Oslo. Talk

Today we had a talk from Eleanor from creative agency Oslo. She gave us a quick lesson on colour theory and the science behind it as this is what she did a degree in University of Leeds however her studio partner attended LCA. They set up their agency as they didn't want to move to London and be under someone else's control, they would rather be their own bosses. Eleanor spoke about how it is really difficult to begin with in terms of starting up an actual business but the rewards are worth it, they are multi disciplinary and are really starting to be known. This talk was yet another of inspiration for what is possible when you set your mind to it. 

Build Talk

We had 2 talks from the design studio BUILD who are based in Leeds, formerly in London. The practise is run by partners Michael and Nicky and we had a talk from them both separately.

The first from Michael about his life story, how he became a designer and what his inspirations are. This was really interesting to me as he has always had a strong interest in music and this has always shown in his work, as well as being really enthusiastic about designing art work for bands/artists. He spoke about how initially his love for music and fashion lead him to design without even realising and later gaining him jobs after attending a few different courses. He showed us some of his early work as well as the methods he would have to use pre mac such as a rotring pens and letraset letragraphica. I found this very interesting as I like to hear about how designers got to where they are and how they use their skills in different ways to achieve the jobs they want. Speaking of design he gave us a tip 'go all out with the detail or keep it very minimal' in other words don't sit on the fence, trust in your idea.

Nicky also shared her life story about how she attended Liverpool for university and ended up staying there for a long time, not fulfilling her dreams of wanting to illustrate children's books but illustrating for a games company who ended up being owned by Sony. She eventually moved to London with Michael and they started to set up BUILD whilst she continued to work for Sony through the first few years. From this I learnt that sometimes you do have to work to get money and to be known rather than doing something you love, however that is life and eventually you should be able to have your dream job - as they do with BUILD back in Leeds with clients such as Virgin America and Nike.

Self Branding Task

For this task we were asked to come up with some self branding material, this included - a title, a pay off and a brief description of ourselves. I struggled with this task as I am still unsure of what direction I want to go in, however realised it is just for practise and to get us thinking so I came up with the following:

• re.beccalouise
• better than clipart
• young designer based in Leeds, experimenting visually to find my style

We all stuck our ideas up on the wall so that we were able to see each others to get inspiration and get a feel for everyone's ideas.

This is my first draft for self branding ideas and a lot needs improving; I am however happy with the name I have given myself - re.beccalouise is my name split up in a sort of 'concerning' becca louise style like the 're' in emails.

Linkedin & Other Platforms

Today John emphasised the importance of setting up a page on Linkedin - a sort of Facebook for professionals that allows you to connect with other people who are interested in the same areas as you, as well as being able to upload your experience and look for jobs. An essential part of our jobs now and in the future is to push our work out there and get people talking about you - resulting in people wanting to work with you. The site can also be used to get feedback from projects are working on and chat to people about similar work.

Other platforms can be used to share and promote your work such as Behance which is run by Adobe and allows you to connect your creative cloud to share projects and gain feedback and responses.

As well as these professional websites a lot of designers also use Instagram and Tumblr to share their identity as a designer online. 

I use my instagram to showcase work that I have produced, both design work and photography. As well as following a lot of inspirational accounts and saving anything I really admire.

I use tumblr more for inspiration as you can see I have posted some of my work and tagged them into specific categories which you can find on the links, however it is primarily used to gather inspo - a visual mind map.

Another website I have work on is flickr however I wouldn't relate this so much to design, however it is still relevant as I like to use photography in my work.

The final website I use often is pinterest - I don't upload any of my own work to this site but use it a lot to gain inspiration and ideas from work similar to what I want to produce - or on the topic I am working on. 

A Brief Description

As cliched as it sounds I have wanted to study graphic design since looking for courses and universities in year 9 before choosing my GCSE options, with that career path in mind I took GCSE graphic products and ict as they were the most relevant to get me onto my a levels. I then took product design, ict and photography a levels along with english and RS. Whilst looking around universities in sixth form I was advised to take a foundation year in art and design to develop my skills and way of working - as from a levels would be too much of a jump. I am glad I did this year as it was my first proper experience of using sketch books and conducting a lot of research as well as developing ideas a lot more before coming to a final design - I didn't do this much before.

Starting the course in September I definitely had some concerns that I wouldn't be good enough, but the tutors made us all feel capable of the initial tasks they set and we had a lot of support through software inductions and presentations in class. Looking back to the work I initially did I have certainly improved a lot and the course is just as good as I would have imagined if not better, I am very happy with the progress I have made this year in my physical work and how I go about a brief - I am a lot more confident in starting a project now and finding inspiration as this was something I struggled with to begin with - making a start and initial ideas.

Inspiration Sharing

Today in class we shared with each other what we like to use for inspiration, things we admire and how we get our minds working. Some of the sites and methods I use and some I picked up are down below:


collaging

collaging can produce some really interesting and visually exciting work

http://assets.itsnicethat.com/system/files/052015/555ee9037e74a92a522cffef/images_slice_large/365_days_collage_DR.ME_6-its-nice-that-.jpg?1437409758

scanning

using objects to scan, moving them around, cutting up work and rearranging can bring a lot of new ideas

https://www.scannography.org/artists/Tudor-marsha/Rosa.jpg

playing around with typefaces

http://www.itsnicethat.com/

a design/art blog with updates every day about goings on in the design world

http://summerstudio.co.uk/

a design studio i really appreciate the work of

http://www.trendlist.org/

a website that collects work using similar styles

https://www.pantone.com/color-finder

a tool to discover pantone colours to use in my work

http://www.experimentaljetset.nl/

a design agency with a massive archive of work

watch: exit through the gift shop

a documentary about street artist banksy

watch: abstract

a series on netflix about different types of design

instagram: the daily splice

an artist who uses free magazines and newspapers everyday to create amazing splices

instagram: love.watts

a curation of weird and wonderful art

DR ME Talk

Today we had a talk from the duo that make up design studio - Ryan Doyle (DR) and Mark Edwards (ME). They specialise in art direction, image making, graphic design, work shops, video and teaching.

They spoke about how they have had time apart however still made it work, one would design, other would give feedback and improve the process is back and forth and this helped me to understand how studios work collaboratively as I have always wondered what kind of system is in place for shared projects. They first met when they were paired together by their tutor in university when they first started however didn't consider working together until second year. The studio was later formed after interning with Mike Perry in New York.

 

They ran a project called 365 days of collage, which is pretty self explanatory. A lot if not all of their work has been bought by friends, family and strangers. They also have their own book called cut that out which is about contemporary collage in graphic design. It focuses on the compositions of 50 leading designers and studios from 15 different countries for whom collage has been the key in creating amazing and vibrant work. 

The talk was an inspiration in how you can make it, without having to move to London as Peter Saville once told them, as well as making it work when you're travelling and experiencing new things. They also gave us these tips on how to be sucessful:

• make good shit
• see shit (visit places/ galleries)
• be brave
• no one is going to remember how much money you made when you die
• just ask
• just be yourself