Monthly Archives: March 2014

30.03.14 — Journal

Blast Off

So Easter has begun and I have returned back to good old Burnley to relax!

Ah, who am I kidding, I came back and got stuck back into work straight away. Yesterday (Saturday 29th March) was a big day for Burnley Youth Theatre, as we launched both Burnley Arts Centre and our new building, the Moira Preston Building!

People gathering outside during the launch celebrations

The day begun with back-to-back sharing events, followed by a mad break in which we cleaned both buildings ready for the VIP reception and performances in the evening. It was a hectic and busy day, but it was really nice to be back in work and to catch up with everyone again.

Me outside the newly opened Moira Preston Building

It was very strange, however, to come back into the office and see boxes and boxes of things I’d designed whilst at Leeds that I’d never had the chance to see for myself! This included an A4 Blast Off folder, a VIP Blast Off invite and of course the brand new Burnley Arts Centre/Burnley Youth Theatre brochure.

My colourful 'Blast Off' designs all neatly boxed

Also, I worked on some new signage for both buildings and the gates, and it was strange to see those up in full public view too, when I’d only ever seen them on my laptop back in Leeds!

Burnley Arts Centre gate signage
The Moira Preston Building foyer signage
A new plaque for the Alan Daiches Studio

It was a really enjoyable evening, and a nice chance to catch up with not only colleagues at the theatre but also Paul Hartley from Blaze and Glen Meskell from Curious Minds.

Be sure to follow Burnley Youth Theatre on Twitter and on Facebook – I uploaded this set of photographs from the event yesterday if you want to check out some more photos. I think this is a fitting photo to end on – feel free to leave a comment by getting in touch.

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24.03.14 — Journal

Corn Exchange

So in an attempt to get myself back on track, here’s another post within an acceptable amount of time since the previous iteration!

Welcome to the Vintage Fair!

I returned to Leeds after my brief illness recovery stint back at home, and stepped off the train here to be greeted by Luisa (who’s just setup a blog which you should definitely check out!) as we’d arranged to visit Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair, which just so happened to be taking place in the Corn Exchange, a magnificent building in Leeds which I have been meaning to visit for some time now.

The interior of the Corn Exchange during the fair
Luisa in her new headgear

I made sure to take plenty of photos, as the grand geometric and repetitiveness of the architecture was a pretty clash to the chaos of the vintage stalls and bunting, making for some beautiful snaps.

Looking down upon more stalls
A view across the hall from the balcony

I think it’ll be interesting to visit the Corn Exchange when there’s no events on, as I can’t envision it without the hustle and bustle of dozens of clothes racks and stables strewn with odds-and-ends!

Luisa on the balcony
21.03.14 — Travel

Leeds, London, Burnley, Repeat

Since my last post I’ve been bouncing around all over the country, first back to Leeds, then down to London (again) and back home to good ol’ Burnley. We’ve been really busy with group work this semester so I’ve not had as much spare time to sit down with my laptop, and the hours of non-uni work I’ve been spending designing Burnley Arts Centre’s new brochure!

Leeds

Anyway, one day in Leeds a few weeks back I decided to head off out with my phone and take some snapshots of the city, before spending a few minutes on VSCO Cam (my favourite photography editing app) touching them up somewhat. I was quite pleased with the few shots that I brought back, especially seeing as the main purpose of said trip was to go pick up some honey from Morrison’s!

Some houses across a courtyard
Subway footpath junction
Posters beneath the trees
Campus beyond the roads
The music hall from below.

So that’s an update of what I’ve been doing in Leeds (between presentations, group meetings and firing off emails) – now down to London for the 4 Designers Design Conference!

London

So I, alongside some other Graphic & Communication Design peers, headed down to London with the design department for the 4 Designers Conference at the Odeon in Leicester Square. We headed down on the train, where me and Rhea hosted our own little Blues Brothers party…

Me and Rhea finally took a selfie on the train to London!

We arrived in London and pitched up at the Royal National Hotel – which was basic but perfect for a group of rowdy students like us! It was painful to look at how beautiful some of the buildings down the road were, though…

A hotel just down the road from us

I spent most of the evenings in Rhea, Emily & Devanshi’s room, where we taught Rhea how to make tea the proper English way, I danced to Let It Go and we played heads down, thumbs up (ah, the nostalgia.)

Rhea learning how to make tea

We had some free time over the three days to go off and explore London by ourselves, and so I took the opportunity to try Korean noodles (which were fabulous) as well as visit a few museums, namely the British Museum (as profusely recommended by my professor), the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum.

Beautiful architecture in the British Museum's courtyard
Korean BBQ chicken noodles
Jess and Rena outside M&M World

But for two mornings, our focus was not just to doss around London town, but rather to attend the speeches as part of the 4 Designers Conference. Over the two days we listened to four main speakers, all introduced by the event’s founder, Patrick Baglee:

  1. Tom Adams, Futurebrand
  2. Morag Myserscough, Studio Myserscough
  3. James Cannell, Pret A Manger
  4. Greg Quinton, The Partners

The speeches were both inspirational and very informative, I made lots of notes and took away lots of key quotes from all four. Taking a look at some of the creative companies’ previous work also inspired me to begin to pull together my own portfolio, which I hope to have online soon!

It was a very long few days in London, I returned back to my flat in Leeds on Tuesday 25th February and crawled straight into bed… but at least I lasted longer than Rhea and Devanshi!

Rhea and Devanshi, tired and worn out at the conference

Burnley

Since London, however, I’ve been continuously busy, especially with the Burnley Arts Centre (home of Burnley Youth Theatre) launch coming up soon! I’ve been working relentlessly on pulling together the new logo and implementing it ready for launch.

It’s been a difficult project, as I’ve had to maintain the current Burnley Youth Theatre brand image whilst incorporating the new logo and style, but I think we’ve arrived at a happy medium which is simple enough to contain the reams and reams of information which has to go into the brochure!

And Back To Leeds

Every now and then, though, I’ve had a spare hour or two to go and relax in the lovely Leeds weather we’ve been having over the past week or so. Me and Luisa have been going on all sorts of adventures, from rolling around in her new blanket made by her mum to sitting on the lawn outside the union and soaking up the sun!

Luisa's amazing new blanket from her mum
A lovely sunny day on campus
Luisa hiding from the camera.
Oh, and I donated my mini sombrero to her. It's now the 'Sombrero of Enthusiasm'

I also visited Emily’s flat and we dressed up as Anna and Elsa from Frozen (my new favourite movie, by the way) for Leeds University Union’s Disney Fruity night!

Anna and Elsa

And so once again I came here today to write a quick blog post and ended up writing a photo essay, but I hope you enjoyed my splurge go an update on the designer goings-on in and around Leeds. I leave you with a picture of my first ever bowl of ramen from Wagamama, which was delicious! Thanks to Izzy for inviting me out to celebrate her birthday!

Delicious duck ramen