Italia ti amo

  At the moment I’m working a book featuring all the past and present Fellows which have been at ESO. I’ve had various problems with the document which has resulted in me getting an awesome computer upgrade! (wahoo!) Working on a lot of books has really improved my Id skills which is great. I hope to improve my Ps skills too before I leave. Above is my proposed book cover

 

At the weekends I try to save Sundays for some dissertation research. On the odd sunny weekend I try to work outdoors as It’s a pity to sit indoors when the sun is shining.

 

This weekend I went with interns from other departments on a road trip to Italy, Padua. It was my first time in Italy and I think it’s safe to say I loved every minute of it!

Working among astrophysicists and engineers is really interesting if not sometimes a little strange. I’ve been thinking that I’d like to collaborate with them on some infographic projects. Watch this space.

German Summer

Hello everyone!

So I have had a super busy couple of weeks. I was in London for a weekend to see loved ones which was really handy as it was the same weekend as the PV! The show was really impressive and I was so proud of my friends and everyone else on the course. It’s really sent the message home that soon it’ll be my turn! I’m really looking forward to it, but at the same time I’m starting to get pretty nervous.

I also went to see the Damien Hirst Exhibition..I liked a few things, but nothing was really that great for me..

I’m here in Germany until September 30th which has forced me to start my dissertation research while here. I don’t mind, when the weather is nice I take my books down the the river with me and get my tan on at the same time -when the weather behaves that is.

Work is great at the moment, I’m constantly juggling projects. Putting some on the back burner while more pressing deadlines steal the lime light. At the moment I’m assisting on two books which will soon go to print, so everyone is still running around crazily trying to get get a 12GB file ready for the printers as well as do all the normal stuff. When it quitens down I have my own project in which I have on the side which will be printed and sent to all the Fellows past and present here at ESO.

For the next three months I have big plans to get my act together in time for my final year at LCC as well as lots of social activities with other interns and PhD students. I hope to finalise my dissertation question. I want to re-acquaint myself with all the contacts that I’ve made this year. I want to create a document compiling all the contacts I have made this year…I want to start all my personal projects I’ve thought of the last couple of months…the list keeps on growing everyday, but I have it all under control. I think..

Here are some photos from the last few weeks..

 

Up and Down

So the last few weeks have been, well “up and down” I had about a week and a half with nothing to do. I was going crazy. I spent my days on design blogs, bbc news website and then eventually on 9gag. It was fun at first, but then I soon realised that all this time I was killing could’ve been more productivley spent on dissertation research etc. Luckliy on thursday, a huge flood of work came in, which made me super busy until the end of the week!

I’ve been given some new responsibilities as other employees are now leaving for their annual leave. I’ve been trained as to how to operate the large format printers which are used when employees go to confrences etc. It was pretty cool learning about how the printer functions and what I would need to do to take care of it, changing cartridges, paper, etc.

Also I’ve moved into a new flat! The people at HR didn’t book my previous flat for the full 6 months and so for the second half of my internship, so here I am. Packing up all my stuff made me realise how much stuff I actually have! Its ridiculous! To be honest it is a nice-ish room. Its big, and the road outside is quiter. It also has carpet which does make it a little cosy when walking around. I do have one qualm though – my bedroom faces the carpark/street/road which on the first floor, its pretty easy to see directly into my room! So not so impressed with that..

On wednesday I will be making my way back home to London (Huzzah!) It’ll be nice to be in my own room again and to catch up with family and friends. And of course I’m really looking forward to going to the LCC Private view on the next evening!

 

Half way point!

At the moment it has been really great weather and I’m taking all my free time and spending it outdoors as the weather rapidly changes here.

I’ve been offered another 3 months internship which will now bring me until the end of september, just in time for my return to LCC for our final year. The past weeks have been up and down for me. Sometimes I’m really busy and rushed off my feet, when other days are the complete opposite and I have absolutely nothing to do. I know that it can be like this sometimes, but last week was pretty much spent waiting for things to be given to me. I hope it picks up soon and that the next three months that I’ve signed up for won’t be a complete waste!

What I’ve decided to do is use the time I have free at work to think about my self initiated project. I know what I want to base them around, but I’m still trying to figure out exactly what is it I want to base my project on. I’ve also been thinking about my dissertation (dun dun dun) of which I think I will slightly change the focus of the question and narrow down my field of research which I think will be beneficial in the long run!

I’ve also planned a short trip home to visit friends and spend time with family. It’s also in time for New blood, and the LCC private view! I’m really excited to see what the rest of the year have been up to whilst I was on DPS…

Until then.

Busy busy bee

Hey guys! So the past couple of weeks for me have been really busy, working on several projects at once but its great!

This coming October is ESO’s 50th anniversary and they’re having a huge Gala Dinner where all the important people are invited from member states and important people from ESO’s past and present. I’ve been given the task to design ephemera for the evening. I’ve designed the program, Menu and tickets. I’m still awaiting feedback from the pipeline, but nothing bad as of yet.

I’m also assisting on two books which will soon be published. It’s really showing me that I have a long way before I develop my eagle eye to spot mistakes, extra spaces and wrong hyphenations and dashes but I’m pleased to say that I’m getting there!

This weekend I was determined to stay out of the flat despite the silly rain. I had a Gallery/Museum/Exhibition weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it! My favourite has to be the Deutsches Museum and the ‘Typographie des Terrors’ at the Stadtmuseum. The exhibitions I saw at the Deutsches were ‘Printing’ and  ‘Foto & Film’. I even managed to get a private tour where the guy took down the barriers to the exhibition to show me things, turned machines on to show me how they worked and he even gave me some exhibition keepsakes!

Attending the Typographie des Terrors was a strange one. Technically they were wonderful. They used techniques like Litho using stones. But the overlying tone of hate and propaganda tainted it all. As a designer I really appreciated the strong use of imagery and text, but I couldn’t get but feel horrid for liking them as posters due to the content. What made this interesting is that German isn’t a language I fully understand, and so for me I was viewing solely them as images with text. and in that context they were interesting.

It was a really interesting exhibition to visit, it really pulled my heart and my mind in different directions. I think I may go again.

 

Sunny days ahead

So this morning I finally sent off my report(s)! Huzzah! I was really pleased with the finish and how they turned out. They look as good as they did in my head (thank god). Using my small amount of German, I managed to have a conversation with the man at the post office. I did ask him if he spoke English, his reply was “nein”.

My days are getting busier at work, and its great. I’m juggling quite a few projects at the same time, doing others whilst I’m waiting for feedback on something else. I’m really starting to settle in here at ESO and I’m really enjoying my job here. Everyone here is so friendly and helpful, It’s a great placement to have. I’ve been here for almost 2 months now, I think its only going to get better.

I got to do something very different today. I was asked to arrange the interior of the merchandise cabinet which sits in the foyer of the building. It’s okay considering the restricted items I had to work with and the lack of materials to actually show stuff off. I’m still awaiting feedback, which I’m sure I’ll be changing a few things.

It’s a long weekend this weekend, they seem to have twice as many ‘bank holidays’ here in London which is great! I plan to catch up on some sleep and spend more time outdoors. The small battery life of my mac tends to dictate the amount of vitamin D I get.

Ciao.

Sleep please

For a while I’ve been  to-ing and fro-ing on the design and the style. The last two weeks I’ve been working pretty hard on my report, editing the copy, preparing the links and making what feels likehundreds of “small” changes.

Yesterday I finally produced a maquette which also allowed me to practice me binding technique. Luckily I did because the binding on my maquette was rubbish. (The picture is of the wonky spine) I’m printing the final ones today, cutting and binding over the next two days and then sending them off to Sarah first thing on Friday morning. I’m leaving 10 working days in hope that it’ll reach LCC in plenty of time.

Fingers crossed.

I’m particularly tired today as I’ve had two really awful nights sleep. The night before last, my room was invaded by bugs, my new lamp seems to be attracting all the bugs from a 5 mile radius -did I mention I found them just before going to bed at 1am. Then at around 6am this morning I was a woken by two German women having an incredibly loud conversation outside my building. I thought I had left my window open. That’s how loud it was. Not cool

Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep after this is done.

 

 

 

Gruß Gott Sonne!

The weather here at the moment is great, it’s been sunny on most days although not always hot. Last weekend I went to Frühlingsfest for the first time, it was so much fun! It’s a little but like Oktoberfest but smaller and less crowded. It was sort of like a fun fair with bier tents which was great! I had my first Maß (a 1litre beer) and had a good go at some of the fairground rides. It was a long Sunday night out which resulted in a 48hr day, the latter half spent at work slowly dying.

Working at ESO has become more normal, and all the day to day things I’m beginning to get a hang of! at the moment I’m designing their exhibition catalogue which will be sent to any country wishing to celebrate ESO’s 50th anniversary. It’s been really fun and I’ve learned a lot on InDesign in the process. I’ve also come to terms with a super corporate style which is something I was struggling with in the first place. Most things I have been working on here at ESO are print products which will be great for my portfolio!

My DPS Report is on its way to finishing. I’ve decided to bind it myself as it give me more time and saves me money. I’ve been given permission to use the printer at work which is amazing, although I’ve bought my own paper so its not super cheeky. I’ve finally decided on the style and design of my report, so now its just finalising the copy and then I can put it all in the InDesign doc and away we go! I’m planning to leave 10 working days for it to get the Sarah at LCC as I don’t particularly have much faith in the mailing system.

Rain rain go away

It has been a miserable week here, it has been raining pretty much everyday this week and grey grey skies. There was one break where it was nice enough to sit outside during lunch and sit in the sun for an hour which was nice!

My first project they gave me has finally been approved and was formally published online yesterday. All exhibition panels are available online to download and even change into other languages for all to use. It’s mostly for the member states if they want to put on an exhibition about ESO’s 50th anniversary.

I also recieved my ESO staff card with my face on it today-very exciting! These 3 weeks working at ESO so far have either been in the past (producing the time line for the exhibition panels) or the future! These past two weeks I have been designing the 2013 calendar and the Christmas party and menu.

One of the other interns have been given the job to do the Annual report which I’m a little jelous of. I genuinely wanted to do that one! Perhaps we can swap projects on Monday.

Also I’m not in the dark anymore! Hurrah! After almost 3weeks in the dark, I can finally see the light. Very pleased.

Ich heiße Maulwurf.

Hallo!!

So it’s been just over two weeks for my new life in Munich, Germany. Unfortunately most of it has been in the dark. Four days after I arrived, the shutters broke in the down position and whole fixing part has been postponed until next week. I do hope they’ll be fixed soon. I feel like a mole!

Adjusting to life in Germany is a slow progress. Things are certainly done different here, nothing bad but it’s taking some adjusting. People actually wait for the green man to show when waiting at a crossing, apparently if your caught crossing at the wrong time by the police, a fine will be issued. I keep on almost crossing when the red man is still showing and then sheepishly taking the same steps backward.

The working environment is comfortable and surprisingly in English. There are three designers and two interns including me. We also have the Science Communication intern in our office. Apparently this is the most interns they’ve ever had, but due to it being ESO’s 50th anniversary, this many designers are needed due to the mass of things going on at the same time. I’ve also got a great set up which is a real luxury to have! A Double screen desk top is really easy to work with. Until I get home to my teeny tiny laptop. Next week I get to work on the layout of a new book about the history of ESO, which is really exciting!

The next few weeks I plan to practice my German more, I’m able to order food, ask directings and purchase things confidently. But I would like to be able to converse with people before I leave. That is my plan.

Ciao!