What the hell is art ?!

This morning I was trying to find a suitable place to store some Christmas presents and the only place I could find was my old den or "shack" as we used to call it. A small hut out in the bottom of my garden where me and my friends spent many hours drinking, smoking, gossiping, dancing, sleeping, you name it we've done it in that 6ft square room. Going back out there and seeing the graffitied walls and the empty beer cans made me feel something very strange, it touched me and made me think. To me this was the best peice of artwork I'd ever seen.

The English dictionary describes art as "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance". This is all good and well but to me that definition is just a bunch of words.

Urban dictionary however, describes it as "The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art". I completely agree with this definition and can easily relate to it. Although we didn't have any intentions in creating such an emotional peice of work it certianly has become that and I hope many other people can look at their own lives and see that art doesn't have to be in a boring gallery.

Alphabet furniture by DDB group - LOVE IT!

Designers today are always taking products to new levels and finding different ways to develop them. But why make things differcult when you can make them easy? That is exactly what DDB Group have done with their new flat pack furniture range.

The Singapore based design group have created a modular flat pack furniture set where you simply connect the letters to create the product you want. For example, to create a chair you use the parts C-H-A-I-R (see photo).

Each letter is made from plywood and coated in matte black paint. You can buy each piece of furniture for around $290 which I personally think is a bargain!! Simple, modern, unique furniture at it's best.. And it's cheap!

The art of communication - or the lack of..

Today's society is prodominatly surrounded by social networking, texting, and the occasional emailing. There's no denying it, it's everywhere. I know what you're thinking right now 'great another blog/article about how we lack traditional communication skills'. However, I'm actually planning on justifying it and hopefully going to enlighten you on why I spend 99.9% of my time glued to my phone.

Texting allows us to quickly, quietly, and reliablly send a message to someone else. It can help arrange plans or days and nights out, which is very handy because we all have that one friend who is ridiculously hard to get hold of! My personal favourite about texting though is that it's a simple way of just showing someone you are thinking about them. Who wouldn't like a little 'good morning' message or a 'sleep tight' text?

Facebook is also another great way of keeping in touch. It allows us to be apart of peoples lives who we otherwise may not have chance to be. The most common example I can give is when your friend move all over the country to different universities. With the help of facebook we can stay in touch and know that they are having a good time. Another, more personal, reason why I enjoy spending my time on social networking sites is that it allows me to keep in touch with my cousin who lives in Singapore. It means that we can chat and leave messages no matter what the time difference.

So yes, we may be losing the ability to express out feelings face to face but texting and messaging really can help us communicate and stay in touch where we couldn't before.

Public Transport

During my long one and a half hour bus journey home from Uni today I started to wonder whether buses are for the better or for the worse.

On the plus side I see them as being a way of reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere as the more people on buses means less cars on the road. It also provides a cheap reliable way of getting to and from places with a student all day ticket is only £4. Due to having lots of time to think about buses I also thought to myself about the health side. People have to walk to bus stops which could reduce obesity and lazyness. Also people can build better immune systems from the germs spread on public transport.

However, there are downsides. First there is the fact bus journeys take so much longer than car journeys (mine is 3x longer). Another point is that buses run on a timetable so you have to plan your journey around them rather than going when you want/need to. Socializing with people on buses can also be a problem too as nobody wants to sit next to a group of nosiy chavs or screaming kids.

Like with most things in life there are both good and bad sides but in my oppinion buses and other public transport is very useful and worthwhile but there is defintly lots of room for improvement!

The concept of Money

With the world economy currently only being held together by tiny threads I started to think about the whole concept of money.

What is money? Well the Oxford dictionary describes it as: 

noun

[mass noun]

• a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively:

  I counted the money before putting it in my wallethe borrowed money to modernize the shop
  However, I personally believe that money is the root of all evil. It plays with peoples emotions and ambitions without even trying. It can single handedly tear a family apart. Whole nations have been turned upside down because of it. 
  Just try to imagine a world without money... 

Nail art - a new fashion trend

Fashion changes day in day out with new quirky items changing and being re-invented. As the seasons change so do the fashions that we tend to follow and get drawn into. Lately, I've noticed that the lastest phase is nail art.

Not so long ago posh plain nail varnish was all the rage with the idea it made you look more sophisticated. Then it moved on to a chipped rough 'i don't care' style, but that didn't last long as people don't generally like looking like tramps.

And now we have nail art where the more styles, colours, patterns on your nails the better. It allows people to be creative an adventurous without standing out from the crowd too much.

Personally, I love this new trend.

Tom Leese

The current trend at the moment is clearly tommy :)

Trends trends trends

So I'm currently sat in my trends and visual thinking lecture.

The only trend I can think of is how the X Factor is everywhere. Literally, everywhere!!

The beauty of an iPhone

Thanks to the iPhone being an absolute genious I can blog from my phone!! Yay!! Hopefully this will make writting about trends so much easier..

The iPhone in my opinion still and will continue to out shine all other phones. It's reliable, fast, and makes staying connected so much easier. It's simply like another limb.

My first blog - Let's hope I get this right.

Current trends...

erm....

What's a trend??

What makes it current???

Oh this blogging lark is blagging...

Help?!?

Ok I can do this...

Leopard Print

After a recent trip to Manchester specifically looking for 'trends', and many shopping trips blowing my hard earned cash, I think I can confidently say that leopard print is a current trend. However, I'm not really sure it is a current trend as leopard print was also very popular in the 80's. To me this would be a revived trend (if that's even a thing). Either way, it's a trend. A trend that I have fallen in love with.