London College of Communication blog

Congratulations to London College of Communication (LCC) students from the FdA Design for Graphic Communication and BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design courses on their recent success in this year’s International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) Student Assessment scheme.

The ISTD is a global organisation that works closely with graphic design educators and professionals to maintain and promote typographic standards through the forum of debate and design practice across the world.

The ISTD Student Assessment is rigorous in that it considers the overall design process of research, reflection, strategy, design development, technical and production specification of a project – not just the final proposal. Therefore, membership is only awarded to those who through their work demonstrate their commitment to achieving the highest possible quality of visual communication.

This year, four of the College’s students have been awarded entry into this globally respected society for their contributions of excellent typographic merit, they are:

Asa Elmehed, 2^nd Year FdA Design for Graphic Communication.

Kira Slepchenkova, 2^nd Year FdA Design for Graphic Communication.

Jay Jung Hyun Yeo, 3^rd Year Graphic & Media Design.

Caroline Claisse, 3^rd Year Graphic & Media Design.

The students, along with their tutors Paul Bailey, Jack Blake and David Phillips, will receive their certificates at a special event hosted in London this coming June.

To find out more about the ISTD Student Assessment Scheme, visit – http://www.istd.org.uk/education

Five London College of Communication (LCC) students will be exhibiting their work at the Menier Gallery, London Bridge, from Tuesday 1 – Saturday 5 May, the final stop of UAL Platform’s touring exhibition, Xhibit 2012.

Now in its 15^th year, Xhibit aims to find the crème de la crème of current student work from all over the University of the Arts London (UAL) and has been touring around London since March, starting off at Central Saint Martin’s, then on to the Kingsgate Workshop Trust in North London, before arriving at the Menier Gallery in South London.

This year a record breaking 1,200 works were submitted for inclusion, which were then  narrowed down to just 21 by an expert judging panel consisting of Student Union President -  Ben Westhead, Creative Director of JaguarShoesCollective – Vickie Hayward Creative Director of JaguarShoesCollective and Gallery Manager and Curator at Jerwood Visual Arts – Sarah Williams.

The five participating LCC students,  are:

Brett Mortensen (Foundation Art & Design)

Joao Monteiro (MA Graphic Moving Image)

Natalie Dawkins (MA Photography)

Ginevra Boni (BA Animation)

Sam Wrigley (BA Graphic and Media Design)

In addition, both Natalie & Joao were awarded the opportunity to curate an exhibition of their own work in the renowned DreamBagsJaguarShoes venue in Shoreditch later this year.

Xhibit is also proud to be collaborating with Made in Arts London, a new enterprise from the University of Arts London, selling art and design work by current students and recent graduates online. All works on sale in Xhibit 2012 are available to purchase at www.madeinartslondon.com as well as at a pop up shop at the Menier Gallery during the Private View on Tuesday 1^st, Friday 4^th and Saturday 5^thMay.

Please join us for the private view of Xhibit 2012 at The Menier Gallery, 51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU, Tuesday 1 May 2012, 6pm – 8pm.

The exhibition is open Tuesday 1 – Saturday 5 May 2012

Tues – Thurs: 11am – 6pm
Fri: 11am – 8pm
Sat: 11am – 4pm

In February, second year students on the BA Graphic & Media Design course at London College of Communication (LCC) visited the Bauhaus Dessau in Germany. Operating from 1919 to 1933 the Bauhaus school sparked the revolution of modern design. Below LCC student Pedro Costa Coitinho reflects on the trip.

Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger

“Often, in history, a few individuals’ achievements mark generations to come. There was one particular period when, not one, but several outstanding radical thinkers came under one roof and created such change, we still look back to them to predict the future.

As any person mildly interested in design might know – and my educated guess is that you are – the Bauhaus School was the birthplace of modern design and architecture. Visiting the Bauhaus was nothing short of extraordinary. As the history books tell us, the Bauhaus was extensively modified throughout time. As a result the building is still being painstakingly reconstructed to its original form with the uttermost attention to detail. Everything, from the paints being used in the building derive from years of research with experts, trying to get as close as possible to the original.

Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger

Our guides had incredible enthusiasm and energy, keen to point out every clever design in the building – incessant pointing there was: From the Breuer chairs, to Moholy-Nagy’s experiments with photography to the colour based way finding system.

Images by LCC Student Danny Kwonger

Another interesting aspect of the life of the Bauhaus, was the lack of hierarchy. The Masters, as they were known, would share their food and lives with the students. Some of them would even stay in the student living quarters. To emphasise the greatness of this statement, let‚ us remind ourselves of some of the Masters that have passed through the Bauhaus: Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Wassily Kansinsky,  Moholy-Naghy, Johannes Itten, El Lissitzky, Marcel Breuer and the list goes on. In short, not your usual primary school teacher. In fact, they are some of the most important personalities of the century. As a student designer, this really was an amazing opportunity, a once in a life time chance. Thank you David, Paul & Sarah.”

James Coltman a student on the BA Graphic and Media Design course at London College of Communication (LCC) has teamed up with three students from Kingston University to open a new design studio and gallery based in an old butcher’s shop in London’s Portobello.

The new studio (pictured above) is called Butcher’s Hook and aims to establish a personal approach with its clients while championing creativity in the local area.

The studio have vowed to spend 10 per cent of their time working on local community projects and to this end plan to operate a ‘walk-in studio’ once a week, where anyone can walk in with any sized brief. “We would like to become a design studio for people. All shapes and sizes of different people,” they say.

In order to introduce themselves to the local community, Butcher’s Hook set up a digital display in the shop window using an old Nintendo Wii remote, custom made Infa-Red yellow pencils, a wireless doorbell, a printer and a few extra ingredients. Take a look at the video below to see it in action.

“We had a great weekend, where over 150 people got involved, through their own choice… and every single one went home to find our business cards printed on the back of their own masterpiece.”

As well as launching their studio, Butcher’s Hook have entered the project into the D&AD Student Awards in response to the brief ‘Make Your Mark‘.

Find out more about Butcher’s Hook via their website www.butchershook.co.uk and follow them on Twitter @ButchersHook104

Kristine Omandap, a student on the BA Graphic & Media Design course at London College of Communication (LCC),  has landed a 6-month work-placement at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) as part of her Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS) internship year.

ESO Headquarters in Garching © ESO

Omandap is working within the Outreach Department where she is designing layouts for promotional material, books and exhibition graphics. She will also work on astronomical images the ESO capture from the various sites in Chile.

'Gas and dust can seem really quite insignificant and boring. But ESO's telescopes captures moments where they (Gas and dust) can appear strange and beautiful.' © ESO

The ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It provides state-of-the-art research facilities to astronomers and astrophysicists allowing them to conduct front-line science in the best conditions.

“The information I work with has a cultural and historical importance, that’s one of the things that pushed me to apply to the ESO”, says Omandap. “I’m really enjoying living in a different city and country and I love a challenge. It will give me a chance to grow as a person as well as a designer.”

See Omandap’s work and follow her progress at www.kristineomandap.com

An exhibition of new works by Monica Biagioli, a Senior Lecturer in BA Graphic & Media Design at London College of Communication (LCC), is now on show at the Untitled Gallery in Manchester until 28 April 2012. The intimate exhibition is composed of four molten lead text works and a sculpture sound installation.

Speak Through by Monica Biagioli

In Speak Through, Biagioli presents a series of text works that explore Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious. She selects words to highlight the various archetypes Jung describes, such as the Wise Old Man, the Hero and the Child.

(more…)

Two design students and a recent graduate from the London College of Communication (LCC) hosted a three-course dinner at the College canteen last Friday (16 March) to thank people in the food industry, creatives and sponsors for supporting their ingenious food waste project, Food for Good. The meal, cooked on site by a team of chefs, was made from unwanted food collected by the students from London shops and restaurants.

Left to right: Chiara Astuti, Martina Giulianelli and Anna Cennamo of Food for Good

Martina Giulianelli, Chiara Astuti currently studying BA Graphic and Media Design at LCC and Anna Cennamo, a recent graduate, are the founders of Food for Good. Their aim is to redistribute unwanted food from shops and restaurants to those in need. The Italian trio came up with the project idea after Giulianelli highlighted how much food was thrown away from her workplace in London.

“I would bring the food home and share it , but we thought, as much as we might need it, there are other people who might not have access to food who would need it. That was the inspiration,” she said.

Before sitting down to dinner, guests heard a presentation from Food for Good and food waste campaigner Tristam Stewart (pictured above).  Menu highlights included pumpkin and prosciutto soup, vegetable risotto and fish pie inspired jacket potatoes!

The project was developed when the students undertook the Diploma in Professional Studies year in Industry 2011-12, allowing them to develop a ‘good’ self initiated project. Sarah Temple suggested routes to seed funding application and the girls successfully received first funding last year when they won a £2,000 grant from UnLtd, a charity that supports social entrepreneurs. The grant allowed Food for Good to afford the first food collection containers and the cost of renting a van for transportation, so far they have delivered food to over 200 people.

The girls hope to get more funding in the near future to continue doing something they believe in, below is a video of them in action!

Follow Food for Good on Facebook.

Visit the Food for Good website.

Table Typography

Oliver Binnian is working through his Diploma in Professional Studies at the London College of Communication (LCC) and is determined to explore his future ambitions during this year out from his studies. His achievements to date include being featured on the It’s Nice That blog, undertaking an internship at Selfridges and working with the British Museum on the Grayson Perry exhibition. He is now experimenting by working with 3D designer, George Thompson at his Glasgow-based studio to create a series of tables.

“Table Topography is a collection of tables based around my Mountain Cubism series. The work is inspired by mountains, maps, crystals and gems. We were both intrigued to play within the gap between 2D and 3D.”

Binnian is studying the Illustration pathway on the BA Graphic and Media Design course at LCC. See more of his work with George Thompson below or visit his website at www.binnian.com

Illustrations created by former London College of Communication (LCC) BA Graphic & Media Design students Johanna Lundberg and Elin Svensson (of Studio Åh), have been published in The Financial Times Weekend Magazine. Åh’s work is featured alongside Tim Hayward’s regular food column, which last week was concerned with modern food packaging.

Memories Served Cold, published in The FT on 24 Feb 2012

Brunch: not over easy, published in The FT on 3 Feb 2012

Proustian pear drops, published in The FT on 2 Dec 2011

Lundberg and Svensson established Åh [o:h] in 2008, both graduated from LCC in 2oo7.  See more of their work on their website www.ah-studio.com

For the first time four research disciplines taught within London College of Communication (LCC) are brought together in one PhD exhibition, ‘Research in progress: pushing boundaries and practises’.

The exhibition is a celebration of interdisciplinarity and the coming together of different artistic practices in one event. Nineteen students will be exhibiting a variety of different works in areas of film, photography, design and sound arts from 3rd to 16th March with a Private View on Friday 2 March.

Author: Rosalind Fowler, 3rd year full-time (Film)

Filmic installations will explore topics related to archive, space, place and belonging. Rosalind Fowler, 3^rd year Film student showcases work that comprises extracts from a feature length documentary currently in production. She says: “It is about performative folk traditions, senses of place and belonging in England, from the perspective of a fictional female character living in the city. The research is strongly informed by ideas surrounding experimental and auto-ethnography, phenomenological experience and the embodied camera.”

Author: Corinne Silva, 3rd year full-time PhD student (Photography)

In photography, images deal with issues of memory, domestic space, geo-politics and identity. Third year Photography student, Corinne Silva, tells us about her work: “The landscapes of southern Spain and northern Morocco share many geographical features including climate, flora and fauna, as well as a history of trade, migration and invasion. To consider these interconnected Mediterranean landscapes I photographed northern Morocco landscapes and then installed three of these images on billboards in Murcia, Spain. The act of placing one landscape inside another – the southern hemisphere into the northern – creates a space to contemplate not only their shared topography but also the complex web of their ongoing connections of mobility and colonisation.”

Author: Francico Laranjo, 2nd year Full-time (Design)

Design students will showcase various works related to data visualization, space and branding, screen typography, and communication design. Franciso Laranjo, a 2^nd year Design student explains his research: “The Architecture of Gambling is an unfinished project that seeks to analyse and map visual tactics used by aggressive ‘brand-led businesses’ that occupy a significant part of today’s urban landscapes. They have been contaminating public space with promiscuous and obsessive relations with sports and finance whilst operating in tax havens such as Gibraltar, Isle of Man or Malta.”

Author: Mark Jackson, 5th year part-time (Sound)

Sound arts students showcase audio compositions and sound experiments who address issues of listening, performance, radio art, and the relationship between sound and light. Fifth year student Sound, Mark Jackson, tells about his work: “Exteriorisation Exercise #2: Playback Experiment #2 is the orchestration of a William S. Buroughs ‘playback’ experiment. It consists of individuals visiting the exhibition over the course of its run to covertly record and replay the exhibition’s audial environment with different generations of audio technology. The recording devices will not be visible and the data recorded will be played back at a level potentially indistinguishable from ambient noise. The exercise is a re-imagining of paranormal acts of metaphysical sabotage and the perversion of a not-art proposition. Potentially indistinguishable from its absence, it may nonetheless incite instances of interference, distraction and delusion.”

Download the exhibition catalogue that accompanies the exhibition.