Barcelona: Travelling, Hunting for Food and OFFF Day 1

We're in Barcelona! We're here visiting the OFFF Festival for Graphic Design and arrived on Tuesday, but heres a summary of what we've got up to so far!

Tuesday 13th May
On Tuesday we all met at Gatwick Airport and got on the 11am flight straight to Barcelona! The flight was quick and easy, although the trip over wasn't exactly free of complications. All of us took pictures and videos on the way, which we want to feature in a short little film about the trip.

Once we'd checked into the hotel (which is really nice, despite the slightly dodgy WiFi) all of us students decided to go on a search for food in the evening. Well, that was interesting. We walked...and we walked...and we walked for what felt like miles. We got lost. Thinking about it, though, it was probably one of the best ways we could have introduced ourselves to the city. After walking for around 1.5 hours we came across the Hard Rock Cafe (at about 9pm) and thought "great! We'll eat here!", thinking it would be a brilliant experience. We were told to come back in an hour and a half, so we did, and then waited another 30 minutes inside. 11pm. None of us thought to check the menu and look at the prices until this point. €28 for a burger?! No thanks. McDonalds it was.

Quick point: To defend our complete lack of common sense and us not even bothering to check the menu prices of one of the most popular restaurant/brands in the world (Hard Rock) - We are a group of designers! We walked in and were all amazed at the decor of the place! Who's going to check the menu when you're in such an awesomely designed place?!

Despite this, we had a brilliant time together and 'wandering' around Barcelona -  what an experience!

Wednesday 14th May
The plans for Wednesday involved the beach, a cable car across the city, picking up our tickets for OFFF, a wander through Las Ramblas & Barcelona old town and a meal together. All of this went well, here are a few pictures of the day.

Thursday 15th May

Today was Day 1 of OFFF! Aside from the immensely uncomfortable chairs in the main room I had a brilliant time. I sat through the talks of Lorem Ipsum, Laurent Paul Robert and Seb Lester.

I, and pretty much the entire group, was amazed by Seb Lester. He's a typographer who is from Lewes (!!), right next to our college. In particular his calligraphy was brilliant and it was so interesting to hear about the success he has had in the typography field. As well as that, he came across as a lovely, genuine person who absolutely adores the work he does and I left feeling very inspired (and wishing I had just half the talent he does when it comes down to typography...). Seb was definitely my favourite speaker from the day; I now follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Overall, a great first day at OFFF. I bought some playing cards, each of which in the 54 card set has been individually designed by 54 different artists. I collect playing cards as well. 

After OFFF, we took a trip to the Cathedral. Wow. Absolutely beautiful. It was inspiring to see a building so intricately designed - "crafted". In particular I loved the stained class windows and the colours that it casted throughout the building.