Amsterdam/Van Gogh Museum (GRC Post 10)

This past weekend, I went to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is probably one of the most interesting place I have ever been in my life. The architecture of the building, and the way the city is designed is very unusual. Most cities do not have canal system around the city, which makes Amsterdam different from any other place.

 While in Amsterdam, I was also able to visit the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. I didn't know much about him before, but now I would probably list him as one of my favorite artists. The way the museum was designed was great. There were about 4 floors total, with the floors were set up in different parts of his life, and his different painting styles.  You went with his as his life progressed, and his mental health began deteriorating. I didn't realize that he never even started painting until he was 29 years old. So crazy. Definitely one of the best weekends of my life.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Signage) (GRC Post 9)

A few days ago, we went to the birthplace of Shakespeare. It was so incredible seeing all of the history surrounding someone as famous as Shakespeare. All kinds of things around the little town were designed to look like stuff from the era when Shakespeare was alive.

The buildings were designed like little cottages and even made you feel like you were traveling back in time.

Blackletter typeface was obviously very popular back in Shakespeare's day! Most of the signs around town looked very similar.

I loved the design of this town, and the feel it gave off. We even got to see one of Shakespeare's own plays (Othello) in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Seeing one of his plays in the town he lived in was quite an experience.

Flower Market (GRC Post 8)

Recently, me and some of my new friends visited an adorable flower market. I was surprised by all of the different designs I saw within the flower arrangements. Flower markets are not something you would normally thinking of having cool designs, but I definitely saw them in this one.

 I really enjoyed how all of the different colors of the flowers were arranged. My favorite arrangement was the picture of the pink and purple flowers in the top right corner.  It was so beautiful!

Design Museum (GRC Post 7)

A few days ago, we visited the Design Museum. It was a very, very interesting place. One exhibit that was particularly interesting was the show exhibit. I never realized how much thought goes into a shoe.

I really enjoyed this thing that showed all of the parts of a shoe--many which you wouldn't even have thought of.

There were so many different shapes, sizes, designs, colors, patters and so much more that goes into shoes. I really liked the way they designed this particular exhibit. It was the whole second floor, so there was plenty of room for everything to be played out.

I also really enjoyed all of the innovative designs. One of the most memorable to me was a streetlamp that plays with your shadow. It isn't something that will be super useful, just a little entertainment! 

There was also an exhibit stating the reasons for design. I enjoyed the vacuum with a sign that read "Sheer frustration inspires new design," which is so true. Vacuums would never have been created if people weren't fed up with the tedious action of using dust pans.

Street Art/Graffiti (GRC Post 6)

One thing that I have been noticing all throughout London is the incredible street art (or graffiti). It is not something I am really too fond of, but I have seen a lot of really cool, creative designs!

This one in particular is one of the funniest ones I have seen. Some may think it is disrespectful to the Queen, but I think it is just really creative. It is definitely showing the Queen in a different light. I noticed that when people were walking past it, that most were laughing. I personally don't see people really laughing or smiling in London, so it was nice to see. I liked how something like graffiti could make someone's day a little better.

Here is another one that particularly drew my attention. The size of this one was incredible. You can't really tell by this picture, but it was around the size of a garage door. Something like this would be hard to do on a small canvas, but I can't even imagine how hard it would be to do on something this large. I think that street art/graffiti usually makes a place look bad, but this one actually made the area look better. It is not just some scribbles of someone's nickname, it is catalo real art that took someone a lot of time. If other street artists did designs like this, then streets and the world would be a much prettier place!

Wayfinding in Hyde Park (GRC 377 Post 5)

One of my favorite places to relax is Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. I am lucky enough to be living right across the street. I often go on runs here, and it is such an enormous place (about 600 acres!). Thankfully, they have signs all over the place to tell you which directions to go. 

You can tell from this picture that there are so many different paths you can take, so it is absolutely necessary to have these signs. They are designed in a way that they don't take away from the naturey environment of the park, but still stand out to where you can see them and figure out which direction to go. I can tell that these signs are something that the designers of the park thought a lot about, and not just something they just placed there.

I thought these sign-like things were really cool. I didn't really get a very good picture, but it was a giant sun-shape thing on a walking path that was in the center of a lot of other paths. I though this was a really creative and cool design. It is also really helpful!!

War Memorials and Statues (GRC 377 Post 4)

One fascinating thing we did this week was visit the various war memorials and statues all around London. There were different ones for the different ward, and the different countries and people (also animals) that fought in them. Some of the designs were pretty incredible!

There were so many different shapes, sizes, and designs. This one was a war memorial for the Canadian soldiers (I forgot which war it was, oops). I could tell it was Canadian right away because of the little maple leaves, which is a major symbol of Canada, all throughout the memorial. What also made it cool was the little bit of water that trickled down and made the leaves look like they were floating almost.

This was probably my favorite design of the memorial we saw. From far away, you can see all  kinds of words across it, but when you get close, you realize that all o f ht big words are made out of so many smaller words. Our tour guide told us that these words were all of the cities the soldiers from the UK, Australia, and a few other countries were born in.

 As you can tell, these monument come in all form, whether just some-pole looking forms (left picture) or full on statues (right picture). They also don't have to be for just humans, like the picture in the middle with was honoring the animals that forcefully helped in the wars. It was great to see all of those people/animas honored for all they had done and given for their countries. I was truly amazed by all of these incredible memorials.