Ben's Blog

Hi! I'm Ben and I'm going to Málaga for the second time on the Erasmus+ mobility and I'm so looking forward to it. I'm a Graphic Design student at BIFE and I'm in my second and final year of my course. I'm really enjoying it! I'm from Wicklow and I am a huge football/Liverpool fan. I'll probably be looking for places to watch matches when I'm abroad! 

I'm very close with my family. We have a busy house with my mother, father, three younger brothers and two cats. Rarely do you have a room to yourself. The independence and freedom I'll have over in Málaga will be welcome! I'm enjoying my course and I feel like that is the path I'll follow on. I feel like I'd enjoy working in the design industry. I love to travel as well, so I hope to do plenty of that when I'm older.

In preparation for my mobility I planned how I would manage myself in regards to missed college time as to ensure that I won't fall behind. We are already quite busy with projects and assignments, so I had to continue working until my travels. I was able to pack less than I did last time having known what I need and don't need. 

I had a long night/day of travel as with a 7:35AM flight and being expected at the airport by 5:00AM, I had to take a bus leaving Arklow at 3:00AM to get up to Dublin Airport. I got some shut eye on the flight and we arrived in Málaga on Friday afternoon. We settled in and had some food and drinks that evening for an enjoyable first day of our mobility.

I was happy with my accommodation. The RESA Student Apartments are right across the river in a very central area. It was walkable from anywhere I would want to go. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, with access to a kitchen, gym and washing facilities. My workplace is a comfortable 10 minute walk into the centre of the city. I hope to get the most out of it as I can and be an asset to where I am working. 

On Sunday, we had a boat trip out onto the Málaga coast which, like last year, was stunning. It is definitely going to be one of the highlights of the mobility. There was a bar onboard so I had to have a drink to enjoy while we sailed around the sea taking in the incredible views. We were shown to our workplace on Monday to familiarize ourselves with where we would be working for the next three weeks. Tuesday, we began our placement at Associación Arrabal-AID. We were emailed a task to design a Christmas campaign for a partner of Arrabal, 'Hilodoble'. This was quite a big task so Isobel and I would have our hands full for the next few weeks.

On Tuesday, we got to take part in one of my favourite activities from my time spent here in Malaga. This being the Gibralfaro/Alcazaba walk during the evening/late afternoon. I love this walk as not only is the route itself lovely and filled with nature, but the views from various points on it as you get up towards the top of the hill are just spectacular. I could spend hours upon hours sitting up there and taking in the panoramic view of the entirety of Malaga and the sea. Additionally, something that amazed me about the walk was that the cat pictured below was also here in pretty much the exact same spot when I was here back in May. Enjoying the views just like myself.

On Wednesday the 26th October, we were invited to attend a workshop of Arrabal's. It was a watercolour painting workshop which took place at 'Mercado del Carmen'. We arrived for 10:00AM and we were shown how to make and use watercolor paint until just after midday. We were grateful that such an activity was made available to us. It was a very enjoyable and calming activity. Normally in graphic design we use our digital software more than physical mediums, so it was a nice change for us to get off our screens for a while. Additionally, on the floor above, there were some beautiful paintings hung up in the hallway that we were encouraged to check out while the workshop was being set up. 

That week in work, Isobel and I were mostly doing research on what makes a good design campaign for a company. This is normally what we would do with any large project or assignment in design. We don't just go straight into Adobe without some research or plan beforehand. There was a bit of marketing/ business thinking involved but that didn't bother us as it was still primarily design oriented. Some memorable Christmas campaigns would be Coca-Cola's adverts with Santa and the trucks with Christmas lights, or Starbucks' red cups from some years ago which was very popular on social media.

I decided not to go to Granada on Saturday, having got the opportunity to see the city and the Alhmabra back in May. I spent the day enjoying my free time. I did a lot of walking around, and took lots of photos. If I put every photo I took on this blog, no one would make it to the end! I love that Malaga is a very walkable city. We were given a bus pass with journeys on it by Era which is very useful, however I ended up not needing to use it as I was able to walk everywhere. I loved having strolls around and looking around at what is a beautiful city. On Sunday, I spent some time on the beach. Shade was found and factor 50 was applied. 

We enjoyed a nice weekend and a day off on the 1st of November. In Spain, All Saints Day is a bank holiday. This week in work, Isobel and I continued with our task. We got some more guidance from Juan who explained in more detail what was expected of us. He allowed us plenty of freedom in terms of design and direction. We had created a small design each to send to Juan just to receive feedback. These designs would likely be more the company Hilodoble's Instagram account as a small promotion of their products, which they have being doing themselves for the past few months. Hilodoble's Instagram and my design can be seen respectively, below.

From Wednesday to Friday that week myself and Isobel slowly got to creating more designs and coming up with a plan of what this campaign was going to consist of. This means a rough schedule of what and when certain designs are posted, for example a New Years Day design. In the evenings, the beach was visited plenty to take advantage of the sun while it was still around, as we certainly wouldn't be seeing much of it when we get back to Ireland.

Saturday came around and I was too exhausted after the week prior to head off to Nerja and Frigiliana. I went in May though and they were beautiful. Frigiliana is such a picturesque mountain side town. Nerja last time out was actually too hot for me! I had to leave the beach as there was no shade for me in the beating sun. The temperature was above 30 degrees Celsius, maybe 32 even. With all this in mind I said I would stay in Malaga. I value my alone time very much, however I appreciate the trips organized and they are very worthwhile. It was a lovely day in Malaga to go walking around, which I did. The Cathedral of Malaga is possibly my favourite sight that the area has to offer. I always find myself walking towards it, words don't do it justice how amazing it is. I enjoyed my low-key weekend before my last week of work approached.

Isobel and I were getting more work done as the days went by. I worked on a template for a possible Christmas newsletter, pictured below, which the company could use as a way of informing their customers about upcoming events or other information that they would like to get across. I enjoy designing the layouts of certain pieces such as a newsletter page or other type based material such as magazines or posters.

One idea we had in conjunction with Hilodoble's Christmas campaign was to propose a countdown to Christmas, whereby everyday a design would be posted with how many days were left until Christmas Day written on it, to be posted every day in December. One design could be made however the information (the number of days until December 25th) would be changed. It took me some time to decide what worked on the design. I take my time when working on something as I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. Isobel created many Instagram posts which would showcase products/celebrate a holiday. We split up the work between ourselves. Isobel and I have a great working relationship from knowing each other through our course and having worked together in May's placement also.