and was keen to visit a place where the main language was English. With the help of his support worker and a Turning Point Scotland team, he decided to go to New York.

I was nervous about presenting design work to Nigel as it was a first for me. Usually I present to executives in a formal environment but this was refreshingly different. I didn’t have to dress up my language or make great claims about the benefits of justified typesetting. Nigel was relaxed and full of anticipation about seeing his words come to life. I took him through each spread of the publication to make sure the design was complimenting his content. He was very happy with it and articulated his ideas on how to promote it by organising a book launch and giving seminars about his journey.

Jill’s work was perfect for this subject matter and she embraced the project with great enthusiasm. Her style is vibrant and yet sensitive, working best when complementing the text written by Nigel. Being able to work in an area incongruous to an unforgiving commercial world, and with a great talent, delivered a very rewarding process.

See the great work of Jill Calder here http://www.jillcalder.com/
http://jillustration.blogspot.com/

Turning Point Scotland is a charity providing person centred support to adults with a range of complex needs in our society.

See the work that they do here http://www.turningpointscotland.com/

Then When

Published by Neil McGuire on June 22, 2011 in Art, Communication, Creativity, Critical Studies, Degree Show, Design, Digital, Education, Events, Exhibitions, Inter-discipline, Interaction, Interviews, Media, Networks, Publications, Research, Resources, Talks, Technology and Web. 0 Comments

if not now

IF NOT NOW will broadcast live from the RCA degree show, 24hrs a day we’re told.

Tristram Shandy and the Internet

Published by Neil McGuire on June 13, 2011 in Communication, Creativity, Critical Studies, Literature, Media, Networks, Print, Publications, Research, Resources and Web. 0 Comments

“Tristram Shandy is not only significant in the cultural canon as a non-linear forerunner to Joyce, Woolf, Beckett, Godard, Eno, Greenaway and Tarantino, but playfully and brilliantly constructs and deconstructs the conventions of narrative. It makes use of multiple media as devices to tell its stories, and, in actively soliciting a dialogue with its reader, it demands a creative participation from its audience. Tristram Shandy is the direct antecedent of contemporary hypertextual and non-linear, convergent media experiments”.

via Asterisk at Shandy Hall | The Laurence Sterne Trust.

Things that are thinking

Published by Neil McGuire on June 5, 2011 in Art, Communication, Critical Studies, Design, Digital, Events, Inter-discipline, Political, Resources, Society, Technology and Web. 0 Comments

The latest installment of Adam Curtis’s ‘All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’ reminded me about this event that I went to at the front end of this year, and never got round to writing about. The linking thread is cybernetics, and the study of feedback loops. The programme prompted me to look out some notes, and while 92% of them are barely intelligible, I thought I’d repeat the soundbites that were less so. They are not arranged in any sort of order, make of them what you will.

“Cybernetic systems involve a governor, a moderating mechanism which shuts the system down if the feedback goes beyond a certain level.”

“Markets were the first computers”

“The (main) product of commercial TV is not programmes, but the audience” (I wonder if the same is true of the Internet and www? Is the main product there the searchers rather than the search results?)

“Cybernetics, in popular culture at least, tends to be presented in a dystopian light, i.e. Cybermen…”

A fuller (and probably better remembered) review of the event can be found here.

Image: Steve Rushton discusses mindspace, as part of talk.

On Privacy, pt 1

Published by Neil McGuire on May 22, 2011 in Communication, Critical Studies, Data, Design, Digital, Film, Identity, Interaction, Media, Networks, News, Political, Society, Technology, Theory and Web. 4 Comments

Seeing as the Rapture didn’t occur on Saturday, you might want to tune in to Adam Curtis’s new series, ‘All Watched Over by Machines of Love and Grace‘ – What I hope will be an entertaining, insightful, and probably eclectic look at the politics, culture, society and technology we’re currently immersed in. All this on the back of a weekend where Twitter has been at the centre of a legal storm over privacy, and the geographical impotence of national laws has been tested, firstly by the aforementioned micro-blogging site (or rather the users of) and secondly by a shrewd Scottish Newspaper.

Conflating the issues of ‘freedom of speech’ here with the widely reported use of Twitter and other social media sites in the Arab-Spring would devalue the latter and elevate the former, but they possibly feature somewhere on the same spectrum.

Meanwhile, closer to home, super-injunctions at GSA prevent me from telling you that the Head of ———– was recently seen ——— a ——— with a learning outcome.