Thank you-Debussy

First thing monday morning on our first day back at uni after the huge summer holiday we were given our first brief with the crate for this scheduled on friday, I wont pretend it wasn't a shock to the system and I thought we'd probably ease into project work with a london trip or gallery visit and some fun day briefs in teams (like type and tape or something similar) before diving right into it again but I suppose that would only be putting it off and since we don't have a lot of time in this busy year it makes sense just to get straight into it.

The brief was at least a pleasant one with ample room to impose our personality on the outcome. We were invited to thank someone of our choosing using whatever visual medium we thought would convey this best. I chose to subvert the some'one' part of this brief and instead decided to thank a species. Bee populations worldwide are in a rate of decline which is quite unnerving due to the fact they pollinate one third of our food supply. They are vital to our species, Albert Einstein said that If all bees died out we would follow in 4 years. Despite this we continue to develop on their habitats, building on land where flowering plants naturally grow and use pesticides which poison them.

There are various campaigns which offer free seeds of the type of flowering plants that if planted in the garden, will turn it into a place where bees can thrive. However, these are mostly internet based and require prior knowledge of the plight of the bee in order for the eventual user of this product to research and order it. My idea is that I would Thank the bees by designing a free seed packet which outlines the situation in such a way that if it was distributed to the public (on a high street, at a stall at a festival or fair for example) the recipient would read the text on the packet and basically understand the nature of the bee situation, their importance to humankind and therefore want to do their bit by planting the seeds.

We had a crit on this project for which the packet design was unfinished. I spent a fair few hours on the illustration and didn't have time to complete the typographic design of the packet so I went into the crit with an unfinished piece of work which obviously didn't communicate or provoke the response I wanted. My feedback, consequently, wasn't brilliant and I struggled a bit to justify it and explain how it would look eventually as I find speaking to the entire class quite difficult normally never mind when I haven't done it for 5 months and have the pressure of having to say my piece in a minute.

I now have to complete this whilst managing the next brief. This is to design a range of stationary (not pencil cases, protractors and set squares but a business card, letterhead and 'with compliments' slip.) for a famous person picked at random. I got Claude Debussy who I had heard of before and knew was a French classical musician but not alot else. I have just begun research into him and he seems quite the maverick who ignored the dismissals and condemnations of the establishment and pursued his own experimental direction to become one of France's most famous sons. I listened to a few songs on spotify and instantly recognised 'Clair De Lune' (Spotify link- Debussy – Clair De Lune ) from its tranquil intro which I'm sure most people would know if they heard it.He seems like an intriguing character and I look forward to getting stuck into this project.