WK1. Induction

Monday, morning of the 30th, our first session for Visual Exploration - in the place of last years Image Lab.
Once everyone was gathered in a new lecture room in the HC building, we were given an introduction to the specific unit and had chance to view the brief and see exactly what we are expected to produce over this term!

Done a little differently, the unit is split in two with a 50/50% grade balance.
First task we were told about is the Illustrated Exhibition Review - this sounded quite exciting to me as I am very interested in artist shows and really want to take this opportunity to visit as many exhibitions as possible over the next couple of months!
Secondly is our Reflective Log, with the assessment  through this online blog.
To gain a better idea of what they are expecting us to achieve I need to do some further research into other existing blogs, hopefully getting some inspiration..

http://cupofpea.blogspot.com/

http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/

These two printscreens above show my favourite blogs out of the selection our tutors recommended we look at.  These chosen ones vary a huge amount in content and style but they have both given me a ideas for my weekly posts and material content as well as how to design a successful layout.

What initially attracted me to 'Cup Of Pea' was its quirkiness and very casual approach.
After reading the 'about' section I was also very interested in content of the blog, with the photographer stumbling upon random members of the public and capturing their portrait.  The spontaneity of this working method connects to the more informal way of writing.  Despite all of the other successful elements, the best thing about it in my view is how he chooses to title each post.  They are very blunt and straight to the point, he simply says what you can see, for example 'the earmuff guy', 'man with apple', 'Joan, 46 - her earrings made me happy' and 'unknown cuties, in a hurry' are amongst some of the entries.  I hope to incorporate this laid-back quality into my blog, achieving more of a friendly approach.

In contrast to this you have other sites like 'littlebrownmushroom' which originally derived from books, this blog belongs to the renowned artist Alec Soth.  This has more of a formal  style and each post is signed by Alec but what I like about this one in particular is what it looks at, from promoting exhibitions, documentation of events and even discussing books which are available for purchase.
Not only including text and image, videos have also been uploaded - this shows how many different types of media I can incorporate when creating my own blog.

http://gbonamy.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog

http://sweetfrancoise.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog

I did more of my own research into other blogs out there and came across these two (above) which interested me, one from an animation and gaming artist Guillaume Bonamy and the other promoting Francoise Hardy's musical career. They both use a large photograph at the top which attracts the viewer immediately, they also seem very professional and sophisticated in the way they are set out.

http://beautiza.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog

As well as stumbling upon blogs which I felt worked, I also viewed ones that I didn't like as much - such as this fashion page.  The thing which put me off this was how almost half of the screen was taken over by these adverts and widgets. They distract the viewer and don't look as professional, I am going to steer away from including these in my blog.