Yesterday I (Michael) did an afternoon's portfolio surgery session as part of D&AD's New Blood exhibition. Due to work commitments I didn't have much chance to look around the actual show in Spitalfield's Market. The afternoon session started at 2pm (finishing at 5pm), student appointments were pre-arranged, I saw 8 recent graduates for 20 minutes each. It was a bit like speed-dating (so i'm told), it was very quick but a lot of fun. I didn't manage to get a business card from all the students but following is a selection of the projects from the people I saw.
NB: If the two students I saw see this post, send your web info to the blog email address and i'll add you to the post.
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(in no particular order)

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Google by Rob Cronshaw.
Taking inspiration of what came before these products; physical maps, flickbooks and letter writing kits. These tongue-in-cheek items show how much easier it is now to find out where to go, watch videos and contact each other.
Google Maps.
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YouTube.
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GMail.
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Loopo Stencil by Max Little.
A simple idea, done as a personal project. I wanted to explore the idea of rotation and how it can be manipulated to create letterforms. I followed a simple set of rules using a group of shapes to create the rounded stencil font.
The typeface is available to by from My Fonts here.
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YCN Google Packaging by Dan Ridgway.
Theme: Discovery - Including google products such as search and maps, the packaging requires the user to literally discover each products packaging by building it using the key provided. They can discover 5 products from this set of cubes, each one has a unique graphic and shape to give hints towards that products function.
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Letter Illustrations by Tara McCombie.
This project was undertaken with the intention of developing a personal illustrative style, and to enhance my digital drawing skills.
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Unyt by Tom Holmes.
Branding project called Unyt, identity, website & App design.
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Photobook for Hannah Reynolds by Arthur Carey.
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Kesselskramer's Rain by Martti Yap.
“It always rains in your country. Make a poster for visitors to the UK explaining why so much rain is attractive.Don’t be sarcastic. After all, rain can be romantic, useful or beautiful.” set by Erik Kessels
Craig Oldham in conjunction with the D&AD is bringing the renowned Dutch designer Erik Kessels, creative director of Kessels Kramer, to give a lecture at the Manchester Conference Centre on 5th April 2002. To mark the event Erik has set a student brief which Craig has asked us to make you aware of".
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To all the graduates I saw, and all the rest good luck for the future!
Best — M
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