Self Identity Brain Storm

This was a brainstorm produced in order to explore the kind of person I am and the audience I want to appeal to. I discovered that I wanted to appeal to people that were liberal minded and were creative in ways that meant we could collaborate. To approach these kinds of people I realised that my brand needed to quite creative and imaginative in order to attract other creatives.

One thing that has become clear is that some of the words I associate with myself are 'passive', 'shy' and 'awkward.' I need to overcome these in order to create a good presentation and to have an active brand.

DR ME Studio Visit

DR is made up of Ryan Doyle (DR) and Mark Edwards (ME) who met in design school and mutually didn't want to pursue a career in London advertising.  

One of their biggest projects they completed was 365 Days of Collage which was a good way of networking and allowed their skills to be honed and driven.

Piece from 365 days of collage

They were inspired by Mike Perry who is a pattern based designer and books like Hand Drawn Type. They use many hand made, original methods of design that break away from the modern focus on digital solutions. Cargo Collective is a good website to discover artists and current design work.

Mike Perry pattern design

They suggest you should never be afraid to ask questions and always aim high. They send out a mailer every month so people are reminded of them and their skill set. It is important to build good relationships with a variety of people and those in the industry. In fact, many of their commissions come from online so it is important to have a good website and it is important to collaborate. One of their biggest pieces of advise was to be brave and see new things! You have to be inspired to progress within design.

“Work out what you like and go with it.” 

Self Branding

Words I associate with myself:

• Shy
• Weird
• Passive
• Polite
• Imaginative 
• Thoughtful

I realised these were words that I assume other people would say I am. In my own mind I am confident and opinionated, no longer passive. This side of myself is seen by fewer people, but hopefully through self branding I will be able to communicate myself with more confidence. Something else I could consider is using my thoughtfulness as part of my brand. Clients may consider a loud designer as off putting, so someone who is more approachable and polite might work better for some.

Radim Malinic- Brand Nu

Radim Malinic is current graphic designer and creative director based in London. He had some advice for working within the graphics industry and breaking off as a freelancer.

Process 101:

Search: Every brief you should ask as many questions as possible in order to understand fully what you are creating. There is a difference between want and need, often you should further what the client wants if you think you can better it.

Direction: Make sure your work is opposite to the obvious, try not to develop you immediate solution. You should always prob from every direction, and have near 25 versions of your design.

Skills and Knowledge: Should always have far more skills than your own practice and pay attention to what's possible and what's around you. For example, Malinic created a piece of music called 'Nour' by overlaying recordings from Uganda. It is also important to think about how what your designing fits in with the world.

Information: Its important to have understanding about science and history for the work to have depth and culture. Could download podcasts to listen to whilst working in order to derive meaning.

Meaning: You should always fundamentally be designing for yourself and progress and develop your work. In fact it is important to have real connects and effect individuals with your work- not online followers.

Making Ideas Happen: Sometimes we are too subscribed to other people's thoughts- is important to separate yourself from that and to have a personal outlet.

Jo Blaker Studio Visit

Jo Baker is an artist and illustrator who has a wide range of experimental sketchbook work. The work explores colour and form in a relaxed and open style. They often show fast progression and are a documentation of a passion for life. She now works in galleries and teaches children about creativity. Some of her advice:

• Don't define your practice by a label.
• Can use past work to come together in a current composition. 
• Shouldn't overthink ideas without working them through, visually exploring can create far more varied work. 
• If stuck trying it with a new material can really help, its all about playing with the work.
• Nature writing is one of her biggest inspirations, especially books like Wildwood by Rodger Durkin which show a human connection with nature.
• Don't need to have a narrative and a pace in a sketchbook they are purely to generate ideas.

I need to make sure in future I can be free with my sketchbook work, and explore things thoroughly. I may even experiment with doing a sketch a day.

I liked these pieces of work as they show whimsy and honesty, some of them capture moments almost like a story would.

Artfest Exhibition

The college set up a competition called Artfest to submit work under the theme of 'art college' to be displayed. I submitted some peaces involving glow stick lettering to represent the experiments art and design students often do to create interesting outcomes.

Although this was a small exhibition it was really exciting to have my work displayed on the wall, and looked at by the art community.

Personal Evaluation OUGD403

From doing these studio tasks I have learnt how much of an impact and influence typography has had on design. I have studied terminology, the characteristics of type and how there are common styles of type for different brands and genres.

I have particularly worked on my skills in kerning. Kerning can indicate the class, budget and trustworthiness of a company- which I will consider when branding in the future. I have realised that every arrangement of letters for a word is individual and it is important that they fit together in order to flow. My INEX design worked well because I experimented with the kerning between the E and the X and was able to understand how they were related to each other.

I have also formulated some skills in letterpress; after our tutorial I experimented with the Italic Caslon typeface. It was interesting to learn new letter type terminology and printing techniques in this process. It also means that in the future I can introduce vintage letter print into my work. I have also improved my skills in Indesign and to an extent, blogger. These skills will help me to present my work to the best possible outcome. Additionally, the tutorials in illustrator have lead me to learn new components and shortcuts I was unaware of- inspiring new ideas and aiding my future design.

From both of my overcomplicated design outcomes I have realised I need to appreciate the merit in having a simple and minimalist final piece. After the second project I realised that my specimen wasn’t tailored enough to the type I was presenting. I added many layers of the type, altering angles, stroke width, size and opacity; overall creating a lot of extra detail for a type that was already complicated enough on its own. Similarly, with my logotype I pushed forward a bold design with an unnecessary circular backdrop which detracted emphasis from the main design. I hope that in future I will be better at creating work with a lot of consideration, not necessarily a lot of content.

Crits have really helped me engage with the class and gain a full, unbiased perspective of my work. I have found that by looking at other people's designs I have broadened my mind to new ideas and possibilities. Being in a room filled with young designers I have found it inspiring and motivating. From discussion I have also picked up new terminology, become aware of important designers and even noticed current design trends. Feedback has also really helped shape my work and I value it well. Additionally, I have become better at articulating how I feel about other people's designs and my justification for it.

Overall, this project has given me a better awareness of type design and how it can be used in future work to compliment and define a piece.

Time Management Task 3rd November

For this task we focused on time management and how we can improve organisation. By focusing on what we want to do, it can become easier to achieve it. 

10 things I want to do with my time:

• Join the life drawing society 
• Sleep more
• Keep on top of work better
• Do more of my own art, unrelated to course
• See my family from York
• Make time for reading 
• Go jogging
• Self publish a zine
• Get more piercings
• Meet new people 

Seeing the hours laid out in the timetables we made, showed how we can get our work done sooner and have time for what we want to do. However, I would say it can be very hard to follow a structure like this and is perhaps better as motivation than direction.

Abandoned Yorkshire Photography Exhibition 2nd November

This exhibition was about exploration of abandoned buildings, observing a loss of heritage and telling stories through fragmented moments. Left Bank Leeds was the perfect place to hold the event as the restored church had an openness and a history to it.
A lot of the works had emphasis on lighting: to achieve this the photographers worked hard to time shoots for sunrise. Seeing light shine into an abandoned building can often make the inside feel secluded and atmospheric. It can often affect the meaning of a piece too. I found if light was shining into the building (particularly in the first and last images) it was quite positive and hopefully an indication of a better future for the inhabitants and the building. Again this could also be seen as a reference to the afterlife or being trapped inside, unable to reach the light.

Stress Poetry Task 27th October

For this task we were asked to write down things that we fear, cause us stress, how we deal with stress and a negative thought from the day. These were anonymously shared with the group so we could make poetry from them. It was interesting to see how much people have similar worries for crits, failure and the future.

To destress I run backwards,
Me and time meet up in Hyde Park,
It always feels like we're racing,

I thought it would be interesting to illustrate these poems using very obscure and wacky imagery in a zine format. This would be appealing to young adults who it would probably help most. Although, many of these poems contain very dark content so it would have to be approached sensitively, perhaps with ironic or funny interpretations to lighten the content.

To be gentle and to have conviction? Self Identity Task 20th October

For this task we were asked to describe each other with words. Most of my words ran along a common theme of being 'gentle' or 'polite,' even 'quietly spoken.' It felt nice to be considered approachable and soft like this. However, although I consider these words assets, perhaps I should have more directness as a person and a designer.
Is it possible to be gentle and have much conviction? Yes, I would argue. Being reserved allows ideas to be considered and thought through, leading to certainty eventually. It's more a case of being able to communicate well once an idea has been formulated.

Offset lecture 22nd October- Droga5

Droga5 is a creative advertising industry run by Felix Richter and Alexander Nowak. Their presentation was direct and useful for advice, but also had a gentle and modest approach.
Something they communicated was that advertising is all about the talk and how successful a pitch can be. They suggest that prototypes are incredibly important, can save time and offer clients a reason to trust the designer's judgement.

They frankly admitted that "people don't love ads" as they are seen to be too commercial and purpose driven. They have bypassed this by always aiming to have a vague or complex element within their work, as it is usually what draws most success. It is also often the hardest to integrate. For example, in their 'Under Armour' ad with Micheal Phelps, there is a fleeting moment which breaks from the training shots, to look out onto a leaf covered pool. This delicate scene, filmed from the window, is very unusual yet gives some elegance to the ad. Richter and Nowak believe it doesn't all have to make sense, as life is just as unpredictable. To give people a sense of wonder watching an ad is far more powerful that giving them knowledge. As we grow from children, life is about discovery and momentary cases of wonder are very well received. Despite the difficulty in making this work in a short ad, when done effectively it can create far more interest in the idea.

Offset lecture 22nd October- Laura Carlin

Laura Carlin is an award winning illustrator, unique for her unflinching attitude towards drawing honestly for children's stories. One of her techniques is to not directly draw what is written in the text or copy from photographs. By designing free of constraining description, it becomes healthy; the designs are no longer too obvious. She also says that the best illustrations are ones that lead people to continue the stories in their heads. A design can communicate a personality and a past/future. However, the illustration should reveal itself subtly and gradually, similar to how you form a view of any character when reading.


There are very few great success in children's books, as often kids are the harshest critics. Carlin has a great notion to respect children's intelligence. It is in fact very patronising to alter yourself to illustrate or write for children. Most are able to read into images and will not be perturbed by difficult subjects or truths. For example, in her illustration for Ted Hugues' Iron Man, she didn't give any of the villagers shadows until they resolved as kind characters by the end. Although this will have gone unnoticed by most, it shows she was unafraid to implement a sophisticated idea for a child audience.

Offset lecture 22nd October- Florence Blanchard

Florence Blanchard is a French painter and mural artist. He work is very bold and abstract and is often placed in front of industrial backdrops.With a PHD in biology a lot of it focuses on cell membrane and the layering of organic microorganisms. This has some importance as it shows having passions outside of your craft can enhance your work monumentally. For example, Blanchard was commissioned by the University of Sheffield to illustrate the Kreb cycle, which has intricate detail and complex reasoning. Without her intellectual knowledge she would never have had this opportunity.

Offset lecture 21st October- Marta Veludo

Marta Veludo is a current art director working in Amsterdam. Being the first individual female lecturer, I found her presentation refreshing and inspiring.
Like several of the other talkers, she suggests the best way to design for a brand is to establish the identity of the client beforehand. This can help to create a personality and familiarity which is sometimes lost in commercialism. For example, her work with the band 'Oh Thunder' focused on giving each member an icon or "power." I love this idea, as often a band has a group identity and nothing more, whereas 'Oh Thunder' has achieved both.

Another aspect of Veludo's work is to think of objects from unique angles. For some work she likes to distract herself from an object's original function so you can find true beauty within it. Like in mop heads or gardening mats. 

Offset lecture 21st October- Moving Brands

Moving Brands are design company with offices all over the world and Darren Bowels is head of the London company. He philosophises that design has become too "squeaky pants", and the process of most design is not nearly messy enough.
He has a strong emphasis on the collaboration: bringing people together from very different creative backgrounds, integrating teams and heavily involving the client. He believes the best way to work with the client is to work messily and be "unapologetically experimental."

Offset lecture 21st October- Steve Simpson

Steve Simpson is renowned illustrator, who specialises in hand drawn packaging and illustrated barcodes. He spoke with confidence and clarity about his work, from sauce bottles to Times Square billboards.

He emphasised the importance of limited colour pallets to create the best designs. His William Morris inspired work often has a lot of intricacy, but by reducing colour they don't become overwhelming.
A lot of design work these days is purely functional, he believes that this is a wasted opportunity. Even things with beautiful design, are often crafted purely to be aesthetically pleasing, where is the whimsy?
His illustrated barcodes are an excellent example of how you can break boundaries to make something purely functional, into something unique and characterful. I found this to be a charming and memorable aspect to his work.

Beavertown Brewery- Little Leeds Beer House

After taking a trip to the corn exchange I found the Little Leeds Beer House to have so many drinks with inspiring and unique packaging. One that particularly caught my attention was the Beavertown Beers which I hadn't come across before.

The designs made by Nick Dwyer are vibrant and purely imaginative. They jump from the shelves and the kooky illustrations immediately feel as if they have a story. They usually involve a space theme and have sharp, cartoonist style.
After visiting their website I realised the extent of their creative beer making powers. The site was interactive and contained detailed illustrations, also featuring a charming, fast-paced animation. This has definitely been designed to appeal to young adults like myself and it has definitely worked. The site emphasises their individuality and humble beginnings, immediately making you feel connected to the company.

This all has the potential to seem childish or overworked, yet to me it feels fresh. The beer's selling point is it's wackiness and they sell it well. Often companies try too hard to connect with a young audience, yet this feels so much like the Beavertown company has mostly done this to amuse themselves and others as an afterthought.
My only concern is that the beers are so 'indie' I feel a little intimidated to buy one. It feels as if the purpose of buying them is to show everyone how cool they are, not to drink the drink. Despite this, the drinks are fairly affordable and come with the added bonus of supporting an anti-corporate company (students love that.)

East Street Arts- Print Workshop 14th October 2016

East Street Arts has opened a new printing hub in Leeds, which had its opening night on the 14th October.
The building's paintwork has used simplistic block style, with soft complimentary colour. This design could be to intrigue creative people but is simple enough to not alienate or intimidate.

The workshop was in fact buzzing with Leed's creatives, with prints and sculptures interspersed between them on display.The workshop will contain facilities for screen printing, intaglio, linocut, bookbinding and other print techniques.

On display was Jane Warton's zines, containing colleges and prints. Although these were made with simple black and white photocopying, the unique designs became accessible and shone through the pages. The florescent outer cover was eye catching and felt nicely juxtaposed to the grey tones within. Seeing work presented like this, made me inspired to compile some of my own work.

 Another interesting element was this wall of simplistic illustrations, some of which were overlapped on perspex and thin tissue. Seeing this composed was my favourite aspect of the studio, it felt vibrant and reflective of the busy environment. It was only afterwards that I realised the designs were probably part of the workshop, and felt so diverse and natural because they were experiments.