Gareth Dickey ============= Biography --------- Fresh from his experience within a competitive desktop publishing department, continually developing and honing his multimedia skills, Gareth is pontentially on schedule to become one of the top exports of 2008 from Interactive Multimedia and Design degree. Major Project Proposals ----------------------- ###Materialism/Consumerism/Brand Culture I'm not a hippie. I'm not a tree hugger. I don't even claim to be a crusader against the global giants of this world like Nike, Microsoft or McDonalds. However, what I am passionately in opposition to, is the increase in society's materialism, or more accurately, people's consumerism. I believe every generation is increasingly equating their personal happiness with their material possessions, whether in small or large proportions. The notion that brands can create or sustain your identity is a frustrating and worrying problem I would like to investigate this needless lust after possessions and the responsibility of the 'media' as a whole for our nonsensical buying and wanting. I'm familiar with theories such as the 'hypodermic needle model'  which raise questions over the influence of the marketers, governments and the media. A perfect example of what I mean can be found in the film 'Fight Club'. In the opening sequences the main character, who is unsurprisingly dissatisfied with his life, describes how he has succumb to the influence of consumerism. *"Like everyone else, I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct."* *"I would flip through catalogs and wonder, "What kind of dining set defines me as a person?"."* As contradictory as it sounds, the project would compose of a media campaign against these issues. The inclusion of motion graphics, video and animation transferable to the web, mobile phones, pdas, ipods, in addition to a website and an interactive CDROM would create a strong message. ####Pros * Individuals from any demographic can identify with the subject matter. * I harbor strong opinions and a high level of interest in this topic. ####Cons * No definitive results or outcomes, hard to measure the end product's effectiveness. * I realize the contradictory nature of this proposal. ###Educational Material - Interactive website and CDROM When your mother is a teacher. There aren't many benefits. They always knew when exams started and how much you should have been revising. Though it has given me an insight into how teachers often struggle to find quality resources for their lessons. Whether it is primary or secondary education, visual aids, videos or learning resources for certain areas of the syllabus can be limited. Resulting in teachers often resorting in the end to either cringe worthy videos or material around a decade out of date. I can see a real need for high quality and entertaining material for school children and young people to learn from and use inside and outside of the school or college. ####Pros * Interactivity will be to the forefront and allow for many different multimedia packages to be integrated. * Limitless scope in terms of subject matter. * If it could comply with the national curriculum guidelines. It would be without doubt be marketable to Education and Library boards on CDROM or web format. ####Cons * Depending on the subject matter, it could potentially be graphically difficult to achieve. ###Forgotten Ulster So many stories of people, places and times from this country are being lost forever in our digital age. I would propose the launch of a website where those young and old could submit there own knowledge of all things Northern Irish and keep alive our provinces unique stories and character. ####Pros * Can generates huge amount of interest as everyone has their own experiences to share. ####Cons * A website will not reach a vast majority of the target audience, the elderly. Websites of Interest -------------------- ###The Ronin [http://www.theronin.co.uk](http://www.theronin.co.uk "TokyoPlastic") I have many reservations concerning Flash based websites in terms of navigation and usability, however I could make an exception for this design portfolio. TheRonin showcases the work of the motion & print designer Rob Chiu. I initially stumbled across his work in a Computer Arts issue. Since then I've discovered Chiu's work has been screened at a number of renowned film festivals and published in other top design publications such as Grafik, Digit, Hype, Showreel and Stash. There are a number of elements to his work that intrigue me; his use of typography within the framework of video and the use of perspective within his motion and print design, these combined have helped to forge his unique dynamic style. Chui invests a huge degree of depth in his design, and his fusion of vector and raster  graphics is unparalleled in my opinion. Within the navigation of the site, the combination of sound and animation is subtle and slick. A first class graphic artist and motion developer.    ###Tokyo Plastic [http://www.tokyoplastic.com](http://www.tokyoplastic.com "TokyoPlastic")                                                              Another award winning 3D animation agency. I've revisited tokyoplastic over the past year on placement for light entertainment, when Youtube was blocked. The archive section is dominated by the company’s work for Toyota. The web & television advertising for this car is exceptional. Every scene is engaging and as an audeince we are invited to be captivated for a few minutes by the mini-plots. This site needs to be seen to be comprehended. A display of true technical and graphical genius. To be quite honest, I was blindly navigating the site as my knowledge of the Japanese alphabet is non-existent. But at every corner of this site, my attention was kept due to huge attention to detail.   ###Roberlan Borges [http://www.roberlan.com.br/ilustra/](http://www.roberlan.com.br/ilustra/ "RoberlanBorges") This is the portfolio of the illustrator Roberlan Borges, a vector artist working out of Brazil. The colour scheme and inclusion of icons such as a red star and a 'Che Guevara style' self portrait creates a really attractive Cuban style to the portfolio. Moreover, it's clear from other pieces of his work, that Borges has incorporated communist / russian propaganda influences in his work. An avenue in which I have always been often graphically drawn towards. The typography was also of interest, I would love to explore type in different languages, the Portuguese characters used in the title delivers a certain amount of class to the bradning of the site . Using small thumbnails in a portfolio gallery has become somewhat of a cliche, although I do believe in this case it works with the layout perfectly. It was this clean layout that orginally drew my attention to this site, excellent utilisation of CSS. ###Hope Positive [http://www.hopepositive.com](http://www.hopepositive.com/ "HopePositive") It took me a while to gather the purpose of this site. It appears to be a publicity campaign by a Christian organisation, highlighting the experiences of four people in very different circumstances across the world who share the same illness. Promoting how their faith in Christ has given them a hope of a future beyond the Aids virus. The branding of the campaign is very clever in terms of the name 'Hope Positive' and graphically with the use of the plus sign. The high level of interactivity with the navigation is a key to the site's success. Really good atmosphere within the pages, can only describe the style as organic and earthy. The overall idea behind the site is similar to one of my major project proposals, in that it is trying to change people's attitudes and opinions on an enormous issue. I'll definately be back at this site again. ###Habitat Shoes [http://www.habitatshoes.com](http://www.habitatshoes.com/ "HabitatShoes") On initial inspection I defined this as quite simply just a run-of-the-mill clothing site, though on a second glance I really began to appreciate some of the though processes behind the design. I am advocate of websites that aren't dominated by borders and lines. The open layout is refreshing in the light of so many CSS based sites heading in the opposite direction. The contrast between the white background and the images allowed the products to speak for themselves. In the 'Brands' section, thumbnails appear again, but the good composition of the images redeems itself.