OUGD601 PPP 03 workshop Interview Task

The Interview: workshop/task 

You have an interview at a large multidisciplinary studio.

-Prep for the interview prepare a short statement about yourself (we have had past workshops on this)

-A short statement about your technical skills (examples)

Throughout my degree my focus has been predominantly on typography, lettering and calligraphy. This means u have becom very well aquatinted with letter forms and the nuances of kerning, spacing and typographical layout. This allows me to work closely on type based brands as well, creating custom type. A prime example of this would be my hypothetical re brand of the feminist magazine Parallel. This brand was a careful meeting of custom type and image to create a complex message of strength in femininity, which was a difficult message to balance. A close understanding of the construction the letters which make up a logo, allow a much better construction and application of the complete brand with intelligence and continuity. This includes digital applications. Although I only have a small aquaintence with the actual act of coding, I have designed for web on many occasions. This requires a go understanding of the limitations of the medium and the way people interact with digital content. This can be seen in my work for The Leess Arts Party conference, for which I United the UX design approach for the website and printed guide to create a cohesive and easily understood experience.

-A short statement about your work experience (examples)

My first considerable experience of the creative industries was when I interned with Belynda Sharples at The Art of Wallpaper. This internship was basically being Belynda's assistant for several weeks, during which I was integrated into the design process and introduced to the industrial printing processes involved in wallpaper production. This experience allowed me to learn that flexibility and creativity come hand in hand, and being able to role with the last minuet changes is crucial to a successful outcome. I also learned that as creatives we dictate what makes us happy and fulfilled by our work and finding and focussing on that allows the best work to be produced.

I have also recently be elected as the communications officer for the LCA SU. The role involves designing the large campaigns that they need promotional material for, such as Fresher and the Student Elections. The responsibility of this role makes it worth mentioning here. I am given a budget to keep to for each project and I negotiate with the printers about all design outcomes for each campaign. This has allowed me to really understand the requirements of commercial graphic design and the considerations that have to be made to keep to budget and deadline, also with a good outcome.

I also recently applied for the internship program at Dalton Maag type foundry in Brixston. Although I didn't get a place straight out (there were hundreds of applicants) I am at the top of the short list, should anyone not be able to make it. 

-Statement about your work as a team and independently. 

The SU work I have been doing, as mentioned above, also includes much conversation and decision making as a group with the rest of the SU. This means a state of almost constant collaboration with lots of people. This is a great training ground for collaboration in general and has allowed me to develop both a creative back bone I.e. Knowing when to stand up for your concepts, and also how to introduce diplomacy into the equation; making the best of having external opinions to help develop a concept or aesthetic.

In terms of my internal college studio work, I am constantly on the look out for collaboration. I love working with other people and I am pretty good at it. The way I develop ideas is to discuss them, to get them out into the open and into the mixing bowl of other peoples' minds. This means that group work is often where I do my best work. When it comes to leading a group I am more than happy yet also now when to step back and take direction.

Working independently is a surprisingly similar story. I still work conversationally and orchestrate a number of informal Frits with my peers to talk about my ideas and direction for each brief. I am well aware that I am designing not for my own eyes, but other peoples' and therefore the perspective of others is quintecencial to good design. I have a very hands on approach to the design process its self. This is because my method of fully understanding things is often to draw them. Before getting on a computer, at least some time has to be spent with a pencil, then a more solid direction can be formed and later experimentation have a greater sense of purpose and certainty. 

-Statement about your communication skills, customers, clients, peers and organisations.

Spoken communication is probably one of my strongest points as a designer. I love meeting new people and for me design is all about the people you get to know, from other designers to clients. for example, I much prefer communication in person or over the phone, emails can seem very cold to me. Which is not to say they are not practical. When dealing with printers on the SU's behalf, all communication was done over the phone. Speaking with one another just makes everything clearer. 

I greatly enjoy presentations as long as I have been given long enough to quaint myself fully with the content. The key is most definitely preparation! Most of all I feel quite comfortable talking to people/an audience about a great idea or what I do, I love it, so talking about it is easy.

Part of my work as a letterer includes chalkboards for independent cafes and shops. This process is very much a social one, in which you sit down and talk to the client at length about what they want to communicate. There is also an aspect of performance to the process as well. With people watching you creating the board and talking to you about what you are doing. This is part of what the client is paying for, the idea of people caring about every aspect of their business and being able to openly converse with new people is part of that.

-Statement about your understanding of graphic design. What is graphic design to you.

To me graphic design is all about people. Whether it be the people you to aspire to work with or like, or the people you create work for and learn from in so doing. Graphic design is about communicating with people and doing so as effectively as possible because you strive to understand those people. I love what I do, the process the trials, the errors, but it is everyone I know because of what I do that is the soul and centre of why I do it.

Start defining what you need to do when applying for a job and what there is to shout about when it comes to your work and what you have achieved.

-work collaboratively

- aquaintence yourself with more typographic programming.

-consider continuity of work in portfolio context.

-start talking to more studios and practitioners.

-communication skills

-collaborative instinct

-I have contributed considerably to the college

-created many opportunities for myself because of it.

Become comfortable with this information and get into twos and conduct mock interviews with a set series of questions.

OUGD602, OUGD601 Context of Practice 03 Contacting Professionals for Primary Research

Although I have already interviewed Roger Grech from the paper cut bindery, I need a few more to flesh out my primary research. This blog post is just a way of recording who I have contacted and why I have chosen to do so. I am going to ask each person the same questions but hopefully I can achieve a dialogue each time to allow each interviewee to really express their opinion properly.

The Print Project:

I have emailed and organised a meeting with Nick from the print project in Shipley. This came predominantly from the suggestion to do so from Roger. However, we have also had a workshop in college from nick and it would be useful to get another craft involved other than book binding and chalkboarding. Just to show that the ideas I am presenting, although they are specific to chalkboarding, they are the rule of craft not the exception. The print project is a letterpress workshop that does a lot of local work as well as involving a lot of local artists and designers in their work. Already you can see how their practice as a company facilitates social interaction. they also visit festivals and do out of workshop workshops that involves amateurs in learning the craft.

Lauren Hom:

Chalkboard Artist and Letterer

Although she is located in New York she is a big influence on a lot of my work. I think it is important to try and get the opinions of other chalkboard artists besides myself because, my opinion is not enough to declare something  fact. I have sent and email over asking for her opinion on a few things and am waiting a reply. I am not confident this will go through, but I thought it was worth a try to get in touch.

Stephanie Baxter:

Letterer and Illustrator

Stephanie Baxter is a letter I have been following on Instagram for years and I lover her shabby chic yet colourful and charming aesthetic. This is interesting for my purposes because she actively plays on the imperfections of hand made and crafted things to sell her work and get clients. Basically fodder for my chapter on emotional closeness. I have sent an email to her to see if she would be able to have a coffee and a chat (she is based in Leeds) and am awaiting a reply.

Phylecia Sutherland:

Letterpress and stationary designer:

I have met Phylecia before and what is very interesting about her practice is the way she melds together her own printing press and digital design through polymer plats she gets made of her digital designs. This is interesting in terms of my physical proximity section and examination of the distance between the designer and the finished product. I have sent over some questions and she provided some great and very useful answers that can be found in a later post in full.

Leadset:

Through simply searching for print shops around Leeds I found this small letterpress print shop that seems to be fairly newly set up. This is interesting because it could very distinctly show the revival of craft processes. They specialise in both polymer plate printing and movable type. I have sent an introductory email and am yet to hear back from them.

CottonPress:

Are a much larger producer of letterpress goods than either of the others. I have chosen them because they are distinctly modern in their style and approach to old mediums which questions the presence of nostalgia as anything more than an idea. I tried calling them because they are so close, I thought I wouldn't loose anything by being more upfront and direct. However, they just brushed me off and were extraordinarily unhelpful so I really can't be bothered with them.

Cotton and Pine Press:

This letterpress and design studio just popped up because I was looking for a press that had a design studio attached to them. Even though they are based in Alabama I thought it was worth trying, so I just sent over an email and am waiting to hear back.

I will update this post as I contact more people.

OUGD602 PPP 3 Brief 01 Self Branding Business Card Printing and Laser Cut Debacles

After many hours of trying to get the laser cutter to do my bidding it became clear that the source sans pro light was too thin for MDF and the ragged edge created by this means of etching would have doubtful results anyway.

                    

There is a few days for me to have some functional and pleasant business cards so I know I could look to acid etching at vernon street and using the hydraulic nipping press to emboss over a screen print or similar. However, this would take weeks and is better left for latter in the year when there is lees pressure on time.

                    

Instead I have put to one side today and tomorrow for working with the movable type in the print room to create some letterpress business cards. Although they are not custom lettering they are very tangibly pleasant things that can communicate my hands on approach.

Once printed on a soft antique white water colour paper I bought from the shop in the print room. I then matched up the soft orange ink with some coloured stock from the library wich I used, along with some spray mount to create duplex coloured edges. These are cards that will work purely for my chalkboard commissions. They are more simple and tactile than my cards for a design studio might be. It sells the rustic ideals behind the concept of chalkboarding and are something nice to keep and hold.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 01 Self Branding Lettering and Re-Working Business Cards

Once I had the design for my branding and the lettering for the back of my business card detailed in the last quote, I had to create the full designs.

I looked at the back first because this was the one I thought I would have most trouble wit, because of the large amounts of information needed in such a small place.

I chose a tall narrow format that would read portrait on the back and landscape on the front (I will have to try out the ergonomics of how this will turn in the hand). The small format is just another way of applying the theme of small to everything for continuity and individuality.

For the info on the card I knew I needed a strong typographic contrast to make the mix work. I tried a number of options looking at negative space so that the wood left behind by the laser cutter would be strong enough to create a tangible impression in print form.

After last years branding I thought what I wanted to do was return to a kind of green because there really is no other colour that represents me. However, I have also looked at creating a soft rusty autumnal orange that I think could work really well in web and print (from previous projects where I have worked with these shades).

I already had a definite design in mind for the front of the business card and this was one of those times that it just worked out. The type needed to be light and sharp again to create contrast and source sans pro light did the job with a little extra tracking.

I then reversed the designs because the laser cutter with etch away the black area leaving the stamp. I have a few concerns about the thinness of the source sans pro light and iff the MDF will take such thin cutting. So, I also mocked up designs with a semi bold version of the font which surprisingly still looked great!

OUGD602 PPP 3 brief 01 Self Branding Starting Sketches

As previously mentioned I created new self branding over the summer for my application to Dalton Maag. It is a continuos line style that is like hand writing in style to help communicate informaily.

I then took this lettering style and looked at creating some lettering for the back of a business card.

                      

I wanted to communicate that lettering and drawing are my major focusses within the discipline of graphic design. I did this by adding a drop shadow to these words so that hopefully they catch the eye first.

                      

Because I need a business card soon to source some more chalkboard commissions for my context of practice research I need something that will look descent fairly quickly. However, I have known for a while that one of the uses I  wanted to put my lettering too, was custom letterpress. So next I am going to create the lettering vectors for this piece and try some laser cutting to make some wooden type of my own.