Steve has kindly passed on photographs he took of the rich and varied world of narrowboats. Beautiful signwriting, patterns and colourschemes can always be found on our waterways and canals. Most likely a waning art, there are clearly some artists still creating some masterful typography. Cheers Steve!
Congratulations to all this years students who have just been nominated for the global student D&AD New Blood Awards. Winners will be announced on Thursday 11th July at the New Blood Awards Ceremony.
Here we feature the nominees:
Good luck to one and all!
By Sara Esat.
Recently second year Graphic Design, Advertising and Interior Design students attended a trip to the Hebei University in Baoding (HBU), China. UCLan students collaborated with their Chinese peers (within the same disciplines) and worked on a project to represent the city of Baoding, using any form of art to create typography.
The Graphic Design students were allocated with eight letters — M to T — and below are the solutions along with how they link to the city of Baoding:
In Baoding there is a famous mountain named Mount Langya, where there is a monument that commemorates five brave heroes who died in battle on the mountain. Using the five stars from the Chinese flag, this logo was made.
At the heart of Baoding, there sits a Lotus Garden, where serenity and nature can be observed. This solution uses copywriting to describe what can be seen in those gardens.
The solution for this idea was a visual one rather than the word itself. There were various different shapes of windows that can be seen all over the historical Chinese buildings, and this octagonal window was one of many that were seen.
Kong Zi also known as Confucius is one of the most well known philosophers of all time. On the University campus a statue of him is placed as a symbol of knowledge. This famous saying of his means that, friends with like-mindedness come from afar and we are very happy and honoured.
Qu-Yang Stone Carving is a form of Chinese Folk Carving art. It represents the form of stone carving that was practiced during the Han Dynasty and was also originated from Baoding.
These three words best represent the Hui Garden’s in Baoding. These gardens are an accurate reconstruction of old Southern China, and help depict what life would have been like hundreds of years ago in China.
The first Chinese Military school was set up in Baoding and still sits there today. Named HuangPu Military Academy, it is one of the national cultural relics protection units. The calligraphy reads out the name of the academy in Chinese, and is written downwards as was how the traditional language was like.
All day, every day there is constant traffic in Baoding. It heavily contrasts the traffic that we have in England that may only be during rush hours. This simple response is a form of moving image thats gives a little insight to the situation of roads in China.
Apart from the project, we were able to enjoy the city as well as bond with fellow Chinese students. Later we all ventured out to the capital, Beijing, where we absorbed many interesting pieces of art and visited the sites of many famous landmarks.
Overall the trip was very meaningful as we got to explore a place so far away, and so different to England. The country was beautiful in itself, but the people there made it all the more memorable.
We have fantastic facilities and technicians here at UCLan to help us create designs and artwork which in the outside world would: a) leave us to figure things out alone, and b) cost a truckload of cash. The ability to produce finished, crafted prints cannot be underestimated in a world of portfolios full to the brim with PSD mockups; but lacking in actual, physical print.
The process of screen printing is a simple one. You create a stencil (in effect) on a silk screen, then push ink through it onto paper, or material, or other substrate (perspex, timber and metal have been done - speak to the technicians to see what's possible). One colour of ink is pushed through at a time, but your design may be more than one colour so you can build up in layers, or you can print in CMYK. In fact, colour is a big part of the process as the vibrancy you can achieve when printing with ink cannot be matched by any laser or inkjet printer.
Having not produced a piece of print with my own hands since I was at college 20 years ago, I recently took up the option of an induction into screenprinting. In terms of the process, the first thing to do is create your artwork. For my induction I designed a landscape poster for my son’s wall which used two colours. It’s important to note that you will need registration marks for any design where you want things to line up. Also, as you create your artwork, remember that wherever there is black on your design, this is where the ink will pass through. (I got that the wrong way around on my first attempt.)
Below are the two layers I designed, and finally what I intended the outcome to be.
Light blue layer
dark blue layer
the intended outcome
The designs were created in both Illustrator and Photoshop, before being saved as bitmap .tif files and finally exported as a PDF through InDesign. The designs have to be in black only, because when printed onto acetate or trace, they are used to create the stencil on your screen. This is done by exposing light through your prints onto the silk screen which is coated with photosensitive emulsion. Where the light hits the emulsion it is hardened (so ink will not be able to pass through), and where the light is blocked (the black areas of your design) the emulsion remains soft and can be washed off. This the leaves the clear area where ink will be pressed through the screen.
Rest assured, the technicians can explain this in much more detail.
Once the designs were exposed they looked like the below. Two designs were exposed onto one screen, so you don’t have to make a new screen for every layer. The dark green areas are where the emulsion has hardened onto the screen (i.e. the light has hardened the emulsion), the yellow areas are where the ink will pass through.
The silk screen, ready to print
With the screen ready, it was time to print. With multiple designs on one screen, the areas where I didn’t want ink to go (i.e. the second layer) were covered over with brown tape and acetate. Firstly, I registered the card I was printing on by using the black print used to create the screen itself. When registered, the first layer was then printed in cobalt blue.
Registration
ink, lovely ink
ink, loaded
ink, printed
With the first layer printed, the screen was then washed down and the first design was then taped up ready for printing the dark blue layer. The dark blue was mixed using roughly half cobalt blue and half black. (Mixing colours is fun.)
dark blue, printed
Registration was a bit tricky, but the prints that were slightly out somehow have a bit of charm that a digital process would likely dilute. A few details of this shown below.
out by a whisker
out by several whiskers
Not too far off
The overall effect
And that was that. I only scratched the surface of what’s achievable. Especially when you consider what screen printing might be like when combined with other techniques available, eg laser cutting, letter press, etc. But the most important parts of the process were sharing my thoughts and ideas with the printmaking staff so they could advise me along each step of the way to help me get the result I wanted, which is below. I’m happy, let’s hope Wilfred likes it.
final print
Bitmapping instructions
Here we feature a recent YCN entry for the KFC ‘hand prepared’ brief by Jay Austin & Gabe Aplando. Their idea was based on a fictional hand exercise manual that had been recently discovered by builders who were renovating the UK’s first ever KFC restaurant in Preston, Lancashire.
Front cover
Intro spread
Sample spread - 1
Sample spread - 2
Beginners
Advanced
Expert
Master
Billboard
Cooks kitchen reference chart
Experts believe the manual was originally created by the Colonel himself in order to keep his cooks hand dexterity at a high level, hence ensuring they could prepare his chicken to the highest degree.
A nice concept for an app from second year Dom D for his current branding project.
Hear ye, the latest from The Disseminator’s fount of knowledge (via Dom via The Partners aka Superunion).
The linked website is an ephemera festival. It features the objects found in the Amstel River in Amsterdam whilst it was being excavated to build a new train line. Everything found has been logged, photographed and grouped into a huge archive.
Amazingly, all the objects have been placed in date order as well. You can peruse the archive and also the images are available to collage and experiment with.
![7[1].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5963451dff7c50bac099fda9/1553691558596-HPDN6R5PMM7P2TKI9YZT/7%5B1%5D.jpg)
Found on Design Week by Pete, Grooveschool is a super simple, playful and beautifully crafted identity. Created by Manchester agency Mark Studio, it shows how typography can be used to portray an idea (in this case mimicking volume faders. Well worth a look for anyone working through a branding project currently…
A little look at some little items.
The Disciples Of Design are a global collective of design academics, practitioners, artists and students. We have one common thread – UCLan in Preston, UK; and one common aim – the creation of an ever evolving visual hub for the sharing of ideas and thoughts.
