laura@auralab.co.uk | 07793 216 257

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Posted:
November 2, 2012
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Graphic recording speakers at an Inventorium event

I took part as a graphic recorder yesterday at an interesting event organised by Inventorium, an organisation who help develop innovative  ideas into sustainable businesses. I had come across them previously via offering ideation support at the GeoVation Welsh Coastal Path Challenge. Yesterday in Bangor they brought together people who work in education, charities, innovative learning technologies to name a few to take part in a symposium on Digital Technology and the Wellbeing of the Young Person. Read more…

Posted:
October 2, 2012
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Swan Lake: illustrating a whole story in the name

It’s great that I can finally share the illustration I did for the Pointe Blank Swan Lake exhibition which opened last night at the Milkwood Gallery in Cardiff. I’m quite happy with it considering I did the whole thing in one day (and got a slight cramp in my drawing arm). It was great to see how all the illustrators responded to the plot of the ballet, the only guidelines being that we had to include the name of the ballet and the name or logo of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Read more…

Posted:
October 2, 2012
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Coproducing resilient communities: graphic recording from AitT3

Last week I did graphic recording for the third “All in this Together” event about co-producing resilient communities. The event was the biggest so far and attracted a fantastic audience of around 180 people from public, private and third sector organisations. I have taken part in all the events so far and this one was definitely a completely different scale and I felt grateful to be part of it recording such inspiring people speak about the values and benefits of a co-production approach.

I recorded the event in two sessions, around 75 minutes each, capturing key points and sentiments which was at times hard as most of the words spoken carried so much meaning and impact. See above and below for the photos, you can click to view them bigger on my Flickr page.

I also had a chance to put faces to many Twitter contacts, one of whom was the lovely Chris Bolton who blogs under the name What’s the PONT. He did a short post about my graphic recording work and what the benefits of a visual recording are – you can read it here.

If you would like to discuss what graphic recording could do for your organisation, events or team thinking, please do get in touch!

Posted:
September 24, 2012
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Swan Lake illustration: work in progress

Just a little snapshot of work in progress illustration of my Swan Lake piece for the upcoming Pointe Blank exhibition. I have really enjoyed working on this one as I have been working with a Pentel brush pen that has a lush delicacy to it and also introduces lovely line quality. The exhibition opens at the Milkwood Gallery on Monday 01 October with a private view from 6pm  do pop along to see artworks from a load of artists, designers and illustrators.

Posted:
September 20, 2012
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Illustration commission: Swan Lake

Auralab has been commissioned to take part in a forthcoming illustration exhibition by Pointe Blank responding to the plot of the famous ballet Swan Lake.

Pointe Blank is curated by Claire Hartley in collaboration with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, with the idea of creating:

Collections of original images inspired by the plots of major narrative works in the repertory of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and created by professional designers in and around the UK.

Past year’s productions have included Coppelia and Hobson’s Choice. This year’s Swan Lake has certainly given me lots of ideas to work with but there’s one that has taken shape and is in the works for the final piece.

The images will be displayed at an exhibition running between 01-08 October at the Milkwood Gallery in Roath, Cardiff. There will be a private view on Monday 01 October from 6pm to 9pm so come along to check out the work and have a chat. You can find the Milkwood Gallery on Google Maps here.

For more information about Pointe Blank, visit their website.

Hope to see you at the opening!

Posted:
September 7, 2012
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Exploring local heritage – interface design for Island Farm app

Screenshots of app

Yesterday was the launch of Island Farm (Welsh Great Escape), an app that explores the history around the site from early farmland years to WWII Prisoner of War Camp to present day wildlife sanctuary. The initial feedback from the app has been fantastic and this weekend the public is given one time only access to the only building still standing, Hut 9. Auralab was asked to design the app logo, interface elements and icons by MJR Solutions who were commissioned to build the app by Bridgend County Borough Council.

Hut 9 is now a Grade II listed building with a bat colony living inside. It is not usually accessible to the public. This is why the app uses augmented reality to show buildings which no longer exist and 3D animation is used for walkthroughs of what life was like there during the POW camp. However, the content is not all tied to the location of the farm – the app also has a map showing points of interest and sightings of escaped prisoners around and outside Bridgend. There is also a fabulous interview of a man who once used to live at the farm. All in all the app brings together the hard work of volunteer history enthusiasts and local authority support for local heritage.

The app is now available on App Store – you can check it out via iTunes with this link: http://itunes.com/apps/islandfarmwelshgreatescape

This project is the start of a continuous collaboration between Auralab and MJR Solutions to work together on future apps – so keep your eyes open for more information on this blog!

Posted:
August 29, 2012
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Graphic Recording a Community Vision Workshop with TYF

Last week I was asked to help capture a community vision workshop at Felinfoel, Llanelli, organised by TYF. The idea of the workshop was to bring in residents from the Communities First area around Llanelli to discuss what they want from the future in a positive way. The focus was on environmental issues and ideas and part of the workshop was about residents starting to create their own projects to tackle issues they care about in their immediate environment.

You can see more photos and detail on the Flickr set.

If you would like to discuss graphic recording for a workshop or community event, please get in touch!

 

Posted:
August 1, 2012
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Visualising the Trickster archetype

I am delighted to talk briefly about a recent project I have been working on: visualising ‘Tales of the Trickster’ research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project’s curator Bambo Soyinka approached me after she saw my TedxCardiff sketchnotes online and asked me to help her visualise the outcomes of workshops and the research process. The workshops involved writers and performers exploring questions such as ‘What is the role of the Trickster in storytelling and contemporary society?’ and ‘Using the Trickster as a tool for storytelling across cultural and creative traditions’. Read more…

Posted:
July 24, 2012
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Auralab on Service Design Wales blog

Just a quick mention about Auralab being featured on the Service Design Wales blog back in May: http://www.theservicedesignprogramme.org/2012/05/introducing-auralab/

May was a hectic month here at Auralab as I was preparing for the finals of the GeoVation Neighbourhood Challenge with Come To Your Senses project in collaboration with Emily Wilkinson. I met up with Paul Thurston from Service Design Wales to talk about this project and my future plans and so the conversation resulted in looking at refining a service design offering for Auralab. Which means exciting times ahead, keep tuned and I will be updating here on the blog and on Twitter once everything is set to go.

In the meantime, check out my graphic recording and illustration offering and if you think ‘Aha! We could work together!’ then please do get in touch.

Posted:
July 1, 2012
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Stigma & Genomics – a discussion with Mind Cymru

In late June I took part as a graphic recorder to capture the conversation between Mind Cymru volunteers, staff, service users and artist Julia Thomas, who organised the session as part of her ‘Aletheia: In Unconcealment‘ exhibition at Arcade Cardiff. The above video shows me adding finishing touches and colours to the recording which took about two hours to complete from start to finish.

The discussion was interesting and for me the most inspiring part was about either public or personal metaphors – for example ‘The Stalking Beast’ for bipolar disorder, or “Little Man in the Corner’ for depression. Using visual metaphors can be very powerful in helping to talk about difficult or sensitive topics – it externalises the issue and can help make it easier to deal with.

If you would like to see some similar work, last year I captured a conversation between Cardiff Mind volunteers – you can see it here.

The video was shot by Julia and if you would like to know more about her work, visit her website.

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