End Of Module Evaluation

Overall, I feel like I have learnt a lot in this module which will help me throughout my personal design practice and with putting myself out there after University. I felt that this module has been extremely useful as I am a lot more confident with contacting designers and studios now than I was before, in particular Studio Brief 1 has been most beneficial and relevant to this.

Working on the creative report was extremely useful and enjoyable out of the other briefs. I felt that I learnt a lot since the first designers I contacted didn't respond so I then contacted a number of other designers that I liked the work of- I think this was good practice as I learnt to not give up if I don't receive a response straight away and to keep contacting till I get what I need, this was also useful as I ended up getting responses from 3 different designers which meant that I learnt a lot more. The responses I received were also very thorough and interesting which was great. Additionally, the designers that I contacted also specialise in Illustration and Photography which is relevant to my design practice as I have a high interest in these areas as well as Graphic Design.

Furthermore Studio Brief 2 and 3 were also useful but not as much fun and thorough. For Studio Brief 1 our group concept (Ey Up Creative Canvas) was a bit too ambitious and would have costed a lot- however this meant that I leant a lot about the logistics and costing that goes into a creative opportunity/exhibition/event, which will be useful for the future. Additionally, Studio Brief 3 was useful as it was personal to my design practice which I enjoyed.

Summer Placement Emails

I have now started to email the design studios that I am intrigued by and would enjoy working within over summer if I got the chance. It is important in the emails that I show that I have research into them and their approaches to design and why it interests me so much.

In the email I should avoid asking for work/a placement straight away, but to just ask if I could go and look around and see what they get up to first- this means I can also see if I would like to work for them in the future in their studio. I also think it would be really beneficial in general if they give me the chance to go and look around their studio, as I also plan on working in a Studio with a big team after graduating instead of free lancing. I would enjoy being somewhere with a loads going on as it is more exciting and also means that I'd learn a lot more, whereas if I were to work freelance I feel that I wouldn't be exploring and experimenting as much.

Additionally, if I don't get responses from these designers/studios I will also contact the other people that John Watters suggested.

Instagram Account Development

Compared to last year, I have developed my Instagram account more thoroughly. I have archived work that I felt wasn't visually consistent within how the style of my work has developed over the past year, I am also more active on it and I use it often for inspiration for Studio Briefs.

Additionally, throughout my instagram account, there isn't a specific aesthetic that runs throughout as my design practice is wide-ranging and experimental. However, the things that I create and the overall tone and themes that run throughout my work focus on vibrancy, youth, experimenting and mixed media- this is clear to see across my Instagram posts.

Furthermore, in order to gain more off my design Instagram account moving forward, I will use it as more of a form to network with designers that interest me- for example through reaching out to other students at LAU and contacting Leeds studios and designers that I would be interested in visiting and possible placements

Also, over summer and next year I plan reach out to places and independent venues that would incorporate my style of design into their branding, interior design or general image, mainly places that need promotional material. Additionally, I am currently in the process of creating promotional posters for a local Leeds DJ duo, but am waiting on more information regarding the venue, dates and other details in order to get started with the designs.

Fused- Hattie Stewart

It is important that I gather some research off articles and other reading sources which I find interesting regarding working as a Graphic Designer in the real world and 'how to survive' in a creative industry almost. I found an article by Fused in which they interviewed one of my favourite artists: Hattie Stewart, throughout the interview they asked her questions regarding her career, the brands that she has worked for and how she started out as a designer. 

I found this interview useful and enjoyable to read as she made some obvious clear points that can often get ignored but are extremely important in terms of putting yourself our there as a designer. I found these points interesting and useful as they will help me to think through the steps that I take as a designer; working with clients, working in a studio, freelance work etc. 

Furthermore, after reading through this interview I made some notes on points that I found interesting which will also be beneficial towards my personal design practice:

• When she was asked about discovering her creative talents, she mentions that she never really thought of herself as talented, she just loved to draw from a young age and over the years it changed, developed and grew. This is important as creative talent isn't something that just comes, it requires development and time for it to grow naturally.

• What she is most famous for 'doodle bombing' came around in 2011 when she was working part time in a bar. She saw a picture of Lily Allen on the wall and started to draw on it and it went from there. 

• 'When I first began doing the covers a couple of years back it became a play on the photo bombing term. Invading someone else’s space in a but tongue in cheek way – adapting what I saw around me into my own world and vision' I also strongly believe that it is important to take influences from your surroundings and personal experiences/interests, I often do this when starting a new brief and find that it always helps.

• When asked about how she keeps herself motivated, she mentions that working from home can either be a motivational challenge or a challenge of not knowing when to stop, step back and have some down time. Sometimes it’s best to take a day or two off to focus on personal projects or get out of the house. 

• 'Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?' If you are self-employed, working from home you have to enjoy a certain amount of solitude and your own company. All in all it’s about creating and trying to maintain a life work balance and figuring out what works best for you both in your professional and personal practice. I loved this point as I think finding the right balance in life with your creative career is extremely important, which also links to priorities and certain projects that you may be working on, as well as work load at the given time.

                               

Anthony Burill Interview

Today I read an interview with Anthony Burrill which I found extremely interesting to read as I have been a fan of his work for some time, the interview was published in 2014. Throughout the interview he is asked questions regarding his personal creative journey, how he started out as a designer, his aesthetic and processes.

Whilst I was reading through the interview, I made some notes of points which I find interesting and also beneficial towards my personal design practice:

• It was a lot different when he was back at art school, a lot more traditional. He mentions that although it was a degree course, the borders were quite blurred between printmaking, illustration, graphic design and typography. 'You could do anything really. And then I got to the Royal College, and that was more about ideas and more about the context than the craft.' - I think being able to experiment fully at the start and even throughout your personal design practice is important, there shouldn't be loads of limitations and rules when it comes down to design, experimentation is important

• Since his design practice started off as more traditional (when computers weren't really accessible) traditional techniques continued to play a huge part towards his aesthetic and highly influenced his design journey at its peak. 

• 'Because I am traditionally trained to make camera-ready artwork and to produce work using a photocopy machine, that [aesthetic] is very much hand-crafted. So, when computers came along, I kind of resisted them for a while; I thought I could carry on doing it the traditional way. It took a long time for me to embrace the technology. But now I still use technology with that analogue mindset. I like things that are physically produced.' I like that even though he is more familiar and comfortable with computer/screen based work, he still prefers physically produced work- which is what I also prefer, over screen

• The interviewer mentions that Anthony has become a 'curator of phases in a way' (throughout his design journey)- Anthony mentions that he feels like the graphic design becomes less and less important, as if he is going beyond graphic design since he's been doing it for twenty years. now 'it’s more about reaching out to people, communicating. It’s about being social, as we all are.

Summer Placement

I recently contacted John Watters about help finding a placement or internship over summer in Leeds. I think it would be extremely useful and exciting to gain some more Graphic Design experience over summer as it will help me with moving forward into Level 6, as well as my design practice in general. In a previous session with John he had mentioned that he would be happy to help us look for placements and to just email him.

When I met up with John he mentioned to research into these people and show that I have done this through the initial email that I sent, he also mentioned to not ask for a placement straight away, but to just ask if I could go and look around and see what they get up to first- this means I can also see if I would like to work for them and in their studio, as obviously you can't really get a real feel for this through email and online research.

Additionally, when I met John he asked me what type of work I was looking for- I mentioned that I was open to anything available that was related to branding, marketing, design for screen or print or with designers/studios that have quite a vibrant and experimental approach to their design practice.

Initial email to John

The list of designers/studios that he emailed over to research and contact: 

I gathered some initial research on the designers and visited their websites and social media to gain some insight on the type of work that they create. The design studios that interested me the most out of the list are Robot Food (Stephanie Oglesby), OurCreative (Laura Taylor), Elmwood Design (Charlotte Alcock) and Hungry Sandwich Club (Andy Foster)

Robot Food:

OurCreative:

Elmwood Design:

Hungry Sandwich Club:

Naomi Klein- No Logo

Today I read some chunks out of the 'No Logo' book by Naomi Klein. The book touched on the topics regarding ethical Graphic Design and branding strategies/manipulation which I found really interesting to read about. Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, documentary filmmaker and author of the international bestsellers No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.

Furthermore, whilst I was reading, I made some notes on points that I found interesting:

• Bigger companies often just aim to seduce and manipulate customers into purchasing their products, even though the quality of the product may not work as well as something that may cost a lot less. 

• The high impacts that 'super' brands have on broader society- aggressive commercial marketing and branding strategies can lead to massive consequences.  She mentions that often these bigger brands are not a reflection of quality, but instead a reflection of what the marketing department wants it to stand for. 

• The topics that she mentions has strong links to how social status and class plays a big role in the brands that people use and purchase, in order to help them fit into specific social groups and maintain a higher status. 

• In her book she mentions how much impact specific brands that were considered ‘on trend’ or ‘high-end’ had on her school life and teenage years  at the time ‘She describes the appropriation of youth and "indie" culture (the "hunting of cool”)

• She talks about the fact that the brands people wore when she was in her teens, played a huge part in how ‘cool’ they were seen, she mentions that cool is “riddled with self-doubt” 

• Owning a product from a certain brand makes you look a certain way or fit into a certain high social group is also related to peer pressure, which is projected onto a person by people that they associate themselves with, as well as people and social groups that they aspire to be like and look like. Peer pressure is a high marketing tool, this relates back to the ethics of consumerism within Graphic Design.

• Additionally, one of the sections in the book “No Space” looks at the history of brands, which are now mega-corporations, such as Nike. This section focuses on the argument that brands are no longer about the product being put out into the world, but the competition of who has the strongest brand identity. 

Creative Report Final

Today I printed my final creative report publication. I decided to print the cover in coloured paper instead of my initial cover idea, the coloured cover create contrast with the white pages inside which I think is more interesting and effective. I chose the colour pink for this as appears it appears frequently in each of the designers work, it is one of the main colours that they all use.

However, when printing I faced a few production issues, one of them was that some of the pages are off centre but this is because the of the printers at university; when you print double sided at university, one of the sides gets slightly shifted and isn't inline with the other side. Also, when cutting down some of the pages, the front cover became slightly off centre too but this issue was bound to happen when cutting down the edge opposite to the thread bound side.

However, this brief is all about showing the content and research that I gathered and less about production, and I feel that I have gathered a good range of interesting research from each designer that I interviewed, overall I really enjoyed this brief.

Photographs of a few of the pages:

Creative Report- My Response (Outro)

Additionally, throughout my creative report it was important that I include my own personal response to the interviews and reflect on what I have learnt from each designer. I have wrote about how each designer has inspired me and the advice that I will be taking forward from them.

Outro:

The responses that I received from Alexis Jesup, Benjamin Craven and Claudia Chanhoi were extremely inspirational and interesting as I was able to gain insight on each designers’ unique creative journey.

The advice that each designer gave me on moving forward within my own creative journey was extremely useful. The advice that I was given has inspired me to take all of the creative opportunities that may come my way in the future, even if every opportunity isn‘t permanent- everything along the journey will count towards my practice and will help me develop and learn more as a designer.

Furthermore, each interview has inspired me in a different way. The interview with Alexis Jesup has inspired me to not be afraid of evolving my usual design practice into something completely different as all of the experimentation along the way will help me to refine my unique style. Alexis has also inspired me to not be afraid of trying new things and reaching out to people, as I will never know until I try.

The interview with Benjamin was inspiring to me as he mentions that I should just create work that I find interesting and have fun whilst doing so without thinking too deep into it. I loved this piece of advice as I often find myself thinking too much into the design or something instead of just getting stuck in and gathering ideas that way. Benjamin also inspired me to take inspiration from my surroundings.

Lastly, the interview with Claudia has inspired me to find my passion and make sure I love it enough to work hard on it, even it's not paid. It is important to not quit as the creative journey can be a long process to get somewhere, but it will happen eventually. Claudia has also taught me that using my own personal experiences within my design practice can be important.

I found interviewing a range of different designers was useful as I was able to gain insight on how each designer approaches design differently, however I also found that the designers often mentioned similar things which was interesting to see. I will be taking forward this advice and applying it to my own design practice in the future.

Design Manifesto

Creative Report Final Cover and Intro

Cover:

It is important that my introduction is short and clear. Each designers section has its own introduction which goes into more depth about the designers practice, however I felt that an overall intro for the creative report was also important.

Intro:

This creative report focuses on the theme of creative start outs after graduating from University, how to stand out and find your own unique style within todays competitive creative industry. The report bases itself on three current industry designers and their unique approaches to design; Alexis Jesup from Brooklyn NY, Benjamin Craven from Leeds and Claudia Chanhoi from London.

Publication Cover Development

I have also started to develop designs for the cover of my creative report publication. It is important that my cover is kept minimal as the main aim of the creative report is the content and key information that I gather from the designers and represent inside the report.

However, the cover should aim to reflect on each of the 3 each artists in some way, I felt that colour and typography would be most appropriate in order to do this, instead of busy imagery or a combination of work from the three artists. A busier cover design wouldn't be as successful as a more minimal approach. I chose a colour from each artists section that appeared often throughout their section.

Additionally, my creative report mainly focuses on how each designer approached the creative industry straight after graduation, and how they found their own unique aesthetic/approach to design which helped them stand out against other designers and studios, as the creative industry is very competitive. These focuses and ideas influenced the name of my creative report.

Creative report name ideas:

• Start outs
• Start outs and uniqueness
• Start unique
• How to start out and stand out
• Start out and stand out

The name idea that I decided to go with is 'Start Out & Stand Out' I felt that this was most successful as it is short, sweet and snappy, peers also mentioned that they liked this name idea the most.

Cover designs:

Additionally, I have also created an introduction page for the overall publication. Each designers section has an introduction page which briefly explains their approach to design and the area of design that they work in, however I felt that the creative report also needed an overall introduction.

The introduction: 'This creative report by Laveeza Zahid focuses on the theme of creative start outs after graduating from University and how to stand out and find your own unique style within todays competitive creative industry. The report bases itself on three current industry designers and their unique approaches to design; Alexis Jesup from Brooklyn NY, Benjamin Craven from Leeds and Claudia Chanhoi from London.'

Overall introduction page