2015

Up till now, 2015 has been crazy busy! I’ve done projects, written a dissertation and been to New York! With everything else in between. Going to try and catch up on what I’ve missed perhaps this week. Here’s a project I finished just before Christmas:

A competition by Penguin I had to create a book cover for Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden

The book is about a girl in WW2 who gets evacuated. I decided I wanted the cover to be quite creative yet not be patronising to children, as from my research I found that children are less likely to read books that look childish.

I tried to keep it simple by using imagery from the book, yet still cryptive as the yellow and orange leaves represent fire.

There are a few things I’d like to change, or improve. I’d like to cut all the pieces out and try to create more shadow in between each to show more depth. I’m happy with what I got done in the time though, and I got 68 for it! Almost a first!

Summer 2014

It’s been a while!

I was doing so well with blogging but over summer it got a bit too much so I decided to take a break. I’m back now! Might take a while to get into routine so forgive me!

Summer was great, but I didn’t have chance to put my feet up for more than 10 minutes it seemed – which I guess can be seen as a good thing.

I worked full time for my Dad for a month. Stressful but worthwhile – I had a bit more responsibility this year and was involved with making the yearly handbook again from checking over the new covers and content to printing, assembling and binding. I also was involved with a bit of branding and websites for a few companies.

When I finished work mid July I had my 21st birthday and then packed for my next few adventures!

I was involved with a camp celebrating Brownies turning 100 years old. I did my part – I designed the badge which was also used on the drawstring bags for the girls! There were 200 made of each, and I just think how wonderful to think my design will be on those girls’ uniform or camp blanket for years to come! I made ID badges, car passes and everything else like that too. I also helped another Guider make the gateway for the camp, which involved making massive papermaché owls to go on the top of two totem poles! The theme was Native American, and it was called Pow Wow – which is a form of meeting in Guiding. I had my own activity for the weekend which was making dreamcatchers – the girls and I loved it and my stall was jam packed all day! More pictures to follow.

A few days later I went to Benalmádena, Spain with Adam and his family to celebrate a wedding which took place in Seville.

I had a wonderful week of none stop activities from morning till night including going to the local Dolphinarium which I loved. I even went crazy and got my hair braided!

So, I arrived home from Spain and got taken off to the Y Not Festival the next day – I’m exhausted just remembering! It was a great year for bands and weather (apart from one bad few hours rain – the rest was glorious which really made the weekend) I managed to see some of my favourites – Newton Faulkner and Frank Turner and a few new finds.

And then lastly when I got back and washed off all the mud our family went to Scarborough for the week, it was lovely to spend some time with my family, especially as I don’t see them in term time and I’d had such a busy summer I was barely at home anyway!

Crazy times! I’ve now moved into my new house in Cardiff! Spending my time settling in, catching up with friends and doing my dissertation. Two weeks until Year 3 starts officially!

Gareth Malone’s Voices

Anybody who knows me knows I LOVE GARETH!

I saw the tickets in December sort of time (could have been earlier actually!) and just had to buy them. I decided as my mum and dad like choirs they would enjoy it too so I sneakly got them tickets for Christmas! I’m so glad I did!

It was at St David’s Hall in Cardiff, and we got brilliant seats – up one tier but right at the front. Gareth was as lovely as he is on his series(s) and seemed genuinely really excited to be performing in Wales! They sang some beautiful songs, from White Winter Hymnal (One of my favourites from Fleet Foxes) to Fields of Gold – which to my surprise he got us all standing and singing along with them!

We all had a wonderful night, if he ever did another tour I’d be there in a flash!

Roo Panes and Jamie Willetts

Unfortunately my time in Cardiff for this academic year is up! Now I’m back at work I have no time to do anything it seems! My last week there was so great though. One of the nights I got to see Roo Panes supported by Jamie Willetts.

I’d never been to The Moon Club in Cardiff so didn’t really know what to expect and had a shock when I saw how tiny it was! It’s a really nice little venue and was a great gig.

Jamie was really talented – and seemed a really nice guy! He had everybody enjoying the music and got us all clapping along to one of his own songs. He also did some really nice covers, one of my favourites from Bon Iver.

Roo was exactly how I expected, the songs lived up to his youtube videos – probably because they are all acoustic anyway. Again, he captivated the audience, and you could see some people singing along quietly to every word. He even managed to sing through a false fire alarm – that takes concentration!

Overall it was a rather lovely night. I must plan more gigs for when I go back. I’ve seen Dry The River are coming to Cardiff – I was at the front row for them at Y Not Festival last year and they were wonderful, I’d love to see them again.

 

 

Bye Bye Halls!

So, in a few days I’ll be leaving Liberty Bridge (Ty Pont Haearn originally..) to move back to Buxton for the summer. Just thought I’d post about my 2nd year room. At first I really didn’t like the thought of coming back here, mainly for the fact I don’t really like just being in one room and it doesn’t feel really homely here. But with a few additions to my room I learned to like it :)

I got my Mum to make me some gorgeous red curtains to swap for the horrible ones that are in every room, there is a painting from one of my bestests from home Emily. (The girl on the right is meee!) My letters that Sally and I found while crafty shopping plus my mini from Adam (well his mum gave me!) and my mini from my Mum when she went to London. My fav tele viewing spot with my pinboard and the bunting I made before coming to uni. And there is the Sharpies instead of flowers in my vase – a better choice I feel!

I’ll really miss living in this room, and also living with Jonathan but hopefully next year I can make work out too with some new peoples.

Adam’s Birthday Weekend

So, Adam’s on the way home on the train now and I’m on my own agaaaain! Was just a usual weekend in Cardiff for us really apart from a few presents – a lil lego man in Adam form with his gamer name on the back, a special trip in summer and the best – a build your own straw kit – small things hey? That kept us entertained for a while making one so we could drink from the same cup – it was magnificent! We also went to Pizza Hut and I did a bad thing and had pasta! I do love me some pasta…. PLUS ADAM GOT ME A BALLOON + IT’S ORANGE = HAPPY LAURA! Plus we watched X-Men at the cinema and bought R.I.P.D which I fell asleep 5 minutes before the end and then The Croods – which is SUPER COOL!

Not long till I’m home now, just a week or so to spend time with Jon, Sally and Tam in Cardiff!

 

Branding: our last year two project

Crazy to think this time next year my uni days will all be over!

Usually I like my sleep but tonight I’ve gotta stay awake to wait for my boyfriend to get here (his train gets in at 1.20am at Cardiff Central… Bleuggh so tired). It would probably be fine normally but as it was deadline today I haven’t had too much sleep!

For my branding project I chose Cyclopaedia, a bike shop in Cardiff. I quite enjoyed the whole thing, although it was extra stressful due to the 5ish week project cut down to just over 3!

I started off by looking at the components that make up a bike, the crank, chain and wheels mainly came up, but were fairly obvious. I wanted to go more into it so as I continued I started thinking more about the name and how it basically tries to get the point across that they are knowledgable about bikes. Hence the owl! He’s made out of the shape of the bike chain, with a link as his eyes. Meet Dev:

The purple is the main logo, with black type. I had decided from the start I wanted to split the shop up into different types of bikes, to make the shop easier to decipher for people who don’t know exactly what they are looking for, so the logo will change to match each section, there is an icon for each and also a pattern based on the tyre of that style of bike. The sections are mountain bikes, stunt bikes, commuter bikes and road bikes.

Here is the stationery set I made, the purple colour and pattern would be for everything general – business cards, letterheads and compliments slips. Then the other 4 colours would be used for the leaflets, and tags. (Unfortunately because of printing problems I didn’t get a good picture of them but there are these ones).

 

I also ended up being one of the group to be chosen to present my work (unfortunately) but it went fine after all my stressing and they seemed to like it. A nice way to round of year two I think. Roll on summer!

 

Last Term of Year Two

So, back to uni now. Good news though! I managed to get 70 in my web project for Carreg Cennen Castle! I’m super chuffed with that, I really enjoyed the project so it’s nice to see my marks reflected in that. And I also know what I can do to improve the project.

Our new project which is underway is a branding project. We had to find a local shop in Cardiff – go and speak to them and ask if we can use them in this project (so nerve racking). So I’ve chosen a bike shop, it’s really cool inside but the branding just doesn’t scream bikes? Normally it would last about 5 weeks like our normal projects but as Easter was so late this year we have to do it all in 3! So much to be getting on with and I’m really not one for branding (at the moment – obviously it will be great to do this hopefully finding new skills).

Now I’ve had a taste of home I’ve gotta say I can’t really wait to go back for a bit! But first I’m seeing Roo Panes with Jonathan at the Moon Club, and Gareth Malone with my parents the day after in St. Davids Hall, both in Cardiff. SO EXCITED FOR BOTH!

Just gotta keep going, 2 weeks of hard work and then summer! Wooo!

Bombay Bicycle Club, Rae Morris and Flyte

So on Sunday I had an amazing night. I was really worried about going to this gig on days leading up to it as I was going on my own (my other friends don’t really share my music taste but I decided to go anyway) I’m so glad I did! It was at Cardiff Uni’s SU, so not far from me it would have been a real shame to miss it!

First up was Flyte, a new band from London – I liked their music and they were really nice people – when they had finished I got one of them over for a chat and for them to sign their lil card thing. They had a mix of upbeat dance to songs and also a few deeper ones.

Next was Rae Morris, her voice is so impressive and so is her hair! Serious girl crush going on! I’ve heard of her before through a friend but never really listened that much.

Finally Bombay Bicycle Club came on – they were just brilliant. They also had a really cool backdrop – featuring their circles they are using in their promotional stuff. Each song had a different animation going on in the background which was really fascinating to watch, and when I couldn’t see the actual band (as people who know me I am rather vertically challenged and obviously ended up behind some tall people like normal) it gave us something else to watch. They played a really good mix of old and new songs and added a cool twist with some brass instruments, and as I love saxophones anyway it made it so much better! I said I wouldn’t buy a tshirt if it was expensive like they usually are but I just couldn’t help myself.. I don’t think anyones going to see me wear anything different for a while haha!

My first few adventures with my new Nikon!

Bute Park

Firstly, on Friday as it was such a lovely day, I went with Tamara (from uni) to help her take pictures for her project. We were out all day walking and exploring Bute Park! Mostly I took pictures of flowers and various ladybirds I made friends with!

Cardiff Bay

And yesterday me and Jon (also on my course at uni) went down to the Bay for a walk. Honestly it was like summer – shorts and tshirts, but we still saw people wearing wooly hats and big coats! We went on the Daffodil, the little open tour boat around the Bay which was lovely.

Although my camera had run out of battery by the end of the day it did pretty well and I feel like I got some good shots, without my back hurting from lugging round my DSLR! I’m pretty impressed so far!