Kingston University’s Art foundation is a bit like running a 1500m race. Everyday you’ve got to keep up with the pace or you’ll get left behind and you know you have to finish no matter what. It’s tough and by the end you’re on your knees yet you always muster the energy for a sprint finish. When it’s over, you want to do it again and you want to do it better.
It’s definitely been a test but without being pushed it wouldn’t have helped me understand my capabilities. I haven’t done it all by myself though, my peers and tutors have always been there, from the word go we were all in it together.
The initial briefs were more introductory, there to help us understand the concept of graphic communication and experiment with new media. But as the course progressed I worked on briefs with a bit more substance and relevance to what was happening at the time.
For instance, we started work on a viral video to illustrate the consequences of the recent cuts to arts funding by the government. We predicted literature and public spending on libraries would be badly affected. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvhDAEIE1yc
The next brief was to design a zine. A group of five of us got talking about what we have noticed in our day and age. We all realised there was a lack of communication between us and our elders. For 3 weeks we compiled together and documented meetings and events, organized photo shoots and wrote articles on music, fashion, going out, faith, and history that established a new common ground.
Towards the end it came close to start work on our final major project. We had to promote it. A poster competition was set amongst the graphic students where the winner would end up planning this year’s exhibition. Bearing in mind what I said what the course had been like – intense and I portrayed it as just that. I made a banner with the message of how we all worked our socks off, with 30 people from the year contributing by having their photograph taken. I just missed out and came second but I wouldn’t have been very good at organizing it anyway.
The last and final project could be on any topic that interested us. I had been keen to learn about why buildings are design the way they are. Post modernist structures like the tower block appealed to me the most and I began to delve their philosophy. The architect Le Corbusier helped me understand that buildings have a personality and therefore are a representation of us. I created mirrored 3d letters built up like a skyscraper which spelt out, ‘We are the Architecture’.
It landed me a distinction so the hard work definitely paid off. Im about to embark on level 2 of my design career and work towards my BA hons in Graphic design and Photography at kingston. I hope I never stop working and keep on solving problems as graphic designer.
For more about our intern Chantal, you can visit her blog or follow her on twitter @ChantalMarson