Collide
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Documenting
COLLIDE Fri 22.4.16 - Mon 25.4.16 Creative Arts Building, University of Huddersfield Matt McGough
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Social Media & Contents
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SOCIAL MEDIA
CONTENTS
@hudcollide #hudcollide hudcollideevent @gmail.com
2 - Social Media & Contents — 3 - Introduction — 4 - Setting Up Friday 22nd
— 16 - Exhibition Ready Saturday 23rd
Wider Channels @ada_huddersfield @hudgda #hudgda
— 20 - Finishing Touches Monday 25th (Morning & Afternoon)
— 34 - Launch
Monday 25th (Evening)
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Introduction
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INTRODUCTION
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ollide was an exhibition of second year Graphic Design and Animation students at the University of Huddersfield. The idea was for students to organise, curate, set-up, and run the exhibition themselves. Ultimately, giving students ultimate control over the exhibition that there own work would appear in. The theme for Collide came from the theme for the year which was also collide. The course leaders thought it would be a good idea for this year to be used to experiment more with overlapping (or colliding) different disciplines, ideas, people etc. In the second term we were given projects under the collide
brief - with the aim of producing work that would fit into one of three themes - happiness, future self, or the internet & digital age. We decided that the exhibition would be a collision of these works, as well as a collision of both print and digital work. Somehow, I volunteered myself into becoming the documentary photography - capturing how the exhibition came together, from setting up the space on the Friday, the final touches on Monday morning and the Launch Party on the night of Monday 25th April, which saw friends, family, and industry guests come and visit our exhibition.
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Friday 22nd March
SETTING UP
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Setting Up
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ne of the first tasks that we completed was the hanging of 3 banners that would hang down from the 1st floor, these banners would carry the exhibition branding. Two were white on navy (pictured) and one was on an inverted colourway. The darker were branded as collide graphics, and the lighter was branded as collide animation. This required a team on the first floor to drape and secure the banners in place, and a team on the ground to judge wether the banners were hanging centrally in front of the pillars, and wether they were hanging straight. We balanced the colours out by placing the white banner in the middle, flanked either side by a darker banner. These banners became some of the most photographed elements of the exhibition, because of the brilliantly executed branding, which came from our Visual Display Team.
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Setting Up
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< Hanging a branded banner in front of a pillar, in a room filled with people with designers OCD, yeah, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;easyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;...
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Setting Up
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< Curation team in action 7
Setting Up
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Setting Up
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Setting it up on the Friday was the first time the exhibition began to feel real. It was the first time I had seen most of the work that was submitted in person. Seeing everyone work together to get the show ready, was really what the Collide was about - a collision of ideas, disciplines, materials, and most importantly people. People with different styles, backgrounds, and talents all working together to achieve a common goal.
It was also the first time I got to see the variety in the work that had been produced, even in the print work, there was a huge variety from the hand-drawn illustrations of family photos, to vector playing cards teaching e-commerce, from a dictionary on happiness in different languages and cultures, to a board game.
< Natashaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work was one of the most well recieved works in the exhibition due to its colour and unusual materials. 9
Setting Up
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Even though this was our exhibition, set up, organised, and curated by us, Deaks was always around to offer his advice, and help us out. < Nick Deakin oversaw the setting up process on Friday. 10
Setting Up
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Seeing Deakâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help layout the work, you got to see the shear amount of variety in the work. Not just physically but in the print work as well, with all sorts of different styles on show. Wes showed off his character illustrations skills, some used it as a chance to create some promo work for their other work, either with branding, advertising or photography, or other items.
< Sometimes thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bit of art in just laying out the art
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Setting Up
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> One of the more unexpected pieces - Johnnyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s robot head
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Setting Up
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> Getting that brand out there.
< Promo prepâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ed, printed, and ready to be delivered.
Whilst the exhibition was being set up, some of the Visual Display team (and some helpers) began to wonder around the university to help deliver the promo materials for the exhibition. Putting up and delivering A3, A4, and A5 posters and leaflets, using both colourways to help promote the diversity in the work in the exhibition..
< (Also available in white) 13
Setting Up
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Given that nowadays everything is documented on social media and with our degreeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s we are expected to know how to optimise social media presences, it was no surprise that plenty of photos were being taken, to be shared on social media. Some were taken for the events instagram feed (@hudcollide) to help promote the exhibition to all of its followers and any potential industry contacts and potential employers watching. Whereas others were taken for personal feeds, trying to get their friends to come down and take a look at the work on show. ^> Plenty of Instagramming going on during set up.
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Setting Up
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EXHIBITION READY Saturday 23rd March
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Exhibition Ready
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The exhibition was pretty much ready to go by the close of play on friday - with Tracy keen that it be ready for the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Applicant day on the Saturday as the dean was also going to be there, so as Year Lead she was eager to show off the work of our year to those both new and old to the university.
^ A colourful yet annoying little book by Alex
Some of the work on show ^
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Exhibition Ready
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Having missed the last couple of hours of setting up on Friday, Saturday was my first chance to see all of the work, presented in a more professional manner. Some of the work was also completely new to me, so it was a good chance to catch up with all the work that would be on show to all the guests on Monday night. Also with it being a saturady, the space would be a little quieter than usual, a great chance to get some quality photos of the work, without having to worry about people moving into the background, or ruining the shot.
^ Who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t love a jigsaw puzzle? 18
Exhibition Ready
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Some of the physical work was placed on a table for visitors to interact with, hoping they would leaf through the books, flick through the decks of cards, or play board games < My World Dictionary of Happiness 19
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FINISHING TOUCHES Monday 24th March (Morning)
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Finishing Touches
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Monday morning saw a bit of a last minute rush to get everything ready for the launch on Monday night, a final push to get everything up to the industry standard we strived for. > Some last minute tweeting too
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Finishing Touches
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Finishing Touches
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^ No event is complete without a lanyard
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Finishing Touches
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Finishing Touches
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Whilst some people were doing some last minute shopping for what to wear to the launch, James and Emma were getting lanyards and name tags ready. The lanyards were a nice little touch that people could wear whilst invigilating the exhibition so people knew who to ask if they had any questions. The name tags would help identify who created the work. The name tags also had that person email address, as well as the social media tags and the email address for the exhibition.
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Finishing Touches
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A step by step guide to making some labels. First you find a material on which you wish to mount your paper labels and then you cut it down to size. This was then followed by covering the mountboard with SprayMount, and applying the big sheet of labels. The final step is to cut out the labels, using a ruler to make sure you keep the cuts, and therefore the labels, straight. 26
Finishing Touches
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v> Stacks of names to get through
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Finishing Touches
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There was even a last minute print run for Deaks on Monday. > *Whispers* and here we see a bearded Deakin in his native print room environment. 29
Finishing Touches
Collide <v A whole lot of work needs a whole lot of name tags
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Finishing Touches
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Finishing Touches
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Finishing Touches
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> Lanyards in action 33
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Monday 25th March (Evening)
LAUNCH
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Launch
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onday night saw the Launch party of our exhibition, and was the culmination of all the effort and planning that had gone into planning the event. Designers from industry were invited, and plenty of friends and family had come down to have a look at our work and enjoy the free wine. Many people commented on the variety and quality of the work, as well as the higher than expected number of people who had come to celebratory opening of the exhibition.
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Launch
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Plenty of people came out to take a look at the work on show, Alexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Annoying Little Book always seemed to have some attention.
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Launch
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There was plenty of audience participation on show as well, with members of the public asked to build-a-bae using the cards available and take a selfie for instagram, with the hashtags #buildabae and #hudcollide. 37
Launch
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<v Safe to say, I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the only one taking plenty of pictures on the night.
There was plenty of photograph been taken all night, not just me with my 1200D, but Gerda and Rob also had their DSLRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with them, and Matoka was out and about with his stills and videographing equipment, making a short film about the launch party. Then of course there was plenty of photos been taken on phones for instagram, facebook, and snapchat - all to show the world that we all were having a great time at our own exhibition. People are always more willing to come if they know other people are also having a good time, its all about creating a good word of mouth, or buzz.
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Launch
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As always, there was plenty of things to talk about, things to share with family, friends, or tutors, as well as laughs to be shared.
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Launch
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ŠAll photos - Matt McGough 2016 @mattmcgough03