Oxfam Posters

My first piece of work in University this year was to make a poster campaign for Oxfam Liverpool. They were looking for fresh ideas to get donations of CDs, DVDs, clothes (used & vintage) and books to sell at the Liverpool Bold Street shop. They also required a poster aimed at recruiting people to sell the same items.




I am very happy how they came out. I spent a lot of time trying to make them seem effortless and simple, and reduced elements as they were developed. I saw the communication aspect as being of primary importance. I chose to work with the current Oxfam branding style, studied the recent campaign and how to build on it, then thought most about the message.

This has got me looking at symbols, copywriting (I really enjoy this), pictograms and semiotics, which I'd like to develop further.

Year 3 - University of Chester

I am 7 weeks into my final year, having switched from the Glyndwr University's art college (North Wales School of Art and Design) to the University of Chester, and have been approaching everything differently.

I wasn't particularly happy in the NWSAD; I felt like I could have simply taught myself, having had no valuable input for the entire 12 months. This isn't a unique opinion, as none of my classmates remained at the University after the end of the Foundation Degree. They have either left to do normal jobs or gone on to other institutions.

I also had an issue of not knowing what course I would go into in year 3 at NWSAD. They have courses for everything there, but the only one that appeared to have their act together was the animation course. I did have the option of joining that, but I had the feeling I would end up unemployed by summer 2009 - which for my family and I would be very bad news indeed.

This year I wanted to avoid 'putting all my eggs in one basket'; I felt I needed to learn my craft properly. This means learning to walk before I run. I am now doing print work, and wanted to carry this experience into my screen design (motion graphics) at a later date. The idea is, hopefully I can produce a lot more finished pieces of work, and actually build a portfolio!