Page 17 of The Examiner

Gela Nathaniel

No one at Royal Hastings is going to compromise your company’s data, I can assure you.

Cameron Wesley

Well, *someone* picked up my phone and looked at it while I was distracted in the studio.

Gela Nathaniel

If it’s a top model, then someone was possibly curious. It doesn’t mean they tried to hack into it.

Cameron Wesley

Benefit of the doubt, sure. But it stays in my pocket from now on. Anyway I’m surprised you – or anyone – remembers that, quite frankly, insignificant episode, after what happened next, FFS.

MMAM(FTP) Coursework Module: Assignment One Tutor’s Report, 24 October 2023

Brief: Devise the logo for a fictional start-up company. This should take the form of a 2D graphic or a 3D model, plus one short multimedia (film/sound/animation/graphics) promotional presentation suitable for playing on a screen in the company’s foyer.

Overview: For their first assignment I devised a brief that would allow students to utilise familiar materials, while extending their diverse skillsets into unfamiliar mediums. All approached it with unbridled enthusiasm and submitted well within the deadline. For their 2D logo, oil or acrylic on canvas was discouraged in favour of mediums popular in today’s commercial world. Photography, computer graphics and illustration were all used.

Jemisha Badhuri

Jem devised a logo for a charity that clears litter from shorelines, especially plastic detritus that can entrap sea animals. She submitted an 18-inch foyer ornament of her logo in clay, which she textured by hand. It combined human hands with waves from the sea. The impression was of humanity embracing the animals and ecosystems of the oceans. For the multimedia part, Jem devised an innovative soundscape, also intended for use in the charity’s reception area. This she made using audio clips of ocean noises, inventively mixed to create a soothing, calming air, all the more impressive because sound was not part of Jem’s BA. Apparently she took a course in sound electronics over the summer. Her commitment and enthusiasm paid off. Grade: B+

Patrick Bright

This is Patrick’s first experience of formal art education. His logo was for his own art-supplies shop, which currently doesn’t have one, beyond its name in block capitals. He used pencil on paper for his 2D design and sketched a hand holding a pencil, and sketching another hand on paper. It was competently drawn. While this felt too detailed for a logo, during group discussion a ‘sketch of a hand sketching a hand’ proved a hot topic and evoked the circular nature of life and art. Patrick spoke about the similarly circular nature of selling art materials – to people who will sell what they make with them. His CGI clip was less successful and froze at the same place every time, until we gave up. Patrick explained that his shop assistant Joy, hasn’t mastered FlowHand 11 yet. Grade: C

Jonathan Danners

Jonathan achieved a B grade in his Art A-level, thirteen years ago. This was his last experience of creating work for himself, and I’m afraid it showed. His logo, for an engineering start-up, was a red 3D model of a disjointed cube, constructed, origami-style, from strong card and mounted on a metal rod, set in a black resin base. His intention was that as the model turned, the perspective would also change and include one angle that showed the disparate elements as a perfect cube. His stop-motion clip sought to demonstrate this. Unfortunately, at no angle does this happen. In discussion with the group, Jonathan was forced to admit that what he planned for the piece had not been realised. His boosted grade reflects the courage and ambition he showed in tackling this deceptively simple design. Grade: D

Alyson Lang

What can I say about Alyson Lang that wasn’t said at the ART Emerging Talent Awards in 2013? The fact that she has chosen our course to improve her skills and build her business is a testimony to our reputation as an industry-focused art-education provider. Her logo was for a sustainable fast-food retailer. It blended images of a burger and a globe – but she had applied colour by mixing acrylic paint with specialist solvent to attain a smooth, professional finish. Her animated clip was equally outstanding, and featured endangered animals handing a sustainable vegan burger to the viewer. Grade: A

Ludya Parak

Ludya works freelance as a graphic designer. However, her attendance so far has been patchy. This assignment was accompanied by a special-consideration form, to indicate that personal matters have prevented her fulfilling the project to the best of her abilities. Her 3D logo for a paddleboarding company was achieved using a simple piece of wood in the approximate shape of a paddleboard, topped by a stylised figure in dynamic pose, with an oar. It transpired that these items had not been made, but salvaged from her sons’ toy box. Her social-media promo clip blended still-shots of paddleboarders enjoying the sport. Her clip lacked imagination. However, it presented the company’s product accurately and was aspirational. Grade: C

Cameron Wesley

Cameron is taking this MA to help balance the stress of his full-time job in financial marketing, which he says he’s gone part-time to do. For his assignment he used FlowHand 11 to devise a 2D logo for a financial-services company aimed at young graduates. It looks more like a restaurant logo, but in discussion with the group he explained that this disconnect was entirely deliberate. The logo is pitched for a generation uninterested in the products offered by financial-service providers. For his social-media promo he adapted comedy footage obtained from the archives of a company he worked for, which, although entertaining, was not in the spirit of the assignment or the course. Grade: C–

Doodle message group MMAM(FTP), 24 October 2023:

Jem Badhuri

Phew! Apart from the fire, that went really well.

Cameron Wesley

Alyson, if you want a job in advertising, call me. We need disruptors.

Ludya Parak

Alyson, you are brutal. But I love you.