Small packages carry the most precious gifts..

Its a pity i havent blogged in a few weeks but a hectic lifestyle & stressful deadlines week after week had left me exhausted, stressed out and slightly depressed. However this week i had a lot of good things happen to me & i finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel! :)


On tuesday I managed to somehow to give a half decent presentation to my class about the graphic designer Josef Muller-Brockmann & his use of grids in Visual Communication.  Public speaking is one of my, if not the biggest fear of mine but even considering the red face and shaky hands & voice at stages, i was pretty pleased with how i performed & recieved great feedback from my tutors.


So to celebrate my somewhat small personal achievement I got myself dressed up for the first time in months and went to Auntie Annies in Belfast where my boyfriends band, PrettyChildBackfire were performing & launching their new video.

me all ready to go see some PCB

For the second time in a year they had packed out the same venue and performed amazingly as always. I had an incredible night, and was so proud of everything the boys have achieved so far. If you guys are interested here's the video for their song I Wish I Knew You Better, i really recommend you watch and share.. even if my opinion is a little biased haha

Blonde me and Ciara aged 17!

The very same night i got news that my cousin Ciara had went into labour so i travelled home the next day, "slightly" hungover from the night before, to be closer to the hospital and be there when the little one finally arrived. She had a pretty traumatic labour but gave birth to a healthy 9lb baby boy on wednesday morning at 2am by C-section. Today i got to visit and meet the newest addition to my massive family and it was love at first sight. He is the most precious beautiful thing i have ever laid eyes on and I just cant wait until my day to be a mummy arrives. I wish her every happiness and know she will make a wonderful mother. <3 This also gave me a proper excuse to use my new SLR i got months ago so I made the most of it and took hundredssss of photos. I pestered the poor child for 2 hours straight and he probably hates his auntie Shauna for shoving that lens in his face. Oh well its his fault for being soo gorgeous! :) Its a beautiful time for everyone and i'm so proud of how much Ciara has grown in the last year. Motherhood definitely suits her!

Welcome to the world Tiarnan :)

...And that just about rounds up the past few days for me! ha! I know this post was long but i finally felt i had something to write about and the time to write it. I'm  happy and content with my routine at the minute and realised that all work and no play makes Shauna a very depressed girl so I'm gonna give myself things to look forward to in future so i don't get stuck in that slump again cause its not a nice place to be. I had a bit of a wake up call and realised there is more important things in life than studying and work deadlines. Its important to spend time with family & friends because at the end of the day thats what life is about. I feel like myself again! :) You also will be proud to know i have so far stuck to my lenten promise and no make-up or clothes have been bought since before Ash Wednesday. Not long left now and even though i'm nowhere near to having enough saved for those things I would like to buy myself, I have been able to pay my rent. Woohoo! Bring on the future!

Love 

Shauna xo

Logic is the Beginning of Creative

For the past week or so I've been working on a graphic design project which required us to create our own Newspaper spread, taking inspiration from the brilliantly designed The Guardian newspaper. 

Here is the final outcome which I am very proud of..

I began by studying the layout of the Guardian newspaper closely, which meant PAINSTAKINGLY measuring everything millimeter by millimeter!!  Zzzzzz.... then sketching a few of my own layout designs I felt represented The Guardian well and replicating it as best I could using Indesign. 

It required alot of time and effort to get it how I wanted & include things like a tint block, a drop cap and pull out quotes to add detail. I also had to be careful to use rules and guides and make sure that everything lined up together to make it look professional. 

For another module we are creating our own book cover designs for Penguin Books such as One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest & Grimm's Fairy Tales. So I decided to integrate the two modules and use this as the content for the articles as well as a study of the legendary Jan Tschichold. 

We were only required to make up the headlines, the images & the first paragraphs of the articles, filling the rest of the page with placeholder text as it was the layout which was the main focus of this brief.

There are a few things I would of like to have changed if i had of had the time, like increasing the size of the body text, possibly adding in more pull-out quotes to break up the lengthy articles & I would of liked to have included line rules between the columns.

Despite it being my first time ever using InDesign I really enjoyed this project and it recieved very good feedback.

I would really like to hear more feedback so any comments would be extremely helpful. What do you think of my design? Would it look out of place or blend in well in The Guardian newspaper?

Love Shauna xo

Confessions of a Procrastinator #1

I slept in pretty freakin' late today as a result of staying up until the early hours of the morning preparing this blog. Im ashamed to tell you what time I decided to get out of bed at, so you will just have to hazard a guess. But it is the weekend, so that makes it ok.. right?
Now I'm procrastinating further, by writing this blog post. I can foresee already that this blog is going to be bad for my studies! (oh well I was never a great student to begin with!) ;)


This afternoon I'm finding myself in quite a dilemma..

Do I continue my uni work which includes deconstructing the layout lexicon of the Guardian newspaper & do some sketches of my book cover designs for One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest/ Grimm's Fairy Tales (which I would need to finish reading first).... or do I run myself a nice hot bath, put my Lush Face Mask on and relax in front of the fire before I head off to work tonight.


As you can see its a tricky one!


If you understood none of the above, never worry, I don't exactly understand what a Lexicon is either. All I know is its a snorefest and I'd much prefer having a pampering day. But I guess I may get on with it! After I take my dog for a walk, and after I run that bath :) I never learn!


P.s. if you hadn't already guessed. I am the worlds best procrastinator. Its an illness ok! :)


Love
Shauna xoxo