#also the research project is actually really interesting and the people are very friendly!

[studiousandrogynousfox-blog]

endings and beginnings

it's been about a month since i last posted to this blog on the eve of my second exam and soooo much has happened since!

i've had my second exam and new pretty much as i walked out that i hadn't passed - i've also had it confirmed since. so i'll have one final exam to do in the summer exam season.

the next day i was back at work because my last day was approaching fast and i still needed to complete a project and finish handing over everything. there was also the matter organising my leaving do. and i also wanted to catch up with friends now that i didn't have exams looming over me. so i was super busy and also slowly getting a bit emotional. i had been working there with the same people for over SEVEN years!!! my boss' eldest son had become an adult during that time...

it would catch my off guard at random moments and i worried about getting teary during my leaving do, luckily i was so nervous about the speech my boss had prepared that by the time it came to it i was very chill.

the day after my last day at work it was straight off for holidays with my family for a week. we had a lovely time but my mind was still replaying some of the parting words from my colleagues and also looking toward the start of the small research project.

back from the holidays it was straight into the project, meeting the other group members, setting up my workplace, figuring out lunch and coffee breaks, dealing with admin, and trying to understand the project and my task within.

it's all new and all things i haven't done before! it's both exciting and overwhelming! and that's where i'm at now. i'm in the second week of the project and starting to settle in.

#university #physics #studying #studyblr #long post #it's been a lot!!! #and i was honestly not prepared just how emotional i'd get on my last day at work #like i won't miss the work... but i'll miss the people #and they all wrote such lovely messages in my farewell card #and i don't really know how to handle that #over seven years! bonkers! #also the research project is actually really interesting and the people are very friendly! #and it's so varied!!! it's honestly exciting (at least when i'm not feeling overwhelmed) #thank you to all who read this x

[why-what-no]

Gentle Touches & Cute Aggression

Pairing: Morpheus x Fem!Reader

Notes: Writing this fic made me go all ‘twirling-my-hair’ giggling. This man gives me such cuteness aggression, so I’m definitely projecting onto this fic🥰

Summary: Morpheus falls in love with a complete sweetheart. This girlfriend is a very affectionate person, and he quickly realizes how much he enjoys it. Insecure dramatic idiots in love

Requested by: @supermegapauselouca

Throughout his time alive, Morpheus had seen unspeakable things. He had felt unspeakable pain. Sometimes, he had done those unspeakable things. It had, all together, left him with a less than optimistic view of the worlds and people inhabiting them.

All of that was why, when he first met (Y/N), he couldn't believe she was genuine. Thinking the jokes and friendliness was a ploy to get him to trust her. It took him a while and a lot of research into her to realize that was just who she was.

He hadn't trusted her at first because he didn't want to, because he knew she was someone who he would care about. Which is exactly what happened. Spending time with her in the Dreaming, letting her explore his palace and keep him company when he was working.

And then he couldn't stop himself from taking the next step. From kissing her and telling her that he had true feelings for her. Because how could he not?

She reciprocated. For what reason, he didn't know. She just kept looking at him like he was special. Like how he looked at her.

She was a bright light that he was drawn to like a moth to a flame. He just worried that the flame would destroy him. He had loved before, and it had always eventually hurt him.

“Why are you here, with me? I could create for you magnificent dreams that you could spent your sleeping hours in. Not stuck in my office watching me go through books."

But she just chuckled, curled up on a couch he had gotten someone to bring in. Specifically so that she would be comfortable. "But I like hanging out with you."

He smiled at her words. But accepted his worry. If (Y/N) broke his heart, he didn't know if he would recover.

***

Obvious to the internal battle that her new boyfriend (or was it partner, or lover? What do you call a immortal, powerful being when you date them) was having, (Y/N) was just watching him work. Content in the peacefulness of the room as she admired him.

He worked for a while, eventually setting his books and pens down. Stepping closer to her and sitting down beside her. This was her favourite part of her dreams. When his full attention was on her and they could talk about whatever was on their minds.

In the waking world, she didn't really have anyone that she could actually talk to. But Morpheus listened, and didn't force her to be the only one pushing the conversation forward. He was interested, asking questions, but also willing to answer any of the billion questions she had for him. The love Morpheus showed to her was better that anything she had felt before.

Somehow their conversation had turned to the subject of "cuteness aggression". Morpheus didn't understand the instinct. "Surely if you like something, you wouldn't want to hurt it?"

"It's not hurting." She couldn't help but laugh. Not that she blamed him, it was a weird thing to feel. "I wouldn't do that. It's all affectionate, good vibes only. It’s like, like this…"

He didn't move away when she moved closer, hand grazing his face. There was a teasing grin on her face as she gently pinched his cheek that let him know she was doing it as a joke. But Morpheus couldn't hide the bright blush on his face.

The Dream Lord was grateful that she didn’t comment on the colour to his cheeks. He didn’t know if he could handle that blow to his ego. But (Y/N) always knew what lines not to cross.

When the blush fade, he nodded just to let her know that he was beginning to understand the appeal. Comparing it to when he would gently bite her lip while making out. Or when he would hug her tightly after a long day of work. It made more sense if he thought about it like that.

"Well, I'm glad no one's getting hurt." He watched her smile at his agreement.

Her hand had moved to his hair, stroking through it gently.

"You're so pretty." She told Morpheus.

His smile was soft and lazy, enjoying her touch too much to tease her back. "Thank you." He told her, leaning into her touch.

Perhaps he didn't have to worry about her breaking his heart after all. Not when she seemed so interested in holding him close. Not that he could blame her.

He felt the same way.

#the sandman #the sandman dream #the sandman x reader #morpheus x reader #Morpheus #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless #my fics

[questionalhabitat]

list of headcanons about the pikmin 3 captains :3

alph:

• autistic with a special interest in engineering

• struggles to detect sarcasm a lot and takes everything quite literally

• since landing on pnf-404 and finding the pikmin, he copies the noises they make as a vocal stim. particularly attached to rock pikmin because of the sounds they make

• has a low pain tolerance (just like me fr fr)

• likes collecting things. his room at home is full of stuff to do with his special interests. also why he likes the piklopedia.

• since he left koppai his grandfather has started making little trinkets and selling them. he's saving all the money that he makes so that the whole family can have a big celebration when he comes home

• when brittany found the yellow pikmin and he learned that they were electricity conductors he got really excited and started swimming as soon as he thought he was out of view. (he wasn't, but brittany doesn't want to embarrass him.)

• really wants to try and use the yellow pikmin in the ship engineering but is too afraid to ask the others for permission

• always takes a pretty long time to desensitise to his environment every time he removes the spacesuit

• constantly trying to impress his teammates and thinks that they're really cool

brittany

• also autistic and has adhd (i'm projecting)

• discovered botany while doing some research for an english essay. she had to write about the themes of a story and started looking up flower meanings and then fell down a rabbit hole

• also struggles to tell when someone's being sarcastic, but instead of taking everything seriously she almost always presumed it's a joke

• lashes out at people impulsively when she's stressed and feels guilty afterwards

• has eaten several things that aren't safe for koppaite consumption. insists that it was "for science".

• really good at comforting other people… when she realises that they're upset. which tends to take a while.

• t-rex hands whenever she's standing still

• constantly trying to impress her teammates and thinks that they're really cool

charlie

• autistic. bet you didn't see that one coming

• comes across as very serious at first because of how he delivers instructions. he's not actually anywhere near as stern as he looks, but when he's giving orders he's trying to constantly think ahead and plan the next move while also being as direct and concise as he can and can't make himself sound cheerful on top of that.

• smiles with his eyes more than his mouth - unless you've gotten to know him you won't notice

• has a loud, hearty laugh. very contagious.

• sometimes he talks too loudly, especially when he's indoors. he forgets that the helmets aren't muffling his voice anymore.

• has plans to make a pond in his garden after he's able to settle down and hyperfixates on it. will ramble for hours about what it's going to have in it

• wants to rear a pet duck as well. ducks are a special interest

• speaking of which, really likes swimming. very strong swimmer. loves water. sensory seeking on most days

• whenever the koppaites have to walk across difficult terrain, charlie will pick them both up and carry them across, trying to impress them

• constantly trying to impress his teammates and thinks that they're really cool

misc:

• they all have friendly debates about which fruit tastes best

• drake is also autistic and unintentionally makes people think that they're mad at him. when he was little alph could never tell when people were annoyed at him so he was able to get closer to his grandfather

#pikmin #pikmin 3 #pikmin headcanons #pikmin brittany #pikmin alph #pikmin charlie #charlie pikmin #alph pikmin #brittany pikmin #they're so eepy

[ciaossu-imagines]

Day twoooooo: one random thing they'd get into a heated discussion for (for me its bad musical adaptations, I will rip some of them to fucking shreds) either for K project (Homra+Saru) or KHR (Vongola+Varia), i'll let you decide

This one was really fun to consider so thank you so much for sending it in! I went with KHR for this one, and hope you’ll enjoy!

Tsuna doesn’t honestly have many things that he gets really, really worked up about, other than the very obvious one that we see brought up a lot throughout the manga and anime. He’s really not okay with anyone hurting innocent people, no matter the reasons. It’s not something he can forgive and while he’ll try to understand the other person’s reasoning, he’s going to try to get through to them that it’s not okay and will try to convince them to stop. And if he can’t…let’s not forget, guys, that Tsuna did canonically kill Byakuran in the Future Arc. It might have been an alternate future, so arguments can be made that it doesn’t count, but I do believe that it does.

Gokudera loves good horror movies…or really, really terrible ones. He watches a lot of them and is really well versed in the different horror movie genres and tropes and he can get really fired up when discussing any horror franchises and whether they’re good or bad or whether a new release was worth the hype or not. He does a lot of research into the movies he hated and the ones he loved, so he can pull out all these really interesting but obscure facts in an attempt to get his point across and ‘win’ the discussion/debate.

Yamamoto is a baseball nut through and through. He can easily get into heated discussions and debates over which teams will make the playoffs, on which players should have been traded to which teams, on which players are having good seasons and what they should improve on, and so on and so forth. He’s really knowledgeable on the subject too, so he’s coming in with facts and figures and proof of his opinions.

Ryohei’s topic? C’mon, everyone knows this one! It’s boxing, bar none, with proper training and exercise techniques coming in a close second.

Lambo has very strong opinions on video games. He really likes playing video games, especially if they’re two-player ones, but he’s also really particular about what makes a good video game. Of course, his heated discussion is usually just him calling the other person stupid, wrong, and a doo-doo head, but hey…he’s five, what do you expect?

Hibari has a very strong sense of rules and order. He won’t get into heated debates or discussions on them though. He’s just going to beat them into the head of whoever defies or disagrees with him.

Mukuro likes fashion. He really does. He might have a very unique fashion sense, but clothing and accessories appeal to him and he can get into very heated debates on the subject of fashion, whether it be whether something is simply a trend or a classic style, or what type or brand of boots is better or whether gold is gaudy or timeless.

Chrome actually really likes birds and does know quite a bit about them. She doesn’t really often speak up, but she can get really adamant about what type of bird it is that someone saw or that’s nearby and it can test her patience a little bit if people who don’t know what they’re talking about want to argue with her about it. She normally won’t argue, just because that’s not what Chrome does, but it will really perturb her.

Okay, but nobody is getting into heated arguments with Xanxus. Seriously, anyone who would attempt to do so is taking their lives in their hands and most of them really just succeed in pissing him off and ending up dead or seriously injured. He really does take people trying to start even friendly debates with him as them trying to provoke him or fight with him.

Have you met Squalo? He has strong opinions on everything, and he can make everything into an argument. There is no one thing that makes him get into a heated discussion. There is everything and the heated discussions usually become out and out fights.

Belphegor does think the knives he uses, specially made for him, are, of course, superior to all others, but he does know his other knives. He knows the makes and models, the better points of each brand and type, and does have very strong opinions on which knives are worth it and which ones are made just to look pretty. He can get very, very testy about that topic.

Lussuria has surprisingly strong opinions on boy bands. He knows boy bands from many different cultures, he has his favourites, and he will have no problem telling you why your favourite is trash if it does not mesh with his favourites. For example, in Lussuria’s opinion, BTS is the best K-pop boy band out there currently, and EXO is the worst, and he will have long lectures of why this is true.

Levi really, really does not take kindly to anyone doubting or bad-mouthing his boss. Xanxus is the subject he will most fiercely defend. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone from the Varia or someone from another family or such, but the person who dares to say something anything less than glowing about Xanxus is catching a verbal beat-down and long lectures on Xanxus’ glory from Levi, if he doesn’t just resort to violence.

#event asks #katekyo hitman reborn #khr #khr headcanons #headcanons #tsunayoshi sawada #gokudera hayato #yamamoto takeshi #lambo bovino #ryohei sasagawa #hibari kyoya #mukuro rokudo #chrome dokuro #xanxus #squalo superbi #levi a than #belphegor #bel khr #lussuria

[bonefall]

I mean fermented doesnt necessarily mean alcoholic - after all kimchi is made with fermented cabage and bread is fermented too. So is yogurt and a ton of other things we eat. Theres even some meats that are fermented for dishes too.

This is very true! And I did look into a couple of other things that are fermented-- but the problem with cats having anything fermented at all is yeast.

(CW: I talk about yeast, fermentation, alcohol, and the horrors of what yeast can do to a cat's belly. Skip this one if medical discussion of a cat in pain upsets you!)

In fact it's good you mentioned bread, because I was just looking at different types of unleavened bread exactly for this reason. If a cat eats raw dough, yeast can actually ferment in their stomach! This does exactly what you think it would, it turns their body into a chemical nightmare, distending their belly and causing alcohol poisoning

(doing research for these projects is like taking a class on how DURABLE human being are, it's insane! This isn't even unique to cats! Pure carnivores are so fragile!)

The baking process would kill all the yeast inside of the bread, but I decided that I would just not work with it. Unleavened bread and alternate rising agents are cool so I decided to explore those instead. I even found this one really interesting tidbit about how apparently bannock from Britain and bannock from American Indigenous people in America may have evolved independently, down to the linguistic roots being different.

BUT ANYWAY back to yeast

So when I was looking at fermented products, I was looking for things where there isn't yeast present, but also checked off my other rules; namely, that Clan cats are obligate carnivores.

-Kimchi is fermented vegetables, a lot of work for a Warrior to get no nutritional value. Not to mention that without pepper, garlic, and fish sauce it's just... sad cabbage. (also go watch this cool video I found about one of the last traditional onggi pot makers left in Korea because this is actually a very beautiful craft and my life has been enriched by seeing how much care goes into this process)

-This also eliminates sauerkraut, which is a more region-friendly take on fermented cabbage. No nutritional value to the cats.

-Miso can be made from barley but it requires a region-unfriendly type of fungus (Re: The reason I usually start with British tech and work backwards, another example of this principle in action)

-Yogurt and Cheese are dairy products. Warriors are lactose intolerant to begin with, but also don't have an animal they can milk on a regular basis. I don't think a nearby sheep or cow would stay still long enough for a warrior to sit and milk them

What I DID find that we could make, though?

-Vinegar. As long as it's used sparingly and diluted, it can be used as a basis for other recipes including Worcestershire sauce. Though from what I read, cat aversion to the smell of vinegar is legendary.

But I will rule vinegar-based sauces under the 'Stronger Stomachs' exception.

In addition, vinegar is an EXCELLENT cleaning product and something I can keep in mind as an excellent antibiotic next to honey.

-Hard sausage. Pepperoni, chorizo, salami... aside from finagling with the spices I have access to, hard sausage is totally within my reach and sounds like a perfect ShadowClan recipe.

-Something that breaks down poison. I'm willing to be a little bit flippant about the biology of one type of insect or animal to make a Warrior Cat version of hakarl, specifically because I want to show off ShadowClan's crafty food culture and how good they are at creative problem solving.

This one will be in addition to "slug-purging", because I learned some really neat stuff about how to make wild gastropods safe to eat and it'll be a really really cool thing to include in a "How ShadowClan can eat things other Clans can't" type entry

Come to think of it, fermentation would definitely be a very ShadowClan-based activity...

And lastly,

Alcohol

It just feels... wrong to me that there would be a culture of sapient cats who don't use any alcohol at all. Getting tweaked on purpose is practically the mark of a species' intelligence. Dolphins, elephants, monkeys, crows... all recorded finding ways to turn their terrible brains off.

So I do want to make an entry on alcoholic fermentation too, it's just like I said though, it'll take a while to get to because I have dumb math brain and a To-Do list.

But for right now, I've got another ask to answer that will give you a good "basic" alcohol for your cats if you so choose

#TW alcohol #Alcohol #Fermentation #Medical discussion #tw animal illness #animal illness #Clan Culture #Clan Culture Mini Entry

[ana-chronista]

🖤💉✈️⭐️🌺 please? :)

Thank you for the asks!

🖤 favorite hobbies outside of your blog Writing is a big one (of course), as is reading. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett are both favourites of mine, and more recently I’ve been reading a few books by Emily St. John Mandel and would definitely recommend them! I’ve been gaming for years, especially RPGs. I’m currently getting started on another playthrough of Stardew Valley (because really you’re never done with that game and this is my ‘evil’ playthrough) and trying out the Final Fantasy VII remake. I’d like to get back into jewellery making, it’s been a while since I’ve had the time (and space!) for it but it’s nice to do something creative that’s a bit different. 💉do you have tattoos and/or piercings A couple of ear piercings. No tattoos (yet? Never say never!) but mainly because I haven’t ever been able to decide on one particular design to stick to! ✈️ favorite place you’ve travelled New Zealand! I travelled around both islands for a few weeks several years ago and absolutely loved it. A couple of things I’d recommend:

The Waitomo Cave on the North Island is very famous, but my favourite of the three around there was actually the Ruakuri Cave; we had a guide who had worked on the excavations and was really passionate about the subject, so it was really interesting. You can also go black water rafting through it!

Obviously lots of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit related tours are on offer, and as a Tolkien fan I enjoyed that. Of all of it though, the Weta Workshop near Wellington where the props etc. were made was the best, and it’s fascinating to see how all these special effects are achieved for TV/film even if you’re not big on Tolkien as they cover a lot of different projects.

The penguin sanctuary at Dunedin, especially learning about the inter-penguin dramas going on!

Overall though just a really lovely place to visit – it’s a beautiful country and everyone seemed very friendly and laidback (at least compared to where I come from, so it was a good change of pace).

The other two are a bit longer so I placed them under a cut...

⭐️ what is one of your biggest accomplishments? Why is it so important to you? I was the first person in my family to go to uni. Lots of people have that same achievement, but for me personally it meant so much because I’d worked so hard for it and still had really strong doubts I’d ever manage it. I definitely wouldn’t be the same person today without it because of the self-confidence it gave me, and for me personally it was definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. 🌺 what is the best gift someone has ever given you and why is it so important This is very random, and something very normal, but a towel turban. It was a Christmas present from my SO a few years ago – we’d been together all of five minutes, and what do you buy for someone when you’re still getting to know them? I hadn’t actually seen these before but after a conversation about why I always wrapped my hair in a heavy towel after a shower, my SO went and researched and found one for me as a surprise. It was just something really lovely and thoughtful because I could use it every day, and especially because it came from someone who’s never had long hair nor had anyone in their family with long hair to know about it beforehand. I’m now on towel turban number 3, all gifted by my SO, and still referred to as “the best thing I ever bought you.”

#ana answers

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Hey Sarah, wondering what’s your personal opinion of Taylor working with David O Russell considering everything he possibly did?

I myself feel… a bit betrayed in way? Still not going to stop supporting her by any means but this isn’t my favourite thing she’s done I guess, especially considering it’s kind of unnecessary for her to be in the film in the sense that she really doesn’t need, like, publicity or exposure from it

She really doesn’t have a good track record in terms of picking films to be in, huh😂

Hi! On paper, I understand why the project appealed to Taylor. Her forays into film typically are because she thinks she could learn something or be inspired by people significantly more advanced and knowledgeable in a field that she is interested in, but not an expert in. Film, directing, acting, theatre - all things that interest her but are not her forte. The cast on this film is absolutely stacked and I assume all of them were cast before her and I'm sure that the allure of being part of such a significantly noteworthy ensemble cast was a huge draw. This is evidenced further by the fact that the roles she does take are very small and usually limited to 1-2 scenes. Her interest comes out behind-the-scenes with the actual staff making the movie happen and not on-screen.

This is also purely pulled out of my ass of a guess, but it wouldn't surprise me if Jennifer Lawrence (with whom Taylor is friendly) gave the DOR stamp of approval and Taylor trusted that because he is, reprehensible behaviour aside, a decorated and well-known director.

That said, I think this is the result of a grave error in judgement and lack of diligence in researching the people attached to the film. We know Taylor (who has personally dealt with sexual abuse) does not abide by that behaviour and if I had to guess she likely won't do much, if any, promotion for the film because she may now realize her mistake in getting involved.

I could also very well be wrong on all parts - this is purely me speculating.

#opinion

[blujayonthewing]

Every day I see you tag stuff with your ocs and honestly Melliwyck, as a name, has been trapped in my head, bouncing around my braincells, ever since I first saw it. Please tell me about Melliwyck!!

:D Melliwyk is my dnd gnome wizard/ artificer! Her campaign setting is a series of floating islands whose origins [were] shrouded in mystery; no knowledge of anything from before the creation of the Vault or what's underneath the permanent cloud layer below it existed on the Vault, and part of the knowledge that was lost to the world was how to craft magic items, which has been Melliwyk's lifelong area of study (primary focus hands-on experimental magic, with a side focus on historical research). Now that we've FOUND a lot of the lost knowledge, including people who know about magic item creation and were happy to teach us, she's up to her eyeballs in the ACTUAL plot of the campaign which is 'oh hey all the mysteries are because of Big Complicated Conspiracies and, surprise, the party is Destined to be smack in the middle of literally all of them' lmao. The good news is she loves solving mysteries: the bad news is she's currently a bit overburdened with them and the stakes are, like, fate of the world and everyone's literal souls, aaahah :'D

She's very intelligent but generally has more curiosity and gumption than common sense, and tends to get herself into precarious situations-- although being with the party has tempered that a little bit, now that she has a) other people to tell her not to do a thing and b) some perspective on the concept of consequences that aren't just personal.

Mel's usually friendly, and has a sort of genially laid-back demeanor and a somewhat wry sense of humor-- but she's not great at personal relationships because she spends most of her time absorbed in her work, tinkering on projects or working on theories or studying her notes and barely coming up for food, let alone socializing. Prior to the campaign, she spent a lot of time completely alone doing the Fantasy!Mad Scientist thing, so apart from her familiar, Baxter, the party are the first actual friends she's had in a really long time, and even that feels tenuous sometimes.

UM I could theoretically ramble all day without even saying anything that's actually interesting jgkhkddjgh so for now-- HERE is a handful of relevant Fun Facts about her for an ask from jules antiquesymbolism and HERE is her tag on my art blog :3

ALSO I'm delighted you like her name, or at least that it got stuck in your brain hehe :3c I came up with it by pulling random bananagrams tiles and rearranging them until I had a list of possible names I liked :D Her full official name at present is Melliwyk Truthseeker Pinsky Louise Arlinetta Darinia Berenockt 😁

#pbjplatypus-but-out-pf-phase #THANK YOU FOR ASKING <3 sorry this is like... a wall of text that I suspect doesn't even say anything jhkdfgkjdhg #my brain is No at the moment but I do love Mel a lot #tl;dr: gnome arcane inventor/ tinkerer who gave herself magical narcolepsy and permanent scars via unsafe lab practices #and The Brains of the outfit in a campaign where that turns out to be the world's most taxing job jhkgfkdgj #she started the campaign as chaotic neutral but she's too nice to witness Horrors firsthand and not slide to Good eventually #one thing I think is kind of funny is that both she and I only ever shorten her name to Mel #but almost everyone else in the campaign including the DM call her Melli #which isn't a bad thing it's very cute it's just kind of interesting haha #my OCs #melliwyk

[clydedonahue961]

Cricut Ideas: Get Inspired To Make Best Craft Projects

Looking for inspiration to start your projects using the Cricut cutting machines and devices? Then look no further; you are at the right place. This blog is hand-crafted to give you the best money-making Cricut Ideas. Every Cricut cutting machine and device can give you the best professional-looking results in no time.

Here, we have provided the steps to get started with the Cricut Ideas. Then you get to know what you can create with various Cricut machines, presses, and tools. So, keep reading to find out everything about Cricut ideas and much more.

Cricut Ideas: How To Get Started?

Before you look into all the Cricut Ideas, I have broken down the whole process of creation into a few simple steps. These steps are basic and will act as a mini guide before you embark on your journey of creating and selling crafts using your Cricut machines.

Step One:

If you have not yet purchased your Cricut cutting machine, then the first thing you need to do is get one. You can either buy it from famous stores like Walmart, or you can get it from famous online websites, including Amazon and Cricut’s very own online shop. I would recommend you do thorough research on the features that are offered by the machine you are opting for. Make sure that it matches your requirements. You can also buy important tools and add-on devices like a knife blade, heat press, scoring tools, and rotary blades.

Step Two:

Download the Cricut Design Space application on your system or mobile device. It has a library with many pre-designed projects, images, graphics, and fonts. It will not only inspire you to create beyond any limits but also save your time. Once you have your own Cricut ID and login credentials, you can join various Cricut communities on the app that will help you further.

Step Three:

Start creating your projects for yourself and selling your craftsmanship to earn some extra cash. You can host a sale in your backyard and really create a small business overnight. The Cricut machines are user-friendly and quick machines that can help you personalize stuff for your clients. Make sure to take as many pictures as possible to post your work online to gain popularity and a good client base.

Cricut Ideas: For Beginners

Here are some interesting Cricut ideas that you can get inspired from:

Make Greeting Cards/Invitation Cards/Drawn Cards/ Welcome Cards etc.

To make cards, be they real-life-looking drawn cards, invitation cards, adhesive vinyl cards, welcome cards, birthday cards, customized cards, or cards for any occasion, you will either need a Cricut Maker, Explore, or Joy machine. You can sell it to people who are looking for personalized gifts cards options. By adding a scoring stylus or wheel, you can customize the envelopes to go along with the cards. Cricut also has its own range of colorful pens that can be used to add beautiful aesthetics to your cards.

Create A Personalised Vase

Flowers are everyone’s favorite; people gift them to each other normally as well as on special occasions. A great companion of flowers is a beautiful vase. You can actually brighten up any corner of your home or workplace with a customized vase. You can use fonts, graphics, and designs that are already pre-made in your Cricut Design Space Application. Then cut them out using Cricut cutting machines. You will need adhesive vinyl as a base material to cut out designs that can easily stick to the surface of the vase.

Personalize Storage And Boxes To Organize

One of the best among all Cricut ideas is using your Cricut cutting machine to declutter and organize your home, craft room, workspace, or kitchen. You can organize many areas of your home by making stylish labels from adhesive vinyl. All you will have to do is cut the labels and, with the help of a tool, transfer them to your carts, boxes, bags, etc. For creating small labels, I would highly recommend the Cricut Joy machine. You can get many beautiful fonts on the Cricut Design Space application.

Make Customized Mugs

The best way to create customized mugs is by combining the technologies of your Cricut cutting machine, Cricut Mug Press, and Cricut Design Space. You can create a beautiful collection of mugs or sell customized mugs. The mug making is one of the best among all the Cricut ideas, as they are high-in-demand products. You can work with infusible inks or heat transfer vinyl.

Visit: cricut.com/setup learn cricut.com/setup cricut setup www.cricut.com learn

Source: https://learn-cricut.com/cricut-ideas/

#cricut #cricut.com/setup #www.Cricut.com/setup

[maddiecopesblog]

I can't name three songs

Metal and punk music is a huge part of my identity. I've been going to shows since I was a teenager and its a community that I really value, I love meeting new people though music and sharing my love for metal with people like me. I'm passionate about getting people into attending local venues and supporting local bands as I think it's an important part of keeping the sub-culture alive.

The rich history of metal and punk has been highly influential; not just for music but also for fashion, politics and artwork. The culture surrounding both communities tends to radiate acceptance and a desire to connect with likeminded individuals through a love of music. It's bold, against the status- quo and attracts a variety of people from different backgrounds. Despite the way the media portrays metal heads and punks, they're often very friendly and kind. The heavy and sometimes violent nature of the music commonly contradicts the characters of its fans. For example, if someone falls over in the mosh pit, everyone works together to help them back on their feet with no hesitation. It's a community, and something that you can see clearly when you attend shows, especially local ones.

Despite this, especially with metal, there are a few men that ruin it for me since they don't believe that women should be present in the scene. Women who are involved with metal are assumed to be either lying or they are criticised for not knowing enough about the bands that they listen to.

A profound example of this that's been commonly joked about on social media is the idea of 'naming three songs'. Women wearing metal band shirts are frequently approached and questioned by men aiming to disprove their supposed loyalty to the band by quizzing them on the bands discography.

I've had this experience several times, Ive even been questioned on someone else's band shirt.

Its such a common occurrence that, from my research and having spoken to many female metal-heads, women will actually revise the bands on their shirts in order to not get 'caught out' by a man interrogating them.

This treatment is something that puts many women off attending live shows altogether, due to wanting to avoid the unnecessary confrontation. It's uncomfortable to have to justify your position in a community and I personally find it invasive. The assumption that I would wear a band shirt for fashion purposes is sexist and while I enjoy proving the men that approach me wrong, it can be exhausting.

Sometimes, I like to say not what I think would embarrass the men that approach me about this, but what I know would piss them off. Instead of reassuring the clearly insecure man of my loyalty to the band I say something like this:

'oh this shirt? I didn't even know it was a band! I just picked it up from H&M because I like the design on the front! I love metal though, my favourite band is probably yungblud, he's so cool'

In my experience, this has generated the exact response I wanted; frustration and disappointment. Which is funnily enough, exactly the emotions I feel when I'm interrogated on my music taste in the first place.

Flipping sexism in the scene on its head is something that interests me. In a vastly male dominated environment, acknowledging and addressing mistreatment of women through irony feels powerful and this is something that I want to base my one-week project on.

#fmp

[lgbtq-history-museum-cfl-intern]

Updates and a Tip

Wednesday, November 16th, 2023

There is something so fulfilling about watching a project come together. 😊

The exhibit opens next week, on November 16th, and this week – actually today – we are finalizing the design to send out to print!

I’ve heard that a lot of people have shown interest in coming out to opening night and I am so excited about it! So far, I’m not nervous, but we’ll see as the day approaches…

Lately, I’ve expressed anxiety about my workload and managing mental health stuff, but things are finally settling down and I’m finally caught up on everything.

I had to really lean into my support system and get A LOT of rest.

I hope this is relatable but isn’t it crazy how, as college students, we lose a lot of rest by trying to make the most of our time by being “productive”, but we end up losing sleep and productivity by not taking time for a nap or just quitting early and going to bed?

At least that’s my experience, lol.

This week I made sure to do that and it paid off 😊

I’ll get to attend the next Board meeting on Sunday, so I will also get to hear everyone’s thoughts on the exhibit before setting up!

I’m so grateful for all the help I’ve had putting it together with feedback and guidance from everyone directly involved with exhibit designing and my internship from the Board.

Today’s meeting will be about a last-minute review of the layout and coordinating how it will be printed because some things have to be printed on a different file format for the best print quality.

Friday, November 10th, 2023

Yesterday I turned in all the printing materials for the exhibit with all the changes and details we agreed on during the Wednesday meeting.

That day, I also met with another professor from the Department of History who my current internship mentor referred me to for some oral history projects they’re working on coordinating and collecting.

It was such a pleasant meeting 😊

We discussed some of the backgrounds on the interviewees she’s in contact with.

I never know how much I’m allowed to share about these projects but what I’m sure I can say is that they have fascinating stories and I’m very much looking forward to helping conduct these interviews.

I’ve gotten to learn so much about the local LGBTQ+ community through my work with the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida. This oral history project is an extension of that allowing me to get up close and personal with people who have been significant figures in that history.

So, now that the work is slowing down on the exhibit, I’ll be starting research on some local LGBTQ (and LGBTQ-friendly) organizations that the interviewees are or have been involved in, starting with the materials stored at UCF Special Collections at the library!

I’m not sure if I’ve already mentioned this in an earlier blog post but it’s so important to nurture relationships with mentors.

 It’s easy to feel like their last priority as students but they are there to listen and guide you to the best of their ability. Sometimes that can include providing opportunities for growth that they can’t offer at the moment, like this oral history project that another professor other than my direct mentor is working on. Or even ones they themselves can offer but outside of the current work at hand, such as the panel I presented in last month.

Be open about your goals, interests, plans, feelings, and even your struggles. They wouldn’t be in the business of mentorship if they didn’t have an interest in their students’ development.

That’s my tip this week 😊

The end of the semester is closing in fast, which means graduation is around the corner.

I’ll be working on setting up my next steps for the next few weeks; graduate and job applications, mainly.

So, I’ll be keeping you all up on my progress for the rest of the month or so 😊

#history student #internship blog #public history intern blog #history intern blog #museum internship #public history internship #student internship #college student #education #internship

[alex-bartlett-viscom]

all the writing in process

Writing that's been down through the term

The brief for the CHS project was to create a brand identity for a fake company that sells growable produce that pretty much does it by itself to busy people living in cities to show them it's not hard to be environmentally friendly and doesn't take much time.This was set by a design company (CHS). This project is about teamwork , time management and being consistent between multiple people to create a cohesive brand.

Getting started

Creating our band and research

We all went off and did research for the next day after the brief to come up with ideas as well as look at companies we'd like to draw from.

I was really invested into the idea of making the product look like something else that it isn’t. Here we see it in a literal sense in this advert from Ikea. I like how it's bright and playful but also doesn't obscure the product to the point you can't tell what it is. it also gives it  more freedom in the design choices that can be made as it now doesn't have to conform to the normal furniture advertisement conventions. I don’t think Ikea conforms much to normal furniture advertisement conventions, however their bright colours and way of advertising is becoming the norm and I think this is an interesting way to keep standing out.

I also had a look at the Ikea website and wasn’t blown away. However, I thought it was laid out well; however it was the pictures that I focused on. I thought that it was interesting that all the furniture was shown in context that helped you imagine the size and how it would look in your own home which I think is very clever and useful for the consumer. I also think that having it surrounded buy other things that complement the piece will make it look better and get people to want to buy it even more, which is something I would like to incorporate to the website me and my group want to make / showcase what it could look like.

After looking at Ikea adverts I wanted to make the crops more of a piece of furniture then this plant that you have to look after. The reason for this is that furniture is very low maintenance most of the time and I want that to be very obvious. I looked at a fashion website I use and then looked at one I don’t use but know is popular from talking to other young people.

This site (the one I normally use) urban outfitters isn’t all that interesting and didn’t show off what the company is about, which is something that this brief requires. Urban outfitters has a recycling part of there shop that resells clothes and this is a great thing as it helps cut down waste generated by the fashion industry however they don’t advertise this view on recycling.Which would be a great thing to say on the home page instead of jumping straight into buying clothes that may or may not be recycled which doesn’t really push the more sustainable option. I think that this questions how much they actually care about the topic.I also think that beyond the front page with the bander I think its very boring and doesn't really feel inspired. Yes it does its job but I think it could be more like the banner / somehow work the cut and stick element into it.

However, with the shopify website ( the site people told me they used ) I was met with a message about their goals that wasn't too long and helped me understand what I'm getting into look at this site. Which for me was nice to see as it's not something you have to go searching for unlike the urban outfitters website. I also enjoyed the short sentences that they used to easily expand what they stood for. As well as this I really enjoyed the compassion of this site and I think it has more life to it and character then the urban outfitters which I think a brand needs to make itself stand out against other websites.  

I also looked at a website that sold plants just to see what a competitor's websites would look like and the site I looked out on didn't have much character and felt empty.This is something I would like to try and avoid in our designs.  

Idea collection

Gathering ideas

Gathering ideas for a call with an employee of CHS

After our research we came together and started to discuss ideas, colours,names and overall theme we want to go with.

We narrowed the names we had down to two

Feedback from the call with CHS

We were told we had some good ideas going for us with both of the briefs. They said that they liked the idea of the mouth of the hippos mouth being the gage on how big the plant will be however they thought that it would be hard to work the mascot ( the hippo) into the story of the brand as yes it plays of the hungry hippos but it can't be explicitly said and this creates some issues from the get go. They seemed to like the compact crops idea and enjoyed the idea of having plants overgrowing the tube and also the idea of plants in the busy city. They said that it might be difficult to do as we'd have to photoshop it but it could be done and it doesn't have to be perfect for this powerpoint.  

Getting to work.

We split the work up between us and we all started on our own separate things. The two of us worked on separate websites and after that we would decide which one was best. I was one of these people and Neve was the other. George was doing illustrations for instagram and georgia was doing the other instagram assets and stories. Another task I had was to make posters.

Getting to work and delegation

Once we had both websites to show we all decided on which one we would use. My downfall was not using Adobe Xd as her website was pretty much working and I thought it looked more professional. So then I moved on to the posters.

I had a lot of trouble with the posters as they required lots of photoshop skills. I had to try and make the plants look like they were actually there which I looked up tutorials to do as well as tried myself but it wasn't working. George had a better understanding of how to do that as he’d done something similar before so I told him what I would like it to look like but also told him to change it if need be. I made some compositions with the royalty free images from unsplash and sent them over to him.

I started to feel like a spare wheel and wanted to contribute something sound towards the project as I felt useless.

I asked if I should make an advertisement for our company on instagram. They said that would be a good addition to our work so I got to work trying to brush up on my Adobe After effects work as I wanted to get into motion graphics.  

This was the final outcome as this was done close to the deadline and I didn't have to do much else to the advert.

Our final presentation

Putting all our final work into one cohesive presentation

How we could improve our presentation and our work  

For this presentation we wanted to put the video on the PDF but it wouldn’t work no matter what we did which was our first downfall that we already knew going into the presentation. We were told that the name worked well and made them think of produce instead of flowers which is a distinction they wanted to see as it's a very important part of the product. They also said they enjoyed the colour palette and said it fit well with the product.However they thought over all the designs worked well but some pieces they said didn't fit with the rest of the project and that we should have been more cut throat with the pieces we showed. I agreed with this as I thought that some of the illustrations didn't work with the style of the rest of the project. They also thought that we should have shown them the video of the social media that Georgia made before we showed the illustration to sell them on the idea and showing it in practice before zooming in and having a closer look.

Reflection  

I think overall the work we produced as a whole was cohesive. I agree with all the criticisms and that some work could have been cut. I think they were talking about the illustrations. One of them was done by george which I think worked with the theme and the idea we were going for however the other two not done by george didn't fit what we where doing with the social media and I also think that it was a fair criticism about the placement of things in our powerpoint as I agree that showing things in context first the zooming in so they have the whole picture first. I will be taking this criticism into the rest of my projects.  

D&AD

Brief

For this project we got to choose which one we wanted to do as there were a multitude of briefs given to us. I decided to go with the google brief. The final outcome for this brief was to make a type based campaign for google as last year I really enjoyed the type based project last term.

This is all on tumblr

Idea generation  

notes and decisions

I started by writing down ideas for both of these projects. I started on the google brief and wrote  out what things I care about and could make the campaign about. At first I wanted to make a project about back pain but in our first tutorial they said that I should look at more options as it sounds like something that doesn't have much behind it so I did.

Out of all the ideas I thought the sea life idea would be the best to do as it's an issue that I'm genuinely concerned about and I think is something people still need to be aware of. Before I went on to develope the idea I wanted to look at the imax brief as the brief intrigued me as I would like to get into motion graphics and its the perfect opacity to make some more motion graphic work to put in a portfolio.

I even wrote out clips from movies that I would use, however I didn't read the brief properly and I couldn’t use videos from already existing properties so I had to scrap that idea. This was a shame as I thought that it had more potential and would have been a great way of adding to my portfolio. So then I moved on to developing the google brief.

So then I moved on to developing the google brief. I didn't know where to start so I looked at other environmental activism campaigns .

looking for inspiration

So then I moved on to developing the google brief. I didn’t know where to start so I looked at other environmental activism campaigns and also looked into facts and figures that back up the point I'm trying to make, which is littering ends up in the ocean  .

Typography has the power to make words matter, to facilitate change, create awareness and a call to action. Choose an issue that compels you and makes you care deeply. Bring this issue to life in a way that is engaging for your audience. Create a typographically-led campaign  as well as an unconventional touch point that is a call to action or raises awareness of your subject.

I think it is quite a strong message and I think that putting the timespan of something in front of people is different from seeing things written. It is very different to seeing it and I think that it changes perspective. This could be a good point of sale for the unconventional out of home touch point as this is one of the key things we have to create for this brief.

I thought that this was also a very start image and yes it's a type based campaign but I wanted to maybe create an image using type. This horrific image shows very clearly the reality of the situation in a blunt way and I like putting the situation in blunt terms as it's too late to sugar coat things as it's reaching the point of no return. However I think that it's not accessible to all as children don't want to see something like this and parents would have an issue with their children seeing this kind of image. Which is an important part of the brief as it explicitly states it needs to be accessible.

I like how this poster uses type to create an image making it a type based design that incorporates the image into the type. One of the things this poster does well is legibility. They type isn't so warped that it can't be read and but it's not so jagged that the shapes can’t be made out. This also helps with a problem I thought I might face if I tried to do this style. The problem was showing off the google fonts in their normal state as well as to make an image. As we can see in this poster it uses a hand-drawn style for the main image and then a normal digital typeface for the title / header which is a good solution to the problem.

Writing done today

I think that the approach made to the type in this poster is very interesting and I like the manipulation of the type. It's not made an image of something but the type has still made some kind of image that is very interesting to look at and is eye catching. Some of the words are very hard to see and I think this brings the poster down as they've gone for style and not substance which I think needs to be balanced not too far one way which is something I'm going to have to battle with and think about whilst making my works.  

The idea and execution

starting the google brief

The idea I’m going for is sea life eating words. This was inspired by the image of the bird carcass with all the rubbish inside. I want to take a more friendly approach even though I like the blunt nature but I feel to make it more accessible to all ages I need to take a step back a little bit and make it a little less gruesome and make it more hopeful in a way.

As this is a google brief and they want me to use some of these typefaces I started by gathering type that I thought was interesting and easy to look at.

These were the typefaces I thought were easy to read and more accessible to everyone. Seeing them all together I thought that prompt and IBM Plex were the most legible from far away as well as easy to read for everyone. I think that the IBM type has too many connotations of computers and code which would be a strange contrast of topic so I decided to use prompt.  

Colour palette I put together that I thought would go well with the themes and the more light hearted approach.

I started by drawing out a seagull vector and visualising the very first draft I did in the notebook. I used the brown colour pallet to show that the letters are the litter and then wanted to fill the bird up with the letters to show the littoral effect this has on the animals ingesting the waste meaning they have no space for actual food they can eat.  

I wanted to try a different composition and I enjoyed the look so I decided to experiment with the colour palettes in this composition. The reason I liked this composition was that the type would be more visible as it could be bigger on the poster making it more legible. I also wanted to try different variations of this idea of having the bird on  the right hand side of the poster

I decided to stick with the original colour palette and start to make a new poster in the same vein with different sea animals.

However I felt that this project was going nowhere and it wasn't inspiring me as the work was slowing down significantly and felt i needed to switch brief to be able to get this project done in time and have something to hand in which I’m happy with and meets the L.O’s

A new brief

I had a read through the briefs again and decided to move to giff gaff as it asks for an animation or illustrations. As I want to do more animated projects as its something i would like to continue doing in future i decided to move on to this brief  

Animation

I started by looking at the giff gaff brand book that tells me everything that I need to stick to and gives me a good understanding of the tools I have around me and the box I can work in. This is something that will help me as the google brief was too open and didn't give much direction however the giff gaff brief has a clear tone of voice as well as style which was the two things I was having the most issues with in the last brief.

I had a look through the giff gaff brand book and picked out the points that I thought I needed to home in on for the animation. The main points were how to use the digital noise as well as add photos. Other things in the document I pulled out were tone of voice and values.

After this I started to make the animation.

This was the first thing that I made and I decided to move forward with this style of the letters moving around and wanted to have wipes to move from scene to scene as in the very very rough storyboard as that wasn't taken into account.

I kept to this style and moved on until the first critique we had.  

This was where I was up to with my animation up until our first crit Mark Seften a D&AD win. Whilst I was making the animation I also started on my out of home touch points which I decided would be billboards.

This billboard didn't go through many changes as I thought it looked very giff gaff from the off set and looked like it fit with the brand as I followed the brand book very closely.

This billboard didn't get off to the best of starts as I was still stuck to the brand book. However, I chose from the three gradients  they have on their brand book but it didn't feel giff gaff so I changed the gradient. The text was from the website so I thought that it fit the tone of voice and I did the same for the poster beforehand.

I think that this billboard sticks closer to the giff gaff brand and overall I think it looks like  a giff gaff billboard that what I would see out in the street.

The tutors set up a day to give a presentation to mark Sephton to present our ideas in a professional manner so I started on the presentation.

After this session with Mark he gave some pointers on how I should approach the brief next. He said he liked the billboards but they needed to be less ‘wordy’ which I 100% agree with. Looking back at the billboards they definitely were too text heavy. I was also told to make them a little bit more exciting. He liked the billboard with the heart on it but the recycling billboard I was told could be a lot more interesting and that I should experiment with this one more but before I do that create the last billboard in the series to make sure this is how I'll tackle all the billboards.

I was told the animation was good and that it obviously could do with tightening up in places but he understood that it wasn't done and said the idea of the for the second half was strong but said don’t fall into the trap that I have with the billboards by making it too ‘wordy’.

After the presentations I went on to finish the video and make the last billboard.

I started off with the animation and made it a little bit more exciting by adding colour to the world spinning section to make sure it fit with the billboards better. I also added the last part which is the section I call ‘this and this’. This section was the part that Mark liked. The idea is to put images of things on the screen and say that giff gaff have to care about it other wise they wouldn't have the B crop approval.

I thought this animation went well however i think it dragged in places especially at the start and definitely does before the end. I think it needed a consistent speed and tempo for this advert to work which is something this animation is lacking. I also think the ‘this and this’ section was rushed but I didn't have much time between these two tutorials and wanted the end to be done so I can get feedback on the whole advert. However I was happy with the earth as I fixed the problem of it just being images and made the earth move smoothly which I was proud of.

This was the last billboard I did before the tutorial and I think it's the most giff gaff . I think that this billboard sticks to the brand book as well as I can and the doodles add an element I think the others are missing and adds an extra playfulness to the billboard. However I think it maybe still be too ‘wordy’ / text heavy but I will ask this in the tutorial if on this specific billboard it needs to be changed but the other two I know I need too.

I decided to make improvements on my presentation and use that as my slideshow of work for the tutorial with the tutors.  

Improvements

Listening to feedback and improving

I started looking into Imax videos and what they had done before so I wouldn’t tread on any toes and rehash ideas.

A lot of these openings are all very futuristic and make heavy use of CGI. not any of them really explain / show how the image is better and the sound is better  which is the main selling point. For me they are all very plain and don’t show a story which they could really have made use off as being shown in a movie theatre which is the prime place to tell a story and for me. I think its a shame that they are wasting this opportunity to tell a story as from the very first Imax opening it was always very effects based however the newer Imax are leaning more towards the story aspects it only leads more towards the tropes in movies and not everything that's involved in the filmmaking process.

I then wrote out clips from movies that I would use, however I didn’t read the brief properly and I couldn’t use videos from already existing properties so I had to scrap that idea. This was a shame as I thought that it had more potential then the google brief and would have been a great way of adding to my portfolio.

I was told to change the key points part of my slides and write them out instead of having screen shots as it makes it look neater and but aside from this they thought that the slides worked. When it came to the billboard they liked the newest one the most and wanted me to run this theme throughout the rest of the work I was doing. They also suggested jumping almost straight to the ‘this and this’ section of the animation and making the doodle elements jump out or explode from the things they care about which I thought was a strong suggestion. As well as this I agreed with running the doodles through the billboards suggestion as it would bring all the work together and make it more cohesive and consistent .    

I moved onto the billboards as they would require less time making then the animation as I would have to restart in order to do what they suggested. I did this so once the billboards were done I would have nothing  else to worry about and could focus on the animation.  

I looked at previous giff gaff ad campaigns and the most recent ones lean heavily into the gradient style and the cleaner illustrations however sometimes they use the illustration style in very specific places.

After this I started to make animations for instagram. This would take up the most work and is the line of work I would like to go into so I wanted to spend as much time as I can on it in the beginning so I have the groundwork in place to be able to easily change and move things around later on.

I decided to keep this billboard the same as it was the most successful and I'm going to use it as a guide for the other two billboards as I think I need them changed before I start changing the most successful piece of the project so far.  

I decided to change the refurbished phone billboard to have the same concept but with more going on to make it more exciting and eye-catching. Keeping with the same theme as the yellow billboard I added the doodle elements but was conscious of the amount as I didn’t want it to be too distracting from the text telling people what good things giff gaff is doing. The reason for this is this is what they’ve done to achieve the B corp status and is something they would want to flaunt as it a sustainable practice and its something they pride themselves on. I also shortened the type to not mention sales as it sounded to corporate for giff gaff and sound more like things that would be said at a board meeting and not on a giff gaff ad.

For this billboard I did the same as before stuck to the same style not trying to distract from the text and changed the idea of this billboard as it was originally about recycled plastic but the B corp standards also take into account employees as well as the general public which I haven't mentioned yet in the billboards which I think should be celebrated as it's a good thing and is crucial to getting the B corp certification.

For this billboard I decided to us a AI to make the text as everything I was coming up with sounded boring and corporate however when I asked the AI to create lines to do with giff gaff and customer service as well as the customer it also gave very robotic answers which I (obviously) wasn't surprised about. It gave me better lines however but I feel this is definitely something that will be brought up in the final criti.

After this I restarted the animation but reused sections from the last one to help me get straight to the ‘that and that’ section. I needed to follow the rules set out by the billboards and link the animation to the billboards by using the same imagery and have the same tone of voice keeping with the giff gaff tone of speaking to the consumer as if they were a friend.  

I think this animation is a lot more on brand and completes the campaign with a consistent and well rounded design that sticks to giff gaffs rules but also has its own identity as a different campaign to the others which i'm happy with. The animation is longer than I was before but 2 seconds making it 20 seconds which was the longest I would let it be. However when watching it it doesn't feel that long which I'm happy with as it has a much faster pace. Visual it's more interesting, eye-catching and engaging, making people stay for the full ad. I may be asked to cut it down as some of the frames are just things moving and no information is being given but overall I'm happy with where I am for the next tutorial.  

I then added the new things to my presentation which remind mostly the same but parts were written up to make it look more professional.

I was told that the animation is fine but it might benefit from having the slogan ‘this is why we have this’ in the animation to add another point that ties the billboards and the animation together. The was told the billboards are very giff gaff and fit with the brand well. I was told to maybe turn the box that the slogan sits in into an arrow or something that points to the B corp logo. I was also told that I could maybe circle teh B corp logo with the same paint brush effect to make people really notice it as it's being buried under the rest of the design.I was also told that maybe I could add a headset to one of the people in the customer service billboard to show that its not just about the people giff gaff sell to but also the workers.

Like I predicted they also mention the wording in the service billboard and said it needs to be less corporate and more friendly to fit into the giff gaff brand as at the moment it sounds like i'm trying to sell an idea which I am but I need to make it sound like I’m telling and do this in the same way you would with a friend.

Billboard reflection

These are the final designs for the billboards. I played around with some of the ideas that were put forward too me and only one stuck for me as I think it looked out of place and for some of the billboards it would have gone over the digital noise asset which is something the brand book tells me not to do and as I’d like the billboards to be consistent if it doesn't fit on one it can't be on the others. I think the headset on billboard was a good suggestion and helps me show it's not just about the people that shop there it's the people that also work there. The other two posters benefited from the arrow to point out the b corp logo as it draws the eye to it quicker and I think it brings it out of the design more. I think if I had more time I would have played with the possessions that's why we have this slogan but when I tried it looked strange and due to time I wasn't able to experiment with it more.In full I think these billboards work well and fit into the giff gaff brand well as the rules set out have been followed very closely and as a set they work well.

Insta story reflection

I’m really happy with this outcome as it really fits with the billboards and it also links more to the billboards now with the inclusion of the slogan at the end to round of the whole campaign and have a consistent message throughout. I think its really helped me with developing my after effects skills as its helping me push towards my goal of being a motion graphic designer. I think that some parts could be made a little bit shorter however and this is why we have this on screen a little longer. I also think that the start might be a little bit disconnected to the rest of the animation but overall I’m happy with the final outcome and think its a well rounded part of the animation.  

Presentation reflection

Final presentation outcome

The feedback I was given about my presentation was to remove the key slide as giff gaff will know its own look and feel of the brand. So I removed that as I completely understood where they were coming from and made the powerpoint a bit more straightforward. I was also told to make it make sense on its own so I added text to the pages I spoke over to say the same thing as I would if I was there so then the idea can be put across without me there. I think the power point is still a bit clunky around areas and I would have liked to have the video on it, however everything I tried didn't work. This is a shame as I think it looks more professional with the video on the powerpoint. However I think it does its job of showing off the work and showing how I got to this position. I think it does a good job of letting the work do the talking when it needs to.I think powerpoints will something I work on in the future as I think it could have been polished a little bit more.  

Outcome

I think overall the work I have created for this brief is consistent and fits the company I have made the work for. I think there are definitely areas that could be brushed up on mostly the presentation side of the brief and the animation timing could be cut a little bit shorter even though I like it and it works well as a package it could do with some refinement. I think the billboards also work well in this packaging and all look like they're all for the same campaign. I think the pink billboard could have done with some more refinement especially with the working of it as yes in the final product it’s better however I think it could still be better. In full i think all the work works well in a package as well as separate and is on brand with giff gaffs branding and tone. I also think this project has really helped with the development of my motion graphic skill but has also opened my eyes to the rest of the things I can do in motion graphics which is something I want to explore in the future.  

Project 3

Personal branding

The brief for this project was to create a brand for ourselves as designers. We had to do this and then put it into practice on a website on wordpress. We had to focus on what we want to specialise in and think about what we want to do in the future.

What I want to do

I found when looking at my work I did a lot of motion graphics and the D&AD project was heavily motion graphics based which I enjoyed a lot so I decided to lean into the motion graphics element but also trying to give a hint of graphic design.

I started out by looking at a website called damn. This website was made by a hot damn design.

When looking at this website I was really interested in the style and it had a very striking image at the start. The further you scroll it animates which is very interesting and a fun way to present style and work. However sometimes I get confused about where to click as I don't think it was made clear as it might have been over designed but I think this is just nandos style.

Jon Frickey  

The website of Jon Freickley is really interesting as it's a simple way of showing his work with thumbnails  to get an overview of the project before looking at it. His style is shown and it's a very achievable goal. I think the moving thumbnails work best and help with drawing the eye to different projects making the page more interesting. This is probably the direction I want to take.

I have found that Hannah Jacobs does the same thing and I think that it's a very simple but effective style in showcasing work. I think the way that the description of the work is layed out is very easy to read unlike Nandos and looks very minimal letting the work do the talking which is what a portfolio is all about

Making my visual identity

Styling myself

Once I had a look at these websites I made logos for myself for a pin up crit.

This was the first design and I think it didn't scale well so I made a version that was just the first letters of the three parts. I was told that it isn't giving much of a specific specialism.

This was the logo that Mark (the tutor that took the pin up crit) liked the most as he liked the shape of the letters and thought that it represented my work well. However I thought that yes this gives off the vibe of being an animator but I wanted an animated logo and I didn’t think this would be easy to animate. Also there was one more design that I preferred out of all of them. Also I didn't realise that it was spelt wrong.

This was the logo that I liked the most and I could imagine from lines at the bottom the letters appear / raised up from the ground. I thought it needed to be designed a little bit more to make the animation make more scenes however I think I'm on the right track for the visual identity.  

This is the final design I went with as it works well animated as well as when it's scaled down it looks legible. Also I think it gives off a clean feel and a streamlined design.

I then moved onto the website itself. We did a workshop with one of our lecturers and after this we were told to go away and improve on what we had done in class. I took inspiration from Hannah Jacobs and Jon Freickley and displayed my work in a tight boxed grid  system.

I decided that the about me page needed another animation that went on for longer and didn’t just stop and not loop as I thought it looked unfinished so I created a second animation for the about me page.

I created this animation to make the about me page more interesting. I think that is a good addition. I think that it shows my skills up until this point and I also think it pushes the aspect of motion graphics more as I'm trying to sneak it into everything I do on the website which is true but also helps me develop my skills further.  

Because I was happy with the giff gaff outcomes I decided to add it last minute to my website however I feel like this has dragged the website down as it's not as thought out as the other pages due to how close it was to the deadline.

I decided to remove this from the website as I was having issues with the gif for the thumbnail and the page isn't as considered as I wanted it to be for the final submission.  

Portfolio page for competition brief

Stills from my instagram story

D&AD giff gaff brief

This was a brief that was set out by giff gaff for the D&AD competition to create a set of out of home touch points and an animated or illustrated instagram story telling the story of how giff gaff became a B corp.

I also had to make a portfolio page for print. I used the same grid system as last time to keep consistency between the two pages and dried to put my work at the forefront of the page and have minimal text to let the work breath and it not be encased in text.

Overall I think my personal branding shows what I want it to show and lets people know my skills straight away from looking at my website. I think the logo fits the style of the website and the creation of this has not only helped me with my logo creation but also my aftereffects skills. I want to go into motion graphics and this is a very good learning curve and jumping off point too. I think my skills are shown clearly and my interests are laid out to see. I think that the website could have done with another project there so I could make the layout I really wanted, however I think with just the two I think it still works and shows off what I want people to see of my work.

References  

Contents page

#process book year 2 term 2

[gotolundon]

How To Create A Custom Neon Sign Yourself (And Why You Should)

When it comes to it, there are many different approaches and viewpoints to consider custom LED neon sign; custom bar signs neon;

Neon signs are ubiquitous in today’s world. From pubs and clubs to retail establishments and even homes, neon signs are everywhere. So it’s no wonder that many people want to create their own neon sign. But is it really that simple? Actually, yes, it is. In this blog post, we will show you how to create a custom neon sign yourself with just a few simple steps. And not only that, but we’ll explain why you should do so too. Neon signs are a great way to add an element of visual interest to any space and can really liven up a dull exterior or interior. So don’t wait any longer; start creating your very own ( custom neon signs ) today!

What You Need

If you’re in the mood for a little neon sign creativity of your own, then this guide is for you! In just a few easy steps, you can create a custom neon sign that will brighten up your space. Plus, there are plenty of reasons why you should go ahead and make one yourself—here are five of them: 1. Custom Neon Signs Are Fun It might sound obvious, but if you want something that’s going to be fun to look at, custom neon signs are definitely the way to go. They’re striking, eye-catching and sure to turn heads—making them perfect for any room in your home. 2. They're Economical In addition to being fun and visually appealing, custom neon signs are also budget-friendly. Rather than spending money on generic signs that will only last a short while before they need to be replaced or upgraded, invest in a custom sign that will look great for years to come. 3. They're Sustainable Finally, one of the biggest benefits of using custom neon signs is their environmental impact. Not only do they look great and add character to your space, but they’re made from recycled materials which means they help save resources both now and in the future.

How to Choose the Right Neon Sign

Neon signs are one of the most popular forms of advertising in the world, and for good reason. They're visually stimulating and relatively inexpensive to install. Plus, they can be customized to fit your business perfectly. Here are five tips for choosing the right neon sign for your business: 1. Consider Your Message One of the most important things to consider when choosing a neon sign is what message you want to send. Do you want to emphasize a particular product or service? Are you looking to attract customers during specific times of the day or week? Once you have a good idea of what you want, look at neon signs that match your message. 2. Think About Your Budget Neon signs aren't exactly cheap, so be sure to factor that into your decision-making process. A few high-quality neon signs can run you anywhere from $100-$300, but there are also plenty of lower-priced options available as well. Do some research and find a sign that meets your budget while still meeting your needs. 3.Consider Your Location and Space Once you have an idea of what type of neon sign you want, it's time to think about where it will go and how much space it will require. Will it need to be mounted on a wall? In front of a window? Keeping these factors in mind will help you decide on the perfect sign for your business. 4.Think about What You'll Display The Sign

How to Assemble and Install Your Neon Sign

If you’ve ever wanted to create your very own neon sign, now is the time! Neon signs are a relatively simple DIY project that can be completed in just a few hours. Plus, they make an amazing addition to any space. Here’s how to assemble and install your neon sign: 1. First, gather all of the materials you need for your project. You will need a neon sign kit (or some other type of signage hardware), paint or neon adhesive, wire cutters/strippers, screwdriver, and measuring tape. 2. Next, measure the space where you want your sign to be installed and cut the necessary pieces of signage hardware to fit. Make sure that the measurements you take are precise – if there’s even a small discrepancy between the size of the piece of hardware and the space it needs to fit in, your sign will not look correct when it’s installed. 3. Once you have all of your hardware pieces cut out, it’s time to start painting or adhesiveing them onto the wall or surface where you plan on installing your sign. Be sure to use plenty of heavy pressure when applying the adhesive/paint – too much lightness will cause your signs to come loose after a while. 4. Once everything is fully dry (usually overnight), it’s time to attach your signs using screws and wirecutters/strippers as needed. Again, make

Tips for Making Your Neon Sign Look Great

1. Choose the right material: Neon signs can be made from a variety of materials, but the best ones are usually made out of metal or plastic. 2. Get creative: neon signs are meant to be flashy and eye-catching, so don't be afraid to get creative! 3. Consider your design goals: What do you want your neon sign to look like? Is it just for aesthetic purposes, or do you also need it to function as a marketing tool? 4. Plan ahead: Make sure you have the dimensions of your neon sign planned out before starting to create it. Otherwise, you could run into some issues later on.

[yuxingudmc22]

Mini PechaKucha presentation

When I walked into the cemetery, I found a breeze, birdsong, big trees, interesting wildlife, a sense of peace away from the crowds, stories of death full of regret or peace.After spending some time here, I seemed to feel a sense of healing that belongs to the Mill Road Cemetery.

When I started the project, I began to wonder why British cemeteries were so healing. So, I started my research. I discovered that cemeteries in the UK are also called eco-cemeteries or green cemeteries, firstly to address the shortage of land for cemeteries and secondly to respond positively to the global call for biodiversity conservation.

While the word healing is very familiar to the Chinese, who are under great pressure to survive, is it also true in the UK? Research shows that anxiety and depression rates among young people in the UK have risen by 25% in the last 25 years .Secondly, people in the UK are experiencing a real depression crisis due to the covid blocking.Now in 2022, what are people's perceptions for healing? I tried to design an interview.

In this interview, I found that almost everyone I asked, regardless of background, answered that they needed to be healed. The need for healing was broadly divided into three areas, pointing to healing the past, the present and the future.

At this point, as an illustrater,what could I do?I entered the cemetery again. I found although the setting was natural and healing, there wasn't really much of a place to stay, so I thought I could make some chairs so that people could stay better, or even feel better.

I researched papers on visual healing and found that when people are in a negative mood, they mainly think through the left side of their brain. The effectiveness of visual healing lies in reactivating the right brain, allowing them to transform their unconscious visual thinking to reach positive emotions.

I have again compiled and expanded the questionnaire, trying to build a consensus map of people's perception of healing through data analysis, in the form of artistic healing, and using this as my design rationale

Here I have summarised the visual information that people have provided me with in their photographs, which are currently divided into four sections: nature, childhood, companionship, and self-realization, and the images show an idea based on a nature perspective.

I will then explore the real design process in conjunction with new questionnaire research, considering the functional and aesthetic needs of the chair, whether the material of the chair is environmentally friendly, and the actual map researching the placement of the chair in the cemetery.

At this point, I am going to call my project "The Healing Chair". If you are passing by the cemetery and you are unhappy, hopefully the "Healing Chair" will make you feel better. Eventually, if the project is successful, it could be considered for expansion into a new form of mental health care.

[jauctin]

Leanbiome Reviews – Just Don’t Miss Golden Opportunity

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[archiveandphotography]

The end of the beginning – final thoughts from this part of the process

3rd September 2022

The glass plates are interesting, tactile things. All of them are flawed; imperfections in the emulsion coating or the subbing layer, frilling on the edges where the emulsion has lifted away from the substrate. I love this – it speaks of the materiality of the process, the fragility of all of the elements, the constant potential for disaster – catastrophe – as Barthes would put it. All analogue photography occupies a strange liminal state of being as if forcefully ripped from a latent image and with us for a short while before the action of time claims it back. I like the drips, runs, air bubbles and the feel of the plate – it’s very unlike what photography has become, and I guess the interest in analogue has stemmed from nostalgia. Mark Fisher has some interesting things to say about this melancholy.

Printing the glass plates is a complicated and expensive process. The success rate on 22 prepared plates was roughly 50%. This cannot be considered a reliable way of making 50+ plates if I was to try to carry on with the project and build the greenhouse. But a more industrial process – some of the soul of the thing is taken.

If you were to calculate the success of the photography with the success of the darkroom processes, the figure for successful plates would be pretty low. This makes the successful ones precious. I wrote in my essay about the control of an archive. What is interesting in this project, looking back on it, is the amount of control and erasure that is exercised by the process itself. All the people photographed, many did not make it to a plate, many are obscured by the double exposure, many negs were damaged or lost. This arbitrary selection by the process has something – but not all - to do with the photographer. Undoubtedly, I could have been more careful at times. Yes, some losses are operator errors. But the act of large format photography and processing has built into it, some erasure. This is an interesting area for further research.

It does feel that in some respects, this is a project that isn’t quite finished. It has reached a natural reflection point, the deadline for the final MA work, but it feels as though there is still much to do. Perhaps that is completing the actual greenhouse, perhaps looking for funding to get this finished. There is more research to do, as I have mentioned, perhaps this builds into an interesting PhD application.

The 3D ‘virtual’ greenhouse is an interesting diversion from the route for such an analogue project. It feels as though this is not a finished asset, but more of a jumping-off point. Throughout the project, I have been interested in the meeting of the archive, analogue and virtual, particularly for the process of exhibiting. Some early research involved me talking to experts about AR projects to do with the archive, and this is also an interesting area to develop and conduct more research.

It's been a privilege to have met and photographed over 100 people in Oxford since I started back in March. These brief conversations and interactions were really enjoyable. Instead of people being naturally suspicious, the overwhelming majority were accommodating, interested and friendly. I could easily see myself engaged in another project on similar lines, but simply photographing the people in Oxford at a certain point in history. Perhaps this is what Taunt leaves me with – get out there and record.

Barthes, R. 1980. Camera Lucida, London. Penguin Random House.

Fisher, M. 2014. Ghosts of My Life. London. Zero Books