Cub Issue 519

A little sneak peek of the new issue for everyone - click the picture to view

Fast Approaching

I feel the time is fast approaching where I will have to face facts. I shall be consulting my little book of ideas and actually having to pick ones to continue or finish. It's strange after 2 years of having time spare now I wish I'd done a bit more, oh well good ideas will last.

Cub Issue 519 (my 3rd issue) has just gone to print, off to check the proof of that later today. My 360degree project is going strong with almost 500 views in about 2 weeks if you havn't already have a look at www.360at3.blogspot.com. I'm beginning work on a project to address the number of people wearing bike helmets with Jenny Rice as well as weighing up which RSA brief to have a go at. Oh and that lovely thing called a dissertation is looming its head still.

As not to leave it on a downer look at these amazing photos I found from a new york photographer called Weegee here

The Art of Juggling

I have to admit I've never been much of a juggler. I never thought it would be much of a problem, I wasn't planning to join the circus and its not that great a party trick. However I have discovered that its a key part to a graphic design degree.

Issue 3 of CUB magazine is almost ready for print and in talks with a paper mill to get some different paper for certain parts of the magazine which could be fun.

My 360degree project is going strong, over 400 views and a couple of blog posts in 2 weeks isn't bad.

Uni wise It's a bit strange getting back into it all and balancing dissertation with project work and allowing myself to have a resemblance of a life. Oh well I'm sure it'll all come together soon enough.

Oh and to make it worse, I've had to start thinking about what happens after uni, anyone want to offer me a job?

If a tree falls does anyone listen?

A really interesting art piece replacing the places logged trees used to be, with the sound they used to make. I really like how these are not just done digitally and that they are painstakingly made in order to fill the gap, I think it adds move value to the lost trees life.

"The white forms in these photographs are the sculptural manifestations of audio footage that was recorded along the border between Russia and Finland. Here the unique old-growth forests stand, The Green Belt of Fennoscandia. Recently these ancient trees are being logged for their valuable timber. There are only few remaining areas of ancient forest in Europe with the vast majority of the vanishing old-growth forests remaining are in the North of European Russia.

The soundwaves are actual objects, each is 6 metres high, reminiscent of the height of a tree, despite looking like digital intervention. I recorded them when the forest was still there. Then, when the trees had gone, I put the ‘sounds’ back to where they used to exist, sounds that look like trees that will never be heard again."

check out the rest of the pieces on the soundstills page at www.iratviga.com/

Darkness

The initial solution to our recent project set by Mark Bonner from GHB Design

This is a poster that is designed to be put up over ad-shells, phone boxes or any other area that obscures the darkness during the night, to encourages people to embrace creativity and journey through the darkness.

During the day when the item causing the light is not lit up it appears at first glance to be a black poster but for those that choose to give into curiosity and have a closer look the words 'JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS' can be made out.

The poster is printed on both sides and when the light comes on from behind the poster the light can only shine through the bit that hasn't been printed so it reveals its hidden message encouraging people who are out in the darkness to consider its possibilities.

Journey into darkness

Over the last week we have been working on a project set by Mark Boner from GHB Design, who was kind enough to come in and give us a great talk on Monday.

The project is an extremely open brief that asked us to pick and object or subject and to delve into its associated meaning and related ideas and to come up with a solution that uses an idea gleamed from our research.

We have been looking into the subject of darkness, and have been exploring the notions surrounding it. One of the most interesting things we looked at was how throughout history and spanning various darkness has been considered something to be scared of.

This is something that Miroslaw Balka's installation at the tate currently exploits in order to make people feel uneasy and unsafe. But through our research we found that the basis for these feeling as rooted in past problems where darkness was a time when we were at risk from predators and in fact has very little basis (apart from psychological) in todays world.

From this we started to explore the positives of darkness and found a wealth of inspirational poems, quote and pieces of work that reveled in the joy and peacefulness of the darkness. One of these that really resonated with us was the Oscar Wilde Quote that says...

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

From this we wanted to create something to both encourage those 'dreamers' and also to promote more intrigue into exploring the darkness. We started exploring long exposure photographs in the darkness and wanted to create something that during the day would emulate the effect of gradually noticing details in the dark as well as make those who were in the darkness think of the potential for creativity etc that darkness brings.

We began by creating 3D letterforms that we were going to photograph in the dark to create an image that at first glance appeared to be just a black image but after looking a bit harder details would be revealed within it.





This was one of our experiments during our photo shoot that allows you to see the type and below is the final image that we chose to use. Though it may not seem it on screen the phrase 'Journey Through Darkness' can be made out in print form.

Best viewed large - Click to enlarge.

CUB Issue 518

After a hectic week or so with content coming in a bit slowly. Issue 518 (my second issue as designer) is proofed, approved and ready for production.

This issue has had a little tweaking of the basic layout and I'm definitely happier with how this looks/feels on a whole so now just got to wait for it to get back from the printers.

A new regular feature.

I have started a little project for my third year.
It's called 360 at 3 and will involve me taking a 360degree photo every day at 3pm check out the daily photos at 360at3.blogspot.com

Enjoy