Exhibition in Prague

Another exhibition from Graduation Projects 09/10 series is currently showing at DOX – Centre of Contemporary Art in Prague. 

I've found a photo featuring my Foster project (photo by Mirek Lédl) on the show's official website: 

I'd love to visit the exhibition, but seems I won't have a chance as it ends just before my holiday starts. Has anyone been there?

Coca Cola Exhibition

I went to see a mini exhibition celebrating 123 years of Coca Cola held at Design Museum, London. I love those old Coke brand guidelines books! More photos here.

Crocheted camera case

I've always loved little crocheted things like jewellery and other accessories and wanted to create my own. So here is my first masterpiece – crocheted camera case! It's far from perfect, but this is what I like about real handmade things. Thank you granny for the crochet lessons and tools :-)

Christmas time soon!

'Merry Christmas' made of photographed beads & turned into christmas tree lights version.

With the weather getting more and more wintery it's difficult not to get into Christmas mood! I'm really looking forward to lots of snow when I'm back home on my Christmas break. I'm working on this year's Christmas card and in the meantime I'm posting my last year's typographic/calligraphic designs. See more here.

Don't forget me! Souvenirs from Poland

When I was home back in Poland I visited an interesting exhibition in Torun, titled 'Nie zapomnij o mnie!' (Don't forget me!).

It was about modern souvenirs from Poland, created by young designers who came up with new and innovative ideas for promotion of Polish culture. As the curators say:

"Projects presented at the exhibition — keepsakes and objects that can serve as traditional souvenirs — demonstrate a modern approach to the concept of locality. They advertise small or big communities with no pomposity, deconstructing the national ethos. They are often ‘meta-souvenirs’, full of irony, questioning the newest history."

[More info]

Here are some of my favourites:

Fotel Kluska Śląska (Silesia Dumpling Armchair)

Ą Ę Spinki do Mankietów (Cufflinks with difficult Polish letters)

Stamps with Golonka Lux - a font inspired by Warsaw city space

To see more photos from this exhibition visit my flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patty_z/sets/72157624923222098/

I am hand made

And another Hand Made Wallpaper*, this time got to the gallery :)

Design a Swatch

I had a little play at Swatch MTV Playground last week :)

Click here to see it bigger. Design a Swatch competition:

http://www.swatchmtvplayground.com/gb/

My Final Project on Typography Served

Saturday morning surprise: my Final Project 'How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?' got featured on Typography Served: http://www.typographyserved.com/Gallery/How-much-does-your-building-weigh-Mr_-Foster/571002 Yay!

D&AD New Blood

I went to New Blood on last Saturday, this year as an exhibitor :) Here are some shots of our uni's stand:

Some of my work was there too - a poster from my final project about Norman Foster:

'In Case Of Packaging' book:

And my 'Perfume' project in a portfolio:

The exhibition was in Old Truman Brewery, London.

See more photos on my flickr page.

Penguin Design Award Results

And the winnners are...

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/penguin_2010winners.php

Got the 2nd Prize! :)

Judges' comments on Penguin website: http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2010_pzywert.php

See my earlier posts for details of my 'Perfume' book cover entry: http://patrycjazywert.blogspot.com/2010/06/little-update-to-perfume-post-my-entry.html

Penguin Design Award entry

This is my final design of 'Perfume' book cover for Penguin Design Award 2010. Full jacket:

Just front cover:

Photos of the model:

And this is my explanation of the concept:

My concept is based on creating mixed feelings. The title lettering looks nice at first sight but after taking a closer look the reader can see it is made of hair. Beautiful, long and nicely scented hair is undoubtedly a feature of a woman. If it is cut, it immediately brings the thought that something bad has happened to her. By using real hair I wanted to emphasise the human aspect in a subtle way and it links to the story, the pursuit of the perfect scent - innocence. The lettering style is inspired by eighteenth-century French alphabets.

Go to my previous post to see the development & tests: http://patrycjazywert.blogspot.com/2010/05/perfume-book-cover-development.html.

'Perfume' book cover: development

Last week I submitted my entry for Penguin Design Award. The brief was to design a new cover for "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind. The project was a part of uni assignments, so I had a lot of time to test and experiment with different concepts for the cover.

My initial idea was to focus on the concept of smell and try to express it typographically, adding a subtle image of a woman's body. This is my first sketch and a rough visual:

Then, after talking to my tutors I decided to use typography as main element, but make it more experimental. I used meat to highlight the dark and murder side of the story. I wanted the lettering to look nice at first sight, but then after inspection the viewer can see it's made of meat. These are my two tests of meat calligraphy (front & spine):

Cutting pork loin and bacon to create letters felt a bit weird...

Next stage was etching tests, to see results go to my previous post: http://patrycjazywert.blogspot.com/2010/04/etching.html.

Then, I decided to use hair as a theme for the cover. This is first sketch:

Then I thought I could use real hair. So, I had fun times putting my head on a scanner and trying to reach the keyboard :) This is my real hair version:

I'll publish the final entry for Penguin competition in my next post.

Etching

Just before Easter break we had two introduction to etching classes at uni. This was first time I was doing etching and wanted to see how it works with typographic image. I took one of the designs from the project that I was working on at that time. It's the lettering for Patrick Süskind's "Perfume" cover (Penguin Design Award). This is the original image, a hand drawn lettering that I used for my etching:

The lettering is very detailed, I wasn't sure how this would work with soft-ground etching:

I did soft-ground first:

And then hard ground (swirls and ornaments):

And after that, I added tones using aquatint. I did two prints with different amount of ink on the plate:

I didn't know how this would come out and each print was a surprise. But this was all about just learning the techniques and I really enjoyed it! Here are the shots from the making of and the plate:

I found it very interesting, but didn't use any of these for the final version of the cover. Anyway, definitely want to play with etching again!

Typographic Trees

I've visited Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2010 at Design Museum recently. The exhibition is excellent, but there was one piece that drew my attention particularly- Typographic Trees by Gordan Young and Why Not Associates.

Here is the explanation of the project:

"When artist Gordon Young was asked by architects Penoyre and Prasard to design a site-specific work of art for their new library in Crawley, West Sussex, he suggested a ‘forest’ of typographic oak columns installed floor to ceiling like supporting pillars.

Fellow artist Anna Sandberg held workshops with library users, to gather information on people’s favourite books, places and memories. Young then worked with typographers Why Not Associates to design columns from this user-generated content. Each of the 14 solid oak ‘trees’ reflects a different subject – from the opening line of the first Harry Potter novel to the gothic text of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The final designs were sandblasted into green unseasoned oak by long time collaborator Russell Coleman. This material – with all its cracks and shakes – was deliberately chosen to contrast with the perfection of the new building’s interior. Finally, the finished columns were installed in relevant specific locations throughout the library." (http://www.designsoftheyear.com/2010/02/14/gordan-young-and-why-not-associates-typographic-trees-crawley-library-uk/#more-2602)

I really like this concept and I think typographic trees look amazing! Here are some photos I took: