OUGD602 LAU Alumni: Eve Warren & Chris Shuttleworth (Robot Food)

LAU Alumni: Eve Warren & Chris Shuttleworth (Robot Food)

As I already have a strong interest at possibly working in this studio, I was really looking forward to hearing from the LAU alumni on how they have got to where they are and what it is like working for Robot Food.

Chris Shuttleworth:
- Graduated 2014
- Work placement at Big Fish
- Final year work placement at Robot Food

Personal Branding - Business cards

Screen Printed Gig Posters

Why Bother? Publication

Eve Warren:
- Graduated 2014
- Placement at Fieldwork, Golden, Vast, Rabbit Hole etc.
- Freelanced for a bit

Secret 7 Submission

Native American Symbol Book

Jamies Food Revolution 

Robot Food:
- Want their projects to disrupt the norm of branding and packaging design.

- Start a project with brand workshops, to work out the personality and the values of the brand.

Seabrook crisps
- Focus on colour
- Add a tone of voice to bring personality
- Keep it simple and memorable
- Think about a range and how it can be developed - premium design

Electric Ink
- Referencing old school tattoos, sailor jerry style - created a pattern - worked with an illustrator to produce the design.
- Brand has expanded - gift boxes - selling in urban outfitters in America - think about the possibilities of design expansion and the collateral needed.
- Pushing the brand online 
- Helping launch a product (kickstarter)
- Identify a consumer who is not being catered for
- Design for consumer and category
- Introduce unexpected visuals

CO-OP Packaging
- They work on a range for co-op
- Most recent work on nappies
- Noticed that all nappies looked the same, with a picture of a baby on
- Commissioned Jim Field (illustrator) to do the illustration on the packaging
- Simple design
- Icon system to make it easier
- See what people are doing and do it differently
- Messaging keep it minimal
- Design for the audience in mind

Project Disrupt - 3 days, 3 briefs, 5 days.

Laundry - Load

- Mundane choice

- Copywriting is important to elevate the design

A tailored online subscription service for laundry detergent that ensures you never run out, never have too much and makes dealing with laundry a doddle.

Cheese

- Bright and bold

- Thinking beyond packaging

A cheese brand that’s bold, brave and beats the bland.

Air freshner

- Product design orientated thinking more about the shape of the product.

- Inspiration from Google home, Alexa etc.

A new home fragrance system that elevates expectation, creates demand and awakens the fifth sense.

Jobs:

- martin@robotfood.com

- Now hiring graduate/junior designers

- Internships over the summer

As Im interested in working for Robot Food and studios similar to this with a focus on packaging and branding I think that it is really important to start tailoring my portfolio with these studios in mind. After the talk I went up to Eve to talk to her more in depth about Robot Food and what kind of things that they look for in portfolios. What I learned from her is that although competition briefs can be good, everyone is doing them. This means that it gets tedious and unoriginal looking at the same brief over and over. She suggested doing projects based on packaging design but either using fictional clients or creating a brief for a client. I mentioned whether doing a project in the same style as their 'Project Disrupt', if I identified an area in the market with little variation and tackling it in the same way that they did. Eve thought that this would definitely be a good idea and would help to make my portfolio stand out. I also asked her how proficient I would need to be on the design programs - she said that as long as I had good knowledge of photoshop and illustrator I should be okay as I would learn a lot from working. It is more important to have creative ideas and concepts than be the best at 'design'. This helped me to feel a lot more at ease, and I am now more determined to really try and work my hardest and push my design practice to get the job I want. Eve also advised good time management as she mentioned at uni that she took a lot on and started to get confused and was losing track of all the different briefs. This has highlighted the importance of planning and organisation which is something that I need to work on. 

Overall I found the talk really beneficial, I have gained lots of advice and insights into what I need to do to give me the best chance of getting a career. 

OUGD602 Rose Nordin

Rose Nordin:

A freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in London, interested in self publishing and DIY culture.

Clients:
- Museum of London
- Book Works
- Offprint London
- Tate Collectives

Residencies:
2016 - Publishing practices in SEAsia, British Council
2015 - The Library Was, Book Works, Art Council England

Workshops:
- The Floating Cinema, Gif Us Zines 0.2
- Open School East, New Producers print poster making
- Tate Modern, Offprint London, Gif Us Zines
- Southbank Centre WOW festival, FanZine making
- Bishopgate Institute, Radical Takeover, Radical self publishing
- Tate Modern, Turbine Festival, Make a Manifesto Zine

Selected Talks:
- Inive, Journey through zine cultures
- Awe Gallery, Self Publishing London & Kuala Lumpur
- Tate Collectives, Women, Publishing and Autonomy
- Pick Me Up Fair Comms Bureau, A History of Riot Girl Zines
- Print Out with Stack and MagCulture, New Beginnings

Education:
- BA Illustration and Animation
- MA Visual Communication

The Library Was

Gif Us Zines

What Women Believe

OOMK

Talk:
- Part of the OOMK collective they make, publish and distribute books and printed works which arise from self-initiated projects. They also commission new works by women artists and co-curate DIY Cultures, one of the UK’s largest annual independent publishing fairs.

- Has a print and editorial focus

- Self directed projects

- Artist in resident at Somerset House

- Women's activist magazine - focus on creative women

- Print should be printed rather than digitally mocked up - try to avoid that.

- What Women Believe exhibition - publication

- 6 month residency future libraries 

- Designed Shy Radicals (Book)

- British Council art residency - allows you to learn and explore a project.

Workshop:
In the workshop that Rose put on we had to create a zine within a couple of hours. The zine was based on the alphabet and words related to the creative industries. We each had a letter that we had to produce a design for. 

In groups we came up with the A - Z of related words:

I worked on the letter 'O' and had the word 'Open-minded':

The task was quite challenging as we had limited resources available, but the finished outcome is really interesting and engaging to see how people have interpreted their word. It was also quite nice to work on a project collaboratively, working together as a team. Having a finished outcome at the end of the day that we could all take home was also nice as it showed that if you work quickly you can achieve good outcomes. Working in this DIY style also allowed you to be as experimental as you want without any restrictions or reservations of what is right or wrong.

Lexicon of Industry:

OUGD602 Studio Blup: Dines

Studio Blup: 

'Studio BLUP is a multi-disciplinary design studio who believe in the power of design to help grow and build brands. By adding fresh ideas and contemporary creative styling we celebrate what makes brands unique. We help them get noticed and selected. We make them stand out from the crowd.'

Services

Branding:

Identity Branding

Art Direction

Motion Design

Creative Design

Digital:

Social Media Content/Management

Website Design

Strategy:

Brand Development

Brand Positioning

Mentoring

Clients include: Universal Music, Nike, Adidas, P&G, Ministry Of Sound, Soccerbible, Sony, BBC.

BLUP X CHELSEA FC & NIKE FOOTBALL

ADIDAS UltraBOOSTX APPEALING TO THE URBAN MARKET

PROMOTING NIKE’S NEW FOOTBALL TRAINING APPAREL

Dines 

The Journey and Hacks of the Design Industry

- Works with big name clients
- Vibrancy in his work
- He took risks 
- From London
- Emphasised that the design industry is usually sugar coated.
- Graduated with a 2:1 from Southampton (1 mark off a 1st)
- When he had his last £20 he realised that he no longer wanted to be skint.
- He started off small
- Lived and designed in the culture
- He has got his business through hard work and recognition
- Loves grime music - worked with Wiley for his album artwork - a dream.
- Inspired by animation/manga
- Liked Vandal clothing - graffiti - old hobbie
- Loved How to Make it in America (tv show)
- Loved Entourage (tv show) - wanted that lifestyle
- Needed to find a style - 3D, illustration, photography 
- Loved making people happy through design
- Soccer bible artwork - pushed for the front cover design - showed behind the scene videos on the making of the '5' through social media - gained access and exposure.
- Renaissance paintings inspired him - created abstract art
- Realised he needed to create goals and motivations - money lifestyle - win awards - inspire millions - provide for his family - live like a g.
- Emails get lost - you need a proper name to get noticed.
- Created a studio in second year for a better email address
- Made up the name 'BLUP' - kept it simple
- Best friend became partner 
- Adidas olympic invitations - read everything and prepare for small print and hidden conditions.
- He wants his social media to act as an inspiration feed
- Clients want to see your work - simple - video content
- He tries to be omnipresent - everywhere at the same time
- Started doing talks
- Advice is to commit first, figure it out later
- Friends are important - they will help you out later
- Don't just work on client stuff
- Once you do what you love money comes easy 
- It's important to develop and maintain a style
- Have your individual style but take risk
- Learn a variety of programs
- Focus your audience

I found Dines talk really engaging, he has a big personality and it was clear that his confidence has got him to where he is today. It has encouraged me to be more motivated and to try and work a lot harder as I have come to realise that if I want a career in this industry I need to work a lot harder. I also need to try and learn as much as I can now and challenge myself to try new things that I might not be as experienced doing. Although I felt overwhelmed by everything that Dines has done, I know I need to start doing these things myself.

Dines Den
Pitch a project to Dines and Alec to get feedback...

My pitch:
Produced a campaign for 'Stand Up To Racism'

WHAT: An informative campaign on 'How To Stand Up To Racism'

HOW:  Provides a guide to intervening in a racial attack

WHY: Gives clear information and instructs people what to do

Booklet: 
- Online/print
- Concise information
- Bold
- Iconography

Posters:
- Public transport

Feedback:
- Really like the idea
- Expand through social media
- Create a brand 
- Create a logo
- Focus the audience
- Contact the relevant people to make it happen.

Dines has made me rethink this project as I could still do a lot with it, this is maybe something I would think about doing for extended practice.