Tuesday, 27 September 2011

OUGD201 - Design Production - Print. Good is? Rational


Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design

This is my current rational for the project - I've made it as detailed as possible but I'm sure I'll end up changing and editing it to make it more relevant. At the moment I know I want to just focus on branding and then packaging and promotion too. With a bit of information as I need to inform users how to use the dry letter transfers.


Hoping that by the end of the week I'll have refine the proposal and then I'll know exactly what I'm going to be working with. I feel that at the moment my audience could maybe be refined a bit as in the past I've had trouble with defining who I want to target my product at.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Graphic Design Walk - London 23/09/11

The time when a handful of creative studios run by successful female designers open their doors for the day. More on this after my trip to London.


So yesterday me and Sarah set of on a road trip to London to check out the Graphic Design walk being run as part of the London design Festival. It wasn't fun setting off at 6:30am but with the 3 hour trip to London we didn't have much choice! And it didn't help when Sarah told me she hadn't ever driven to London before (she's a good driver though..Honest!)

Anyway.. once in London we had to meet at the base camp which was located in Hackney central to get the map which guided us to a number of studios who had opened their doors for the day. Having limited slots meant we decided on the 3 studios we wanted to check out the most. These were, April ran by 2 female designers, Them who had a team of about 15? And Catherine Nippe a designer who works independently.

I've always had a perception that graphic design studios are huge spaces with at least 20-30 creatives working together so I guess it was a bit of reality check seeing that April was ran by 2 designers who have a great client list! Their studio was relatively small with 2 iMacs and a macbook but had a great feel to it. They had a selection of their work to view which was great too see cause it's just not the same seeing something online. With mainly print based work which was editorial you could see they focused on clean and simple layouts with a key emphasis on bold type.











Moving on we visited Them, who's studio I loved! We were greeted by Roas Powloski one of the founders of the studio. The studio has been running for about 6 years and has a core team of about 15 designers, again with a impressive client list. It was interesting knowing that 1/3 of their work was commercial, 1/3 arts based and the other 1/3 was charity/non profit. Something which I had never considered when thinking what type of work different studio's might do and just how diverse yet controlled their projects are. Rosa also gave some advice for student and graduates, saying that as the industry got more competitive it was more important to gain industry experience and sending generic emails isn't enough - a phone call with a senior creative or creative director asking for 5 minutes is always a better option.












Finally we went to the studio of Catherine Nippe. A Swiss graphic designer with a range of print based work. It was great to see a independent designer working on such huge projects. Also got a copy of her current work - printed onto newsprint which looked really good! 











A great day all in all really opened my eyes to the creative industry. If there's any spelling mistakes in this blog post its cause I'm tired.. Photo's below - the rest are on Sarah's phone.















More photo's to come...

Studio Visit. Boxhead*

At the beginning of summer I sent out a pdf with a few examples of my work and was quite excited when David Sorely from Boxhead* invited me to visit the studio and show him my work. Considering I hadn't even visited a studio before I was pretty nervous. After spending some time talking through my work with David I got some general feedback and a few ideas on how I could develop my work further. It was great getting feedback from someone different and it gave me a fresh prospective on how I could improve my work. The speaking from experience brief and collection 100 were the ones that stood out to David the most and he gave me a few pointers on how I could take them further as well as recommending some books too.

Having gone to see David without really knowing what It was going to be like showing someone who I didn't know my work, I can say it was a positive experience. It's given me the confidence in myself to go out and look for other studios that I would love to go visit. David also mentioned the idea of some work experience in the near future which is great. He said that it wasn't a bad idea to contact studios and then chase them up if they don't always get in touch straight the way, he mentioned that sometimes he gets 200 odd emails so If someone doesn't reply it's not because they're not interested it's because they have a million other things to do. He also said that for someone who had just finished first year my work was moving in a good direction. Which is always nice to hear.

PPD2 - Study Task 1 - Why am I here - What do I want to Learn?

identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.
1) After visiting about 4 different open days I soon began to realise the different between a good and a bad course. Coming to the open day made me realise that I wasn't going to get anywhere without working hard and It seemed like this course had it all.
2) I wouldn't say that I desired to leave home, if anything I can see how much easier it would be if I still lived at home. I only wanted to move away from home knowing that I was going study somewhere that would be worth it. Being in university more or less 5 days a week means that I can justify being away from home on a course where teaching time and studio development is pushed to the maximum.
3) Coming from a college where there was 2200 students (studying 45 different courses!) I could see myself always wanting to go to a smaller institution rather than being 1 student in about 50,000. The college really seemed to have a good atmosphere almost like a small creative community.
4) The facilities here are probably the best I've seen from the different places that I visited and considering there is around 50 students in each year I knew that there would always be adequate studio space.
5) The growing reputation. Seeing the students work for the first time during the open day blew me away, standing there I could only hope that I would be as half as good at the graduates. For a course that has only been running for a few years I could see that It was only going to get better. The thought of joining a course that was essentially new made it more exciting.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.
1) I've always been excited about print, whether it's business card, posters, maps or books I really want to make the most of the current print module and really develop my skills and continue to learn more about the print process especially moving into 3rd year.
2) I go on about screen printing all the time but never really make an effort to go down to the print room. Before I finish the degree I want to produce a set of some amazing prints. Hopefully.
3) People skills. Seriously. Talking on the phone is not my strongest point. And I don't think it's much fun talking to people I haven't met before either but this is something I want to change. The course has already made me more confident and I can only hope that this will get better.


Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.
1) I've always been a organised person and tend to keep on top of things. I tend to get stressed with I leave things to late or forget to do something. Being on the course is hard enough as it is and being under control of what needs to be done always makes my life easier.
2) Since I first became interested in graphic design I've always had a keen interest in layout and composition. I've always tried to use this to my advantage and it's helped my a huge amount when I've been designing.
3) Although I'm not an expert with adobe software I'm always willing to learn which allows me to constantly develop my software skills. I would class 'wanting to learn' as a skill in its self but I guess it's my eagerness to want to try new things that helps me get better at what I'm doing.
4) I've always been the type of person who just likes to be left alone to get on with my work and since being on the course I've really been able to work well independently. This has allowed me to make the most of the independent briefs and get as much as I can out of them.
5)

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.
1) Working in a team or group always stresses me out usually when you don't get the same input from each member of the group. I know that working in the real world requires a hell of a lot of team work and I want to be more confident within myself and my ideas when it comes to group work.
2) Having always been more interested in print rather than any digital media I think it's about time I looked at giving animation and moving image a go as well as focusing on webdesign too. I tend to lack in patience and it's the amount of time it takes to develop to moving image that has always put me off. I'm hoping the next module makes me realise that moving image isn't as bad as it seems in my head.
3) People skills. I guess it's about being confident. I've always been a quiet person before for people who know me well they know I talk a lot. Sometimes I just need to have that confidence to say what I'm thinking.
4) Crit feedback. Sometimes I fall into the habit of not taking on board critical feedback if it's not what I want to hear. It's just me being stubborn I guess. I need to realise that if someone is telling me something it's for my benefit and that It wont hurt to take it on board.

Identify and explain ways that you will evaluate your progress.
1) Using my blog as a way of documenting my progress will allow me to look back and evaluate how I have progressed.
2) Critical feedback from peers..


Identify questions that you want to find the answer to.
1) How much is the right amount to charge as a hourly rate at the moment and then when I leave university.
2) How much money would you need to set up a graphic design studio? (I'm sure i'll find out with Enterprise eventually I'm just really curious..)


Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Level 5. OMG.

Targets for Level 5.. and beyond.

1) Be more focused within my design practice
2) Learn more traditional print techniques
3) Work on collaborative briefs both with people on the course and across college
4) Cook proper food and cut down on oven chips (and stop buying ‘Morrisons’ ready made chicken curry and pilau rice)
5) Gain a better understanding of typography
6) Take more interest in Contextual & Theoretical studies
7) Visit local printers
8) Learn how to use Flash and After effects
9) Design some packaging
10) Read more books