I have been involved in Europe-an Youth Parliament, at vary-ing levels, for nearly 5 years.

It is one of the largest and most prestigious educational charities dealing with European politics operating in the UK at present. Since taking part as a student, I have spent a good deal of the past four or five years acting as an Alumnus, facilitating debate among young people in this coun-try, and as far abroad as Turkey, Latvia, Italy & Ireland. However,

in the last few months or so, I have taken on more responsibil-ity in terms of EYPUK’s external communications. Within this role, I have redesigned www.eypuk.org, maintained and updated EYPUK’s social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook & Flickr) and begun to redesign the internal communications platform. In ad-dition to this, I have rebranded the EurVoice initiative, an educa-tional campaign aimed at involv-ing state schools in the EYPUK

process. With this I produced the central logo; ensuring that it was eye-catching yet simple, and able to be implemented in all of the promotional material. I have also produced initial flyers to be distributed to schools, and also produced branded letterheads and also begun work on an html newsletter. In the future I will be designing a teachers’ resource in collaboration with other educa-tionally minded Alumni.

When redesigning www.eypuk.org I based my design around the ‘Arthemia’ theme for Wordpress. I chose this particular theme to work from because of the clean, simple design and I was able to implement our signature colours with relative ease. In addition I added both Twit-ter & Flickr functionality, and several easy to use and functional con-tact forms to streamline delegate and teacher registration for regional and national forums.

In terms of print design, I have mainly been tasked with producing all the external communications for the EurVoice campaign. To start, I created an original logo that would appeal to our core audience of students and teachers. Having established the logo, I then used the central graphical signature of the speech bubble to expand upon the theme of the voice, and by using a multitude of bright colours, I was able to emphasise the idea of a variety of different voices using a simple graphic scheme. The added benefit of this is that the design can be implemented on a wide variety of different materials, whether it be brochures, letterheads, webshots or even promotional items such as stationery.

1) To promote positive citizenship among young people in the UK,

2) To encourage discussion on European issues and create wider understanding of relations between the UK and the EU,

3) To think creatively about difficult topics and forge an under-standing of how parliamentary decisions are made.

The aims of EurVoice are in line with the ethos of EYPUK, and the part we want to play in encouraging academic and personal development in young people.

EurVoice has three aims:

European Youth Parliament UK aims to raise awareness of Eu-ropean issues, encourage active European citizenship and give

young people in the United Kingdom the opportu-nity to express their opinions, to share ideas and

to build new friendships on a local, national and international level.

European Youth Parliament UK is a registered charity No. 1029243

EYPUK supports and promotes aca-demic development within the class-

room. EurVoice events will provide a pragmatic approach in order to match core aspects of the nation-al curriculum.

The whole resource is designed to act as a supplement for the

demonstration of skills in PSHE, English and Citizenship as guided by

the 2010 curriculum key stage 4.

EurVoice is a dynamic development of the charity organisation EYPUK. The EurVoice programme is tai-lored to the educational needs of schools and students interested inEYPUK events. We aim to educate

and encourage participation for young people in European issues

and UK politics.

EurVoice events consist of infor-mal discussion based workshops which are led by EYPUK alumni, many of which are students or young professionals who have participated in one or more of our international events. Schools can arrange these with EYPUK. Discussions will focus on UK and European issues. We hope to give a rounded perspective by inviting MEPs, MPs and local councillors.

I have been working as a mar-keting intern for the Entre-preneurs For The Future (e4f)

business incubator at Birmingham Science Park Aston for the past three months and have learned a great deal doing so. During my time here I have been tasked with a variety of different marketing tasks, from producing the promo-tional material for their Seminars For Success series of business lec-tures, to creating a and branding a new digital technology meetup

held in the Science Park. I have also been in charge of updating the social media for these cam-paigns as well as designing the websites for both. In addition to this, I have also redesigned and maintained the e4f blog site, al-lowing me to utilise both my web design skills and also allowing me to hone my copywriting skills. Indeed, part of my task was to en-sure that all the correct informa-tion was portrayed in an exciting and informative manner in order

to really sell the event to both very specific, but in other cases very broad audiences. Indeed, one of the more challenging, yet rewarding tasks that I undertook was to produce a series of info-graphics to represent the make up of the entrepreneurs within the e4f scheme. This meant that they had to be both factually cor-rect, but shown in an interesting graphical manner.

To redesign the e4f blogsite I used the same theme as I did when redesigning the EYPUK site. However, due to the more complex re-quirements of the e4f program, a greater level of customization was required. I implemented custom contact forms to act as an online questionaire for potential clients; custom footers, and social media integration.

Tech Wednesday was a campaign that I was solely responsible for branding. Having designed a logo based around the symbol for wire-less internet, I then implemented that logo into a design that would be used on a series of business cards containing a qr code which, when scanned, would direct you to a secret part of the website. I also produced this central logo in the CYMK colours in order to reinforce the creative, yet techincally sound, concept behind the meetup. This central image was then applied to both the meetup.com site and the Twitter account in order to ensure that all digital outputs for the cam-paign were branded consistently.

While designing the promotional material for Seminars For Success I was dealing with some fairly technical information that would be hard to portray in an interesting manner. Therefore, I had to use some creative methods in order to make this appealing. Having been in-spired by websites such as Information Is Beautiful, I set about creat-ing my own set of infographics to represent a wide range of informa-tion and data in a aesthetically pleasing manner. From representing a demographic breakdown of the entrepreneurs taking part in the e4f program to a representation of the funding provided by public backed venture capital funds to West Midlands business, I had to ensure that both the information was clear and well presented.

£

While studying at Cardiff University I became involved in the award-

winning print Student Media,and rapidly was given a significant amount of responsibility. At first I was responsible for writing in the television section in Gair Rhydd, a wry tongue-in-cheek look at the weeks television. While this was not neccessarily the most serious or worthy section, it had its fans in the student populace and al-lowed me to try and use inventive language and humour in order to make the television listings engag-ing and funny. As I entered sec-

ond year, I was offered the ‘Agony Aunt’ page which I wrote under the moniker of ‘Ted Handsome’. Again, while this was in no way serious and was more of a com-edy page than anything else, the character of Ted Handsome rap-idly became a cult figure among those that read Gair Rhydd and was another chance to develop a more playful tone to communi-cate with the student audience. At the same time I was writing as a contributor to the Music section in the Magazine accompaniment to Gair Rhydd. I was one of the more frequent writers, as I was

considered to be both a good writer and dependable. Having gained experience writing for the magazine, I eventually secured the position of Interviews editor and made it into one of the more interesting sections. Providing consistently creative page design with a wide range of interview subjects meant that the interview section became one of the stand out elements of the magazine.

In order to act efficiently as a section editor for the magazine I had to both produce original content as well as effectively liasing with the contributors and editing their content. i am equally comfortable pro-ducing original content to a high standard or working with other con-tent to polish it up to the highest standard. Equally, I am comfortable writing for a wide variety of audiences; indeed I have had experience producing material aimed at teachers, students, professionals (both technological and financial).

interviews

The Maccabeesalbum as a record as opposed to live songs that we!ve recorded. Like, sometimes we!d want to try using something like a delayed glocken-spiel as opposed to a guitar, but he!d show us how to emulate it with pedals instead. He was very aware of the band that we are, as opposed to what we!re not. He got us focus-sing on what we could as opposed to should.!

Orlando was also quick to ad-dress any comments about the sup-posed lyrical darkness that has been attached to the album,!If anything, lyrically, the first

album was a lot more forlorn. The sound of it is grander, so it!s easier to say it!s darker. I!d like to think of it as a bit more optimistic than the first one."

A fruitful and burgeoning musical

career would be enough for most young, thrusting indie musicians, but not for Orlando Weeks. He also has a strong interest in art,

which is reflected in his passionate discussion of his interests outside of the band, so would you say that

art has influenced you as well as music?

"Absolutely. I see it as a nice escape from band stuff. I studied to be an illustrator, when I was a student. Yeah when I was younger I was much more into art than music. I was never listening to it in any-thing more than a passive way. I just let it wash over me, you know? It!s a much quicker turnaround with art. I just bought a book on Andy Goldsworthy; he's an artist I really like, and his whole angle is putting himself into nature. He did this one piece where he went into a quarry and lay down all splayed out. He then waited until it rained, then got up and photographed the silhou-ette. He just does these smart little observations. It's very unpretentious and beautiful."

“

I was always pretty good at

English. I think my teacher fancied me but I was a bit too

young

interviews@gairrhydd.com /13

“

The Maccabees

It is an ignominious start to my interview with the Orlando Weeks of the Maccabees; ar-

riving as I do, bleary-eyed and unshaven. It was perhaps an unfortunate time for the Macca-bees to play Cardiff, the day after I handed in my essays (it!s almost as if they didn!t even care!), yet despite my pale and shaking form, Orlando, resplendent in a shirt that only sought to exacerbate my hangover, was disarmingly warm and welcoming. First things first, then, How is the tour going?

"I!m actually enjoying it a lot more than the last tour. I!m figuring out a routine after gigs, and I!m not wast-

ing time anymore. I!m slowly getting my head round what Joel does at the sound desk, so I can be more involved with that next time. I!m definitely being more productive as opposed to waking up feeling as how I imagine you do."

Ha bloody ha. The band are cur-rently enjoying an unprecedented level of interest in their work. Having exploded onto the indiesphere with their debut effort, Colour It In, the band now have the weight of expec-tation on their shoulders. Indeed, the press seem almost unnaturally fo-cussed on their decision to up sticks and record in Paris. Orlando is quick to nix any suggestions of pretention

and influence over the band!s sound, however: “It!s a classic example of a band not being storyworthy enough. We don!t really conjure enough dirt to be that interesting, so it!s just something for people to talk about. The only influence it had, if any, was that it gave us isolation from friends and family. We were able to get away from spats with mates and focus on the record.!

And focus, they did. The new al-bum has been warmly received in all quarters with particular focus being levelled at their supposed darker and more expansive sound,"If anything, the producer reined

us in a bit. We wanted to see the

Having already dominated indie disco dancefloors across the country with their hit laden debut LP, Colour It In, The Maccabees are set to once more take the charts by storm with their sophomore effort, Wall of Arms. Prior to their sold out gig in Solus, frontman Orlando Weeks spoke to Ben Marshall about his art, not being influenced by Paris, and not being hungover.

interviews

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Being the Interviews editor meant that I had a certain level of free-dom when it came to design. While obviously sticking within the house style, I was able to investigate some more interesting lay-outs using different graphical themes. For example, for an interview with Cage The Elephant, I used a breakfast cereal theme due to the fact that they named themselves after a puzzle printed on the back of a cereal packet. However, not all of my lay outs were so lit-eral; indeed when I designed the page for the interview with Cheeky Cheeky & The Nosebleeds, I wanted to make it seem as parochial and middle England as possible in order to emphasise the relatively mundane lyrical themes that they investigate in their music. There-fore I used a Damask-esque wallpaper and a traditional photograph frame to make people think of their grandmother’s front room.

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interviews

Hailling from various parts of Suffolk, Cheeky Cheeky and The Nosebleeds are

an up-and-coming band with a few festivals already under their well-dressed belts. With support from both the NME and Radio 1, it seems as if 2009 may really be the year that they break through into the mainstream. The band

spared some time before their Cardiff gig to impose their own brand of wisdom onto the Cardiff student populace.

How are you enjoying the tour?

It's going really, really well. It's really picked up, because we're just about to release our new single, and we're

getting more and more radio air-play. We are starting to feel it a bit, and are getting a bit tired, but we're still absolutely loving it. However if you spend a couple of months in a van you do defi nitely know about it. We live off sandwiches now.

I've noticed that you have a very distinct aesthetic, which

Provincial pop-punkers Cheeky Cheeky And The Nosebleeds are one of the most talked about unsigned artists in the country. Having already bagged support slots with equally hotly tipped Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong and The Wombats, the band have set out on their fi rst headlining tour trundling into Cardiff for an all too brief visit. Ben Marshall and Rupert Waldron meet up with the band to discuss infl uences, future plans and Polar Bears.

Cheeky Cheeky And

The Nosebleeds

“

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interviews

“

THE

ELEPHANT

I was pretty shit-housed drunk last

night. Were you shit-housed? You

weren’t? I was shit-housed. The last

thing I remember doing last night

is snorting coffee beans…

“