Hasta La Ideas

I always look forward to visiting the London College of Communication’s BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design degree show, and this year didn’t disappoint. Here’s a selection of the projects that most caught my eye…

The course at LCC is divided into different pathways, covering everything from illustration to typography, interaction design to advertising. Shown above, and below, is a project by Hannah Blackmore, a graduate from the Interaction & Moving Image strand, which looks at what remains of the once thriving shops in Ramsgate, Kent.

Blackmore has put together a book of the vacant shop photographs. “These photographs are portraits of nothingness, like time capsules, where everything around them is changing, representing how they are not letting go,” she says.

Also on the Interaction & Moving Image pathway is Kirsty Tizzard, who has created a series called Condensed Books, a set of transparent objects the size of real books (Tolstoy’s War And Peace above) with the text from the first and last pages laser cut onto the sides.

Karl Askill, a graduate from the Typo/Graphics strand, has created The Holy Book of Ikea, a publication in the form of the Bible that lists all of the furniture brand’s products.

Max Batten and Ben Shaffery are graduates from the Design for Advertising pathway at LCC. Shown above are their posters and packaging designs for Montgomery’s ‘manly’ yoghurt, and a film explaining their response to a YCN student brief to make M&S’s Plan A initiative more relevant to its customers.

Paul Crump, from the Illustration strand, displays a series of packaging designs for Ted Baker, and number of screenprints on aluminium, inspired by “looking into how WW2 military nose art on aircraft adopted a personality”.

Thomas Hayman, also from Illustration, had a number of interesting pieces of work on display, including a lovely set of posters and packaging design for a Kraftwerk boxset.

Vanessa Yeo is a graduate from the Interaction & Moving Image course. On display at the degree show is her FacebookLIVE project, which she describes as a “hybrid of online and offline human interaction”. It is explained in the film above. I also liked her Random Act of Kindness film on her site (above, top), which reacts to our occasionally obsessional relationship with the bathroom scale.

More impressive work from Interaction & Moving Image is on show, in particular Kirsty Greig‘s Twitter Clock, shown above top, which downloads the most popular words in Tweets and conversations on Twitter in an ever-updating stream. Every minute the current most Tweeted word appears large on the display. Greig is also showing the installation Haptic, explained in the film above. Haptic consists of a number of hanging poles that emit light and sounds when touched.

Christian Granados Jaimez, from the Typo/Graphics pathway, is displaying a 3D modular typeface based on six interlocking geometric shapes.

Also from Typo/Graphics is Dani Snow, who is displaying a project (shown above top) inspired by the film The Breakfast Club and 80s design styling. Shown above too is a film by Snow that juxtaposes analogue and digital flower arranging.

From the Information Design pathway I liked Amy Lewis‘ response to a brief to design a set of Deutsche Mark banknotes (is LCC anticipating the fall of the Euro in Germany with this project, perhaps?).

Katie Smyth is displaying this poster series based on the foibles of sitcom characters as part of the Typo/Graphics show at LCC.

Olly Gibbs from the Illustration pathway is displaying a highly detailed circular illustration. The full work and a detail is shown above, alongside a film documenting Gibbs developing the piece.

To finish this round-up, here’s a series of bony illustrations by Rich Sheehan, also a graduate from the Illustration strand.

The LCC degree show will remain on show until Friday, and is certainly worth visiting to see the work in the flesh. To view more of the graduate projects online, go to lccgmd2011.com, and typois.co.uk.

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