New Website & Blog !

A couple of months ago I launched my new website, complete with a blog.

All the blog posts previously published on here, are now published on my website.

Go check it out! ruthdandilly.co.uk

On Sunday, I wrote a post regarding the 3D-printed letterpress font that Dan and I saw at the V&A for The London Design Festival (if you missed it, read it here) I told you that I will be updating my blog when Adrian Harrison’s film is released. Alas, it has been uploaded. Originally uploaded and announced by Creative Review, you can see Adrian’s short film here on his vimeo and you can also see the other cool projects that he’s been working on, such as the Joby Carter signwriter I mentioned in my previous post.

Go and check him out.

The London Design Festival 13-21 September 2014

Today found Dan and I at The London Design Festival at the V&A.

Yesterday whilst checking Design Taxi, I noticed a really cool article about 3D printed type. Instantly interested, I had a read and showed this to my colleague Ben, who has just built a 3D printer, see his tweets here. He also printed me a letter R which you can see on my Instagram here. He's looking for new little projects and cool things to print whilst he's prototyping and learning to built design in CAD.

After a little research into this cool little project, I realised it was The London Design Festival 13-21 September 2014. We looked online and I instantly knew that we should be attending this short film held at the V&A.

Before that though, whilst checking out this really cool 3D typeface project, I was led onto a Vimeo page of Adrian Harrison. I was watching a film he made on 'Learn to Sign Write' with Joby Carter who is a traditional signwriter and sign restorer. His work is truly inspiring. I remember for my birthday a couple of years ago, asking for a couple of sign writing books to pick up this fantastic art form after watching David Adrian Smith create something similar with glass. I found him after researching who did John Mayer's intricate album cover for his 'Born and Raised' album. I was blown away by this incredible skill. I still have yet to get round to digging out my signwriting books and making a start but I hope to soon as I've been so inspired.


So, back to today. Dan and I headed our way to the room in the V&A and noticed the guys were giving an extra screening of the film at 1pm - perfect timing! They had the 3D printed typeface on the desk and Beatrice from the New North Press was creating some prints in front of us. It was a pleasure just watching it. Shortly after sitting down, the film was played, introduced by Adrian Harrison. I was thinking "Where do I know that name? I know that name!" before realising is was the film-maker who created the short film for Joby Carter the day previous. Awesome sauce. The film was fantastic and Richard Ardagh talked through his idea about bringing the old letterpress with the new 3D printing technology which is now taking off and being used reasonably wildly. Richard went through the initial idea to the prototyping, with the font designed by A2-Type and 3D-printed by Chalk Studios and through to final testing and adding it to the thousands of typefaces they store at New North Press as an actual working font. This film, this work reminded me of why I got into design. Why I was excited. I found it exciting. It reminded me of the work experience at Newton Press Ltd a couple of years ago when I was still studying. I was learning about the old letterpress machinery, from the heidelberg's to the new Presstek 34DI digital offset printing press.

After the short film, Dan and I got chatting to Adrian and I told him I'd seen his previous films. We were chatting about his current work and some exciting projects he's got coming up. I'll be posting his short film about the A23D, a 3D-printed letterpress font when it's published on his Vimeo.

After having a good old chinwag with these very talented people, I even got the chance to letterpress my own initial with their 3D printed typeface. Absolutely so chuffed.

I cannot get over how creative and refreshing this idea is. I'm throughly impressed and it's great there are so many talented individuals in this project. Check out the New North Press's website for more info.

Thanks to all those there today who inspired me.

Design sites & inspiration

I was recently asked by someone for advice in order to push her career into a direction which was more design focussed. I think sometimes it's really difficult to give advice on design in general because it can be so broad and open.

Nowadays I don't even know what to call myself. I studied graphic design for many years, and always called myself a graphic designer. But it seems now that the industry has moved around a bit and I've started calling myself a digital designer. I primarily focus on digital with some design for print involved. I'm very cautious because I think the term 'graphic designer' is kind of becoming more broad and a little more dangerous. Design is becoming a bit more specific and I've seen the following terms used: graphic designer, digital designer, print designer, UX/UI designer, interface designer, web designer.

So, with that it mind it was hard to give advice on my friend who wants to "get more into design" because design is so broad nowadays. To give her a better idea of the type of design is prefers, I sent her a list of sites/blogs/portfolio sites that she can look at and go through to see if there's any type of design which particularly jumps out at her as something she wants to progress to. I decided to share some of these too.

Some are quite broad, some feature more photography or product design but I think to be an all round good designer, despite the fact that I work primarily in digital design creating ads and campaigns, not only do I need to keep up with the latest design trends but also advertising trends, UX/UI trends and even photography trends.

(In no particular order!)

SwissMiss 

www.swiss-miss.com

This site is about a swiss designer who blogs everything from design/architecture to product design. I like her style because she doesn't feel the need to write about absolutely everything. There's usually bits here which appear on other design sites/blogs I've noticed so I know whatever she's posting is up to date and current. Often to not, she posts really cool innovative products, which can be pretty cool. Also, she usually updates on Friday.

Behance 

www.behance.net

Here is a great collection of design of all sorts - you can set up a free portfolio too and like/follow other work. It's great for checking out the latest design trends from digital to print, UX/UI, interface and web designer. I've also noticed more and more design agencies are creating portfolios of their professional work and client work. Definitely check it out.

Dribbble 
www.dribbble.com

This is pretty much the same as Behance except I think you have to be invited to use this site. You can still browse and check the work of others for free but you first off have a basic account and you can pay and upgrade for obviously, a more premium account. There's a lot of great design work on here and I'd recommend it for when you need a little inspiration.

Likecool 

www.likecool.com

I love browsing through the pages on this site. Some things I'm personally really not interested in but there's always concept pieces, innovative products and some pretty cool videos. It's good for a bit of a more quirky need for design inspiration or even if you have a spare few minutes on your lunch break.

Design Taxi
www.designtaxi.com

I personally love this little site. It has everything from design/ photography/ art/ products/ campaigns and advertising. I use this site everyday to see cool trends and interesting articles because it's just so interesting. 

Awwwards

www.awwwards.com

A really great website which allows other websites to be recognised for various UX/UI features, the design, structure and layout. The websites are submitted so they range in content but really great to what other people are doing and how successful (or perhaps un-successful) various types of web design and functionality can be.

Siteinspire

www.siteinspire.com

As the name suggests, it's sites which are inspiring. It's for web design inspiration and you can submit your own sites or other peoples sites. I find this site particularly useful. Much like Awwards.com (above) the content of the sites submitted vary.

Creativebloq

www.creativebloq.com

Here's some really cool general design news, tips and inspiration. It's updated regularly meaning you'll always be up to date with what the industry is talking about (even if the site is a bit cheesy and buzz-feedy...(in my opinion))

Creative Review

www.creativereview.co.uk

My partner and I subscribed to these magazines, but you can also get general content online. This site sells itself as 'advertising, design & visual culture'. Definitely a one stop shop for all your design trends/ articles. I also enjoy that there's usually interviews with up and coming designers/ more well known designers. 

Codrops
www.tympanus.net.codrops

This site holds really cool digital/web design, UX/UI inspiration and is really good to keep up to date on web trends. It also has tutorials and other helpful info. Bookmark this, now.

There's obviously a hell of a lot more that I could mention, I haven't even really touched on adverting blogs which I get updates from but I think for me, these are some of the great sites to make sure you keep on trend. As for my friend, it's a good start to see what sort of design she wants to do and which type of design most excites her. I think in this current design age, you need to know how to do pretty much everything when it comes to design so it doesn't hurt to learn as much as you can and keep all doors open.

Enjoy the sites and links -

So what's been happening the last month?

It's been about a month since I've updated this blog. Things have been a bit crazy lately and I've hardly found the time so catch up on things that I've needed to.

So since I've last updated my blog I've been working like crazy, travelling on the tube to much, reading, baking, seeing people like Charlie Simpson, Kina Grannis and Imaginary Future and have a migraine for the last 2 days. Yay for life!

For anyone who follows me on Instagram (@ruthdandilly) you'd see my daily snaps and thoughts in photo form. For those that don't, you can see some of the lovely things I've been doing (with who other than my partner in everything, Daniel below)

Dan and I went to go and see Charlie Simpson at the O2 Academy in Islington. After a really great show and asking two people to shut up since they insisted on talking throughout the entire gig, we took a lovely stroll and walked to Highbury & Islington. It looks like there's some amazing restaurants there and strangely we saw a group of people circled around a mouse on the pavement watching it sneek some food it found. It was like the people of Islington had never seen a mouse before. So bizarre.

The weekend following, Dan and I went to go and see the dried up crispy mammoth at the Natural History Museum. It was pretty incredible to see something that old up close. It was amazing how well preserved it really put a perspective on time and how really insignificant some things are in the space of time.

Below is also a really awesome sculpture Dan and I found in a shop near Oxford Street. Would totally have bought this... if I could have afford it.

The weekend following I met up with an old friend I went to school with many many years ago. Tom Starr. (or to me, TomStarrFace). I met up with him and his lovely girlfriend Jess and I'm pretty sure I made them yawn for 4 hours chatting to them about life and old times. Still, it was great seeing him since it has been about 4 years since we last saw each other.

The weekend following saw Dan and I celebrating our 1st year anniversary in London. It brought about some exciting conversations about the future and where we see ourselves in another year. A year in London has gone incredibly quickly but it's also been an amazing learning curve full of tears and laughter and happiness :) Thank you to everyone who's supported us.

Last week also saw my big brother, Jules turn the ripe old age of 25. TWENTY-FIVE! My gosh, I remember when I was giving him presents for his 10th birthday. Still, he's grown into an exceptional human being with a passion and love for photography which is clearly evident throughout all his work. You can see his website here, and he's got a new one coming real soon too! Will definitely update you when it's up and running.

Last week also saw me seeing a long time American singer songwriter I admire, Kina Grannis and her husband, Imaginary Future. Having followed her on youtube for about 6 years, I never thought I'd get the opportunity to see her. Then, I see her twice in one week. Simply amazing! 

And also, I couldn't write a post on the 15th June 2014 without taking a paragraph to talk about my dear Dad. This photo was taken when I was living in Hong Kong in 2013. It's at some point on this roof that he told me I should come home, after only 6 months of being there, move to London and carry on doing design and something I love. That's exactly what I did. If he hadn't guided me and taken the time to talk to me, I wouldn't be in the amazing place that I am now. So Dad, thank you for everything you've done and everything you continue to do. Not just for me, but for everyone around you. You give a lot of yourself and it never, ever goes unnoticed.

I love you, pops.

And finally, if you're still reading by this point I just want to say thank you. I've rambled on for quite some time now. This is the last little bit of the post, I promise.

Today Dan and I went to Portobello Road and visited Jamie's Recipease shop. Dan bought us an amazing lunch - possibly one of the best lunch's I've had in London, and I bought us some cookie dough and some brownie mix with some lovely cake tins to go with. Definitely pop by the shop and but some chocolate and peanut butter cookie dough (if you can't find is ask them to make it up for you!) and have something to eat in the restaurant. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks for reading :)

Papa C's Birthday in London

This week saw my pops down in London for a couple of days. During his stay, it was his birthday so Dan and I decided to take him out and do something nice.

Seeing Dad wearing his shades, listening to music walking in the London summer sunshine, I have to say not only did he look younger than his age but looked so cool! He told me he was walking down the Mall when he saw David Cameron jogging with some security guards. He managed to grab a few snaps of the sweaty Prime Minister.

I took him to St. Paul's for the sung Eucharistic service. There was a choir and they used the incense which was so so nice. The church was beautiful too, so grand and full of history. After that, we went for a coffee and headed to Soho to go for a lovely Thai meal together.

The lovely TomYam soup that Dad and I love.

Our eyes were definitely bigger than our bellies. We ordered too much, and ate too much, but it was just so so nice! We walked out of there holding our tummies!

After we got in, Dan and I surprised him with a yummy Lemon Drizzle sponge with some candles - you can't have a birthday and not have a birthday cake!

It was a really lovely couple of days :) Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did, Dad :)

I'm published in a book! Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology by Barrie Tullett, Laurence King Publishing

The title of this post pretty much says it all but I'm still over the moon that I'm featured in a book put together by my former University Lecturer, Barrie Tullett. 

Last year I received an email asking if I'd like to be in the book, and of course I felt extremely honoured to be asked. After a few problems with knowing if it could be featured or not, I received confirmation that it would in fact be published in the book in May 2014. 

Lo and behold, I bought the book from Laurence King Publishing and was over the moon when it arrived - just in time for the beautiful bank holiday!

So here we are, the book I'm featured in by Barrie Tullett...

(If you are interested in buying the book, buy it directly from Laurence King Publishing as then the lovely author receives royalties.)

Nice one. So chuffed!