The campus has became incredibly political, as candidates for the Sabbatical Union roles emerged from various dark corners of the university; each of them engaging in a more hand-shaking, baby kissing outlook on sociability. These roles are incredibly important and require a great deal of responsibility, on behalf of the entire student body at Imperial. Needless to say, I had no desire to put myself up for such a role, but I applaud the people who did, and congratulate everyone for their substantial effort.

One thing I’m not a fan of is politics, most likely due to the airbrushed, synthetic characters we use to portray it in this country. I do read manifestos prior to voting, but to be completely honest, the majority of my support stems from advertising. I like design and seeing the campus wallpapered in colourful posters is rather nice. In my opinion, how much effort you put into a poster is a fair enough indication of how much effort you are able to put in your desired role. The same applies for CVs, a tattered, poorly spell-checked, horribly formatted

document would lead me to the conclusion that the person in questions is equally tattered, poorly spell-checked and horribly formatted. This may not be the case, but there is no adequate reason to think otherwise besides optimism. I also have the unyielding rule that any use of Comic Sans should be punishable by being dropped into a den of adolescent Lion siblings, wearing the blood-stained fur of their murdered mother.

For me, the best poster goes to, presidential candidate, Danish Khan’s. It grabs your attention with a pleasing colour scheme, has a short snappy message for any brief glancers and immediately gives us the impression that Dhanish is approachable and fun.

I’m also a big fan of the font matching the image scheme, a subtle touch that shows real effort was put into the design. I could be knit-picky and say more emphasis should have been placed on his name, but it really doesn’t matter – amazing poster.

Indy (running for Felix editor) has a much simpler poster, but one which is incredibly effective. Anyone with a Mac could make it in 5 mins (add another 20 for people with PCs), but the main elements of a good poster are still present. The pastel blue is a safe, appealing colour, the main message is prominent and the picture is a positive portrayal of Indy. I also really like the t-shirt text effect, a simple effect, but one that shows a bit of effort was put into the design. Not a big fan of the amount of text involved, but at least it’s small print, and I really don’t like the “for Felix editor” which looks out of place, but all in all, very good poster.

One of the eventual winners Nicolas Massie had a comprehensive poster campaign with various designs, of varying amounts of text, colour, etc.

I’m not a fan of this approach, as it helps to have a consistent image in peoples peripheral vision for as long as possible.

However, one of his posters really caught my eye. For those who don’t like plastering their face everywhere, this simple design is very effective. Good colour scheme (though it could be a bit more striking), use of shadows to give a touch of depth, and the use of the word “I Voted” rather than “Vote” makes it seem stern and confident, rather than needy.

There were plenty of other good ones, but those were the posters that really stuck in my head. What were your favourite designs? and Are there any advertising campaigns out there you think are particularly comment worthy?

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

Hey Everyone,

Over the past month I’ve had a total of 7 courseworks which has, as you can imagine, been quite the hindrance. Along with the obvious impact on time, duration and quality of sleep, sunlight absorbed and time spent on Facebook (that is the only one that magically manages to increase during this kind of ordeal), there is a significant degradation in one’s ability to be sociable.

As repetitive as it is, the formula that works when it comes to conversation introductions is:

Person A (hereafter referred to as Chris): Hey,

Person B (hereafter referred to as Keira Knightley): Hello, How are you?

Chris: Not bad (lies), yourself?

Keira: Really good thanks, been up to anything lately?

Chris: Coursework, Coursework and more coursework

Keira: Oh, right, I’m going to go to those people in the corner who look like they have something interesting to talk about. Goodbye forever.

For this horrible month, I have had this kind of conversation over and over again, never reaching the stage where Kiera Knightley feels it appropriate to reveal her true feelings for me.

Thus far I’ve managed to complete 5 of the courseworks mentioned above, in a time where I was incredibly stressed out. I felt it better to post nothing than to post something rushed and low-quality. But fear not, Chris shall be back soon and he will NOT be writing about coursework!!!

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx