LCA Creative Networks Evenings - Bespoke Design - Talk

About a week ago an E-mail was sent round about Bespoke Design, a talk that will take place in the lecture theatre on June the 5th. The talk will be by various people working in the design and marketing sections of bike companies or companies whose market is based around people who are into cycling.

I have a friend in Sheffield who does a foundation degree in Graphic Design, who is massively into cycling, and this talk is something I've told him about and he's really interesting in attending. I enjoy cycling myself, but I'm not really massively into it, but still I think that this talk will be interesting because of how I hope it will give me an idea of how graphic design sits along product design in the commercial world.

This is a talk that I definitely hope to attend.

Studio Brief 2 - Outcome

Today I printed and produced my information pack, below

shows the printed folder itself.

There were a couple problems with the printing of this.

Initially I wanted to print on thicker stock to make it a bit

sturdier, but the printer didn't like the thicker stock, as

shown below.

Also, I didn't take into account that where I would be cutting

slits in my folder may have text on the back of it, which presented

be with a problem for production. I got round this by sticking

a bit of paper on the inside for the postcards to sit in rather

than a slot.

The postcards themselves were fairly simple to produce,

however, I very incompetently printed them too big, wasting

a lot of time, a few resources and a bit of money. I used

these as test prints though to decide which style I would use

for the actual product.

I found that at the size I had printed them, the double sided

print on coloured stock was quite flimsy, but then after I'd

chopped a spare bit down to the size that they would be for

the actual print, they were ok because the reduction in size

had made it sturdier. The ones mounted on black card were

more appropriate at this size, but would be quite fiddly to

produce at a smaller size, as well as it being difficult to

produce them accurately.

The final pack looks like this.

I'm really happy with what I produced. The only thing I'm a bit unhappy with is the choice of stock for the folder itself, which I wish was thicker, as the folder isn't particularly sturdy at the moment. But other than that, I think I achieved everything I set out to achieve.

End of Year Presentations - Reflection

Reflection 
In todays presentation I spoke about how my relationship with design had developed since the start of the year. I spoke about where I'd come from in terms of the creative field before uni and how my relationship with designed has changed from there, with particular references to events during the year.

I feel that my presentation didn't go very well, as I was very nervous, partly because I went first, and so went through my presentation quite quickly, without really going into much detail or justifying what I was saying. I was also quite nervous because parts of my presentation were myself expressing my very negative thoughts and feelings about the creative fields and the stereotypical people within them, and I was scared of offending people or sounding hypocritical given I'm on a Graphic Design course.

I had rehearsed at home a couple times roughly what I'd planned to say, and so I do feel quite a lot of regret about not saying it. To compensate for this, I'm writing a rough idea of what I planned to say below.

What I Would've Ideally Said
When I was thinking about this presentation, I wanted to focus on something that has changed drastically about me since the start of the course. I thought the best thing to concentrate on was my relationship with design and my opinions on it. This is because I never really used to have any opinions because of how I got into design.

I started doing a creative subject seriously in Y9 when I chose to do photography to avoid having to do Music and Drama, two subjects my former academically-based self hated. I didn't have any particular interest in photography and still don't.

My interest in the creative subjects started a while later when on a trip with photography to the Tate Modern in London, where one painting inspired my interest in the creative fields. The painting was Gerhard Richter's Abstract Number 439. I didn't know why I liked it and still don't to this day, but there's something about it that inspires me. This caused me to pick photography, art, and graphics as my GCSE choices.

Throughout my GCSE's it became clear to me that graphics was where my skills lied within these three subjects, and alongside my particularly strong grades in maths and physics, at this point I wanted to become an architect, something backed up by my interest in Lego and K'nex as a child.

From here I picked Maths, Physics, Graphic Design and ICT for my A Level choices. However, within a few weeks I'd established that the A Level I was enjoying the most was Graphics by far, and when I discovered that Architecture was a 7 year course at uni, I knew I would do graphics instead. I suppose all along I only really got into graphics through a lack of other options for me, which is why I didn't really have any opinions on it until I came here.

When I first arrived I was very excited about the enormity of what I was about to do, in my second year I'd only had 8 other people on my graphics course, so walking into uni and seeing 50 other people on the first day was hugely exciting. This soon turned to fear though because naturally I was worried about not making new friends or finding people I had stuff in common with.

From very early on in the course I was quite intimidated by some other people on the course's knowledge of typography and software, and I felt less than useless in comparison, and was worried that I shouldn't be or didn't deserve to be on the course. But at the same time I was happy that I was going to get the chance to learn about graphics and improve my skills alongside others who were doing the same. I quickly got into the graphic designers lifestyle and tried to help myself learn as much as I could.

I went back home for Christmas though, and after spending 3 weeks with my usual bunch of friends and back in my own lifestyle, I realised how much my life had changed and how much graphic design had changed me. I was thinking in a much broader context than I previously had done such is the nature of the course I'm on. I felt that even after being away just 3 or 4 months I no longer fitted in at home because of how I changed, and I hated this. 

It made me realise that I didn't want to be the sort of stereotypical graphic designer that I was trying to be. More importantly, I didn't want to try to try to be that person either. I realised that I didn't mind that a company had a bad logo or branding, and that all that meant was that I appreciated good branding more. I didn't want to be that guy who went into Clas Ohlson rather than Wilkinsons just because it's Swedish with a prettier logo. I realised that the main reason behind me liking Graphic Design was because it gave me reason to be creative, rather than the reason being creativity itself, and I think this is why I'm a bit sceptical about going to exhibitions. The exhibitions I've been too, Leeds Print Festival and Dialogue both showed design out of context, I feel like exhibitions turn design into art, and I don't like that. I appreciate that they allow you to see more of whats going on in the world, but I really dislike the idea of design exhibitions. I found the trip to the print factory much more useful and valuable.

Reflecting on my first year at uni as a whole though, it's re-affirmed in my head who I am and how I enjoy spending my time, something which I was questioning over Christmas. It's also made me realise that to be successful in design I don't have to be that stereotypical graphic designer, because that's not the sort of life I want to lead. I think most importantly though I've realised that I'm quite a strong-willed person, much more than I ever gave myself credit for, because I think if I did have to fit that stereotype in order to be successful, then I'm adamant that I'd rather be unsuccessful. There is a quote from Albert Einstein that sums up perfectly my attitude to design, and that is.

"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must, above all, be a sheep".

My Thoughts On Everyone Else's Presentations
It seemed to me that there were a lot of occurring themes throughout many of the presentations. A lot of people talked about how their skills as a designer had improved over the year, something which I didn't feel the need to talk about as I'd like to think it is obvious that I've improved. Many people also spoke about poor time management and having to rush work as deadlines and module hand-ins approached, and I was surprised to hear this, as I've never found time management a particularly difficult thing to consider. The same is true of budgeting money.

The most interesting thing of all though is that about half of the group spoke about their plans to travel in the summer, be it to the traditionally design-orientated cities like Berlin and New York, Europe in general, or even further afield to places such as Hong Kong and Bangkok. They spoke about how they want to learn about and experience different cultures. This is something that I have no desire at all to do.

In a way, other peoples presentations made me think about myself even further. I'm aware that different cultures exist and have experienced a few as I've been to various other countries for holidays in the past. I always find myself missing England however, and the culture we have here in Yorkshire especially. Frankly I have no desire to "experience another culture" ever again. If I chose to go abroad I'd pick a predominantly English-based holiday resort because I enjoy the culture we have. It may make others happy or excited to experience another culture, but I'm not a particularly excitable person, and am at my happiest when I'm consistently feeling content, something which has never been an issue whenever I've been in Yorkshire. I can't ever seeing me leaving the county permanently, and if that limits my opportunities as a designer then that's just something I'm going to have to accept. 

Studio Brief 2 - Content and Inspiration

In my presentation I want to speak about how my first year at uni has taught me more about myself and who I am. Since arriving at uni and meeting people from different parts of the country and different parts of the world, it's given me a renewed sense of national pride. This is something I want to reflect.

I will take some sort of influence from the Keep Calm and Carry On posters, which are, in my opinion, the best examples of iconic British design.

I will use quotes from famous/important figures in British history that reflect my attitude to my personal life and how I approach my work. Not only will this re-enforce the British theme, but it will make people think more creatively/open-mindedly about why I've used that quote (something which I've learned to do better this year) rather than me using my own words, which would be a lot more obvious and self-explanatory.

Studio Brief 2 - Idea

Idea

I want to create something that reflected the unconventional way  in which I’ve gone about my work this year, as well as something that reflected how my ability to think more open-mindedly has been improved by PPP.

By using quotes I think that it makes people think more about why I chose that quote, rather than using my own words, which would be a bit more self-explanatory. Something I wanted to avoid. I want to find a way that I can combine the quotes to show a bigger picture, which I want to do in an interesting and engaging way.

In terms of design I want to produce something that only uses text as it's something I've not attempted this year yet other than in the very first module for a poster, and I think my design skills have come a long way since then, and I feel this would be a good way to demonstrate this.

Pressision Print - Visit

This morning we went to visit Pressision, a printing company based just outside Leeds. We were shown around the facilities and it was explained to us how print has evolved with technology over the years, as well as how some of the more popular production methods work. The first thing the guy showing us around said was that it was only quite a small, family-run company, and given this I was very impressed/surprised with the size of their company and what they could do there, but this is probably an expression of my severe lack of knowledge on the print industry.

Above are the big CMYK rollers that produce a lot of their commercial printing. Images or files that they print are separated into the 4 colours, each of which has a plate produced, the plates are then printed on top of each other using their corresponding inks to produce a full-colour image.

Like I said earlier, I was surprised at the scale the company worked at, they even had folding and stepling machines, something that I imagine saves a massive amount of time producing things like books and information packs such as what they were producing in the photos. The speed at which the machines worked was ridiculous.

Amongst the other processes they did were foiling and embossing, as well as various different finishes of paper. At the end they showed us an experimental project they were working on, which involved changing the magenta ink to a lighter orange but following the same CMYK printing process, and how that gave the images a brighter feel to them.

All in all I enjoyed the visit and found it really eye-opening as an experience. It's really shown me the size of the print industry given that Pressision considers itself to only be a small company. The mind boggles at the potential size of bigger printing companies.

Dialogue Exhibition

Last night I attended the opening night of Dialogue, an exhibition from two LCA Students who go by the name of Yoke (more here).

The idea was that people would submit screen printable work to them that they believe reflected communication to them. One persons work would then be screen printed on top of another persons work, thus bringing creative people together and giving a new way to start conversation between people.

I think the idea was excellent. However, I noticed that the work wasn't labelled with the names of the people who created it, which seems like a bit of a flaw to me, as that would've made it easier for people to talk to each other.

Whilst the work on display was massively varied because of how various people had interpreted the brief, I find it difficult to call the work "design", and more "art" because of how it was displayed in a manner where it's only use was to be seen.

This being said, there were some really nice pieces of work, and I think it demonstrated the difficulty in trying to balance a concept with the aesthetic, which was the main thing I took from the exhibition.

They had also produced some postcard sized prints that people could takeaway. I picked up the two below, as they made sense to me in terms of the brief, as well as looking nice.

Manifesto

We had a session yesterday about being able to identify ourselves as an individual designer from the work you do and how you do it, and how this can be summed up in a manifesto. We had two 3rd year students come in and present their manifestos to us to show us a more literal example of what a manifesto is. 

We were paired up and told to discuss our opinions on design and the issues surrounding it, then to come up with 5 points that we both agree on and then try and work following the rules set by those points.

The 5 points my partner and I came up with were as follows:

1. Work you do should be able to be appriciated by everyone but understood only fully understood by other designers, as this shows a level of skill, as opposed to something anyone could've done.
2. When collaborating work to the same level and intensity as you would do if you were working on your own, as you don't want to let anyone else down.
3. Try and avoid anything of a pretentious nature that borders on fine art. Fine art should be separate to graphic design.
4. Stick to the grid system. It makes things work.
5. Experimentation should be encouraged and not criticised when/if it fails.

We were then set a task. In our pairs we have to produce a piece of work that Ian Anderson, founder of Creative Review, would want to keep forever. We have to stick to our 5 rules.

We came up with this.

First Things First Manifesto

The First Things First manifesto was written 29 November 1963 and published in 1964 by Ken Garland. It was backed by over 400 graphic designers and artists and also received the backing of Tony Benn, radical left-wing MP and activist, who published it in its entirety in the Guardian newspaper.

Reacting against a rich and affluent Britain of the 1960s, it tried to re-radicalise design which had become lazy and uncritical. Drawing on ideas shared by Critical Theory, the Frankfurt School and the counter-culture of the time it explicitly re-affirmed the belief that Design is not a neutral, value-free process.

It rallied against the consumerist culture that was purely concerned with buying and selling things and tried to highlight a Humanist dimension to graphic design theory. It was later updated and republished with a new group of signatories as the First Things First 2000 manifesto.

The First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by Adbusters magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier manifesto. The 2000 manifesto was signed by a group of 33 figures from the international graphic design community, many of them well known, and simultaneously published in Adbusters (Canada), Emigre (Issue 51)[1] and AIGA Journal of Graphic Design (United States), Eye magazine no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999,[2] Blueprint (Britain) and Items (Netherlands). The manifesto was subsequently published in many other magazines and books around the world, sometimes in translation. Its aim was to generate discussion about the graphic design profession's priorities in the design press and at design schools. Some designers welcomed this attempt to reopen the debate, while others rejected the manifesto.

The question of value-free design has been continually contested in the graphic design community between those who are concerned about the need for values in design and those who believe it should be value-free.[3][4] Those who believe that design can be free from values reject the idea that graphic designers should concern themselves with underlying political questions. Those who are concerned about values believe that designers should be critical and take a stand in their choice of work, for instance by not promoting industries and products perceived to be harmful. Examples of projects that might be classified as unacceptable include many forms of advertising and designs for cigarette manufacturers, arms companies and so on. Adbusters has been a significant outlet for these ideas, especially in its commitment to detournement and culture jamming.

Leeds Print Festival - Opening Night

On Friday evening I attended the opening night of Leeds Print Festival. The first thing I noticed was that I was surprised at how busy it was, which gave me an indication about the size and popularity of the print industry, something which I previously had no idea about. This was definitely beneficial.

That said, the second thing I noticed was that a lot of people tended to be talking to each other as apposed to looking around at what work was on display, which they could've done anywhere. To me, it felt like some people, being seen at the exhibition for the sake of reputation and impressions was probably just as important to them as actually going to see the exhibition. That said this was opening night, and I can't imagine that to be the case for any of the paid events throughout the festival.

The work on display was not was I was expecting. It seemed a little pretentious compared to what I was expecting, and I think it's helped clarify in my head the difference between print and design. That said, obviously the work was displayed in gallery, not in the context of what it was designed for, so that probably had a bearing on my thoughts. 

Networking

Networking is good for me personally because speaking to people with experience in graphic design might help me realise what I want to do more specifically. It's something that's probably worth doing because I might end up with a clear idea of what I want to do or contacts within design that could help me in the future. I probably wouldn't actively network if it wasn't part of the course because I don't think I'm pro-active enough as a person in general to think about doing it. At the moment I haven't really done any networking. I think in any kind of communication, language is a major barrier. Even in visual communication, a different language generally means a different culture, and so imagery may not mean the same thing to you as it does to someone of a different language.