As the course was essentially a graphic design degree, I decided to package the work like a box of chocolates, with a few sample paragraphs typewritten (yes, with a typewriter) onto Cadbury's purple foil which was used to wrap real Dairy Milk chocolate melted into hearts.
I did a massive amount of research and looked into the history of chocolate as well as what it meant to modern society in order to contextualise its potency in art and importantly the differences in approach between female and male artists. 
I hope people find it interesting. It was written a long time ago and as such is very much of its time (please read it with forgiving eyes). However, it's always been close to my own (chocolate) heart: it contributed heavily to getting a first class degree and my tutor at the time said I should publish it. Now, all these years later, I finally have!

https://issuu.com/alexvann/docs/the_power_of_chocolate_alex_vann 
​

The presentation of chocolate has continued to be important and this is reiterated by the elaborately designed serving pots and drinking cups of 18th century England.
Richard Cadbury began the vogue for art in 1868 with his painting of a young girl with a kitten on the lid of one of his boxes. Many Victorian chocolate boxes had important uses after the contents had been consumed. Nowadays, millions of pounds are spent by huge companies on designing and manufacturing chocolate boxes, not to mention advertisements offering the product to the consumer in brightly coloured packages of gold, silver, red, yellow and orange etc. 
Because of its nature as a gift, the packaging has traditionally been aesthetically attractive and alluring.

Edward Ruscha, known for his use of words as image rather than pictures, experimented in the late 1960s with unconventional substances with which to paint. This included fruit juices, lettuce, egg yolk, spinach, blood, gunpowder, tobacco and rose petals. At the 35th Venice Bienalle in 1970 he created the ‘Chocolate Room’. Made up Of 360 sheets of paper silkscreened all over with Nestle’s chocolate, visitors found they could write messages into it with damp fingers. 
Dieter Roth often used chocolate and cocoa powder mixed with acrylic paint and glue as a medium. Like Ruscha, he had experimented with foodstuffs for paints. Claes Oldenburg and Joseph Beuys and more recently Paul McCarthy have also used chocolate as paint, usually mixed with something else and as part of a ‘larger picture.’
What Chadwick, Gallaccio and Antoni have in common (and how they differ from the above, male artists) is that chocolate forms the entirety of the piece - the be all and end all. It is not only the medium but also the concept that is on show. I believe that they have considered carefully its history, its use, its potent influence on today’s society and its metaphorical importance.

In ‘Gnaw’ (1992), the American artist Janine Antoni (b. 1964) takes a 600lb block of chocolate and nibbles away at it for 45 days. She then spits out the pulp and it to create 45 heart shaped boxes for holding chocolates. She says she is referring to eating disorders and how society can pressurise young girls into such activity. 
Bulimia Nervosa is where a person (usually a young woman) binges on exceptionally large amounts of food (usually high calorie foods like chocolate). She then goes through a process of purging the food (usually by vomiting or starvation). 
Constant vomiting causes the stomach acids to eventually eat away the enamel on teeth, causes ulcers and stomach/bowel disorders. This lifestyle governs her every waking hour. Disgust and hatred of food are substitutes for disgust and hatred of the self.
Anorexia Nervosa is far more common in females than males and usually occurs in girls from families where high achievement and scholastic success are highly valued. It is this pressure from family, friends, media, everywhere which leads people to find solace elsewhere. The fear of failure to be accepted dominates her life. The calorie is one escape route. If a girl can control the calorie, and in turn the way she looks - her physical presence in the world, then she has at least succeeded in one thing and her body shape is the only thing that really matters to her at that time. 

Antoni is shaping. She paints, draws, sculpts, molds and models with her body. By using a 600lb block of chocolate she is blowing out of all proportion an everyday foodstuff in the same way that the media blows out of all proportion the importance of body shape as opposed to inner beauty. The body is an easy target because it is tangible. Antoni has also done a series of busts, self portraits in chocolate and soap (‘Lick and Lather’ 1993) in which she eats and washes away parts of the sculptures - parts of her own self image. 
Her regurgitation of the chocolate from the ‘Gnaw’ block mirrors the bulimic’s purging activities. The act of modelling 45 heart shaped boxes from the spat is a comment on packaging (of chocolates and the inner ‘self’). The boxes look like well produced packaging trays - only when we know the truth behind their construction does the stomach turn.
Chocolate is a luxury item but has many positive and practical functions. It is a valuable portable snack food providing quick replenishment of energy (used by sportsmen and mountain climbers etc). And lastly, and most importantly perhaps, it is a gift. That is the double irony being dealt with in ‘Gnaw’. Antoni, the artist, through her processes, is providing heart shaped gift boxes for us, the gallery goer, the consumer. 

The ‘paint’ was made by melting 315 bars of Bournville plain chocolate to 63 kilos of liquid and mixed with vegetable fat for adherence to the consistency of household paint. Like Antoni (and Helen Chadwick) the amount of chocolate is taken to excess to be able to use it as a medium with which to create a public exhibition. 
“Excess is expression.” Gallaccio says: 
“I’m completely addicted to chocolate, the idea of making a chocolate room should be something really heavenly and excessive...it has particularly female connotations of binging and desire.”
Its prime associations are with mortality, deterioration and putrefaction. Like Antoni, who literally eats away the chocolate herself, Gallaccio lets light, oxygen, water vapour and mold eat at the chocolate. 
‘Stroke’ is essentially a light room made dark - subversive use of materials turns a familiar substance with all its associations with childhood and vibrancy into an excremental lament for loss. Gallaccio is using flowers and chocolate as triggers for associations such as love/ romance/sensuality/greed and satisfaction. 
The notion of self disgust/self loathing is perpetuated by advertisers who are responsible for creating a generation of Kate Moss wannabes who are bombarded with the paradoxical image of the young beautiful slim girl tucking into a bar of pure indulgence and sin. The irony here is that neither is correct. 
It’s like saying 

Read the whole thesis here: ​https://issuu.com/alexvann/docs/the_power_of_chocolate_alex_vann

Alex Vann is a multi disciplinary artist and graduated with a first class degree in Design for Communication from the University of Wolverhampton in 1996. 
He went on to work as a graphic designer at various leading agencies across the West Midlands and later on worked in secondary education for many years. 

He runs his own graphic design business in Wolverhampton.

As a musician and song writer his music has been used in plays, films and on radio, TV and online. He has performed at gigs and festivals as a solo artist and in duets and rock bands and has supported Paul Young, All About Eve among many others.

As a portrait artist he has been commissioned to create highly detailed paintings and pencil drawings for many years and painted a portrait of the 2016 Wolverhampton Mayor and his wife. He was a key artist on the ‘Wolves in Wolves’ public art project in 2017. He designed and painted two of the 30 5ft tall wolf sculptures: ‘Support Life’ and ‘Old Gold’. Support Life is now situated at University of Wolverhampton and Old Gold is located inside the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Museum at Molineux Stadium.

He founded the company Real Arts Workshops (RAW) in the late 1990s following a final year university project and self publishing his own environmentally themed children’s book ‘Joseph The Useful Cardboard Box’ which went on sale in Waterstones bookstores across the country. RAW went on hold for many years as he explored other careers and was ‘re-booted’ in 2018 with his partner Gary to provide high quality and immersive arts experiences to various community groups; many of whom experience barriers to the Arts. 

Gary is profoundly Deaf and Alex is qualified to level 6 in British Sign Language (BSL) and BSL is integrated into a lot of RAW’s work. They use the Arts to break down barriers, build confidence and encourage self esteem and well being. 

Alex has a grown up daughter, Olivia.

Contact: alexvanndesign@gmail.com
Websites: www.alexvann.net
www.alexvanndesign.co.uk
www.realartsworkshops.co.uk

I was delighted to be asked to lead some introductory web design learning for Access to Business delegates recently. One aspect was explaining some key terminology around website design. I thought I'd share some here - both as text and images.

Website
“…a set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization…”

URL
Universal/Uniform Resource Locator: the website address, identifies a certain location on the world wide web  (www. …..) 

Web Designer
Is concerned with how a website looks and feels: colours, images, logos, layout

Web Developer
Looks after the CORE, inputting code for optimum performance, technical aspects, making sure it works

Domain Registration
This is registering or booking the name of your website for your use, you can’t have a site without this

Web Hosting
‘Renting’ the space on the world wide web for your website. Normally for a set period of time. Hosts link website domains to the world wide web

Content
All the items that make up your site: pictures, words, videos, links etc. See the list later

Accessibility
How accessible is your site for your users and for people with disabilities?

CSS Cascading Style Sheets.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
In simple terms HTML is the language of the text and CSS is the language of page design

SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines

RESPONSIVE LAYOUT
Responsive layouts are adaptable and change depending on the user device. They optimise the page to fit as much content on as possible. 

RESOLUTION
The term used for the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal elements of a screen. Also relates to the size and quality of the images you use on your website

Favicon
The tiny icon next to the site name on a web browser tab

SSL certificate
It enables encrypted connection The tiny icon lock or hazard triangle to show if your site is ‘secure’. It shows that the web service host has demonstrated ownership of the domain

​See examples of my website design HERE.

READ MORE HERE

I was pleased to be asked by Access To Business in Wolverhampton to lead some introductory training in website design for their clients. Although more of a brand and print designer, I have created several sites for customers, using a web builder. I'll be adding these to my portfolio page.
Along the way and with some research, I was able to share some simple but important 'Do's and Dont's' of web design and I will share these here over a few separate posts.
Starting with: REASONS YOUR BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A WEBSITE

You can read more about this in an article.

We feel really lucky to have been able to continue working during a global pandemic, when so many other individuals and businesses have lost work due to restrictions and lock downs. The business model of Alex Vann Design has always been to facilitate 'remote' working as a lot of our customers are business owners themselves and can't always make face to face meetings - although of course that would be perfect, in an ideal world.

Please take a minute (well, 2 minutes and 20 seconds!) to watch our review video above which showcases some of the standout projects. Otherwise, here are a few selected images below along with a slideshow.

The variety of work has been really pleasing. A lot of branding and logo design which is our specialty alongside document design, garments, website, flyers and leaflets and business stationery. 
Alex also completed some private portrait commissions including his first coloured pencil drawing (above).
You can see more of Alex's portrait work here: Alex Vann Portraits Gallery

We hope you are staying fit and well as we find ourselves in unprecedented times, a global and invisible threat to our livelihoods, communities and loved ones.  Like most small businesses, AVD has had to adapt quickly to be able to offer a high quality service to our customers. As a positive by-product of having more time on our hands, why not use this time to 'reset' your business aims / design / marketing. Here are some ideas:

You could use this time of Covid-19 to review your business:

• Write a growth plan: where are you going, how will you get there?
• Write a marketing plan: our friends at Obsidian Content Creation recently shared the importance of continuing to market in these tough times.
• Logo design: we are specialists in this (see some recent examples below), just get in touch
• Order print of leaflets / business cards production and delivery to an address of your choice (see some recent examples below)
• Review / rewrite your business plan
• Research new customers
• Use Office for National Statistics to back up your business's claims
• If you use conferencing apps, why not have a pull up banner made with your branding on to use as a backdrop instead of pots and pans in your kitchen! (see below)
• Apply for funding available to you (this is the kind of thing WE tend to put off during 'normal' working times
• Review your website: we can support with this
• Our sister company Real Arts Workshops has launched a web page full of creative activities that AVD has designed for families to do during Covid

If you are delivering training or attending business meetings using video apps, why not order a branded pull up banner from £70 for a more professional  look?

A nurturing logo symbolising the growth of knowledge through high quality education, simply denoted in three strands of the business, Home, Online and School

A highly personalised and illustrated logo for this brand from which certain graphic elements are pulled to create a fabric print