BLACKPANNDAT

What would life be without friends? Boring and lonely to say the least!


I am lucky to have been blessed with the greatest girl group in the world, we call ourselves BLACKPANNDAT. The name is made up of the first letter of each of the girl's names in the group. My friends came up with the name when they were making pancakes one afternoon, they created a letter for each girl out of the pancake mixture and reshuffled it until it slightly resembled a name that made sense thus BLACKPANNDAT was formed. Our group was first formed during our Primary School years. It initially comprise of just BLAKPN (Bianca, Leigh, Anuschka (me), Kelly, Paulina and Nikita). Once High School came about more girls joined our group forming BLAKPANDAT (Adriana, Daniela, Ashleigh and Taz) which was our original name and earlier this year Carlin and Natalie were adopted into our group finalizing the name BLACKPANNDAT. It's always great to make new friends, and I love each and every single one of them! Girls nights, clubbing and getaways form a large part of our groups activities. A week is not complete if I have not seen my girls at least once. Each girl in our group is extremely unique and has a personality that is irreplaceable! 


Here is a short description of each:

• Bianca - Great organizer, best person to party with and always knows how to have a good time. She is also a great listener and gives the best advice! She loves soccer as much as I do!
• Leigh - Crazy, crazy person who has one hell of a sense of humor! She is also very smart and I regard her as the most mature and wise in our group.
• Carlin - She has one of the best laughs! She is also very creative, sincere and humble!
• Kelly - She does the most random and craziest things and she is hilarious without even trying!
• Paulina - She is very sassy and if you ever have a problem Paulie is your go-to girl! I regard her as the coolest and most laid back in the group! She also love's dancing and it's amazing to party with her.
• Ashleigh - She is definitely the craziest person I know, her laugh makes others laugh, she also gives the best nicknames EVER! 
• Nikita - Not only is she my cuzzie but she is like my sister! She is very caring and she cries when she sees her friends hurt or upset! She is also the most outgoing and loudest person I know!
• Natalie - She is one of my newest friends and she loves electro music as much as I do! She is so funny and is not shy at all. She says and does whatever she wants to do and I regard her as one of my role models!
• Daniela - She is regarded as the mother of our group, she is the most caring and will go to great lengths to stand up for her friends. She is also very confident and I admire her a lot!
• Adriana - She is one of the coolest people to hang out with, there is never a dull moment when she is around. She is a very witty person. She is also my music guru.
• Taz - She is very confident and not shy at all, she is super funny and does and says the most random things. She is always up for a great party. She is a very gnarly person! 

I truly do have the greatest friends, we have all shared a lifetime of memories and I can't wait to write the next few chapters of my life with them!

Now Panic & Freak Out!

After a night of no rest, and the sweet sounds of the Kings of Leon (KOL) rock anthems rolling through my head, it was finally time. The 26th of October finally arrived! I have never been more excited for anything, pure Bliss! With my T-shirt printed and poster ready, my friend Adriana and I headed to Cape Town stadium mid afternoon ready for what was bound to be one of the best days of our life! 

When we arrived we quickly made friends with the people around us knowing it would benefit our charging efforts to the front once the gates opened. The waiting period flew by, before we knew it the security was by the gate waiting to let us in. Adriana and I pushed ourselves close to the front of the line where we made friends with a girl who was kind enough to let us infront of her. Once the gate opened we sprinted to the next pit stop, pushing ourselves even further ahead. After a grueling 30 minute wait those gates opened and it was a sprint to the end, placing in firm second, and by second I mean second row from the front. Then some more waiting came which was totally worth it, the wait included performances by Shadow Club, The Black Hotels, Die Hewels Fantasties (with guest appearances by Francios van Coke and Jack Parow).

While the starting lineup bands were commencing, my friend Adriana managed to wriggle her way to the front.  I was however still stuck behind a male giraffe with curly locks. I plucked up the courage and asked him if I could stand in front of him, he was kind enough to allow me to stand next to him, although we were squished we all had a front row view now. 

The lights went dim and red smoke filled the stage... out stepped the Kings; Jarred, Caleb, Matthew and Nathan. Could the day have gotten any better, front row seats and ... to our great detective skills Jarred ended up being positioned on the right, exactly opposite to where we were standing. They opened the show with Crawl, followed by each and every song I wanted to hear. I would give you the line-up but I was beside myself the entire night!

Some of the most memorable songs were of course Fans, Molly's Chambers, Closer, Pyro where the entire audience started to sing along, and the song of the night Sex on Fire. The band decided to pull one of those "walk off the stage without properly saying goodbye" moments. Where the crowd went totally crazy all shouting "we want more" "we want more" and singing the verse from Use Somebody! And like we all predicted they walked back on stage playing four more songs.

Whilst they were playing Use Somebody, the security guard walked up to Adriana and I bearing Nathan's drumsticks as gifts for us! We couldn't believe it, I would be lying if I said I didn't cry during the remainder of the song, but I did. Jarred even gave a smile our way when we were pointing our sticks at him. They ended off with Black Thumbnail and a magnificent display of fireworks, the perfect ending to a perfect night. KOL seemed very happy to be here, all of them were smiling from ear to ear. Caleb said that Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places he has ever been to, and they will be returning again!

And now, it is all over! The depression is finally kicking, every time I look at a video clip I start to cry, will I ever see them perform again? Only time will tell. 

I have added a video clip for those who never attended, so you can see what you missed out on! Please excuse the dodgy sound and camera shaking.

Tips to the best concert experience ever:

1. Buy Golden Circle Tickets!
2. Arrive early on the day!
3. Make friends with the people around you so that they will be kind enough to let you in front of them.
4. Don't drink anything to avoid unnecessary trips to the toilets resulting in you loosing your place.
5. Run, push and shove your way to the front, take no prisoners!
6. Be noticed - make a sign and/or T-shirt!
7. Have the best night of your life!

Keep Calm, The Kings Have Arrived!

Kings of Leon, a band all the way from Tennessee, has finally decided to grace the shores of Cape Town and I couldn't be more excited! Not only are they my favorite band, but they will be the first international act I have ever seen (sad I know). It is very seldom that I like every song a band produces, when I listen to their music the skip button is never used! With the combination of Caleb's vocals, Matthew's guitar riffs, Nathan's drum beats and Jarred's slapping of the base, there is nothing not to like about them. I have thoroughly been enjoying their music since I first heard their single Sex is on Fire, I had to track back a few years to catch up on all their other master pieces, but I have been in love with their Southern charm ever since!


Over the past few weeks, the combination of excitement and design came together inspiring me to create some designs. I have been posting them on Facebook and Twitter, but I thought I should shear it with you too.


The concept of the first two posters I designed was given to me by @jhordanssister and her love for Keep Calm posters. I did both a poster for Keep Calm the Kings are Coming, and Keep Calm the Kings have Arrived. I set it on the same background colors as their Come Around Sundown C.D. cover.

The next concept was inspired by the I love NY T-shirt design, this design was originally going to be on my T-shirt for the day, but then I decided to go with the design on the right as it is more personal and indicates the date and place of the concert! My final printed T-shirt looks lovely and I can't wait to wear it later with pride!

I also did a poster design making use of the design I created for my T-shirt.

I will be attending the concert with one of my best friends and no1 Kings of Leon fan @adrianadesousa1 . We will be traveling to the stadium bright and early, braving the Cape Town rain and wind, where we will then push, shove, kick and punch our way to the front!

I have listed my favourite songs in order of preference, I hope they play these songs today, it would be the icing on top of a perfect day!

• Fans
• Pickup Truck
• Revelry
• Closer
• On Call
• Charmer
• Birthday
• Manhattan
• No Money
• Pyro
• Knocked up
• California Waiting
• Radioactive
• Sex on Fire
• Joe's head

BOOM! Now I'm off to get ready for the show, will be posting pictures tomorrow and maybe you will here that my friend and I were called up on stage by Jarred, got given backstage passes and partied the night away with them... one can only dream!

Graphic Design, a world of order v.s. chaos

Hello my sweet pitches, welcome to my blog, a place where I will be sharing my love of design among other things. My friend Shanté also known as @jhordanssister encouraged me to start a blog, and I want to thank her again for being totally awesome and inspiring!

The creative bug has been instilled in my DNA, I have had a great love for drawing from a very young age. My mother use to purchase colouring-in books rather than reading books, so excuse me if my grammer and spelling is not up to par.

Graphic design is more than making something look pretty, I think I enjoy it most because of the rewards. There is no greater feeling than a happy client and seeing the final product for the first time. Although I am still a newbie at this, I have learnt a tremendous amount and my intentions are to learn everything there is to know about this particular field.

I have a great passion for what I do, but I am not saying there aren’t any downfalls. Graphic design is packaged with many sleepless nights, changes upon changes of the “work” you thought was rather great, quick deadlines and by this I mean an hour to think of a concept and present the artwork and it is by far one of the steepest corporate ladders to climb. The pressure of always having to be creative even on your most uninspiring of days can also be a great challenge.

But what is life without a little bumps and bruises? Even after all these negatives I can't wait to wake up in the morning, turn on my PC and create something new and better than my last design. 


Some of my favorite design quotes are:

• "The creative adult is the child who survived"
• "Less is more"
• "People ignore design that ignores people" - Frank Chimero
• "Everything is designed. Few things are designed well." - Brian Reed
• "Design is where science and art break even" - Robin Mathew
• "Maths is easy; design is hard" - Jaffrey Veen
• "If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative" - David Ogilvy
• "The best ideas come as a joke. Make thinking as funny as possible" - David Ogilvy