Day 20...

Good afternoon all,

As ever, I hope you and the families are keeping well.

This week feels particularly strange, the build up to Easter being so quiet and socially empty. Ordinarily, if we were in school, we would have had some milestones last week to build up towards the Easter holidays: a mass, a half-day, possibly an egg-hunt - you get the idea. Is it just me who feels slightly like we haven't earned the right to a holiday? I hope not. Most of you have been working really hard - on school work and, for some of you with jobs, at 'work work.' Either way, I hope you get the chance to mark Easter as 'properly' as you can. This won't be easy. The news doesn't seem to be getting any better. I hope you took my earlier advice to only access the news a couple of times a day (from trusted sources).

For Mrs Matthews and I, quality time over Easter will be helped by our outstanding performance in the 'Zoom pub quiz' last night. With my knowledge of Scottish idiolect, and Mrs Matthews' photographic memory for obscure 90s pop music, we have scooped £40 worth of Deliveroo vouchers which we fully intend to spend on something unhealthy.

No googling allowed...but I'll give a shout out to whoever can answer these questions which we were faced with last night:

1. In Scotland, what is a bothy? (clue - you might find it in the highlands)
2. Which artist was responsible for 'pretty fly for a white guy'?

I have been listening to re-reading...

I'm very pleased that some of my music recommendations have gone down well. That said, as an English teacher as well as a Head of Year, it's high time I recommended some reading. Why not get the same book as some friends and starting an impromptu 'Lockdown Book Club'? It's very difficult to read for pleasure in a house with two babies - trust me. I did pick up a book I have not read for a good few years, The Catcher in the Rye. This is a classic bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) about an American teenager who is struggling for direction in life. You might find elements of it really resonate with you (especially as you're not in school right now). 

Here's the first couple of sentences to whet your appetite:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. 

The latest from Chateaux Matthews

This week I cracked. I simply couldn't handle it any more. Before you become unduly concerned about my safety/well-being, I'm referring to my hair. It had become tufty around the ears and was bordering on a 'mullet.' In a moment of madness, I trusted Mrs Matthews with the clippers and the kitchen scissors and told her to 'go mad.' While I don't think Vidal Sassoon has anything to worry about - I was actually not unhappy with the result.

Aside from a haircut, we have made the most of Mrs Rawlins' Bananagrams gift and squeezed in a couple of games either side of changing nappies...we are currently 1-1, honours even, all square. 

The only other thing to report from Chateaux Matthews is my new baking prowess. I've baked two white loaves this week...the first was a dense, under-proved disaster. The second was a triumph! That said, I did get in quite a bit of trouble for leaving the kitchen in a bit of a state...

Pineapple Time...

This week - some more superb emails from some of you. I honestly won't get bored of repeating how great these make me feel - and how well they reflect on you. Thank you. Special mentions for Ruairidh, Ella G, Annalise and Lana-Hope. Also, big thanks to Ellie M for updating me with all that she's been doing to stay busy. Here, she is reading Pride and Prejudice (I think to her sleeping dog...but I can't be sure).

To earn a pineapple next week you could: email me with an update of something constructive you have been doing, a book/music recommendation, an example of creative ways to spend quality time over Easter, answers to the quiz questions from earlier in the blog!

Looking to the Future

Below you will find the result of my interview with Caroline, who is my future sister-in-law. She is an Art Director who works in advertising. As ever, if you have any questions for her about her route in to the industry/ anything else, do email them through to me and I will pass them on. As with all of our guest interviewees, Caroline is willing to answer any questions you might have.

As an art director in advertising, it's my job to come up with creative ideas for a number of clients who might want to advertise products, services, or to run public information campaigns. I tend to work for London advertising agencies, who typically have a number of corporate or public-sector clients. I have created campaigns and adverts for: cars, alcohol brands, pharmaceutical companies, retail, broadcasting, insurers and others. I am a freelancer, which means I work for myself (with a creative-partner). In our business, I tend to focus on the artistic side of things, and my creative partner works on the communication. Usually, a client has a target audience, a key message, and a budget - we then work with their demands to come up with an advert that meets this brief.

                                

I grew up in Edinburgh and studied Art, English, Media Studies and History at A-Level. I then studied Graphic Design at the Glasgow School of Art. If I was to have my time again, and wanted to get in to the same job, there probably are courses at other universities that lead more directly to jobs in advertising, but I think it was really valuable to have a strong and versatile arts degree from Glasgow.

This was a 4 year course. There was a foundation year in art and photography and sculpture. A week at university tended to be dominated by time in the studio working on projects. An example of a brief I might have been given for a project is: Explore the notion of domesticity through a book you find in a charity shop.

As part of the course, students were placed with design agencies in Glasgow. I happened to be placed in an advertising agency in the 4th year of the course - which is where my interest in advertisement design really took off. London is the home of some of the most reputable advertising agencies (alongside Amsterdam and New York). After spells working in Glasgow and some years in Manchester, I moved to London to be at the cutting-edge of the industry and make the best use of the potential clients. I moved to London 6 years ago.

Increasingly, advertising campaigns have become multi-media, with cinema, television, print, billboard and social media all requiring a coherent message. We were asked to design an advert for Direct Line insurers which encouraged younger people to take a greater interest in car insurance, as it's just as important to them as everyone else. Here is the advert. As you'll see, we created a spoof horror movie to get this message across in a creative an engaging way (the campaign was released just before halloween). You can find other work I have done at my website: https://www.carolineandbrochan.com/

Advertising and product/graphic design courses and careers would appeal to you if: you are interested in communicating ideas with pictures and art as well as words, you are artistic, you are interested in film/media/popular culture.

What have you done to cope with lockdown?

I'm quite used to using Skype/Zoom to catch up with family back home - so I feel quite well-prepared! I've been doing a lot of quizzing with different friendship groups and (occasionally) working on some projects for companies still advertising during these slightly quieter and stranger times.

Thank you Caroline!

Please do be in touch as I've asked earlier in the blog. Take care.

As ever, good health to you and your families - Happy Easter!

Mr M

Saint John Bosco...