OUGD502: Roundhay Park - Magical Lantern Festival

The Magical Lantern festival launched in London last year and made it's debut in Yorkshire this year in Roundhay Park in Leeds. It is a display of art, heritage and culture with christmas themes. It follows a trail around the park which is used to display the giant lanterns.

The display was exceeded expectations. The scale intensified the experience and it has an extensive collection of illuminating lanterns. The concept of it being a trail visitors have to follow was interesting and made it more interactive that having to scatter them and let visitors make their own journey.

OUGD502: Etsy Made Local - 3/12/16

Etsy Made Local is a craft fair that is held in millennium square in Leeds. It is made of sellers from the online marketing platform that come set up stalls to sell their piece of art work. Most of the stalls this year consisted of art prints, cards, makeup bags, jewellery but there were also other accessories such as pin badges and felting kits to create your own little animals. These craft fairs are inspiring to young creatives to push your work out there and start selling your own work because the age range for the fairs vary so much. It is something I would like to do one day. I emailed about doing the Leeds print fair but there were no available stalls at the time and the stalls are quite expensive to hire out ranging from £60-£100 and there are insurance fees, greybeard and mounting etc incase any stock gets stolen which are things I didn't even take into consideration before emailing the print fair and being explained the terms and conditions of having a stall. I need to research this year what craft fairs I want to participate in next year and make sure I get a stall when the listing are released.  

Things I learned from going to etsy made local:

• Everyone has business cards
• Some people offer discount codes for their online shops
• There are deals for if you buy multiple items
• You can sell a variety of things such as art prints, pins, jewellery. You don't have to just sell one specific thing

OUGD502: Make Yahoo! The World's Most Popular Homepage

Idea generation is the initial thing you do when you are given a brief. This is done by mind mapping, research, focus groups, discussions etc. 

This brief was about idea generation. The brief was to try think of ways to make Yahoo! The World's Most Popular Homepage. The target audience was 13-18 year olds.

Idea One
The first idea was to create a homepage which featured everything. This was so that it was visually engaging to 13-18 year olds and would keep their attention on the homepage.

Idea Two
The second idea was to make a very clean homepage so that it wasn't over complicated to use and easy to navigate. This also meant it wouldn't look cluttered.

OUGD502: Glug Leeds #7 - The Careers Clinic - Developing Leeds Talent

Glug talks started from 6pm it included Studio12, Alec Dudson of Intern Magazine, the ladies from up and coming movement SheDoesDigital, Matt Essam of Creative Life, brothers turned business partners Matthew and Daniel Tweddle of Only, and author of the Human Freelancer - Chris Kenworthy.

Studio12

Studio12 based a lot of their talk on the issues of design being they have to solve an issue. "Everything is about solving an issue." "The biggest word in the industry is standard you can be the best until you work with people in this competitive realm you wouldn't know you need the level of exposure of people doing it to this scale which is what made me up the game and make it real." "We're all creative people we're just presented to the world differently." "It's all about your vision solving a problem, a real life problem always been an entrepreneur." John always tells us we should never limit ourselves or think about budgets. One of the guys from Studio12 said something similar "you don't have to limit your creativity to the resources you have around you." They also said you don't have to go to London to gain lots of opportunities you can go out and meet new people but Leeds is a great creative hub. "Go out and meet new people and exploit new opportunities come back and offer something to this city." When people email them or approach them they always think its about what the person can do for them but they said they should "tell us what you want."

Alec Dudson

Alec Dudson and Only Studio have previously come in for talks with in the Graphic Design at LCA. Alec visited in first year during a hijack week and he told us the journey he went through with starting intern. Only Studio also have humble beginnings, they work innovatively. 

Alec talked through starting intern and discovering what he wanted to do. He is an advocate in making sure young creatives are credited and paid for the work they do fairly. "You're the only person who sets the boundaries of your career." He believes "young people are the future so we should empower and invest in them as the creative youth." "Whatever you do not under play your value."
"Passion and determination will drive you." Alec went and got a degree then realised it wasn't for him so he worked in a bar to make money to be able to do an internship "The hardest thing is deciding what you want to."

Only Studio

"Only is an award-winning strategy and design consultancy helping organisations to use design to innovate and grow. In close partnership with brands, we identify new ways for them to connect with people. We help clients to articulate their vision and design the products, services and experiences that bring them to life.

Our approach to design takes inspiration from real people and has its ultimate goal in the clarification of purpose and meaning. By better understanding who we are designing for, we create experiences of real value."

"Received a phone call from a french number soft spoken dutch accent read about his logo on a French Graphic Design blog they had lifted the words from their journal and shared their insight with their readership the man on the phone was a well known fashion designer he was so pleased about what he read about his logo and gave him visual identity system."

Only Studio gave us 5 tips on working in the creative industry. This was backed up by examples of their work.

Be nice to people.

Maximise every opportunity.

Share your passion.

Be brave.

Do good work.

Matt Essam of Creative Life talked honestly and deeply about happiness within the creative industry. 
People spend time chasing things that ultimately make you unhappy.  Takeaways from Matt's talk were:
1. Change your perspective to identify what you really want
2. Ask yourself why you want these things to uncover your values
3. Find ways to live these values within the parameters of your current situation
4. Use them to live an authentically creative life

Finally,

Key points from Chris Kenworthy talk were

• Always do a good, honest job
• Write, talk positively about what you learned
• Do friendly favours
• Know your limits
• There's no such thing as the right price
• Relax, something always turns up
• There's no shame in small
• No one really knows what they're doing, we're all just taking it up as we go along.

"Earn a living doing what you enjoy, honestly and responsibly. Make just enough to live sustainably then spend the rest of your life having fun."

At the end of the talk we were advised:

"Listen Simon Cynic ted talks."

"Do what you love and fuck the rest."

OUGD502: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be - Paul Arden

This book was read for my cop project but found the book influential to my general graphic design practise. It's a good book for regaining inspiration for graphic design. Last week I had a mental block with the course and think I ended up getting creative burn out which is what any person in the creative industry gets and it is hard to get yourself out of it. I find listening to talks or podcasts, watching videos or reading books helpful to give me an insight into why I enjoy doing this course. It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be discusses key concepts behind interpretation of briefs and mental blocks. A few quotes I favoured are:

"Here are some common excuses for failure:

1. It was a terrible brief.
2. I need a better partner.
3. There wasn't enough money to do it properly.
4. The director didn't listen to me.
5. I was too busy on other projects.
6. I wasn't given enough time.
7. The client took out the best ideas.

Most of these grievances are every day on every job. That won't change. The point is that, whatever other people's failings might be, you are the  one to shoulder the responsibility. There are no excuses."

It's so easy for designers to blame external factors. When they are all small issues that can be resolved or we just use as excuses as to why the brief or job wasn't done to how we expected or wanted it to be.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."

Design is all about being innovative, all options must be considered and speaking to other people helps.

"We ALL get mental blocks. We need to get unblocked. The way to get unblocked is to lose our inhibitions and stop worrying about being right."

A mental block is something everyone in the creative industry has to deal with. We are constantly having to engage and think of new ideas but sometimes we get blocks where our brain can't produce anything new. This is when we need to take breaks and find inspiration somewhere else so we don't prolong the mental block or get creative burn out. 

OUGD502: Leeds Events Within The Following Months

Make a list of what's going on and what you could engage with in the next couple of months or are interested in engaging in.

November 16th -
The Scientific Method Talk - 6pm - The Tetley - Free, limited spaces

November 19th -
The Winter Market Leeds - St George's Church, Great George Street

November 24th -
Glug

November 30th -
Interns 4th magazine launch @ Village Bookshop

December 1st -
Everyday Objects Exhibition Launch - Cafe 164 & The Gallery at Munro House

December 3th-4th -
Etsy Made Local - Leeds City Museum - Cookridge Street

Etsy Made Local will be having some talks and workshops based around selling on Etsy and setting up an independent shop so that your items can be seen on Etsy. 

December 3th -
Etsy Made Local - Leeds Kitsch Tree Decoration Workshop (£7 ticket)

December 4th -
Etsy Made Local - Leeds Make Your Own Fun: Zine Workshop (£7 ticket)

OUGD502: Only Studio

Only is an award winning strategy and design consultancy organisation. They focus on Strategy design, Brand design, Digital design. It was set up two and a half years ago with a large client base such as Lost Village music festival since the beginning and work with sony music. Range of sectors, lots of non-profit valuable things and luxury stuff helps pay the pills.

Some of their clients:

Goldsmith University
Primarily art, needed to strike the balance of international and master students. Needed a new rebrand and new colours. 


University of Suffolk
Solution references core proposition of change. Change being the only constant and preparing students for an ever changing world. Neatly tied a reference into their place, the yellow is taken from their flag. Modern take on that. Clean, minimal, easy to apply on different assets. Keeps it on a neat format. 

Lost Village
Music festival focuses on the experience side. Wanted something the audience could take on and own themselves. Space that's lost in time. References their old language and it's adopted by the people that attend. Based on a bespoke hand drawn typeface. Represents ancient languages. Is another brand people come into contact with it on instagram. A lot of what they do uses 15 second videos and social media aspects to promote Lost Village. 

Sony
Bring me the horizon - sony open to ideas. Can look editorial and drawn from print or a graphic design background. Take it a step further with how does it move. How does it feel.

Helberts
His first brand where he moved out of Louis Vuitton. Sells in Mr.Porter and Barneys. No limitations to how it looked.

This talk was beneficial because they spoke about the common misconceptions of interface design and that there are actually endless possibilities with ideas within these types of briefs. They work with a lot of non-profit organisations and luxury brands because it's something they're interested in and helps support them financially. They did a Q&A at the end where they answered questions from students and offered pieces of advice for the current OUGD504 brief. They were very confident during their presentation because of their opinions and showed a lot of examples of their clients and work which is something to be considered in future presentations for PPP.

OUGD502: Visiting Professional - LCA Alumni - Harrison Park

Harrison Park is a Graphic Design alumni. During his presentation with us he explained that it is so important to network with build and "build relationships." This is because one contact can lead you to many other contacts. Jobs and work after university is not handed to you on a plate. You need to "work hard for it, be passionate." Harrison gave an anecdote about how he worked in retail jobs after university then realised he shouldn't take that route because he had spent time on getting an education to do what he was passionate about. Another one of his points was "sell yourself" and "don't be a dick, be humble." because no one wants to work with someone that is arrogant or difficult as this also gives you a bad reputation. "Don't be afraid to ask questions" and "rejection happens." He worked at a studio with his friend as convinced himself he loved it because his friend did but he didn't. "Stay true to yourself." If it's not working out try something else. "Your as good as your last project."
"No ones ever looked at what grade I got." The portfolio and how you are as a person is so much more important than what you graduate with. It's also beneficial to "collaborate - use people around you and on other courses." If you are contacting professional's "make it personal", talk about one of their recent projects, boost their ego or do something different. Go trial in different places and see what environment works for you. You don't have to take the first opportunity. Make sure you know what is right for you and if it isn't working, leave.  He spoke about how different everyone was in terms of gaining placements and what events you would go to. This talk was beneficial and gave a strong insight on what starting your career and life is like after graduating university.

OUGD502: Nicer Tuesdays - Sam Pilling Talk

Sam Piling is a director and is giving an insight on his music video. His key topics he discusses in the talk are:

Influence and Research

He takes inspiration for his music videos from different scenes in films he likes. This helps with colour schemes and themes for the music video. The considerations for lighting. "Become a complete circus" shows how the ideas escalated and became interesting. He researches places and old locations, for this specific music video Ukraine and Russia. He created mock ups of the music video to see what it would look like before creating it.

Filming

"Lighting a huge space is difficult. He used a balloon light so he wasn't continuously moving the lights in and out of shot and he used wires to shape the light relatively quickly for differ close up moments.

OUGD502: First Collaborative Session

What you did:
The course was split into 3 groups and we played Banana Magnet. After we went off into the illustration room with animation we were split into random pairs. Beth and I were put together and we got the words "Calm" and "Electric" from our surnames from Banana Magnet to create "Calm Electric." We thought of the concept of creating an electricity service from renewable energy sources. It would be connected to a wrist piece you would wear to monitor your sleep, steps and respiratory system so you could create energy from doing relaxing things. We would advertise this through social media and viral video. Unfortunately our idea didn't make it to the second round but this is when we decided to join a group called "Sausage Rain" which was essentially a concept for a range of different sauces. This placed us in a group of 6 other people from all practises and we managed to create a strong concept and other practical parts of the project.

What you learned:
You don't always get to chose what you want to do. The "Sausage Rain" concept wasn't my favourite initially but was more invested into it as we discussed it more. Also the final group idea for the slugs wasn't my favourite. A group of 50+ students was a lot of people all working at once.

What you achieved:
I feel more confident speaking in groups now. I know that people want to hear your ideas and it's better to at least say something than to say nothing. We learned to pitch as a group and to each other as we were pitching all day. I feel like I have the confidence to expose my ideas initially and challenge other people's ideas to develop a good product.

It was refreshing to work with people from different disciplines as we all approach things from a different aspect and angle. Illustrators and animators tackle projects and aspects of work that sometimes I wouldn't even consider as a Graphic Designer.

OUGD502: Who am I, Why am I here?

Identify 5 things you have learned so far on the programme:

• How to use software on a basic level
• How to set up visual presentation
• How to organise my work and questions in a crit to get feedback I want
• There are a lot of briefs and tasks
• Engaging more within the creative industries - going to events, seeing what's local to Leeds. 

Identify 5 things that you want to know more about:

• Manufacturing products to a high standard - i.e. printing publications
• Painting on photoshop
• Placements and internships
• Freelancing / being your own business
• How to make a creative portfolio look professional

Identify 5 skills that you think are your strengths:

• Being able to approach creatives - quite proactive in networking
• Adapting the brief to make it something I enjoy doing
• Time management
• Conceptualising ideas
• 
  

Identify 5 things that you want to improve:

• How to use the software to a more advanced level
• How to improve my presentation skills
• Working collaboratively with other people
• Visual and verbal presentation skills
• Analysing my work to a higher standard in blog posts - third person. 

Identify 5 practitioners that demonstrate your interest in Graphic Design:

• Sophie Corrigan
• Gemma Correll
• Shitty Watercolour
• Papio Press
• Stay Home Club

Identify websites/online resources that demonstrate your areas of interest within the creative industries:

• Looking at online shops and marketing places such as etsy, notonthehighstreet, ohdeer etc.
• It's Nice That
• Creative Boom
• Editorial websites - Cereal Magazine
• Looking at instagram accounts for inspiration - Jean Jullien

OUGD502: Coffee & Graphic Design chat with Alex Dyson

Alex Dyson graduated Leeds College of Art in 2015 with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design and is currently a Graphic Designer & Illustrator based in Leeds - The Lift Agency, Restrap and does freelance work.  

Alex and I have followed each other on social media for a little while now and I thought it would be a good idea to invite him for coffee to discuss Graphic Design. I feel like chats with other creatives helps to inspire and motivate me and this is exactly what I needed at this time. Luckily, I asked Alex just as the right time as he has a couple of busy months coming up. I prepared a couple of questions for Alex to answer about what he does, the course and Graphics generally.


How do you stay motivated? is the first question I asked because at the beginning of the year it's hard to keep yourself motivated when all these new briefs are being thrown at you.
"Don't really have a choice. I work in a very intense studio. It's small but with big clients. It has high responsibility. It becomes a way of life."

I then went on to say that the course at LCA is very full time, being in every single day and feeling like there isn't much time to do anything else. Alex agreed that it was but then said that "Real life becomes easier. You're not working towards a grade so there's no self value factor. It's just deadline after deadline. Sometimes you have to go for a walk or sit on blogs for a bit. Do something else. When I started at rest in a junior role I never had a full responsibility."

I then went on to discuss crits.
"Crits are everyday real life. You're not doing it to be like this is what I've done. To have people say it's good. You explain your idea and other people give their insight on their idea then you have this awesome idea from other ideas." With things like this you have to develop a "fuck it, I don't really care what other people think." Which is exactly think about these types of situations. You get to a point where you just stop caring. However Alex offered me words of advice such as "preparation is always key." Notes are extremely important to have beforehand and help a lot. "With the digital presentation just a prompt whether it's a visual, photo or illustration. Make bullet points as notes then you can just look at the side to your prompt then look at everyone. Just find the easiest way for you to present. People that are watching either care what you have to say or don't give a fuck. Also humour and engagement is important. A huge part of my end of year presentation was being as funny as I could. I included photos of me being drunk and swearing."

As I am entering second year and things are getting real, I asked about placements as experience is an important factor and he said that he waited until 3rd year to do one. As he never felt confident with real studios. He realised before it became a big thing that instagram was a big network and made it look like he had his shit together. Analogue had found his instagram and liked his photos and commented on one and said "give me an email. I really like your work." So he asked him to come for a chat and although they had never had an internal placement they offered him one. "Instagram is a very good tool for students." Web presence is really important. People shouldn't be scared to show their work.

We also discussed freelance work as that would be something I may be interested in doing after university. He said he was surprisingly more busy in winter. He used online resources such as instagram and his website to start work and get recommendations from people you've already done work for. Such as doing work for friends and then they promote you to people in the industries they're in for extra work. "What John says about networking is really important. I met someone drunk then he sent me a friend request on Facebook and I hadn't heard from him then a couple of months later he asked if there were any secret Graphic Designers as he was a Creative Director and I sent him my portfolio and he was like can you start monday? I went in 2-3 days a week whilst at uni. All because of that Halleycat thing. Networking is so important." "It's really important to talk to anyone you recognise, it could be a friendship, relationship, work. Even if you just say I really like your work it's always worth it because you don't know what could come from it. Find someone clued up on going to things. Go to exhibitions. Go to everything because what's 2-3 hours of your evening. Go and absorb everyones knowledge."

He then asked if I had any hobbies and the only thing I really do outside of art is go to gigs. He said that "real life is more important than Graphic Design" because you "need an escape from design. You have to live, breathe and ingest it to do it properly. You'll be knackered all the time but happy."

Final inklings of advice were "work hard, be nice to people. Be socially engaging. It never hurts to say hello I don't know you but I'd like to know you. One small decision can change everything. Fake it until you make it. Everything is in your head with design. If you believe you can do it, it makes you more motivated to keep going with it. You need a unique selling point. Find something you're really interested in because chances are if you're really interested in it, you're good at it. Also get known for something people say to me you're the bike guy. You need a USP."

Massive thank you to Alex for talking to me and offering me words of inspiration and knowledge about the course. I left the coffee chat feeling very inspired by everything he has achieved from only graduating last year. You can see Alex's work on a-dyson.co

OUGD502: Reflecting On Last Years PPP

This module is about exploring yourself as a designer.

Task:
Make a list of everything you found uncomfortable during first year:

• Presentations
• Procrastinating
• Work load - deadlines clashing and crossing over

How I'm going to overcome these issues and progression into second year PPP:
I need to Engage in a much broader context - nationally and internationally. Not limiting myself to working in the town or city that I'm based in. Identify areas of interest in the creative industries. I'm going to make more of an effort to keep on top of every module and not prioritise ones until the deadlines actually come. I also need to get the work done right right away. For example blog posts need to be done on the day given instead of a few days after. For presentations I'm going to watch more talks and people presenting and note methods that they are using to present to audiences.

OUGD402: Self Evaluation

Self Evaluation:

I almost feel like I should have just done a self branded business card because from speaking to everyone else that is what they almost all done. This is because it shows you as a designer and your contact details but as I have reiterated throughout my blog. I am not a Graphic Designer. 

There's a conflict between seeing yourself as a professional at this level which shows you are confident within your current practise but there is also the underlying fact you are still a student. I am here to learn. So what do I brand myself as? We had been told in a talk to just introduce yourself as Graphic Designer because we essentially are. Through just having an online social media precence it has become apparent to me that you are almost less likely you will get freelance work if you have "Graphic Design Student" in your bio or people take advantage of your work because they think you are lesser because you are a "student." But I don't think either are necesarrily a bad thing I'm just confused as what to brand myself as.

This is why I feel like so far PPP has been my strongest project so far. It is the one module that is personal to you and almost completely what you want to do even though presentations terrify me. The practical aspect depends on how much effort you are willing to put into it throughout the year and I feel as though I have been quite proactive with organising my time for this module. This includes going to studios and exhibitions. Organising the Alphabet one made me feel the most proactive and I hope to continue to do these types of things when I progress to Level 5.

I attempted to arrange a tour and interview at Elmwood Design Studio but a team member informed me that they are more tartgeted toward third years. She said that I could still send over interview questions for my blog (www.TeaAndTalks.tumblr.com) to gain a better insight before third year.

I hopefully want to keep this blog consistent but I want to develop my own personal self branding. I feel like this was good to do in first year especially because I don't know who I am as a designer yet it gives me a broader range of opinions of the industry from both first years and current creatives. I hope to be more ambitious in my future endeavours with PPP and meet more people within the industry and expand on my own visual identity but I think that the progress I have made in first year was a good start.

 If I was to brand myself I would probably keep with the theme that I am not a Graphic Designer or not just a Graphic Designer because I think that illustration will constantly be a main part in my personal design work. I would hope to encorporate it into my degree. I also think I'm quite a strong conceptual thinker. I hope to develop this further in second year and be more ambitious and proactive.

OUGD402: Appointment Cards

I prefer the last one. The design is the most simplistic. There is enough room to write the date and time then the stamp can be optional. It looks rustic and authentic like an actual human wrote it. I feel if I use the one with the image than it looks unprofessional to hand write the date and time on it.

Feedback:

"I like the one that has no logo. It keeps consistency with your minimalist theme."

"The one with the image would look nice as a business card."

"The concept of an appointment card is nice. Maybe edit the composition more."

"Experiment with the placement of the date, time etc."

"Maybe play with colour?"

OUGD402: Studio Brief 3 - What I'm Going To Include In My Presentation

I really wanted to include an illustration in my presentation because I feel like it looks more interactive. It looks like my thoughts and shows my personal interest in illustration as part of my practise. It keeps with a black and white theme to work in accordance to my self branding.

 This is a mistake I made at the beginning. This was my first time experimenting with illustrator to create my own typeface. This made me want to practise more.

This is what I feel like I have learned from the course so far. They are all still things I can improve on but I feel like I have made the most progress on so far. 

This demonstrates a doodle becoming a physical product. This was the first time I wasn't scared to ask for feedback and crit for a piece of work even though it was outside of the course.

This is my shop.

This is my favourite illustrator, Sophie Corrigan.

Examples of her work.

This is my self branding project. I wanted it to be a collaborative project with creatives to show engagement. It was important to me that LCA students feature on it because they are upcoming creatives. This is also a reflection of their experiences in first year. I found this more beneficial than just embossing my personal social medias on to everything as I am only currently first year and I have a LOT to learn.

Very surprisingly people have found it. Quite a few people have sent me messages saying things like "I've stumbled across this by chance and it's a brilliant idea" which was really nice and encouraging to hear but originally this website was only supposed to be for me so I could have a collection of the interviews and possibly upcoming LCA students so they could get a feel of current and past student experiences.

I made a stamp to go with my website.

I chose to use black and white because it always prints the same. I wanted to keep it very minimal and simple. Futura is friendly because it's quite rounded. It's simple but not understated and it's in Vignelli's canon.

If I was to have a business card it would be like an appointment card. Enough white space to put a time date and a place. 

 This is where I go from here and progress onto level 5. I need to sort my time managing out. I really want to find my visual identity and produce work that I am proud of. I need to stop being scared to show my work and ask for feedback. I need to stop being a push over with my work if I believe in a concept and have done the research. I need to stop avoiding things I find difficult. I feel like a lot of this term if I was struggling I wouldn't talk about it but it is so important to otherwise you would never get any help. It's a shame I only learned that recently.

What I didn't have time for:

I don't know if I want to work for a design studio or for a company. I think I would like to work in a collective of people. Similar to what Alphabet and Hungry Sandwich Club do. If I had to I would really like to work for Hallmark Creative Studio. This is because I really like their work and their style. I think that the job roles would be perfect for what I want to do so I would definitely like to look for a placement there. However, I need to do more research into it.