A DAILY FIX OF ...

YAY!EVERYDAY is a very special site - it has an ethos similar to my own as they love to share inspiration. They don't selfishly hoard images for ourselves - they share the inspiration, website and artist behind the work that you can see on their site.

And I love it - its fun to view and use, and the layout of the images allows all the work to shine working in harmony with one another. I strongly believe that this is the most positive way to celebrate design and design that inspires others...

Please enjoy their site here

Hyper Island in Manchester ... Yes Please !

I regularly update myself with news from Hyper Island, as I have been keen to visit the school in Sweden. This nice surprise of it locating in Manchester's Northern Quarter was a treat! The school operates a program developed by the US Military in 1960s which required leadership skills and life/death decision making.

"The programme's creators realised that the leadership and communication skills were the best way to train personnel for the rapidly changing environment in which they found themselves."

It sounds exciting, with 92% of graduates getting a job before they've finished school - sounds more impressive than ever as it widely recognised across the creative industry.

I am visiting Sweden at the end of this week and I hope to meet the fabulous David McCall, this will definitely be a talking point not to be missed! Just hope he is free ...

LECTURES: Libby Scarlett & Nicola Rowlands

Libby and Nicola both graduated last year from D&AD and achieved firsts in their degrees. I remember both girls, they seemed to be all the time and very hard working which is to no surprise as they are fantastic inspirations to me. As part of a mini-lecture series Mack thought it would be great to see past experiences of how third year went with them, and we could learn from them.

Libby Scarlett: is a very, very thorough conceptual designer. Her work is meticulous in every shape and form, but beautifully well presented and visually eye catching. I find it interesting to look at and to see her background behind her ideas, as like myself we maybe similar in the way we work. I did find her to be not so genuine as Nicola, she wasn't really giving us a true picture of what she did, rather she told us how to act whereas Nicola just was herself, told it like it was. I think the latter I preferred more..(can I say that?)

Nicola Rowlands: is a designer who works very differently to myself but I could respond to her work. She is a mixture of all things good and great, able to work and design to any brief, always eager and very much able to produce work that is inspiring. Her work is somewhat undefined, but is now realising that she can play her own ball when it comes to design. Her recent work for 'Don't Panic' was the winner and I cant wait to see it around Manchester. I feel like she's done alot, more experienced and able to tell true accounts of life experiences that definitely helped me. Some advice from her was:

"Be nice to your teachers"
"Write genuine letters to people"

"Don't be wacky, get an online presence"

"Make tea"

"Be yourself"

"Blend in"

Some great advice, I will take it all in!

I cant wait to see more graduated third years in the future.
(I still cant believe were in third year!!)

And I hope I have a fantastic year like they have???