Category: Dissertation - Craicin Designs

Randoms

6/3/2015

Short blog for you's today. Well, this will be my last even post about my dissertation!
Happy days, handed it in today, so happy :D it's all officially over, now to get on with studio work.

So yesterday I had a few friends from back home come to visit me, hence why there was no post made yesterday. We showed them the sites and I even went to a new bar in Aberdeen called "The Boozy Cow", I have to admit I do not recommend this place, as I had envisioned boozy milkshakes. But there wasn't any, that and if your a huge fan of saw and want to be in the next one, then this is the place for you!
Meat hooks hung from the ceiling, the bar smelt like a butchers and there was very dark red light. We had to put the torch mode on our phones, just to read the menu's.

A rather blurry picture of the meat hooks and cage that were attached to the ceiling.

Surprisingly the image on the left was the tastiest of the drinks we had. It also had 0 alcohol content in it. I got a "Nutty Cow", It was a total struggle to continue drinking and to be honest was just awful. But the company was good and the bar staff friendly.

Again, I may not be able to blog tomorrow as I am going home for a week and travelling home tomorrow. But we shall see, it could maybe be a late one :)

Last Chapter

3/3/2015

So I got my dissertation binded, sewn and glued into the cover. It's looking really really good. Without me trying to blow my own trumpet. However I came to a slight change of plan when coming to my final touch of my presentation. I had planned to put white tissue paper, but the pack of tissue paper I had bought. Not going to lie, cheapy crap from ASDA. So the only two white pieces of tissue paper within the pack, are dyed with whatever other colours it was touching. This made me think about using white in general, white is going to get dirty a lot easier than other colours. So I went through my pack of tissue papers and tested them:

Again, I want this to look classy, but on the other hand it looking like a gift for someone works also, as I talked a lot within my dissertation about giving gifts to people. So I have decided to go with the light blue, as it keeps the look I am going for a lot more classy. The others are very much slapping you in the face with colour. I wish there had of been a light green in the pack to symbolize money. Or even gotten fake money to place out the top. When it comes down to it however. It is should of, could of, would of. I am just so happy that this is all over.

On that note, I also started to research into what sort of "Student Survival Guide"'s are out there. I can't help but feel they are so corny and, I know myself. I have never even thought of reading a how to survive university guide. Mainly due to I never personally thought the advise would be any better than what my friends and family would give me. Here's a few I looked into:

So I have started to think about infographics again... my slight warn enemy. Here is a few I have been looking at:

These are still very much on the cheesy front. But I think they work. I know myself with again thinking of these books, I wouldn't want to read one. But if it was an info-graphic, I would read it. I have to admit it is a lot of work and a lot of design to cram into one space. I am still unsure of following through with the book idea. However I do feel I need to do a bit more research before I give my final say on it. That's all from me, tomorrow will hopefully be my very last post on the subject of my dissertation. WHOOP!

Plans A Changing

2/3/2015

So my dissertation is finally over, I have printed it all out and it's looking pretty tasty. I will be getting it binded tomorrow, then I can finish getting the cover and all done for it. I went back and re-designed my cover image for my dissertation, I also did a little more design with preparing my shopping bag look for the actual cover of the dissertation.

So just a little recap, this is the bag for my cover, I then made a little label you can see below

Sorry for the bright colors, this image is in CMYK format . I then added this to my bag:

It's not perfectly done, but you get the idea. I then went a head and started to cut the bag, so it will fold and be more of a dust cover for my dissertation:

This is my dissertation currently sitting in the cover. This is also my new cover it has changed since last night. I still find it very hard to read. So I even changed the design again:

This is my final, I'm done lol. So yes, getting this binded tomorrow and then trying to get it to stay in it's new cover will be interesting. Hopefully I don't completely wreck it.

On another note, I got talking to a tutor today, looked over all my work and have started to determine which direction I will be going into. So I have been advised to create a student survival guide. Help students to budget money and such. I am in two minds about it at the moment to be honest. As I wanted to do more sort of photography stuff. Like I looked up this guy:

Gabriel Wickbold, I would love to do my own version of this and have people covered in things that our to do with consumerism. I think it'd be pretty sweet. I haven't yet started research into this, but I have to admit I am very excited about this and I do really think it can work. So that's all from me today. Hopefully will have a finished Dissertation to show tomorrow. If all goes to plan :D

Great Day

1/3/2015

So today was a great day! I watched the England vrs Ireland match, we won! SO over the moon 19 - 9 :D

It was beautiful!
on the uni front of things, I finally got my dissertation completely finished and put through Turnitin (A program I completely hate) however this time it was actually nice to me:

For those who don't know what turnitin is, it is a program that looks through documents and scans for plagiarism, amongst your work and other students in your class, as well as on the web. So I am incredibly happy to have gotten only 8% WHOOP! i'll not lie, I haven't plagiarized anything, so I did expect it to give me a low percentage. But compared to what other students write sometimes it can be very frustrating, especially when everyone is writing on the same subject.

This is my first sort of Idea for a cover image for my dissertation, I made the Queen smile a little more, however clone tooling all of the other little details out of the image was a pain in the butt. I am not too sure about this being my final for my cover. Although I am very happy to continue with this Idea, I am just unsure of this being my final image for it.
That's all from me today, Tomorrow I have a meeting with a tutor to go over my work and clarify a little more of what my jumble of research can lead to, and where I'm going with things. So hopefully that will be good. I'm also hoping to get my dissertation printed tomorrow, possibly binded too. But if not, I will get it at least printed tomorrow :D

Lots Of Thoughts

28/2/2015

So today I have been researching how to turn a gift bag into a book, for my dissertation cover. I bought a gift bag yesterday, it was the only one that would fit A4 pages inside, was pretty and didn't look cheap, my only problem is that it only fits A4 pages in horizontally rather than vertically. I made a makette yesterday to try and figure out what to do with my bag, and how I could make it work. The bag it's self is pretty big. I found a few different tutorials :

http://stephaniemakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/glitz-design-gift-bag-mini-book-tutorial.html

Stephanie Bryan's was the first tutorial I found on how to do this, the only thing that really concerns me about going ahead with this, is that she made her book into a scrap book/ photo album. I the most pages I will have will be around 50. So I won't need as much of the room fro m the page as she has used.

This is the bag I bought from ASDA, it is a similar shape to Bryan's. I have a slight problem with the position of the handles, as this will determine how the book will be seen and opened, as you can see with Bryan, she has put her label on the side of the cover so that it will be opened the correct way, I don't want to lose the style of the bag and how the bag looks, by which way I place my thesis. I also plan to put tissue paper around the opening of the bag, so it gives the illusion that its luxury. The tissue paper would be positioned around the side of the thesis, rather than on top, This makes me think should I continue with this bag or buy another one that will be taller, rather than wider.

I also found this video tutorial on You Tube, it shows how Mary Peterson, makes a lot of books from gift bags. Her tutorial seems a lot easier than Bryan's and even the layout makes a lot more sense. However, I feel slightly torn due to really liking the bag I got from ASDA. I think my best option is to go out and try and find a new gift bag, even just as a back up. Or even print my dissertation out Landscape rather than in the standard portrait.

I also went back and did a wee bit more designing of my deck of cards. I have amended my little mistake with getting the queen of hearts and queen of diamonds mixed up.

I also went back in a re-vamped the Queen of diamonds. Here is the image based on my queen of hearts

This is Lady Anne Neville. She became Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward Of Westminster and then later she became Queen of England, husband King Richard iii (1472–1485) This completes the first suit of cards, within this series of experiments.

Taking The Night Off

27/2/2015

Short blog today, My tutorial went really well today, there was again much talk about the dissertation, but I'm glad I managed to get to talk about my work, I now have another meeting on Monday to discuss, where i'm going with my main project. As it turns out I have done so much work, they believe that within my main project alone, there could be at least four side projects within it...... I have also been playing around with the idea on how to hand in my dissertation next week. And yes, I can officially say that this time next week, no more talk of the dissertation, as it shall all be done away with! YAY!!!!!!
So, I have been thinking of possibly putting my dissertation in a really pretty shopping bag, make it look really nice, and then you open it, (expecting luxury) and it's just my blood, sweat and tears in a thesis!

This will be me tonight, just chilling. but catch a grip, I won't be drinking bud light. I think I deserve a real drink!

Actual Work!

24/2/2015

So, again I did more dissertation stuff. I did however actually do some other uni work, YAY! although, went into uni today and totally forgot my graphics tablet.... that sucked a lot, so had to come home earlier than first anticipated and finally get some work done. I have started doing a few experiments already, I'm still not too sure on what I want to do with this, but I am glad to start getting the details down and start working at it.

So, as you can see these are unfinished, I used this image of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1890 - 1948). As a reference, I really like her crown. I originally, started with the second image with making it in black and white, but I want to reference her as my queen on hearts. So I went back and changed the colours to red. I am not too sure that I am going to make all of my suit the same as I have been doing but this is the first, of many experiments, I am defiantly hoping to spit out a few more designs tomorrow. I will remember my graphics tablet!

Sooooooo Much Stuff To Prepare For.

23/2/2015

So, today I went again back into my dissertation. I am really starting to panic about getting it binded. I have came to terms that I won't be able to get it made into a book, by the deadline. However, everywhere seems to take a week to bind a thesis. So I am hoping to have this officially done by tomorrow, printed out by Tuesday, and possibly get it taken in to get binded, if not tomorrow, Wednesday. I have a back up plan though, however I think uni may yell at me, if I am unable to get it binded in time. I plan to pray to the staples god and go to staples to get a clip folder. Then if allllllll else feels, I may get the sewing kit out and sew my pages together....... They will have a digital copy, anyways.... so yea. This is my weird plan of slight panic.... i'm so impatient, mainly cause I have never gotten a thesis binded before. All my friends are telling me to chill out.... Can't.

Minus my Dissertation, I did a bit more research for my new logo design. So I started to look up other peoples.

They are all very well thought out and interesting, I don't want to rush the logo design, however, I would like to get business cards made up soon, especially for the end of year show. So the pressure is already on for that.

Tomorrow, I plan to run round like a mad idiot asking if I can get my thesis binded anywhere in uni. Then hopefully get a list of prices and a time frame. As well as finishing my dissertation!, that would help alot!

I also want to start getting ideas onto paper, start doing a bit of design work for my deck of cards project. Which is another project I have to be careful of, timescale wise due to getting them printed off.

So yea, a lot going on..... hopefully I will have a better idea of what is going on with all this stuff tomorrow.

I'm Done, I'm Out Of Cares To Give!

22/2/2015

Today has been pretty stressful, I have been again changing my dissertation around a bit. I am incredibly close to calling it quits. I have written the dissertation, I have spent a long time doing it, and not it's just fixing technicality's. I have so much work I need to catch up on. With my dissertation, I am running so far behind. My brother keeps getting it my for structure, and I have just spent the past hour alphabetizing my reference list. I am just so, so very much done. I more than appreciate the help I have been getting, but I really need to start concentrating on my degree, the whole reason why I am still here. My dissertation is only 25% of my final grade, I am completely at the end of my tether. I want to get back to designing photoshoots and designing card decks :( I'm just done.

I have to admit though, with complaining about my dissertation, I did manage to get a bit of research done today in regard to my deck of cards project.

I have decided on which on my royals is to go with which suit . I am hoping to get started on this tomorrow. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Happiness

21/2/2015

So, today I was doing more of my dissertation. I re-visited another part of my research. Looking at Coca Cola, Coca Cola have an entire campaign dedicated to happiness. They are trying to get people to associate happiness with their product. Here is one crazy video of theirs. Please watch till the end, you won't be sorry!..... just a bit weirded out.

This is just one of many videos that Coca Cola have done. They took the "Happiness Van" to Russia, The Netherlands, London, India, etc. You can clearly see how they get people to associate happiness with their product. However, they also get more material items. Such as roses, toys, t-shirts, and of course the full roasted pig. If you look up , Coca Cola Happiness, you will find their website, it contains a lot of very good information on happiness. Such as quotes from historic figures throughout history, on what they thought happiness was. I do recommend you check it out, but forget that it's been done by Coca Cola. Coca Cola will not bring you happiness, just a sugar rush.