@RhynoBlog

Whilst visiting London I stumbled across a new development of building located in close proximity of the new Google London HeadQuarters, the buildings themselves carried a slight classic revival styles through motifs and columns seen upon the exterior alongside beautiful stone work and natural colour. Majority of the retail spaces seen were vacant and to fill these vacant spaces rather than border them up as seen typically in cities such as Stoke, the developers have wrapped the glass in striking colours stroke designs with each store space carrying a different colour style. The spaces included interior artwork referencing the exterior printed vinyls. The lighting I thought was a nice touch and would allow the retails spaces to still look visually attractive in the evening changing the vibe again instead of using typical white wash lighting. This creates a more professional look that will attract potential buyers to the units.

I enjoyed the recent trip to Manchester and the places we visited once there because it broadened my thoughts I guess to the wider world or design studios and how they sit within a big city such as Manchester. I feel that Manchester is a very design led city in that everything has a strong and successful design quota that is met throughout the city, compared to my local city centre; Hanley where branding, advertising and signage seem second rate as opposed to the Manchester approach that I felt gave off the impression that if it is designed well it will communicate equally as well, ensuring a successful design process. When we visited Textbook Studio in Islington Mill, I was amazed to see such an array of work spread out across every surface of the three storey studio space, each area had a distinct feel, clearly reflective of the artist or designer that worked in the associated space and the uniqueness of each piece of design work produced.

Alton Towers Resort released the 2016 Scarefest map, and as expected it's busy and complicated. Working at the Resort myself a common issue for guests is getting lost even when they're following the map! And I can understand why, I think that the map is complicated to view, offers no real scale and location base to the real life counter part and in the end causes more confusion than help. Using a full colour palette the map is visually interesting and the juxtaposition of playful and scary elements is a great summary of Scarefest in general. The map even includes a 'Where's Wally' of sorts in that people should hunt for the four main Scarefest characters on the map. An annoyance I find from a practical point of view is that the map isn't useful in terms of it's scale and location. For example, it situates the Tree Top Quest adjacent to the rear of Sharkbait Reef, when infact these two attractions are at opposite ends of the park and are at l...