If the title of this post didn’t already give the game away, I’ve recently been offered an internship to work with the design team at Sky Sports early next year!
The process of securing a placement was a lot of work but a lot of fun. This academic year I chose Web Design as one of my elective university modules, in which we were told that we were to embark on a live brief set by Sky Sports.
The brief, it transpired, was to redesign the video section of the Sky Sports website. We had ten weeks in which to come up with a solution, with eight out of thirty of us being chosen to pitch our ideas to Sky in the final week.
I procured a design which was very simple in comparison to some of the other innovative ideas I saw flying around, but I refused to deviate from my usual utilitarian approach. I did, however, imbue my designs with some innovative features, such as incorporating new interaction through gestures, refining minor features such as the copy used in the time stamps, and adding a “buffer zone” of active area around buttons on touchscreen devices.
I’m super pumped to have won this opportunity to work with one of the leaders in media and broadcasting, and I am very grateful of Sky for allowing me the opportunity to work on a live brief and present my work to them. I have already had the chance to ask for some really useful feedback from the team.
All in all good start to 2015! Now on with the final push to launch this Burnley Arts Centre site…
Today I visited Leeds with my family to do a spot of post-Christmas shopping – that is to spend some of my Christmas money, grab some new clothes and grab some leftover Boxing Day bargains!
As you can see, the weather has been particularly festive recently, with most of the countryside through Burnley and Yorkshire covered in a layer of snow. This provided a lovely backdrop to the family ‘discussion’ (see: argument) over which colour my sister’s new iPhone should be.
Anyway, we arrived in Leeds and I headed for my student house, where I stopped for a quick brew with my dad before heading on a walk towards the city centre. However, I was not prepared for the eerie sight of a totally desolate campus. We were the only human souls wandering through…
The main area outside the Student Union looked as picturesque as always with the clear skies and winter sun providing some beautiful lighting for a few quick photos as we passed through.
As eerie as standing in the middle of a usually bustling hub which was completely lifeless was, it was nothing compared to being stood in the shadows of the Chamberlin, Powell & Bon 1970s brutalist buildings, including the Edward Boyle Library and Social Sciences Building.
After our eerie photography trip around campus, we met up with my mum and sister in the city centre and proceeded with our shopping mission. Ellie still hadn’t decided on what colour iPhone to pick up. I ended up wandering into Primark and Next, my usual clothes haunts, and returning with some new goodies.
I also rediscovered the pure bliss that is Café Nero’s Hot Chocolate Milano – it’s like pure melted Belgian chocolate bliss. I recommend that you all try one. Ellie had finally chosen a colour of iPhone.
We wound up eating at Rola Wala in Trinity Kitchen, where we somehow made friends with the staff when they thought the fact that me and my sister are called ‘Ollie & Ellie’ was hilarious. For tea (or dinner, if you’re southern) we ended up at my old favourite haunt, Belgrave Music Hall, where we treated ourselves to pizzas, burgers and a huge platter of Session Fries. Delicious as ever!
At the end of the day my mum and sister were tired and stuffed full, and so insisted that we hail a cab back to the car before heading back home to good ol’Burnley.
In case you were wondering, Ellie decided on gold. Hmm.
So, some exciting news! Myself and Izzy have decided to be a tad spontaneous for a change and, over a slice of pizza in Belgrave (naturally), decided to book a week away, spending four days in Copenhagen and remainder in Stockholm.
We’ll be jetting off from 14th January and will be sure to return with many photos and stories to share! Whilst we’re out and about we’re hoping to take in some of the sights, local culture and visit as many design-related studios, events and museums as humanly possible.
As I have decided to do my third year at university on an industrial placement year, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for possible studios to apply to for placements, and may even take a few portfolios along with me to drop off along the way.
So that’s all the news I bear for now, but you will be sure to hear more about our trip nearer the time, and again, of course, upon our return…
The past weekend (7th – 9th November 2014) I, Izzy, and Beth joined the LUU Photography Society on a trip up north (yes, even further north) to Scotland, where we would spend two nights in “The Tartan Lodge” (I am not making this up) and explore the great city of Glasgow.
We started off by exploring what could be described as a rather morbid monument, the Glasgow Necropolis, which is essentially an abandoned cemetery. Rather than spooky, however, the necropolis proved to be an excellent spot for taking photos of the old architecture and foliage.
It’s location atop a sizeable hill also offered another photo opportunity, with views stretching far over the city and it’s suburbs.
However we were soon in the booming heart of the city (less so due to the cold winter weather), and we set out to find what gems Glasgow may have to offer. We soon stumbled across a little café for lunch, and were recommended to visit the Willow Tearooms, an establishment designed by the legendary Glaswegian Art Nouveau designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
We also stumbled across a flea market, showcasing local artisan produce…
Before long, we had ventured out of the heart of the city and into some of the suburbs. Determined to see the Glasgow School of Art’s infamous Mackintosh Building, we hopped on the comparatively small subway and headed off to find it.
As we’d forgotten that the Mackintosh Building has been unfortunately devastated by a recent fire, we opted to visit the school’s gift shop and mini museum to learn a little about the building and Mackintosh himself, whilst recovering from the relentlessly wet and cold Glaswegian weather.
The next day, however, the clouds graciously parted and we were free to walk without being battered to death by the rain. The cool winter sun provided some lovely photo opportunities, and a saunter over the river and through more of the city provided more great photo opportunities.
We also made a visit to the Museum of Modern Art, where we saw a particularly interesting installation, Nathan Coley’s “The Lamp of Sacrifice“. For this, Coley had taken every place of worship from Edinburgh’s Yellow Pages and painstakingly recreated it’s architectural form as a cardboard miniature, which the exhibition’s curators had carefully spread across the uppermost exhibition space of the museum. It’s focus seemed mainly a religious message, one stressing that true faith is more important than the construction of a grandiose church, however I preferred to look past this and just appreciate the scale and precision of the work.
We also stopped by Papercup Coffee Co. for some coffee and a bite to each. I had a delicious breakfast style French Toast and bacon dish and a lovely decaffeinated flat white.
I should here mention that, in advance of the trip, I had bought myself a 35mm film camera from the very helpful West Yorkshire Cameras, which is now my beloved Practica. With Boots’ offer on film cartridges and LUU’s free (for PhotoSoc members) darkroom, it was a no-brainer.
Anyway, before our coffee break we also stopped briefly at the botanic gardens near Papercup…
And found some cool little side streets near the University of Glasgow…
It was a wonderful weekend with a great bunch of people, and I hope to return to Glasgow for another visit pretty soon. There was plenty to wander round and photograph, and for people who aren’t all that serious about photography like myself, there’s plenty of other things to head out for, allowing you to just stop and snap any scenes you see along the way.
Moving on from Glasgow, I have taken some black and white shots on film which I will attempt to develop myself, but for now here’s a couple of colour shots that I had developed upon our return to Leeds.
Once again I have left a ludicrously large gap between one post and another, and once again I offer my apologies. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of uni work, socialising, churros and research which have left me with little time to even consider writing a blog post – but tonight I have found a spare five minutes.
As you may have guessed from the introduction and title, I am back in mighty Leeds! I’ve been here for three weeks now, and so much has happened in that time that I will try to bring you up to speed.
First up, I’m now all settled in my new house in the middle of Hyde Park, a short fifteen minute walk from uni and an even shorter two minute walk from the constant snack offers at the Co-Op Food…
I would like to point out that the image above is not my house or street, but a selection of the visual delights on show in the densest student population in Leeds. Here’s my walk to uni…
Over freshers I spent a lot of time meeting back up with all the guys from graphics and exploring Leeds once more. Naturally we landed ourselves at Belgrave Music Hall for a Layne’s Espresso Brunch, where I treated myself to a delicious pork dish.
After which me and Beth headed down into town and had a nosey around. I found a Maplin shop (memories of my days in the garden tinkering with electronics) and we also found something much more important – a churrería in the middle of the city centre. Naturally we made a beeline for it and got ourselves some delicious fresh churro goodness.
We also stumbled upon Whitelocks, a pub that we’d seen advertised in Belgrave but never been able to find. It was tucked into a tiny alley just off the high street!
It looks like a lovely little spot, and we made a pact to regroup and visit it sometime for some cider and some good pub food. I also went for a stroll down to the Royal Armouries and the canal and took a few photos along the way…
Another day we all headed for Weatherspoons and had a huge catch up over some cocktail pitchers. Rhea had four!
But all good things must come to an end, and we have had to get back into the School Of Design and do some work! But wait – they’ve just finished doing up our building, and now it’s super fancy. From an Apple-esque glass entrance to a hip refitting of our common room, we’re all loving the new decor.
My favourite addition by far is the storage shed in the grass studio, which we watched being erected, and which now stands proud in the corner holding up a new fancy TV. I took the opportunity to wander in and have a look around, and Luisa snapped this photo of me…
Jo also spouted a glorious moustache during one of our Mac Studio sessions…
They’ve been working us ragged also – setting us off on a research project to investigate ‘trends’. I was landed with “Generation Jones”, and so locked myself in my room for about a week, sprouting a beard and scouring the web and the library for information…
At some point we also grouped up and went down to Leeds Light Night, which was super cool – I didn’t get too many photos, but I did manage to snap a few of the Zombies in Trinity Kitchen, who managed to make a total mess…
And with that I think I can conclude. I will try to keep on top of posting a bit more, but as the briefs come rolling in I can’t promise much! I will leave you now with this charming message I found on the wall somewhere…
