Mum's the word

Advertising agency Mother's website is dead simple but pretty sweet! The website just displays a video in the centre except if you scrol over the header then it will reveal the company logo, address and phone number. The video player flicks between what I would guess is a live webcam and other strange videos including one of a rabbit and some of skateboards being let to run wild in their studio. Wierd but I like it!

"Spies" by Michael Frayn

This is a book about a 2nd World War espionage seen through the eyes of a young boy. Steven and his friend Keith's games turn into reality when the trust starts to hit home. A very captivating and exciting book. Well, if I made it to the end then it must have been good!

Museum of Brands and Packaging, Notting Hill, London

The Museum of Brands and Packaging really is a must-see for all Graphics students. It traces advertising right from the Victorian era to the present day comparing the old with the new.

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s - War time

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

Cadbury's Roses through the ages

Guiness advertising over the last century

(The reason for the number of Guiness ads is because a friend is doing her dissertation on it!)

My Work In the Big Wide World!

That bottom one was by me =)...I don't actually like the logo but the client did so - whatever!

La Haine - Hatred

It's the story of a society in free fall. To reassure itself, it repeats endlessly. "So far so good, so far so good, so far so good..." The important thing isn't the fall, it's the landing.

This film is the story not only of three teenage "banlieusards" (people of the suburbs) but also the story of life in the less affluent areas of Paris, stuck in a life of hatred, violence and drugs that they can't get out of.

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, the film is set in black and white, there is no beauty or happiness in the film. It represents a time when there is nothing good, the suburbs have nothing to offer and the world is black.

One of the youths, Vinz, finds a gun and feels that this earns him respect. When one of his friends dies after being involved in a riot, Vinz feels he has to "restore balance" by killing a police officer. His older and wiser friend Hubert realises that this is not the appropriate thing to do and does not believe that Vinz will be able to do it. The third teenager, Said, sides with the police officers trying to make Vinz see sence.

Hatred breeds hatred. Gun crime leads to gun crime.

After disaster strikes the trio, we are left with a cliffhanger as to who pulled the trigger in the final few seconds of the film. The ending few words are the, several times repeated throughout the film, words I started this post with.

Freaky Art

Old Boy

I couldn't help but be reminded of our Design Theory exam when I saw the various wallpaper designs that reminded my of (unsuccessfully) trying to learn wallpaper pattern classifications. If you can work this one out then congratulate yourself, I have no idea!

Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works

I read this in first year....honest! Ok so I've only just picked it up and read it this week but it was still really handy. This book about typography by Eric Spiekermann (FF Meta, ITC Officina, FF Info, LoType and Berliner Grotesk) and E.M. Ginger covers typography from the Middle Ages to forms and tables.

It really does cover everything: mobile phone screens, websites, letterpress, advertising, novels, brands, engraving, calligraphy, newspapers...the list goes on. If ever you start a new project in a field you are unsure of, I would highly recommend picking up this book and reading the section about it. It made me realise that even boring blank box forms deserve some care and attention.

Freud Museum

The Freud Museum, London is actually in the house that famous pyschologist Sigmund Freud spend his last years in. He was a great collector of antiques from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Orient.

I was surprised to see a portrait of Freud by Salvador Dali who had likened Freud's cranium to the shell of a snail!

The museum was small but interesting, there was footage of him and his family and a lot of information about his sister, Anna Freud who was also a psychoanalyst, particularly interested in child psychology.

A lamp from his dining room that I rather liked.

One of the houses just down the road from the museum had a fantastic little diamond shaped window that had to be photographed.

Westfield Shopping Centre Roof

So I dragged my poor boyfriend round Westfield Shopping Centre in London for four, yes four, hours looking for shoes, but I couldn't help but notice the amazing ceiling.