Journal

Back to School

Spouting the usual clichés regarding time, I now find myself getting ready to go back to school at the end of this month. It had always been my plan to return to the UK and be accepted onto a Masters program and to further my education and now its all coming true.

The decision to go back to school came from the realization that I had achieved everything I thought I could, but couldn't see a clear direction as to what to do next. So, I decided the best thing was to go back to school and be very selfish for a while and work on projects just for me. I want to push my design as far as it can go, without the limitation of having to work for an external client. This time I am the client (and I thought all my others were demanding!).

After applying to four different colleges' MA programs, in the end I decided to accept the place offered to me by Central Saint Martins College of Art in London to study on their MA Communication Design course. Its a two-year course and initially at least I have to be in London three days a week.

I was drawn to the two-year program, simply because I feared that I would only just be getting going after one year and then it would all be over if I had gone to Staffordshire University for instance. I want to take my time and explore as much and learn as much as possible, as well as bee exposed to the art school environment and my peer group. Needless, to say, I am nervously excited about the whole thing!

For the past few months I have been settling in and enjoying the delights of the wonderful British summertime again. I have also been receiving several freelance projects from clients back in Canada. A couple of my most recent projects are discussed in the process section of this site.

Currently, I have just started work on the design of a novel called To See The Sky for Granville Island Publishing in Vancouver, Canada. I am delighted to be working on another book as this has always been a delight for me and in my mind I still want to incorporate some aspect of book design into my MA studies.

Its been a great summer and a great introduction back to how things work here in the UK and I look forward with eager anticipation to what the next few months hold for me.

Posted: Monday, September 3, 2007

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Entering A New Domain

After much thought I have decided to fade out common era design as the name I work under and switch to Andrew Johnstone Design. I would have switched to simply Andrew Johnstone, but there is already an artist in the UK and a designer in Australia (I believe) very present on the web under the same name.

Hence andrewjohnstonedesign.co.uk. Common Era Design will still get you to here, but update your bookmarks to reflect this change please. The move came about because I want to start to have my name and the work I do more recognized and to step away from the anonymity of common era and also to establish the fact that I am now based in the UK. It will of course take time for search engines etc. to pick up the new site, but that's unavoidable I guess.

Posted: Wednesday, March 7, 2007

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Launching The New Site

After an intense couple of days I am pleased to launch my new web site. Desperately need to update the old one, so I figured a complete revamp was in order.

The intention of the journal section is to create a space to share my thoughts on design and my creative process. This will be especially useful having recently taken the plunge and moved back to the UK after 15 years living and working in Canada. My intention is to get accepted onto a Masters program somewhere and further my education. More on that to come. Until then...

Posted: Thursday, February 22, 2007

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3.9.07
Back to school