GrC 377 in London

What makes Graphic Communication 377 – Web & Print Publishing in London so unique? London is a mecca of design and we were able to use the city as our laboratory. We visited museums, theaters (War Horse, Wicked and Othello), special exhibits (Alexander McQueen), attended talks, went on guided walks and traveled to Oxford, Ascot Racecourse and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Our lectures and labs were held at the Foundation for International Education (FIE) which was a 15 minute walk from our flat. The faculty and staff at FIE were very accommodating, they made us feel at home the minute we arrived. The students learned how to use Adobe Creative Cloud programs such as InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. They designed postcards and posters. They also blogged about design, wayfinding, signage, branding and other aspects of graphic design.

GrC 377 Day #1 – group photo in our classroom

Living in London

My family was able to join me in London. We lived in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, near Earl's Court and West Brompton Underground stations. We fell in love with London. Now I truly understand Samuel Johnson's quote "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." 

Megan and Allie walking through our neighborhood to the Tube station.

My daughters Allie (left) and Megan (right) at the Geffrye Museum

While we were in London my sister, two nephews, and niece came to visit.
This photo was taken outside Queen's Arms Pub, one of our favorites!

Our Sunday ritual: visit Columbia Road Flower Market then head to Brick Lane (Hanbury Street) for street food. 

Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon

We took a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, where we took a backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theater and watched a terrific production of Othello.

Getting ready for our backstage tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/othello/

Week 5: Victoria & Albert Museum

Today we visited the Victoria & Albert Museum. We arrived at noon so we had enough time to see a few exhibits and/or have lunch in the beautiful gardens and dining rooms. Thanks to Gabi (FIE) we were able to secure tickets to the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit...it was amazing!! It has become the V&A’s most visited exhibition with 493,043 people seeing it in total during its 21-week run. The V&A is a beautiful museum with so many treasures...the Jewellery exhibit was my favorite.

Watch this video to learn more about the Savage Beauty in Numbers
exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Photos were not allowed so this photo is from the V&A web site.

Victoria & Albert Museum gardens, you can bring your picnic
or they have a lovely menu to choose from.
(Photo courtesy of Time Out London)

The interiors of the three dining areas are spectacular!

Week 4: Type Tasting in Dalston

Sarah Hyndman from Type Tasting guided the students through at Type Safari in Dalston, a dynamic and fast changing area in East London. The students learned about different types of signage along the way and how it creates the area’s own unique typographic DNA. Students also participated in a "letter hunt" and they collected photos for their GrC 377 Type Safari Poster project.

Type Tasting group #1

Type Tasting Group #2

Sarah Hyndman's Type Tasting Studio

From right to left: Amanda, Mary, Abby and Katie enjoy Sarah's type games.

Lindsay plays a Type Tasting game. Sarah provided each of the students with a Type Tasting Goodie bag at the end of our session.

Sarah showing the class a variety of hand-lettered signs on our walk through Dalston.

A Day at Ascot Racecourse

We took a train to Ascot Racecourse for a day of fun and games.

Our Ascot mascot, Musty's cousin!

An afternoon of fun and games!

Savannah, Brian and Nicole

All dressed up for our day at Ascot!

Week 3: Design Museum

Design Museum Visit & Talk: What Makes a Design of the Year?

Panorama of the Designs of the Year exhibit.

Walking from the Underground to the Design Museum.

A view of Tower Bridge from the Design Museum.