The annual student degree shows are almost upon us and while it's a time of celebration, with a nod to the future and potential success, it's also a time to take stock. Education offers the raw tools and foundation to build a career but the real learning starts when you leave college.
We talk to the much-lauded Alan Clarke about finding a first job in the current recession and why life in Cornwall is a great base for creativity.
Soft drinks company, The Feel Good Drinks Company, has commissioned a design student from Solihull to help create the company’s summer TV campaign.
ilovedesign.com in association with Quark and Design Week magazine has announced a new live design event in London this July. The event 8x8 London will feature eight talented designers that have just eight minutes each to share what inspires them, where they get their ideas from and what motivates them to create exceptional designs.
Typographer Matthew Carter -- designer of faces including Verdana, Tahoma, and Georgia -- explores the influence of the past on contemporary type design in this year's Justin Howes Memorial Lecture 2009 next week.
XChange UK has announced two bundles from Markzware for QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign users. The bundles combine Markzware’s powerful XTensions and plug-ins into one lower-priced package.
Extensis has announced Universal Type Server 2.0 Professional and Lite.
Universal Type Server 2.0 has new font license compliance capabilities: using a simple web interface, administrators can tell if their fonts are compliant with their licenses.
With this release, Extensis says that it builds on its commitment to industry standards and proven open source technologies to deliver the best flexibility and performance. A new optional External Database Module, supporting Microsoft SQL Server, will offer increased scalability for demanding environments.
The new version of the Type Client provides Mac and Windows users with an improved experience, including the ability to view all glyphs of a font and print font previews. Users can also “tear-off” a font preview and float it on top of any document to easily compare fonts in any application. With this release, Extensis also provides faster font auto-activation for more applications, with Mac and Windows plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator and InDesign CS2, CS3 and CS4, as well as QuarkXPress 7 and 8.
Tony Kaye has directed a series of Lucozade Sport commercials for its Evolution campaign with Rushes creating over 100 VFX shots for it.
Swatch and MTV Networks International have launched a new online art and design showcase called Swatch MTV Playground, which targets design students.
Spanish illustrator, designer and branding guru Javier Mariscal receives his first UK retrospective this week, as his show at the Design Museum, London, opens this summer. Mariscal is one of Spain's foremost creatives.
Adobe has announced the Adobe Education Creative Lectures tour, which it says showcases creative industry best practice and encourages skill development for both students and lecturers. The tour will combine hands-on training days for lecturers working in the Creative/Media HE colleges and universities, validated by industry certification, alongside lecture days for students on-site at the college campuses.
The free one-day Creative lectures will be held at locations across the UK including London, Liverpool, Southampton, Cardiff, Aberdeen and Falmouth. The first kicks off on today and tomorrow at Ravensbourne Media Academy in Kent, finishing up at Aberdeen College on May 26 and 27. The lectures for students will cover subjects including digital design, web communication, rich media and visual design. At some institutions, Adobe will also provide hands-on training for lecturers.
The http://www.dandad.org/awards/ are set for a bumper year, as the juries announced that 717 works will be included in this year's D&AD annual, with a record 165 of these up for awards.
A charity auction in London tonight offers the chance to bid for one-off customized items by some of design's biggest names, to raise funds for the graduation shows of design courses at Ravensbourne College.
Is the sheer joy of creativity being dulled for you by tricky clients, mundane projects and financial pressures? The June Digital Arts, out today, brings you an inspiring exploration of why it's great to be a designer – and how you can rediscover your creative mojo.
Xara has announced a competition that offers six lucky winners the chance to have their work published in a new Xara Xtreme, The Official Guide by Gary David Bouton, to be released by later this year by McGraw Hill Professional
Form has created a new website for songwriter Matt Rowe, which offers an innovative use of 3D Flash technology to allow visitors to 'explore' his studio.
Digital agency Splendid has created an interactive application for Microsoft's Surface touchscreen computing table, which is showing at Grand Designs Live.
Jamie Reid, the anarchist graphic designer behind the Sex Pistols' iconic Never Mind the Bollocks record sleeve, gives a talk this Friday (April 24) at the V&A.
'Kin, the illustration-based homewares shop off Carnaby Street, is closing and is offering a 20 per cent discount until this Sunday (Feb 15). On sale are design-led prints, and the shop also offers paintings, sculpture, clothing and other nik-naks.
Nottingham-based typographer and graphic designer Thinkdust (Alex Haigh) has launched a new font based on Yagi Link Double, a 1970s Letraset typeface.