Briefs

For each of my design modules chosen, I have a brief to complete, to produce a printed artefact from research and experimentation taking into considerations of each brief. As I mentioned in my last post, I have elected to take Design for Production, Design for Publishing, Advanced Typography, History of Graphic Design and Greek Language. Since then I have dropped a module due to the heavy work load from my other classes and decided to carry on with the modules which will help me develop my portfolio. I chose to drop Advanced Typography as the other modules seemed to excite me more and I felt I could learn and benefit a lot more from the other classes.

For my publishing brief I am required to produce a full magazine with 24 double page spreads including the cover and back cover. I feel this will be a great addition to my portfolio and I will learn a lot from the module to benefit my skills and knowledge. In production my task is to compile a set of 12 postcards based upon 12 quotes we have been given to illustrate and represent for each of the postcards. The is a restriction on imagery for this brief and photography will not be allowed unless it is of a patter or abstract imagery so the quote will be the main focus. Our tutor would like us to have the quote as the main focus and for us to experiment with a mix of typography and concepts. I have previously been thinking of creating a postcard for each place I have visited from my traveling this year, so this project is very appealing to me in practice for my long running personal project. My final design module is exploring the history of graphic design, we will be given lectures on various different design eras. Our tutor is retaining the brief for now as he wants us to focus on just learning for the majority of the semester. Once our brief has been announced I will then post a small update.

NAP x

First month in Cyprus

In our first month of moving here and starting our classes, in just a total of two weeks, my experience here has began full of promise. We moved into our new apartment which is only a two minute walk from campus and relatively an O.K place to live for the next year here. Our landlord was very welcoming and with a shop just below and a maintenance man around the building, the people we have met so far seem very helpful and accommodating by speaking English for us.We have met up with some other students from Coventry university also studying in Nicosia, part of the Erasmus program and all get on well, I feel this year will be a great experience as all of us what to take as much as we can back to Coventry with us.

My first priority was to officially register and choose the subjects I will be studying for the first semester. With my learning agreement, arrival form signed and a brief welcome talk of what modules are available to me, I have now enrolled onto Advanced Typography, History of Graphic Design, Design for Production, Design for Publishing and as an added extra subject Greek Language. I'm looking forward to the outcome of my work from reading the briefs and talking to tutors and being apart of the classes. I will also be in the same classes as some of my friends from Coventry and new friends, from Scotland, I met online through the Erasmus group. As a group we have really integrated well with some of our Greek classmates and even had some Greek lessons from them to try and help us. A very friendly member of the class has asked if I would model for him to help with his photography class.

I'm just beginning my projects and the workload is already quite a lot however we have the option to swap and drop modules still in the coming weeks. From my first few lessons I have really enjoyed the classes and feel excited with the work ahead, such as producing a full magazine. I think it is going to be a challenging task ahead but I'm excited at the thought of what I will achieve for my portfolio. I will need to consider the workload and how to manage my time to produce the work as I have been planning on returning to the UK soon to retrieve a new travel card and visit friends from the course I left this year.

NAP x

Not long now...

In a short number of days I will finally be turning my world around to study in Cyprus. A mix of emotions are hitting me, mostly excitement and nervous at the thought of moving and being part of a new university and new classes. Integrating into new classes with foreign people is what i think I may find the most challenging, however from my past experience in China and Istanbul I feel like I can confidently overcome some of my fears.

In my planning for this experience I mentioned what I hope to gain from it in some previous posts 

(A year of travel ahead & Erasmus). These previous thoughts will remain with me and be my main aims for the year ahead. My flight will be leaving on the 17th so I aim to post an update when settled.

NAP x

Istanbul

As I mentioned before in my blog post Lingue Mundi, I have been learning the Turkish language, in preparation for my Erasmus travels. On completion of the course, a trip to Istanbul was arranged to allow us to test out our new language and skills in communicating. It gave us the chance to experience the culture, religion and food in the heart of Turkey, meeting students from the university there being our guides we were to experience local life too. The trip was fascinating and a great way to bond with everyone from our class more, I felt lucky to have such a fun trip and see so much.

  

Our day of cycling round Princes Island

 

Inside the Blue Mosque 

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Cyprus here I come...

Today I finally received my acceptance letter for Frederick University in Nicosia, Cyprus. Apartment hunting is a go!

 

NAP x

Live Brief & Degree Show

So the time has come to end my second year here at Coventry, a week of work and presentations are finished. Recently I have been working on a live brief for a client to produce a blog style website as part of a partnership to contribute to producing a website. Our client was an artist currently studying her masters here at Coventry University and wanted to promote herself, her work and her interests in a blog style website. As I felt this an easy task to complete, I wanted to try and challenge myself so suggested a creative CV to work alongside her website when it came to promoting her as an artist.

We created the website together with contributions from our client and designed a creative CV for her to math the branding we created inspired by her own artwork.

Business Card

 CV 

This week was also the opening night of the third year graphic design final degree show and in support we all attended. We had all made some great friends in a few from the year above us from sharing the experience in China, so it felt only right to support them for the night and celebrate their hard work. It was great to see their work on display and it really sunk into myself how fast it will come around and be my turn to graduate. I am currently planning to defer my last year to take a year out studying abroad and gaining more experience and confidence in myself.

NAP x

Lingue Mundi

 

I have recently began Lingue Mundi classes in Turkish, learning the language in case it may benefit me and my studies whilst in Cyprus. As the city I shall be living in is split half Cypriot-Turkish and Half Cypriot-Greek the language will be a mix. There was no option to learn Greek here in Coventry but hopefully there will be an opportunity at the university there, or by meeting new people to pick up new language skills. 

As part of the classes there is an organized trip to Istanbul at the end of classes to visit a partnering university there and plenty of chances to put our knowledge to the test. We were told the trip would be full of activities such as sight seeing, exploring Islands all with our Turkish tour guides so we can practice our language skills. 

After visiting China and the partnering university there, I now feel a lot more confident in traveling, meeting new people and trying to speak their language. It seems I have caught the traveling bug now and I don't know when it will end! This year is shaping up to be a very promising year of experience for me. 

NAP x