The Creative Pilgrimage

The end of the pilgrimage

2010-03-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

Have started a new blog as this one doesn't really serve any purpose but to show how bad my writing is.

This new blog is a blend of my two favourite things, advertising and illustration.

I give up writing and I will only be posting up pictures that I have drawn illustrating some of the finer points of agency life. I will be including animals in my illustrations to further illustrate my points.

Anyway thank you to anyone who has read any of my posts and thanks to my one major die hard fan for your support (hi mum)

thank you and goodbye I hope to see you on:

www.drawingonexperience.blogspot.com

St Valentines

2010-02-14T03:28:00.000-08:00

Love it or hate it St Valentines day is here to stay.

I have already had my fair share of conversations as to why its shit and I have been surprised by just how many people seem to hate it.

Could it be that they genuinely hate the corporateness of the day?

Is it cool to hate St Valentines Day?

Do I have more single friends then I realised?

Or am I one of those annoying twats, who because he's with someone loves Valentines day?

Something is up. People just aren't that interested anymore. One woman described it as making her feel ill.

The argument against Valentines day has become about the consumption and the fantasy of what love is. Its all lovey dovey perfection with lots of expensive presents and meals out. Or on the flip side it is about loving each other so much that you don't need to celebrate it.

But the saddest thing I find is that it is seen as a day to repair relationships not about simply celebrating it.

How are we meant to connect with this idea of showing your love for someone when before it has even started it has become already about what is lacking in your relationship.

Do something you never do for them, take her out for a meal as a treat, buy her a gift, say how you feel in a card. Misses the point a bit to me.

The industry doesn't quite get love in todays world but we are equally as guilty as it reaps in the money every year.

We need to get a lot more creative and daring. If you have been married for 40 years do something that proves youcan still surprise them. Get a tattoo of there name in a heart, what have you got to lose?

If your single do something for someone you really like that they would never have experienced before. If they say no then at least you will have a real reason for going out and getting wasted with your other single friends. Love is more than being in a couple. So why not celebrate Valentines Day with your friends?

To make it a great Valentines Day start by ignoring everything about it and go from there.

Dedicated to Melissa Songer :) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The best creatives are grown not made.

2010-01-23T04:36:00.000-08:00

I want a lot of things. I'm not ashamed of it, I live in a capitalist society ran by corporate giants and I make a living pedaling their wares to the good people of this planet and I love doing it. It's what makes me good at my job.

I am young and inexperienced but:

I want to be the best creative in my agency,

I want to marry Hayley Williams from Paramore,

I want to change my appearance to better suit my personality,

I want to win a D&AD black pencil,

I want to set up my own guitar store one day

I want to be a fantastic scamper

I want to be the funniest guy you have ever met

I want to have a blog every/anyone reads

I want to be really witty and clever all the time

I want to be invited to all the cool gallery/event openings

I want to be the go to guy for creative inspiration

I want to give the best presentations clients have ever seen

I want all the account women to fancy me

I want everything

and I want a dog!

Like I said I am young and inexperienced yet I was in a rush to have all these things.

A very clever man taught me that "without the journey all you will have is the end". I thought great! I'll be everything on my list. "No" he said "you will be dead".

I should treat my career like I would work on a great brief.

I should enjoy the beginning, the initial stages where it is all about just trying anything, just going for it and seeing what happens.

The refinement of the ideas will naturally develop over time, drawing on all the different influences that have affected it along the way.

The finished product never turns out how you would have expected at the beginning. It nearly always turns out better.

It's so easy to want to be like the heroes in your life and you forget they didn't just wake up being the way they are. They to were at the beginning wondering what the hell to do next.

There is a lot of pressure on aspiring young people to be the finished article and a lot of the creative industry are guilty of expecting it of us. (agencies who only employ award winning juniors for example)

The best creative people in this world were grown not made. Mac went through a lot before it became ready out of the box.

All we will end up with is an industry full of gifted amateurs who are fired after a few months because they didn't live up to the expectation and the truly gifted will still be working as waiters.

James Cameron had to wait 10 years to make Avatar and it was worth it.

Commuting Etiquette

2010-01-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

For the first time commuter first my congratulations, quickly followed by my commiserations. The only thing you need to know how to do when commuting is getting a seat. The holy grail to all journeys. I'm not talking wear a sombrero and bring a pig with you, no by acknowledging a few simple observations you can maximise your chances of getting your day off to the best start.

So... You first wait on the platform hoping to God that it is on time, trains do wonders for what I call S.C. (spontaneous christianity) and when the train does roll in the careful shuffling for position begins. Old ladies will shove you out the way if you do not shuffle with confidence and direction.

There is always one rich looking bastard who tries to edge his way in front of you having only just got into the station. This can be instantly remedied simply by staring him down, you must not blink, he eventually thinks better of it (every time). but don't forget you have to keep your eye on the carriages making sure you are getting onto one that has plenty of free seats.

Your now third to the door (hi-5) and you squeeze your way onto the train being careful not to lose your place in line, then there is the next hard decision do you go left or right. People will be filling the carriage from both ends so it becomes purely instinctual.

Filtering down the aisle you ignore the disabled and elderly priority seats, keeping your bag with you because storing it takes up precious time. You spot a seat, you spot another seat. So who to sit next to? The bald guy in a suit or the other bald guy in a suit. You take the bald guy in a suit.

Well done you have a seat, you avoid eye contact with those who have to stand up right next to you. But inside there is a massive grin and they know it.

You go through your getting comfortable on the train rituals (getting your ticket ready, putting your bag in the over head ect ect) and you sit back waiting for the next thing that could go wrong, hoping that on the way back you're not late and stuck with the drunk teens or screaming family going on there annual holiday to Norfolk.

If there was ever an argument for euthanasia this would be it.

In the case of missing out on getting a seat you have three choices, you can walk very slowly with the rest of the seatless down the carriage hoping there is an extra carriage today, you can sit on a cold moving floor having people walk on you or you can chance it in one of the priority seats although it does not go down well if you refuse to give it up. I don't care what that boy in a wheel chair said the fact that he is already in one suggests that he didn't need mine. No one agreed with me.

I'd like to dedicate this post to National Express. For they help me get to work everyday. Not because there trains run on time or are generally any good but because I hate them so much it gives me energy. I get up that little bit earlier everyday just so that I can hate them some more.

oh... I wouldn't move there...

2009-12-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Moving to the Big Smoke?. A phase of life all too familiar with a lot of young adults who have just finished their degrees. but if your new to the city of London and have been raised on the mean streets of Devon! the big question is 'where do you move?'

A much bigger problem than you may imagine. If you believe everything you see, hear or read you would become a shivering wreck and refuse to go outside. One person will tell you that Hackney is really bad, home of the murder mile ect ect but then your tiny, skinny and blonde friend who's a girl says that it's fine and that she has lived there for years.

The media is either painting London as a hoodie infested death hole or as a shiny beacon of hope for the world. Make up your mind! either way it's hard to know as one street will look fine and you feel good, you turn a corner and your in bum town feeling bad.

Truth is there are good and bad areas to any place and it is easy to get scared, especially with our news being the pessimistic and dare I say it sadistic bastards that they are. but if you ask the right people i.e. people who actually live there, you will find out that it's not that scary at all, just really fucking expensive!

So my advice is first ask those around you who know or live in London then go there, walk around and just ask people in the street and I am the biggest scaredy cat ever so I speak the thruth :)

The Second Coming!!!

2009-10-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

Thats right after a bloody weird couple of months I have returned and to say unto you that I have risen from the dead of unemployment and have risen a fully employed Art Director in Advertising. Spread the word of the graduate lord!!!.

As you can see i'm still a loser but its all good :)

Right then so what happened since i was bored and poor... i'm still poor but in no way bored any more (i still play pokemon in the loo though)

The placement went very well seeing me and my Copywriter Mr Roach work on a number of great briefs ranging from Nestea (ice tea) to the advertising giants Coca Cola. There were others going for the position but (and I quote) "they were just shit" so we were either very good or they were just that bad either way I have one of the most difficult jobs to attain after graduating which is sweeeeeeeeet.

Won't ramble on or boast too much mostly because I could still lose this job as I am on whats called a probationary 3 months which means at the end they can say "actually we made a huge mistake don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

So no break, no big sigh of relief just a huge carrot at the end of a rope for us to follow. Don't know what the laws are might put up some work but this blog isn't about cataloguing what's going on in the ad world, there are much better blogs for that, no this blog is for me and about me and what's going on inside this creatives mind and hopefully will help others going into this industry with the bits that are always forgotten in lesson and in the text books.

I hope you continue to enjoy my thoroughly self indulging stories :)

Poordem™ matt roach

2009-07-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Poordem™ matt roach as you have probably guessed is the combination of being bored with the added handycap of being very poor.

Me and Matt are waiting for the 17th of august. then our assault on the ad world can begin. Untill then we have to pay rent and bills and then manage to find money for food. Now with the dare I say it "current economic climate" all the crap weekly paid jobs have been taken even the institutional new starters bar job has become extinct! benefits take ages to go through and you can't get a normal job because by the time you get it you will be starting your placement.

So what ensues is poor driven boredem. It manifests itself in a number of ways, for some its buying sainsbury's basic beer (we've all been there!), some take refuge by simply buggering off home and leaving everything and some watch and re-watch there vast collection of dvd's that they collected at uni, only it now seems a lot smaller.

As for me, mine has resulted in me picking up my old game boy and getting lost in the world of pokemon, vicariously living through my little pixelated me through his adventures.

This is something the student books don't prepare yourself for and that is the limbo in between graduating and getting that first job, especially this new super limbo where there are precious little crap jobs to take.

Could this be an idea for a book 'life after death of dissertation'?

On hind site I should have set up a small savings account when I started and put 10% of my part time job pay cheque into it so that I had something after I graduated but a lass I failed to find a time machine and go back in time to tell me this bit of information.

If you do have a bad case of Poordem™ matt roach I suggest buying a gameboy advance. Either that or get some friends either way is good.

Graduation

2009-07-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Graduation is something we see in the movies all the time, you know the films mostly american and its all emotional and vomit inducing but when mine came along I was pleasantly surprised at how much of an emotional experience it was.

My mum came with her sister, my auntie who were the two people who dropped me off on my first day kind of bringing the whole adventure to a proper end.

All my friends were there including those friends that you lose contact with. Old house mates, old random when your drunk I know you friends. My fiance and her family.

It was all very official considering how unofficial uni has felt. When I think of uni i don't naturally think of all my hard work, i think of all the fun i had and how much i am gonna miss being a complete douche and so to be walking up those steps and shaking some womens hand and been given this document of your academic achievement did seem like something out of a movie.

It really felt like the end of something everyone was talking about what they were doing or what they were gonna do and it was all very grown up and mature, no "yeah gonna go to this bar i heard of and just meet someone there and stay with him/her" it was "yeah i have a new flat and have signed on to make sure i can pay for it etc etc

so sometimes the movies do have it right and it goes beyond a cliche and i find myself considering taking another degree so that i can go back, kinda like a shawshank redemption moment i'm an institutionalized man now!

a lot of people i know missed there graduation and i'll tell you now don't. it was great.

"I'm not gay, I'm an Art Director!"

2009-07-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

This exclamation I found myself making in town the other day was not a jealous attack on employed Art Directors, no it was in fact an act of self defense against my fiance.

Being an Art Director I have a very definite sense of what I think looks good and where it will look at its best and this attitude filters into the everyday aesthetic choices I make. I'm a sucker for an attractive blonde. Did I say Blonde I meant Brand, to me there one and the same. I love fantastic looking packaging with an equally attractive brand on it. If a product hits the magic two, it is in my basket end of.

Like I said I have a strong opinion on what looks good and if your a girlfriend or lucky ;) enough to be the wife of an art director, your clothes and general fashion sense is no different. We're the kind of men that when you ask our opinion we won't shrug our shoulders and be bored. So when my fiance asked what she should wear to graduation she didn't expect me to have already thought about it and had an idea as to what would look great.

A skirt and shirt combo with shoes later and she's giving me a weird look "you can tell me honestly, are you gay or have you ever thought you were or were you once... stammer stammer????"

"NO I'M NOT GAY, I'M AN ART DIRECTOR!" its like asking a gay man if he's straight because he doesn't like Paris Hilton.

You can't help it if something you think looks bad or out of place or even simply amiss its like a little bug biting you on the back of your head. It's the same feeling when looking at a campaign your gut instinct leads you.

Thats how I will always be be it clothes or even the new curtains for the living room, I'm a man who will have his say. There will be no "yes dear" from me!

My Copywriter...

2009-06-19T03:36:00.001-07:00

Us creatives are a crazy breed, we aim to experience as much as possible. This is Mr Matt Roach my creative other half and looks like he experienced nearly all 100 things to do before you die at Download, which judging from this picture is a good job as he looks like he is about to die... come to think of it I haven't actually heard from him in a while...

I have and never will work with Matt because we simply just have too much fun in what we do. To be in Advertising you have to be a character, some of the most interesting people I have ever met have been ad people, they say what won't kill you... blah blah blah. Well as you can see Matt has way too much character :P

So why write a post on Matt? well he will be starting his own blog soon and so you can look forward to a much better punctuated and grammatically correct version of our journey, the content however I can't guarantee, as quite clearly my blog is already better than his (face! roach)

UNPAID (un)FARE NOTICE

2009-06-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one to say a massive (ma-hoo-sive) FUCK YOU to National Express. Students have enough financial stuff to handle without one of your loser staff giving me the wrong type of return, then to have another one of the twats fine me for it.

I'm in a hurry, quite clearly as my train had already pulled in, I ask for the best priced return. I then proceed to run to the train. Now a normal person would think 'oh wait he will need a saver return not an off peak return as he quite clearly wants to catch this train, i'll give him the correct one' no! he thought 'ill give him the return which means he cant take the train till after 9 in the morning despite the fact he's out of breath here at 7:30'.

Having explained to the guard on the train that I was a smart chap who would know to buy a cheaper, correct return rather than a more expensive wrong one and that it was an honest mistake, he then saw the logic to fine me anyway.

Crack team you've got there National Express...

The lesser of two evils

2009-06-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

To all parents who want the best for their child. Bring them to this place on a monday morning and guaranteed they will never want to go back again.

What I mean by the lesser of two evils is that I have had to go on job seekers and housing benefit. 'SCUM' you shout well its better than sponging off of my hard working mother, I have done enough of that its time for me to take responsibility. Now with this placement and general want to be in advertising, its safe to say I could be unemployed for a while, I'm not gonna give up and work for some crap local marketing agency just yet!

What an experience, my skin was crawling, I felt completely out of place but I new I had rent to pay and I had closed my Bank of Mum account. The whole process was demoralizing, I have to admit I felt like a failure but I snapped myself out of it. I have no desire to go back to that place to sign on, I may have to once more time but after that, never again.

I'm just glad I don't have a real family to support, I have two baby rats they need there water dam it!

It really put everything into perspective as to just how much people will do just to get by, my reaction to going on job seekers was a typical reaction of that of someone who had no idea of what financial hardship was. I was humbled by the whole experience.

One things for sure I don't believe for a second that anyone would rather live off of jobseekers rather than having a job as I have been doing it for about a week and I am climbing the walls.

I will try not to look down my nose at anyone on benefits again as quite clearly I'm just not in the right frame of mind to accept that some peoples lives are actually harder than mine ;) for a guy my age thats close to enlightenment.

Don't consider government handouts as admitting defeat think of it as the dark before the dawn. To anyone that does live off benefits, I am sorry because I can't imagine anything worse.

Now don't get com(placement).

2009-06-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Please lets make that 202 employees, Me and Matt were successful in our interview, we expected a 'we'll call you', meaning once we have checked there isn't anyone better than you then we will call you. but no the guys at BD apart from being nice guys (they bought me a coke) also sat there and listened and talked about our book, none of this complete silence whilst we judge you crap and they are giving us a 2 week placement.

Any student in advertising or trying to break in can tell you that me and matt are lucky bastards we both can't wait to start :) we will be working in the same building as the guy who invented orange wednesdays... I know, who wants to touch me?

Farewell farnham

2009-06-15T05:59:00.001-07:00

Well thats it, done but not dusted. I have left Uni. It was an amazingly sad day, i'm not ashamed to say that a few tears found there way down my cheek. My life changed that day my mum and auntie left me in my student village room. How was I to know that the next 3 years would see me change into the person I am today?. I didn't.

Uni is more than just getting onto a career that requites it. It's one of the most important experiences of your young adult life. I learnt to appreciate the little things such as a sofa, which after three years without I know have and love.

I experienced the pure joy of excess and I experienced the excess I hated. I know how to make a pizza last nearly a week, I know what its like to have an amazing time without having to remember it. I learnt that it is friends that come and go and that it is love that lasts forever.

But with the obvious fun stuff I have learnt above all that I am worth a lot more than what I first thought upon coming here. I am good at what I do and I love doing it. The romanticized look on life I had is gone instead is replaced with a world of possibility but that you have to go through some shit times before you come out smelling of roses. I can now pay rent and bills... I can't afford it but I know what to do should the occasion where I have money arise :)

I will never forget Uni or the ppl that I met, and I have an Americanized, massive baggy hoody to prove it :)

This is MD

2009-06-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Myself and Matt have our chat with BD network this monday at 11am.

Matt is on his way as we speak to my new flat to spend the weekend sorting out our work and to just have a laugh since we havnt been able to chill out and have fun together what with all this new found adult hood.

Whish us luck the pilgrimage could soon be over...

Turfing

2009-05-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Look familiar? Well me and Matt were riding tubes a lot with our recent degree show and so we invented tube surfing.

When your on a tube you hold on to the greasy rail to stop falling into the fat guys lap, well me and Matt don't, we decided to throw off the shackles of oppression and let go of the rails we have for too long used as crutches for our dreary traveling. And as if on a surf board road the tube all the way into liverpool street station, your not allowed to touch any wall or person but you do have 3 lives.

Best game ever.

If your extreme you can try one legged tube surfing but we are not liable for any injuries you may sustain or inflict.

Happy Turfing :)

The Duo Rides Again

2009-05-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog and thank you if you do, you might have heard me mention my best friend Matt.

I have known Matt literally from childhood to manhood, thats since we were 11, we are now 21.

Originally we weren't going in for being a creative team as we had spent 3 years being told it was nearly impossible and if you make it you'll be fired unless your amazing all the time :s which was a shame as we both are very passionate about advertising.

We did however work together on all our uni projects, very few creative teams share the kind of creative connection that me and Matt have developed through growing up together. This does come with advantages, if one of us is being precious over an idea or just being plain shit we will literally just punch each other but equally we can break each others creative blocks and instead of bouncing ideas of each other we can play olympic tennis with bowling balls and rocket powered super rackets.

We don't need any stupid gimmick to sell ourselves as our brand is ourselves. Just chatting to us or to people who know us and you will see we just love to laugh, listen to rock music and make great advertising.

We were approached at DIALOGUE (which btw was a big success) by two really nice guys from BD Network who seemed to really like our work and told us to call them to talk. Both me and matt were a tad under the influence but it was free wine what can you do? and so I hope we didn't put them off.

We will be approaching them very soon once I have moved house.

So me and Matt will be going for the creative dream once again, we have both been feverishly reading everything on their website and we cant believe we haven't come across them before. Anyway thats for another post.

The duo rides again, but is it into the sunset?

Oh yeah, thats me the lanky one and Matt's the shorter ginger one, bit of a anti-climatic unveiling of myself... enjoy :)

DIALOGUE day 1

2009-05-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

What's Big, square and white all over?

Our degree show room in free range 2009! The day (27th may) was long, tempers were frayed and the fast food companies made a bit more money. Everyones boards which I designed and so felt very responsible for were taken out of the packaging and were all fine. I breathed a massive sigh of relief exactly like that beer advert.

Lots of drilling, hammering, nailing, shouting, drinking and thinking and 8 hours later half the room was done. Only half of us had turned up (the better half) and we all deserved medals.

A great day until I watched the football...

Final Major Project snippet

2009-05-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

My Guitar is an extension of myself, I know every bump, dent and imperfection that makes it perfect. I am someone who can create something from nothing and can see through what's there to sing light into the darkness.

My guitar is my weapon of choice, my voice in this over crowded world. I don't shout in anger, I sing with passion. My guitar is my friend, the music our adventures.

To share something that runs so deep within you is natural, music is meant to be heard, not messed with but to be true and raw. Only Musicians understand that this shared passion is being on a higher plain, a unique level of consciousness and understanding you have with your own soul.

This is playing guitar.

Some of my Final Major Project for you to read and wonder at :)

portfolioh no!

2009-05-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

*choral choir noise* heres my portfolio all sexy and ready for tomorrows meeting. I bought it today after it had been on the shelf for only 10 mins, fate had obviously brought us together as it is simply b-e-a-utiful.

To me it is very important and I had up until today been looking for quite a while, my work doesn't need a fancy portfolio to make it look better but fuck it it doesn't hurt and it makes me feel better as I love things to be understatedly stylish, the smooth cool guy at the back of the room who doesn't need to say anything for people to be impressed. (I'm not this guy) luckily I'm a good talker and can convince you that I'm very cool.

Choosing one is harder than it looks because my one had to not only match my favourite graphic designery clothes that I wear to look smart but with a creative edge but it had to be made out of a good quality material, have a nice smooth zip!!! for a nice opening action, have a good sounding snap to the ring binder which in itself has to be slim and modern, not WHSmiths own clunky ones. Had to be easy to unclip and fold over the rings. A proper internal system to manage lose material and last but not least is, to me, the all important fact that it mustn't have a stupid logo emblazoned all over it.

No it has to be genuine and I won't be sticking stickers all over it like a lot of idiots do, all it does is to make you look 12.

About tomorrow, I'm excited and nervous at the same time, a feeling a friend of mine really likes so hopefully this is a good omen. Its quite a trek I have to make and it could send me home in an emotional body bag but this industry just wouldn't be interesting with out it :) I could become a portfolio salesman... its a form of advertising...

I Came, I SAW, I Conquered

2009-05-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

We all know as creatives you should push the boundaries but look at your life, does it stop with your work?

If it does, start doing it now. I believe in being fearless in everything you do, no matter how scary the prospect is e.g. a particularly formidable client.

Here is me on the new SAW roller coaster. Now roller coasters you may think is hardly being daring but when your really scared of them it is an extraordinarily difficult fear to overcome. This was made worse by the old warehouse design, torture instruments, blood, noises from the film of people being tortured, a massive shotgun noise going off in a pitch black part of the queue and the first part of the ride is you in the dark with that scary ass puppet suddenly appearing and starts telling you it wants to play a game!!! nicely followed by being dropped a 100 ft without warning.

Your nerves are shot and your shaking (very similar to a big deadline) then comes the 5 minute slow vertical climb before shooting downwards onto spikes which you barely miss!!!

At the end there is a lovely DVD to show you just how much of a girl you are in comparison to your fiance who laughed throughout the whole thing.

So am I fearless?

Of course I am I'm engaged to get married!

original content

2009-04-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

If your at uni, male, white, 6ft and lanky you are in a band or are the band thanks to the developments in home recording technology.

I am happy to say I am an all singing, all song writing, bedroom acoustic guitar crooning cliche :)

I have a new addition to the family called the snowball microphone and its beautiful and records my beautiful voice and guitar playing. Finally a piece of hardware that can actually do my CF MARTIN acoustic guitar justice. you can hear every indian rosewood tainted note in all its glory.

www.myspace.com/somethingheartfelt check it out, I don't think I'm that bad.

Make sure when interviewing a graduate that they play a musical instrument, and putting together loops in garageband doesn't fucking count!!! that way you can be sure your employing someone who believes in the creation of something original and not into just being creative with what is effectively someone else's music.

Playing an instrument is just something you have to do, I don't get how a boy can get through puberty without it. do you?

The most rewarding bit of print I will ever do.

2009-04-25T03:19:00.001-07:00

Here it is my 4 weeks notice to be handed in today to my boss.

Goodbye! part time job that I have always hated and despised, Hello! probable new crap full time job doing the same thing whilst looking for a job that I really want.

Not long before I can reclaim my weekend!!! it has been lost for nearly 3 years!!!

My little red book.

2009-04-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

You do not have to say anything. But it may harm my chances if you do not mention when questioned something which I may later rely on in meeting you. Anything you do say will be used as evidence in an interview situation.

Instead of having the little black book with attractive women's phone numbers, I have the little red book with creative professionals email addresses and numbers in. (it's OK I'm engaged).

Who ever I phone, everything I learn e.g. email address, good times to call etc, will be put into this book a long with my actions towards you, such as whether I have sent you anything. I can also set a reminder for when to follow up an email or a time when I know its good to call them.

A handy aspect of this is I can also record my mistakes so that I know not to do them again. A howlingly massive mistake was replying to an email requesting a covering letter and CV and forgetting to attach it. I should have been beaten brutally for that one :s

B-E-A-UTIFUL.

2009-04-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Incase you couldn't tell I was being very sarcastic. Well kind of, it is beautiful but only in that it is a beautiful view from my window as I work on my CV and portfolio.

Ah well... back to work... Come on Lawrie you gotta want it!!!

The "List"

2009-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here it is. The book all soon to be graduates should have. If you don't, go get one. I can't say where because my uncle gave it to me.

It is essentially a big fat A to Z list of agencies. It has a lovely big section for advertising and design.

I have a top 5, a back up 10 and 30 extras. What is great is that even if I get no where with all these, there is about another 100 for me to try.

My portfolio is nearly finished and so interview season is very close. It also means my phone is gonna be buggered sideways not to mention my bank account :s

Livin' on a prayer.

2009-04-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am not a religious person but a lot of my family is and my nan and granddad who come from Ireland pray for me a lot.

I go to my grandparents house every easter and on this particular occasion my nan told me about St Joseph ^ for those who haven't a clue what I'm talking about he is the part in the nativity play when you were younger that all the boys wanted to play but then played one of the sheep.

Joseph (a carpenter) along with being Mary's husband and Jesus's guardian, is the patron Saint of employment and that there is a prayer you can say every day to help you find a job, I have to admit I was skeptical but considering all the stories I have heard of peoples methods of trying to get a job e.g. hunger strikes, breaking and entering. This wasn't the most far fetched method I have heard of.

I believe we all turn to a 'higher power' when in need, not necessarily God or Allah but the powers that be that could help you. The Audi God that could help you avoid the traffic jam or the God of Marketing who will magically change your essay mark for you.

I am not making fun of peoples belief systems, quite the opposite as I think it is in this belief and what you do to reassure your beliefs that makes things possible. Any book you read on the creative industry is essentially some one laughing at you going "you want a job in advertising... you! jog on!" We are battle hardened to the hard knocks to our self esteem this life sends us.

I may not be religious but I can't help but look at the prayer every now and again in the hope that it might do something. Usually I avoid luck because I have something more to prove but I would never say no to a bit of help. If there is something that makes you feel good about yourself or a situation no matter how silly it might be or how others see it. You should all ways do it.

What a difference a Dave makes...

2009-04-18T03:03:00.001-07:00

What can I say I like this T-shirt, never a truer word spoken by a top quality garment. Finally my ability to bring my skill and personality to a project is being recognized world wide. Well not quite because as this t-shirt demonstrates...

Yes it is a world wide phenomenon that everyone knows a Dave, not to say the quality of some Dave's have been ruined by cheap copies and imports no no no, Dave's in short are amazing which is why In every creative agency there is a Dave, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong and if you can... well! what are you waiting for there is a Dave about to graduate right here!!!

If you could, buy one of these T-shirts @ www.balconyshirts.co.uk your guaranteed to get laid. Unfortunately not with the models as they don't come with the T-shirt.

New Look

2009-04-18T02:48:00.001-07:00

Same Blog, new look. It just occurred to me that if I don't tell anyone that I have changed the look then the people who do read my blog wouldn't know to look unless I did a post so 2 birds with a big rock and all that :) Let me know what you think about this style of illustration, I have had some really nice feed back from a creative director.

i before e except after c

2009-04-01T02:47:00.001-07:00

it has been brought to my attention that my grammar and spelling in my posts are 'shit' i felt i should address this personally as i had no idea it could offend people.

When writing these posts i don't really write up to Eton standard, its not like i can't write properly its that i don't have time, i'm a busy man :) if you can read it and understand it thats good enough for me, ok i wont be proof reading any books any time soon but i think i'll get over it.

As for my un-capitlised i's it is actually because i prefer the shape of the small i to the big I. To me it looks better so there you go mystery solved.

The cat sat on the mat. see!

An updave for your computer.

2009-04-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, yes i'm back which feels like months since my last post but never mind its been for a good reason or i should say reasons.

i have been a machine these last few days, i think the promise of finally finishing has given me a boost and i feel as if i'm possessed by a doing work spirit.

i finished my brand sector analysis which was a lot harder to do than i just said. 3 days no sleep, phoning in every favour i possessed for help, to make sure it was as good as it could possibly be. F***ING BRAND MAPS are bastards. But it was handed in leaving the Final Major project to go. Which is great because it's branding my own guitar store which is my all time dream :)

So what else have I been doing, well... I have been working in a design agency (nick cannons studio) where i have been honing my skills in graphic design and also strategy and working on my client handling. This however opened all sorts of doors. I have taken on a few branding projects one of which could see me spending some of my last summer in the Carribean (pause for effect) and various others including a website and re-brand of a special event. Lots and Lots of practical experience all doing me good except it has left me completely afraid of answering my phone :s.

Over the last few weeks nearly every phone call that i have received has been a client. what's so scary about that dave? well imagine having a director of a company talking to you like an equal respecting your opinion and liking your ideas! my only critic these days seems to be my mother.

Ok dave now your mental... Well for me personally its a very odd experience, many of the creatives I meet have final thumb print syndrome where they will say anything about your work to make it so that it is theirs or was saved by their creativity. There is nothing more on this planet i hate more than someone suggesting a completely bollocks improvement to my work, i just nod and smile but secretly there being choked on their own pen inside my head :)

So yeah what's meant to be an ego or even self esteem boosting experience just makes me feel awkward, i'm a complicated chap. I'm under no delusions of my own brilliance, i guess i have just been very lucky with the clients i have at the moment :) long may it last.

The major thing on my plate other than my major project is my degree show, I spent a lot of time and effort developing an idea with a friend of mine and we came up with a concept for the pre-determined title DIALOGUE, the idea was to have our work looked at through the context of our personalities by giving yourself a line that describes your self and your role.

A lot of people liked it, mostly because of how cost effective it was and how easy it would be to do, in fact i think they only took it because of the font i chose, i have mad font picking skills!

Anyway so yeah a mixed reaction but a major portfolio piece for me as its some of the best design i have done and so i'm waiting to get my teeth into that.

Other than that i haven't done much...

Tornado

2009-03-10T02:42:00.001-07:00

Hands up who can drive?... well i can't, i don't know why or how i just never got round to learning. It takes a long time to learn and be able to drive a car, not to mention the money. My way was simple, just pay 60 quid for doing a days CBT (compulsory basic training) which i admit i should have failed seeing as though i crashed the bike and split my knee open... but none the less i had a license of sorts.

So there she is, my motorbike/moped hybrid aka TORNADO, thus named because Zorro's horse is very fast and black and my bike is also black... I wanted to write a blog about her because she makes up a lot of my fondest memories of university, she may not be the fastest bike ever but she all ways got me where i needed to go.. well mostly but the break downs were as memorable as the moving journeys.

100 miles to the gallon, tenner at a time of premium, i know i know, premium! so she was very student friendly, plus when walking around town in my really nice bike jacket know one would know that she topped 45 miles an hour down hill with the wind behind her. Nope i was a hells angel with a massive red L sticker on my hog.

I took this picture of where she lives in a lovely shed and every morning when i go to wake her she always looks as if she's gazing out of the window as if wanting freedom a lust for the road, speed really isn't everything because i get to enjoy a lot more of the ride including f***ing off the drivers of cars :)

Yes people make fun and i join in the jokes because at the end of the day it is very funny and i would say i wouldn't trade her in for the world but i'm all ready planning to so there's no moral to this story bar that moped hybrids are the way to ride, if they work properly.

Flat hunting

2009-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

Have started the process of finding a new place to live after its all over and i have to say it was a pleasurable experience!

i might have got this wrong and theres something i'm missing and if i have please comment and tell me why but in my second year i moved into my first student house and it cost the 5 of us 300 pounds each for a tiny (fucking shit) 4 bedroomed house (the living room was converted into an extra bedroom) so thats 1500 pounds a month into Mrs X's grinch like hands.

i was nearly panicking when i saw the rents for a brand new flat on the new developed docks in ipswich, which was £450 a month plus bills and I will have to be paying taxes without my lovely student loan to make me feel better, welcome to the real financial world! which by the way is in recession... yeah... However Mel explained to me that that was between us and so was only really £225 for a flat that is as big as the house, brand new furniture and kitchen, and with out having to share everything and with student houses you can imagine what gets shared... etc etc and Mels mother in law (a nice one don't believe Disney! she's actually a fairy god mother) swooped in and said she would pay the deposit on where ever we found.

So there's another big item checked off my list. Well nearly i have to find some where to live and a job that can pay for it and can get to with out having to resort to living outside it in a tent.

i feel very lucky as i have a pretty tight support system so if i go mad from the pressure or balls it up some how, i'm pretty sure my mum would welcome my gibbering drooling self back with open arms :) unitll 2 years later when i'm still there no job and spend my nights sobbing with a bottle of jack daniels... thats a big kidding!

An ODE to ABC

2009-02-24T08:08:00.003-08:00

I don't know for sure how other 3rd year students are feeling but at the moment i keep getting flashes of just how close to finishing my degree is.

Now for some subjects they have along way to go but my finishing line is just months away, still stuff to do but as for lectures and studying with my course mates, it's over.

No more stumbling in on a tuesday morning looking god awful because the SU had its main night on a monday!

No more staying up all night constantly texting other groups to try and find out what the other groups have done to make you feel better.

No more mitigating circumstances!

No More slagging off the lecturers for not understanding our brilliance

No more no consequences for cocking up royally

No more, "where's pete?"

No more "I disagree!"

No more "shut up matt and dave"

No more "any questions... except george?"

No more "NAH NAH NAH"

No more emotional out bursts from luke! (i know!)

No more being forced to act nice to each other when waiting for a tutorial with Gareth, when really you wanna say fuck off because your so pissed off and want to go home

No more Francescos pep talks... where would we be with out those... think about it

No more SU unless your really sad and come back when you've left *shakes head*

No more lauren rallying us together to get up off our arses

No more will and his flipping AUDI!!!

No more wilf my god no more wilf... thats like an institution

No more matt and dave plugging their music in presentations

No more amazingly elaborate presentations from Rach or Gem

No more NASA calculations to decipher what the hell chris and greg just explained

No more who the hell knows what with Kirsty and Becky!

and No more any one else that I have neglected to mention i might have liked you who knows ;)

No more ABC or the original ABM as i like to think of it and its a daunting thought maybe we should just start our own agency?

I won't lie i'm not a good a friend to some as i am to others, some may hate me some might secretly love me but for three years they have made up my a huge part of all my human interaction (some of them reading this are thinking what the hell is he talking about...) but I don't think any of us have thought how weird it is gonna be to not be studying together.

So this is an ode to the people who made coming to university a truly terrifying but brilliant experience lol most of them are very talented but above all just nice people (most of them)

and i wish them all the luck in the world in what ever they do afterwards because i reckon a lot of us will be feeling like paddington in the coming months.

I realise this has nothing to do with anyone bar my course mates but its my blog so there.

Do you expect me talk? No I expect you to leave!!!

2009-02-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

It was a very close shave but I had to talk (literally) my way back into my job! and on Valentines day of all days, wheres the love? indeed!

A big thanks to the official witness to my disciplinary who understood logic (well my logic).

Afterwards my boss could have made me wither and die with that stare, obviously wanted me to leave as the grounds for the whole thing was so ridiculous but I got my own back by spending a load of money on uniform with the lovely allowance I get :) then I spent valentines getting trollied with my fiance :)

Probably not what my creative communication skills were meant for but proves I'm damn good!

Lets hope next time I can talk my way into a job that I actually want :)

Your Fired!!! or not, i'll get back to you...

2009-02-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

i went back to my part time job today, after a great holiday and it was like a nice big hug, if the person i was hugging was a naked old man covered in razor blades which were tipped with aids infested acid.

Might have over exaggerated a bit but only slightly. So, why such an elaborate analogy well my boss called me into the office along with the assistant manager to give me a bollocking for going to Paris with out telling them. Now maybe i was away from England longer than i thought because i was positive before i left that telling the assistant manager and the sunday manager 3 days before my shift was an adequate enough english custom to leave them enough time to find cover for what was only a 4 hour shift.

Apparently not... at 2 o clock on Wednesday i was gazing upon the amazing venus de milo when my phone goes off... it's from work of course i ignored them because what would i have said "Oh Hi, i'm sorry i'll be right there i'm just in the louvre right now but hang on... !) fucking idiots!

So any hoo on wednesday i'll know if i still have my job, now i hate that job so much it gives me energy, in fact i get up early in the morning just to hate it because there is not enough time during the day but it pays the bills so fingers crossed... i guess it could battle harden me for if i get fired in the future.

Team Melave

2009-02-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

Me and Mel have started up our own running team, one of those cute couple things... but I love it! of course I turned it into another opportunity to do some graphic design and came up with an aggressive logo (we're both very competitive!) made with the joined version of both our names. It is just a bit of fun but it is cool to be in a sort of official running team especially my own one, I am part of Nike Town Runners and I go to london to run with them when I can which isn't often but Team Melave is the new elite team I run with and I'm gonna need it with all my lectures starting again :)

Back in England... woo...

2009-02-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

I can't bring myself to explain everything that i did on my holiday, i'm sure you don't want to hear it so I'll keep this short.

Me and my fiance, lovely hotel, No tours or guides, Walking (a lot of walking) all over Paris, Great food, Great museums, Great fucking heights!, Some questionable people, Some lovely people, lots of very questionable attempts at the french language, good pictures, bad pictures, sunny days and a lot of money later and you have the best 4 days that I have had in a very long time :)...

...and I went back to that alley way and took a picture. Those Parisian scum haven't scared me!

Paris Holiday

2009-02-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Thats me and my friend Matt when I went to Paris when I was 18 and got my head kicked in, in an alley way but don't worry I got back to my hotel with my phone and wallet, maybe they just didn't like me?

Anyway I'm in desperate need of a holiday and my mum has kindly given me a holiday to Paris with my fiance :) originally in the hotel where I stayed first but obviously moved it to another area! I can't fucking wait my iPod touch has a translator app so i can kinda speak french and I can forget about work :)

A biento!

21

2009-02-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

I turned the BIG 21 yesterday and my first thought was... fuck! I am now completely clear of the safety net that is considered a teenager. I am now a young adult, to me this means one of the biggest years of my life as a major life shift is coming when i graduate and i step blinking into the real world for the first time. Will it be everything I imagined? well no it won't be I havnt been living under a rock at university! it wont because I'm not rich living in the playboy mansion, 6ft 2 blonde and work as a professional worlds sexiest man! just kidding i dont need to be 6ft 2...

Questions questions questions are everywhere when your 21:

Will i get a job i like?

Where will i live?

Will i have to go back home or chance it in london?

Will i get the degree i want / maybe deserve?

Do i keep a safe job in a shop till the credit bollocks is over?

Should i send cvs now?

Have i enough things on my cv?

Am i good enough for the job i want?

Will i be alone?

Will i find someone?

You know, crap like this instead of my usual dilemma of which to scratch first my arse or my balls.

Good news is though now i'm 21 i can legally adopt a child (africa here i come).

Bad news is If i commit a bad enough crime i will be sent to prison no ifs or buts bit of a bummer... but i can drink in America woo and own a firearm legally what a great mix, might not go to America too soon.

The best i can hope for is to be happy failing this I can now also become a member of parliament so i will change the laws accordingly. 1st on my list would be to give me a job I really want then i will quit and do that instead. see not just a pretty face, i'm also slightly mad :) but at least i have a plan... of sorts.

Witness the Fitness.

2009-02-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new start... well kinda. Those of you who know me well enough know that i love to run, i recommend it to everyone, nothing helps me cope with the stress of everything better well apart from one thing :)

Anyway so a new toy has found its way in to my lap! the new iPod touch which is magic and I mean actual wizards must live in this thing because its just impossible! I'm not writing a review i just can't help it :)

Nike+ is one of the best uses of digital media I have ever seen since facebook (still not reviewing ;) I have a chip inside my shoe that talks to my iPod telling it my speed and distance depending on the work out that I have set which is usually running a mile as fast as i can and a longer 1 hour run at the week end.

How ever this is just the start because when i get home i connect it up to my mac and it uploads the information onto my online account where I'm called davelawrie+ (yes... can you guess i'm in advertising?)

I have a little character mini me which is a bit too flipping a like! I can see the all knowing nods of 'bloody student' already... but what i like best is the community side of it, apart from face book i have never gone into the world of online social networks outside close friends but with this I have created a team, 'melave' which is just me and my fiance and we get invited run with other people around really nice tracks not just the road where I live lol but you can also sign yourself up to nike+ races in places like New York or London. There called challenges where you can run 3 or 5 or 7 miles, once completed it uploads to your account and you get stuff for how far or how fast you run and a higher status for challenges as well if you like that kinda thing but what i like is how it charts your progress I can for once actually see myself getting better.

I have never been a fan of nike and have only agreed with one of there slogans which was about how running is 'an addiction' but nike + combines everything I love with ease, my first proper holistic branding experience and i have to admit nike has gone up a lot in my books.

The Death of my Dissertation

2009-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Heres my dissertation printing...

Heres my dissertation fresh off the press...

Here's my dissertation bound and ready...

Here's my dissertation with CD in the library...

Here is where it all ended. Months of relentless work, our hearts and souls put into the form of size 12, 1.5 line spaced words... right into a battered old cardboard box that was in the corner under a table... worth it!

so thats it dead and dusted. I will not say another word, it's just over.

The magical 10,000

2009-01-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

Not many things move me to tears... and this wasn't one of them either but I felt very incredibly good.

The magical 10,000 word mark seems to be impossible when you first start, its like looking up at the top of a mountain before you plan to climb it.

This is just a first draft but I have my team of expert proof readers (my mum) on the case. Now for the obligatory all nighter on thursday to make sure every little thing is perfect :)

Good Luck all my course mates :) and go fuck yourself Mr Harvard who ever you were!!!

U.C.engAged

2009-01-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

I got fed up of writing about the academic side of university as the biggest part of my whole university experience was meeting my fiance. Yes thats right I said fiance :)

A lot of students come to UNI with their college sweetheart but I have seen it fail so many times it's enough to make you lose faith in love all together. There's this myth that when you come to UNI the idea is to get with as many people as possible which is why we have to suffer the shit ads about 'stds' and to some sad people that is what it's about (not the std's).

I was amazingly lucky meeting Mel. It wasn't the most romantic of beginnings (drunken kiss) but 2 years later and a proposal at Reading Festival '07' and I've never been happier :)

I know lots of people who have met their current partners at UNI and by current partners I mean a partner that could be the one, not who the hell are you get out of my room current partner.

Its the one thing no manual or student guide can help you with I'm afraid. You may be a skeptic and want to be out there and single before you "settle down" but to me this all depends on your idea of settling down. It's a stupid term because who wants to settle for anything? it implies there's something better. If your thinking kids, a house, a mortgage and a car all ready then please for the love of god! your with the wrong person, get away quick.

With the right person very little should change in regards with all the things you want to do in your life. The only difference is now you have someone to share it with, someone who can add more to the things you will do. They are much better than your best friends (you can't do certain things with your best friends... well not usually).

I've seen people not give anyone a chance in terms of giving it a go and their paying for it now.

I'm rambling on but I really do feel incredibly lucky. To find someone who your not thinking about "settling down with" rather carrying on the adventure with i'd imagine is bloody difficult. So heres to everyone at UNI who has 'a someone' not just with someone.

Creative campaign Project Presentation...

2009-01-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

As presentations go this one has to be in my top 3. At the beginning of this course, presenting was some what of a weekly hell, getting up in front of everyone to have them judge you like an animal and then at the end have "feedback" (they never held back) from people who know about as much as you do which seems pointless but the result is that now we are all very good at it (well most of us(that will drive them crazy if they read this, who could I mean hmmm,,,).

I was very proud of my ideas the images are but one out of 5 briefs that I did the rest you can view on my website :) I did the drawings with Crayola Crayons! nursery kids kiss my ass (not literally) I just raised the bar you little snot bags.

So celebrations are in order... well no not quite everyone got a weeks extension for their dissertations cuz george complained (thank you very much george) :) and so I have another week with no sunlight till it's done

One small step for man, one giant leap towards my degree.

Business Vs Pleasure

2009-01-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

Some people say never mix business with pleasure, well they obviously are alone and cry themselves to sleep every night out of how boring a person they are.

If there was no pleasure in business or in my case working on UCA stuff, i'd have long thrown myself off the top of the library long ago...

It is an amazingly difficult skill separating the two. In the first year your natural choice being at the beginning of your career is to spend long hours devoted to pleasure, In year two your either one or the other and your either in a frame of mind where you think you should be working harder or your thinking you should be being crazier because your at UNI. These two feelings interchange frequently.

You get to third year, the dreaded 70% of your marks go to your degree and so it's down to some serious work interspersed with serious pleasure, it doesn't happen as often as you'd like (unless you don't care about your marks and continue going out every night!) but when you do it can get rather messy as all that pent up energy just comes bursting out and makes you do things like as I saw, one of your friends being kidnapped off the street for his birthday!

It is so important to keep this balance because after all your only at UNI once and you don't want to waste it on both sides of the equation.

Right now I should be doing more work or in bed sleeping but I'm on here writing because it is part of my pleasure to write such bollocks, it's not goin out getting wrecked and waking up with the brazilian volley ball team but its something.

All ways have those little things that get you through the day if its blogging, great! if it's sex lucky you ;) if you can do something for someone else who's really stressed at the moment do it (if your a hot guy or girl have sex with them... just a suggestion...)

hard work sucks but UNI just wouldn't be the same with out it.

Burning the midnight oil

2009-01-11T13:10:00.001-08:00

'Burning the midnight oil'

An expression that gives that all too familiar sinking feeling to any creative that hears it. Why? because it means pain... emotional and physical pain but to us students it simply means normal working hours for a big project.

I'm in full deadline meeting mode with my first big presentation of the new year looming, I'm armed with my cups of Tea, Relentless (aka legal speed) and so I'm ready for a week of barely any sleep, blood shot eyes, mood swings, minor psychotic episodes, major forgetfulness (did I remember to...) and very irregular eating habits e.g. buttered toast and prawn cocktail crisp sandwiches at 3 am (don't knock it till you've tried it honestly...)

Why do I do it? because there's nothing quite like putting your all in to something to have it pay off, you feel like god, well I imagine thats how he must feel anyway.

It is easier to forget the work you put in than to remember what you got out of it, however this comes with one massive howling exception... if you fail.

Then it really was just a few weeks of your life you could have spent having a lot more fun.

But hey nothing in life comes easy and all that shit that was designed to make you feel better in the face of crushing defeat.

Am I a pessimist? I don't think so I'm not afraid to fail, your talking to the guy who in his first year did a whole presentation and was told at the end I had missed everything on the brief, needless to to say I learnt from that particular mistake.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hate working ridiculous hours for weeks on end for something that could be shit anyway, unless its a success then I love it, hows that for profound...

The best letter to put in a post.

2009-01-10T02:49:00.000-08:00

"Tea! Thats all I needed! Good cup of tea! Super-heated infusion of free-radicals and tannins - Just the thing for healing the synapses!" The Doctor

I have to get my fix of tea every morning or my brain just sulks in my skull, refusing to get out of bed (much like me).

Forget coffee, all that causes is a heart beat of a rabbit, nausea and a horrible come down.

Tea my friends is the way forward! I owe my dissertation being on schedule to that gentle infusion.

Drink Tea, It really is my advice to any one who sits in front of a computer for hours on end.

It no longer belongs to the old or those fucking annoying middle aged women who call it a "cuppa"

It now belongs to the strong minded people of the world who can say NO! to Starbucks and want to make a statement about what they drink.

Tea is not a drink, It's a movement!

T-Rules!

Rubix Dude

2009-01-07T11:34:00.001-08:00

This was my courses original logo which I have since updated but its all hush hush so I can't show you but take my word for it, it's mesmerizing, wonderful a tour de force :) well hopefully.

My course leader wanted some kind of promotion that he could give to perspective students, I looked into my research as I will be properly re-branding the whole course for my final project and I thought to make the logo into a Rubix Cube. Apart from it being a highly collectible toy, its likeness to the existing logo is great and I love the connotations with problem solving which in essence is what design and advertising is.

Here it is!!! I went to my lecture room for a tutorial and it was just sitting there, I had sent the designs over a month ago and had heard nothing of it since. It was a really odd experience to see something I had made on a mac screen existing quite peacefully on the table, I guess thats what pro designers feel when they happen on something they've made.

I immediately stole it of-course, I kinda own it...

I can not wait to get started on the re-brand after this I'm buzzing to do more.

Business Cards!!!

2009-01-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

My first professional design gone and come back successfully from print!

As you know, Yellow Brick Road Consulting is my first design account that I won via a competition.

These are the first of the promotional materials I have been working on for Alex to come back from the printers and they look amazing, not just business cards but good business cards and as Alex tells me are the subject of much conversation at his own client meetings.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest comes out, the brand has very suddenly become real and it is just great to see my work working :)

Theres only one DAVE LAWRIE, ONE DAVE LAWRIE!

2009-01-05T05:15:00.000-08:00

Out of a possible 494,000 results, out of all the Dave Lawrie's in the world (well on the web) I come out tops on the ole google.

*proud*

Cometh the hour...

2009-01-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

12 days untill dissertation hand in... am I scared...yes, although that would be an understatement, the whole experience is terrifying especially as I am not a natural born writer.

The feeling of going through the whole dissertation experience (I find) is more close to that of having just trod on a mine...

If I step off the mine (my desk + comp) I blow up (fail) standing there I am focused on what is happening, everything fades into nothing but... I am safe (I will pass)

It's an odd sensation, half of you is convinced that if you stay (working) your fine, the other half, if you go you die, so naturally you stay.

Enough time passes and then you start thinking you can make it if you just run very fast (rush it) and if you don't you convince yourself you could take the pain and live with the disfigurement (the poor mark or failure and emotional scars)

Every now and again you drift off and you forget where you are (the pub) but the hooded man with a scythe is serving the drinks.

You could call for help but only you properly understand the state your in so what do you do? you could always try denial, denial is great because everything is fine.

But no... we wait... its safer until doomsday, then we have no choice but to make the leap (hand it in) and trust it won't all explode...

I'd be comfier under the Damocles Sword

but it will also be all over soon and I can hopefully get back to normal because is you've just read that analogy you can see something isn't quite right upstairs.

Good Luck to all my fellow Dissertationers I have a lot of respect for you especially if your from a strictly non writing dicipline. I hope it all goes well

Web 2.Dave

2008-12-30T15:35:00.001-08:00

Just some web design from an ill spent (literally) afternoon.

Its so much harder than it looks. Now I can see why it takes so long.

Sick Day Smick Pay

2008-12-30T05:30:00.000-08:00

What did you get for christmas? I got loads of amazing presents and had a great christmas as I did sweet F.A. but enjoyed myself, work was very much at the back of my mind, which made it all the sweeter.

Now that I'm back, I thought I would get some work done before the new year celebrations. However the powers that be had other plans and have struck me down with Mr Flu, I say Mr because I have man flu which is a lot worse ;).

I guess work will have to wait (oh no...)

I can honestly say it's only at UNI where being ill is not that much of an inconvenience, sound strange? it's not as strange as putting yourself in over 27,000 pounds worth of debt before having even started.

We're just nutters us students.

The Wrong Impression.

2008-12-24T01:31:00.000-08:00

Working hard or hardly working?

This wasn't exactly the impression I had imagined hard work would earn me!!!

Xx Merry Christmas xxX

www.davelawrie.com

2008-12-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

www.davelawrie.com - not finished but is a web presence of sorts :) I love my logo

(good job really...)

Job Offer!!!

2008-12-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hooray no more need for this blog...

Just kidding, I did however get a job offer of sorts. My CV is available online to a bunch of recruiting agencies. I joined just to see what would happen as a lot of students do. To my absolute surprise I had a phone call a couple of days later from a very nice lady offering me a temporary position in a design agency in Ipswich.

Politely I told her that I hadn't graduated yet but it was good to know that it worked! the lady was very nice about it and I hung up the phone.

It may not sound, much but to me it was huge, I had a big smile on my face thinking "I might just be able to do this" I take any feel goodness when ever I can (not that kind of 'taken' happiness! you stereotyping boring businessman!)

So there you go all you creative industry folk if you want to feel good but don't particularly want to give anyone money, email a student to tell them their work is very good and guaranteed they will be on a (legal) high of esteem.

Part time jobs with full time losers.

2008-12-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

This post is for all the students out there with a part time job.

They hire us knowing we need the money and that most of the time live very far away, they are sympathetic to our situation.

In fact my boss is so nice and is so understanding of how short of cash I am, she gave me a late shift christmas eve and an early shift the day after boxing day. This means that not only am I earning a bit of extra money, I'm also saving a lot of money by not being able to go home to see my family at all. Proof that some bosses really do go beyond the call of duty...

More time for my dissertation too!

Merry Christmas

Distractions!!!

2008-12-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Students have a knack of finding ways to do anything but their work, if they say they don't their big fat liars. Here is the latest of my finds :) 5 mins not much but enough...well back to work :(

Have you ever wondered what a dissertation looks like? (I'm here to prevent a widow)

2008-12-12T05:38:00.000-08:00

Well now you can stop wondering :) I must apologise as this photo isn't entirely accurate, you see I mopped up the blood, sweat, hair and tears (possibly urine) before I took the picture. technically I should have made a sped up motion movie capturing 3 months of time but this would have resulted in a movie sadder than lassie and possibly more violent than hostel 1 and 2

Who ever said you shouldn't mix business with pleasure? a complete douche! thats for sure.

T-Shirts

2008-12-05T02:37:00.001-08:00

If you can just about manage to use illustrator or photoshop you would have no doubt designed a T-Shirt at some stage, if not you have at least said "that would look great on a T-Shirt" and if you haven't what the hell is wrong wrong with you!!! T-Shirt making is amazing fun and is what I did to raise money for my degree show a long side my courses "ABC" day where we all had stalls set up selling all sorts of christmassy things.

We raised Just under £43 and that was only the £2 deposit we charged. 27 T-Shirts in all but we have made nearly £200 which is great.

All in all I feel a lot better at having raised a sizable chunk out of my contribution to the show.

www.davelawrie.com

2008-11-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

Heres a sneak preview of my personal website...well I can't use a blog forever!!! have began the process of building it and will form the base of my assault on the design world!

You may remember my logo from previous I have smartened it up considerably and I love it :)

watch this space for the URL :)

...ofcourse

2008-11-26T13:32:00.001-08:00

...ofcourse, this was my groups answer to a new student portal.

we broke down the existing student portal into the 3 things it did that we found usefull and simply dropping the things we didn't. Thats deadline alerts, Downloading of lectures and a usefull place from which to have all your existing web conquests in one place. i.e. flickr or Deviant art

THE DOTS are our branding idea, simple, student friendly design that can cross age and nationality, there all called paul :)

Follow the link to our viral which would be the first point of contact for students, followed by a direct mail campaign.

http://www.sublenko.com/ofcourse/large.html

I won't say anymore hopefully they will use our idea and not just take the great name and do the same boring thing they all ways do! which is to try and be facebook :(

huge thanks goes out to the amazing Darragh, with out him our viral would just be a shit story board instead of a viral that we sent to the markers days before the presentation :) check him and his partner in crime nick cannons at

http://www.sublenko.com/

http://www.nickcannons.blogspot.com/

Sipping champagne in the emerald city.

2008-11-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

If you have bothered to read any of my past blogs you would know I entered a competition to design a logo for a new consulting company in Farnham.

Good news! I won, I was very proud because design technically isn't what I'm studying but goes to show a good idea is whats important.

The project turned out to be a thorough test of everything I've learnt. Not only did I design the logo but he also wanted the whole stationary package, plus ideas for his website. How ever this wasn't an entirely new experience for me. What I learnt the most was how to work with the client himself, who luckily was a very nice man open to ideas, which is so refreshing since I have since become accustomed to that look a toddler gets when he thinks he's being clever, whenever I pitch an 'out there' idea. I was treated and worked like a professional.

Me and Alex are still in contact and have been working on getting other local businesses to utilise the talent that is at UCA, because of my other commitments i.e. my dissertation I was unable to take on another branding project as a result of the interest in my work with Alex. So its all good.

I got a nice giant cheque for my troubles as well :)

Yellow Brick Road Consulting is run by the amazing Alex Warren and if your interested to learn what he and his business does or you want to see my work working live visit.

www.yellowbrickroadconsulting.co.uk

BUSY with a capital F#@K!!!

2008-11-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm back!!! can't tell you how good it is to have the time to sit down and work on my blog :)

Mr Munch has helped me visually communicate the last month I've had in this stunning painting.

so whats been going on...well its November so naturally I had a really important presentation, this unit labeled creative campaign saw me and my creative partner squeeze VW, Twinnings Options and our very own UCA's black board student portal all in to one presentation. Now you may think this doesn't sound so bad but, and this is a big but not only did we have to fit the whole 3 presentations into 15 minutes, they had also limited us to 2 slides of our thoughts on the brand, 2 slides on further analysis of the brand, 2 slides for brand platform and 1 slide for each medium we have used.

Naturally I used 3 mediums, T.V, Print and Ambient. So this left me with 30 seconds per slide! all this in front of a board of directors of the university. piece of cake, I think not!

So what with getting all the research done and having it all executed to a professional standard, and rehearsed to a professional level, I thought we did ourselves proud.

However that's not what happened, what actually happened was 3 to 4 weeks of sleep deprivation, malnutrition, a slightly less than lethal dose of caffeine in the form of coca cola and coffee, a very neglected fiance!, a creative team who have known each other for over 10 years pushed to the limit of just how much you can like someone and a run through of the whole thing 10 minutes after we were meant to be there!

Luckily they were running late and we really pulled it out of the bag proving that we are not the worst creative team that has ever lived. ones thing for sure we would do nearly anything to meet a dead line! our lecturer came up to us afterwards to congradulate us, I could have cried... and I mean actual tears.

I have made it through this month and I feel a lot more optimistic about my future, and can get my ass putting up some work at last!

Am I a Product of (product) red?

2008-10-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

Am I a product of (product) red?

For my dissertation I will be exploring the ethics of advertising/marketing for charities. (Product) red is just one of them.

Now when ethics and advertising are mentioned I'm met with either a groan or a lecture on why its bad or good either way it makes for a lively discussion.

The case for advertising and marketing in the ethical world has been argued again and again and again. Is it bad and brainwashing?, is it good and an accurate reflection of our society? Personally I don't want to answer those questions as both in a way are false. I will be looking at the deliberate use of ethics in marketing/advertising and exploring whether it affects our personal autonomy. The paradox being if it does is it necessarily a bad thing if it makes me more ethical as a person e.g. helping fight aids in africa by buying a (product) red iPod?

I have been a major fan of (product) red for years and consider it one of the best brands there is but I have never stopped to think about the implications of buying their products. I payed 50 pounds for a pair of (product) red converse shoes. Does converse care about Africa or do they want me to just buy their shoes? Does the fact that their for charity justify the premium price tag and does this mean I'm am essentially buying into what (product) red is apparently against, Elitist capitalism? or should I just shut my mouth and be happy that I can buy shoes I like whilst helping Africa? could it be that major corporations do care and are doing their bit or are they just responding to the latest consumer trend of being ethical and green?

Lots and lots of questions and I have barely touched the surface of it all, I just hope by the end I still want to buy into ethical brands because it's such a nice idea and that I still want to be in the business at all!

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to prove (product) red to be a farce, hopefully the opposite. I am much more interested in the paradoxes that lie within the two worlds as they become more and more intergrated with each other.

Design your own (product) red shoes like mine :)

www.joinred.com

(blog) red

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

2008-10-13T13:20:00.001-07:00

Do you need an extra brain?

Need help squashing any wicked competition?

These days you need courage to follow your heart or your business could blow away.

If you follow the yellow brick road, help can be just a click of the heels away.

Don't hide behind a curtain, see what you could have had all along.

Today I was accosted by a very frustrated romanian girl asking me whether I had done the yellow brick road brief. Of course my answer was, what brief?

She sent me the brief and here it is, I can not disclose too much info but it is a competition amongst my Uni for a chance at designing a logo for a new company, this is my offering for a logo and possible brand platform. I couldn't resist messing around with the copy. If I win, there is a glowing reference and future work to be had so wish me luck.

If I win you can bet your ass I will tell you about it on here and I will be able to disclose the whole extent to which I went with this and it will make a lot more sense. :)

Free Range

2008-10-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

Free Range!!! for those of you unfamiliar with what I just cyber shouted you will find the link to their site at the bottom of this post.

In student terms its one of the biggest exhibitions for new talent in europe, anyone who is anyone in the creative industry goes to this exhibition in brick lane in liverpool street, a well known creative hotspot.

What this means for me is that a creative agency member could walk up to my work, really like it and hire me on the spot (I can dream).

What you can see in the picture is my courses gallery space as voted for since yesterday, we went to brick lane and had a look round all the different spaces and we did the usual talking of prices and set up times and the whole affair was done quite professionally. Naturally we remedied this by going out in london to places such as Carneby street and had a great night out in the city.

At the moment the space is very bare, a blank canvas! but earlier this week we held a crisis meeting as there was some trouble in the ranks but we rallied together and laid everything out, assigned roles (I'm designing the website and invitations and just general art working with a team of designers from my course) everyone has there bit to do, A clear goal as to the money we were looking at raising (£5000!!!) and an over all new feeling of being in a team.

Fundraising ideas came thick and fast, as they should we're a creative thinking course! and so lots of things are in the pipeline such as a car wash by some of the more attractive members of our course (no not me) and lets not forget the awesome success of DEATH MATCH by course members Luke, Wilf and George, which raised £200. I will include a link to that as well.

Incidentally if your reading this and are interested in our cause we accept support in the form of cash, suggested donation £5 min (if the church can do it I bloody well can!)

All in all everything has started to pick up pace after a slow start and I have only just ordered my books for my dissertation!!!

Never mind :)

DEATH MATCH

Free Range

Don't forget to check out our Facebook group ABC Degree Show.

p.s. If your wondering what the hell a big 3D ABC is doing in the picture it's the abbreviation for my course :)

new logo :)

2008-10-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is my new logo for self branding purposes. website, email, print projects etc. you name it this will be on it.

For my last project in my first year, I did a self branding presentation where I had a logo that I believed showed my personality. I made movies and other things all designed to show me as a person. Looking back I did a terrible job however designers find branding themselves notoriously hard and for my part I gave it a very good try.

Two years on and I'm back armed with more knowledge, practical experience and a much better sense of my self and so this logo was born.

Why bother branding myself? well apart from being immensely fun, I myself am a brand that I must sell to potential employers, I am unique, there is know one else in the world who is me, there maybe many people who are a lot like me and it is these bastards who I have to differentiate myself against.

With this logo I wanted to create something that was versatile and could be changed and lend itself to expansion in lots of different things as hopefully I will be producing lots of fun things to send to agencies.

I started sketching my name in different ways because I wanted my name as my brand (obviously) I took a step back and couldn't help notice that although the designs weren't bad (I had gone for a sketchy, spontaneous look) they all looked the same; in order from left to right. I also noticed that my name is quite long and didn't fit nicely into normal size formats such as A4, it just took up too much room.

I started messing round with the letters in illustrator and ended up with a sculpture like design that was abstract but still looked good, I would say like me but I won't for fear of a back lash of comments.

I ditched the sketchy pencil look and decided to keep the design open so that I can change it according to who I was sending it to. This feature also makes it possible to create new meanings within the basic design, plus a couple of weeks later I would have wanted to change the look of it any way. I'm never happy with my work!

The design fits neatly into the corner of anything or can fill a space and the over all effect I feel is a visually engaging logo that you have to work at (not too hard) to decode, very handy on my CV. This logo actually looks like a design rather than just a name in fancy font.

A nice clean message.

Well I like to think so anyway.

hello.

2008-10-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

hello! yes my first blog is titled hello and that took me long enough to decide on in the first place! but I feel that it has all ways been the best way to start anything.

So yeah on with the introduction. So why The Creative Pilgrimage. Well a pilgrimage is a long (and believe me it has been) journey or search of something with great importance and there are fewer things more important to me than landing my dream job in a great agency and so instead of inflicting the internet with a blog on my relatively normal life, I thought I would use this amazing tool to document my attempt at making it in the advertising industry, one of the toughest industries to get into in the world today.

You will be able to follow me through my third and final year at University where I am currently studying Advertising and Brand Communication. My projects, my ideas, my hair brained schemes of getting my foot in the door, my successes and the all ways bigger piles of failures. All will be here for you to comment with your own stories or indeed wisdom.

New posts will be up soon and a new design for the blog will be in place shortly, it all depends on how busy I am. Either I'm busy and i'll be posting a lot or I will be busy and won't have a chance to post a lot, either way you can see what kind of a year I'm in for.

Hopefully if what I wanted to achieve with this blog is achieved, it will be for some, an interesting insight into what students put them selves through to get into this highly desirable industry, for others a chance to relate and reminisce of old times, maybe it will be just a chance to laugh at a poor unfortunate soul and his predicaments, my course mates will see this as a chance to either feel really good about their work or hopefully feel really bad because my work is so good but over all I hope it will just be a place where I can not only teach (in a manner of speaking) but learn a lot as well and if your a person in advertising in a place of power I wouldn't say no to a job which would make my life a lot easier, all though would render this blog completely useless but I reckon I'd get over it.

Enjoy :)