roll with it…

Deadlines are fast approaching for all our students at the moment - some of the hard work is out of the way, but there is still a way to go before the Christmas…with that in mind, some last minute inspiration for you second years. Olly Moss is a uk based designer/illustrator who has produced worked for Levis, Urban Outfitters, Puma & Nike. A short while ago he recreated these classic movie posters for the Levis Rolling Roadshow cinema project

You can see more of Olly Moss' work here

monkeying around…

Sock Monkee, or Chris Sandlin, which is the name his mother gave him - is a U.S. based illustrator specialising in the craziest character driven illustrations and some great looking typography work. Most of this illustration work gets applied to t-shirts for some cool, independent clothing labels - there is also his very own line of t-shirts on the online shop page. First years may find this inspirational as a late addition to your NCFE & Unit 34 research documents, as well as giving you some ideas for how to apply your finished illustrations onto t-shirts in the coming couple of weeks. There is even a photo-shoot section, which you first years may also find helpful (use the Look Book link on Chris Sandlin's website)

You second years may just find the combinations of socks and monkee's and drawings nice to look at!!

Visit Chris Sandlin's website and portfolio here

Visit the Sock Monkee online store here

Always watching…

the best things in life…

Some of you will have already heard us mention this, because it has been up on our Facebook thread recently, but free graphics stuff is always worth a second mention, right?! Hydro74 is a very talented chap - all his design, illustration & typography work have a very dark, distinct style, and he has worked on projects for Nike, K2 Snowboards & Quicksilver to name just a few. He is in the process of starting up his own type foundry, titled Legacy Of Defeat, and at the moment he is giving away several of his fonts, free of charge!! Very stylish, so head over at take a look, and grab yourself a couple while he is still feeling generous

View the Legacy Of Defeat page here

View Hydro74's website, with his portfolio & other bits here

tickled pink

It's been a quiet blogging year so far - apologies guys, but this academic year is turning out to be a hectic one - we are already halfway to Christmas!! On the last day of the half-term (22nd October) Blackburn College took part in a Pink Friday, to help raise money for the Breast Cancer Care organisation. There was lots of goings-on across college, and everyone was encouraged to wear something pink & make a small donation. We are happy to say that our second year students did us mighty proud, and tickled us all pink in the process, as some of them definitely pushed the boat out in order to help a worthy cause :)

just click on the picture to take a close look and have a giggle

To find out more about Breast Cancer Care Pink Fridays , click here

mr. big stuff…

It's that time once again - the great big induction project - Big It Up 2010!! All our fresh new first years were split up into teams and had to re-create larger than life chocolate bars - the selections this year were Toffee Crisp, Curly Wurly, Buttons, Smarties and a Jaffa Cake Bar. Over the course of the induction period our teams worked tirelessly to produce some really tasty looking treats… the voting process proved how good all the work was - two teams tied for second place, and the first place winners only snatched victory by 1 vote!!!

The Big It Up winners 2010 will be announced later this week…we will keep you posted ;)

blast form the past…

We remember all of our students with great fondness, most of the time, and although some of you forget about us very quickly once you're gone, we are (almost) like elephants - we never forget! So as we flicked through the summer edition of Computer Arts, we were really happy to see a very old student of ours in its pages. Ed Hall was an NDGD student several years ago, and after his time with us he progressed to the BA course here in Blackburn too. Ed is now a member of Manchester design firm Love Creative, and has produced some great work, most notably for sports brand Umbro. Creative Arts talked to Ed (in the purple box, pictured) about his experiences getting a job in the design industry. Although it has been a long time since we have seen him, we feel very proud to see one of our own in a design magazine, and would like to congratulate him on being a great success :)

To get a closer look at the article, just click on the picture

Computer Arts is out every month, and is available at most decent news stands

To check out the Love Creative website click here

the more things change…

Things have been quiet on the blog-front during summer - but that's only because we have all been super busy getting ready for another year of fantastic, cool designing! We here at ndgd are getting ready for some changes to take place - the times they are a changing, and we have to do certain things to keep up… so keep your eyes peeled as we get the finishing touches ready. We won't be changing that much though, and we are still gonna be super-cool, and we are still going to be always watching…

stars of the small screen

Blackburn College have recently made some brand-spanking-new promo videos, one of them being for our very own Art & Design centre!! There's plenty of footage of our amazing course, there's a cameo from Sue and Mandy, and we even get to see one of our recent yearbook extraordinaires Lawrence Rhodes talking about NDGD - we are expecting lady fame to come-a-knocking any day now…

You can watch the Blackburn College Art & Design promo video right here

picture perfect…

Well it's here, again, already!!! NDGD Final Show 2010; The Big Picture opens tonight. The final, final, final touches are just being added and cleaned now, and then we are all ready for tonight! Everyone also finally gets to see the 2010 yearbook, which we have managed to keep a closely guarded secret…

So, if you aren't doing so already, come down to Blackburn College Art & Design building this evening, and see our final show - all the other Art & Design courses are also exhibiting, from Photography to Fine Art, from Textile/Fashion design to Media Production…so its gonna be very awesome, and very warm!! The show starts from about 5.30pm.

Hope to see you there…

the final countdown…2010

Yes it's fast approaching…only 1 week until the opening night of the NDGD final show 2010!! exciting :)

Not only is it going to be the opening night of the show, it is also going to be the unveiling of the 2010 NDGD yearbook…Lawrence Rhodes & Tom Moggeridge have been working very hard, and very secretively, to try and produce a really nice surprise for all our second years…we have had a sneak peek and it looks ace.

Hope to see you all come down for the exhibition opening…

a quick lick…

The NDGD exhibition space is beginning to take shape, most things have been given a lick of paint - the walls, the floor, the windows, even some of the students - and now the real fun begins, as we start to design and create everyones exhibition stands… days of painting 6ft tall logos, checking for spelling mistakes, queueing up for the printer, checking spelling mistakes again, and cutting things out with a scalpel blade… oh it only seems like yesterday since we were doing all this for the 2009 exhibition!! It will be show-time in no time at all…

dust off…

And so it begins… NDGD exhibition 2010!! we have started getting stuff going; boards & furniture have been moved, people have been put in their place, and the dusty task of sanding down all the exhibition boards is underway, covering everything in a fine, white mist… some of the lads even tried to cover Sue in dust, but she was too fast for them!! More silly photos, as well as opening night details coming soon… hope to see you there!

"…killed the radio star"

Busy, busy, busy…we can't believe it's been a month and no posts! We have all been working away on stuff though. The second years are well into the Final Major Projects now, and most of them are shaping up nicely - no sneaky peeks yet however, we want the exhibition night to be a nice surprise…

The first years are busy finishing up all their projects in time for their progressional interviews into the second year of the course…most of them seem to be keeping their cool so far. In other first year news - they have recently taken part in a special commission for BBC Radio Lancashire. We were approached here at NDGD by the radio station and asked to pitch artwork ideas for their new upcoming 2026 exhibition space. Our students split up into teams, gave themselves cool names, and set to designing window graphics and interior display graphics. Each team then pitched their ideas live on air during the Easter break, and all-boys team The EX-perts came out on top. Our lads (Jake Culshaw, Lewis Garforth and Adam Simpson) are now putting final & finishing touches to the artwork, and are getting it ready to go to print.

A massive well done, and we are looking forward to seeing the exhibition space when its completed…keep an eye on the blog for launch dates for the exhibition etc

Read more about the artwork pitch at BBC Radio Lancashire's page here

final cuts…

Our second years are as busy as always, and have just completed a number of projects including, children's illustrated stories, packaging, fanzines and a series of film posters, a selection of which you can see here. Just click on the image to get a closer look…

leaving the nest…

We are proud to say that all of our second year students have been offered places at university, the majority of which have made their final choices and are going to be moving to pastures new next academic year. Here are just some of the uni's they will be attending…

• Salford • UCBC • Huddersfield • UCLAN • Northumbria •

We wish them all the best for the future, but we would like it very much if they stay and finish their FMP's first!!! Back to the sketch…

work (and play)

The NDGD students and staff have just recently visited Manchester to see the Cube Gallery's latest exhibition - Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of work (and play). It was a great day out, with all of the second years definitely enjoying the experience, and being bowled over by the work of one of the icons of modern graphic design. It was wasted on some of our students however, who thought that buying trainers or visiting Primark was all that Manchester had to offer. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, as the saying goes…

The Alan Fletcher exhibit is definitely worth a visit, and is set to run until 3rd April 2010 at the Cube Gallery, Portland Street, Manchester. More info on the exhibition & the Cube Gallery can be found here

It was an eventful & memorable trip to say the least, and the NDGD staff had their eyes opened…we got tips on buying Hi-Top trainers, and we were exposed to shopaholics, desperate toilet habits, and a bit of vomit!!!

"123…aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww…"

We here at NDGD just wanted to say a huge congratulations to one of our second years, Elliot Pickering, and his girlfriend Natalie, for the arrival of their gorgeous baby girl, Emie who was born over the weekend. We believe she was born on the 28th, weighed 7 lbs, and Natalie was a whopping 20 hours in labour. Everyone is agreed that it was definitely worth it…congratulations again & we look forward to meeting little Emie soon…as long as we aren't on nappy duty!!

stuck on you…

At times it seemed like a never-ending story, and there was stickers everywhere, but the first years have finally reached the journal project deadline. We have found out some deep dark secrets, some rather wicked senses of humour, and above all, some really great potential illustrators! Here are a few of the highlights…just click on the image to get a closer look.

"probably the best advertising in the class…"

So, we have been pretty quiet here on our blog recently, but at NDGD we are super-busy as always! The second years are getting portfolios together & going out to interviews for university courses…some nervous looking faces, but the portfolios are looking a little bit special. The second years have also just finished some major deadlines, one of them being the advertising project - there have been some fantastic responses to the brief, and here are just a few of the highlights…just click on the image to get a closer look.

"let it snow, let it snow…"