Wednesday, March 7, 2018

OUGD602 Creative Networks - Live Brief

Creative Networks - Live Brief:





Team:

- Emma Harwood

- Courtney Flannagan 

- Kathryn Brown

(All from Level 6 Graphic Design)

Having worked together last year coming up with a pitch for a potential design group 'She is' we decided that we all bring something different to the table, and we could combine our skills to work on this brief.

At our first meeting we decided on who we were going to do the design for, we chose Ileen Gallagher because we liked the work that she does and engaged with her more. We also came up with a time plan as we were working on a tight schedule.




Discussing our strengths and weaknesses, Courtney had the most experience on AfterEffects so therefore would work on the moving image while the rest of us came up with concepts for the poster.

My Initial Sketches:






Once we had come together we decided on a typeface that we were going to use and the overall design of the poster, combining our different styles together. We decided to use icons which represent Ileen in some way.

My digital design:



Group poster developments:

Initial poster layout design from Emma, colours taken from Ileen's website.



Toning down the vibrancy of the turquoise and applying the icon design.


We decided that the cubes weren't very relevant and it would be more appropriate to use the LAU's shape.



We added in the text and appropriate logo's but we still felt that it looked awkward and didn't quite flow with the design.



We decided to change the whole design as we were still unhappy with the result. We inverted the icon design to be in the middle shape and stripped back the colour, having bright pops to create interest. After asking for some feedback it was suggested to apply the hexagon shape behind the text to make the title stand out more. Information is also laid out more clearly and is easier to read.



Final Poster Design:

The group felt that pink needed to be incorporated into the design as this is the colour that makes up Ileen's branding. One of the hexagon's was changed to pink as well as the date. I was unsure about changing the colour of the date as I felt it looked more consistent being black. We also organised the information clearly at the bottom of the poster.



Flyers:


FRONT - we decided to use the icons as a background pattern and again using the LAU logo shape to connect with the university. We produced the flyer in two colour variations.





BACK - we kept the design simple but still reflecting the main poster.


Moving Image:

As Courtney is the most experienced using after effects, she created a short moving image.

Outcome:

Unfortunately we didn't win the brief but I still enjoyed working together with people on a project. We were able to combine our design skills to produce something very different from what I would usually do. It was also good working to such a short time scale as we had to produce ideas/designs quickly. 

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

OUGD602 Barcelona Street Art

Barcelona Street Art

In summer I went to Barcelona for a week in June, and I fell in love with the city, it's busy, bright and vibrant. In particular the street art and graffiti helped to liven up the city and inject colour into places that needed it. 





I think that working at varying scales can produce very different results as well as leaving the concept open to interpretation. It has inspired me to try and play around with colour and scale within my work.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

OUGD602 The Pop Up Agency: Abraham

The Pop Up Agency: Abraham

Creative consultation

After trotting the globe and cracking tough briefs in 48 hours for some of the world’s most progressive brands, they have developed a process – a methodology – that combines agile development, classical briefing, controlled anarchy and rapid prototyping. They work with brands to help them to come up with creative ideas.


The Pop-Up philosophy is all about driving change by forming dedicated, intensely focused teams for short periods of time.

Abraham:

- Founder

- Travelled to different countries to solve briefs in 48 hours.

- Been to over 40 countries

- At the start of a session he likes to check in expectations as this allows you to understand the team.

- Lived in London for the past 5 years

- Studied at Hyper Island (a digital creative business school) 

- Met 5 friends who wanted to challenge themselves and the creative industry.

- Culture: Transparency, Feedback, Reflection

- No one took 'roles' - so they could all constantly evolve and grow

- The Pop Up tour was 15 weeks, 15 clients in 15 countries

- There is value in being naive and stubborn

- Started with clients that were friends and family, then using social media to create a network of interest.

- Didn't have any business knowledge starting out

- Recommends using time wisely and experiment as much as possible.

- Worked mainly on campaign briefs - one of the briefs was working on a tv commercial which he found really challenging.

- Navigating audiences and interpretations

- The 48hrs was weekdays only - days they could work

- Setting up in London was most appropriate - at the heart of Europe

- Encourage's trying different things

- First 7 months of business no salary

- Good at the creative process

- Reached out for help with finances and business management - formed a board of members.

- Found out they weren't charging enough to be sustainable 

- Divide finances: Salary, Expenses, Savings

- Brands need their services to accelerate creative processes

- Balance - Sales, Development and Execution

- Creative consultation

- Understand your value and the value of guidance / constructive feedback

- Wants his business to remain small

- Working business to consumer rather than business to business

- Empowering people through creativity 

Workshop:

We were all split into small groups, the first thing we were told to do was write down on a post-stick note our values and needs within a creative career.


We discussed through as a group what we had written down and why they were important to us.

Next we compiled a list as a group of the needs and values that were most important.


We then individually had to write down a business idea which centres around these values and needs.


We put that to one side and on a big sheet of paper we had to write down a new idea. We then passed the sheets round and added on to each others ideas.





We then used a grid system to determine which idea would be the most appropriate. From high to low impact and high to low effort. After discussing through our ideas we felt that the 'Self-Advertising agency' would be the most effective.


What did I learn today?
Understanding the link between business and design, bringing them together cohesively to develop and grow. Creative problem solving applied in a business context and how good ideas can be generated quickly and effectively.

How will I apply this moving forward?
Learning my worth and having a better understanding of my skills as well as evaluating ideas and developing them.

Overall I found Abrahams talk and workshop to be really beneficial, it has made me think more about the overall creative process to coming up with and idea. It also has made me think more about how design and creativity are interlinked and that some general business knowledge would be valuable to move forward with a career. It has also encouraged me to not let anything hold me back such as doubts and fears, but to be as experimental and creative as possible.

Contact Details:


OUGD602 The Elephant Room: Shannie and Will

OUGD602 The Elephant Room: Shannie and Will

The Elephant Room are a new creative agency less than a year old. There focus is on advertising and creative brand strategy.

- They felt that at their old job people didn't really understand what culture is - so would then respond in a way that doesn't even consider culture.

- Started their own studio, both co-founders

- Experience isn't important, don't chase after job titles, own what your about.

- Mentioned that female creative directors are rare 

- There are 5 members of The Elephant Room all with different skill sets, but a lot of their job roles cross over.

Shannie:
- From Birmingham
- Used to dance
- Organised events for creatives
- Joined Liberty (PR and Marketing)
- Moved around from job roles because she was unsure what she wanted to do.
- Her passion projects (hobbies outside of work) became more challenging than her day job. She wanted her day job to be a challenge as well, so that she would enjoy it more.
- Helps young people - giving advice on how to do things
- She does reply on Linkedin - active on social media
- She created the right role for her

- Interests outside of your career are really important to elevate your creativity

- Connect with everyone - collaboration is important

- They put on talent days to see young designers work and to see who they want to work with on projects.

- Don't settle for mediocre 

Will:
- Lived in York and Japan
- Graduated from Brighton Uni doing english literature 
- Graduated in 2010 UK in recession, didn't get a job out of uni
- Lived in London doing unpaid PR internship
- Started in accounts
- Helped to build Liberty's strategy team
- Worked at Flamingo a brand consultancy agency (projects worked on such as Lego, Guinness and Adidas.)

- Your best work might be for free but it can get you noticed

- Work out the value of a project for you

- The Elephant Room exists because they are compassionate creatives who want to make a difference and change the way that advertising and marketing do things.

- Consumer and audience are so important in modern times, the relationship between brands and consumers has changed.

- Why does advertising keep getting it wrong?

- Brands as an activist role - political

- Brands need to find the balance

- There seems to be an assumption that the audience is stupid

Advertising trying to change:
- Axe/lynx are now trying to tackle the masculinity stigma (mental health)

Work they've done:
- Dyson their first client - their external team to come in, working on a global product launch around air pollution - can't share work because it's so secretive.
- Wileyfox mobile phone brand - making the brand more culturally relevant.
- Decca Records - promoting an upcoming artist
- Royal Mail - Rethink ink, creative lock in (making print more relevant again)

- Understanding social and physical spaces is important

- Value yourself properly / appropriately 

- They are D&AD Shift mentors - recommend finding a mentor to help

Friends of The Elephant Room:
- @Mamamanvz
- @KiranGidda
- India Harris
- Koby Martin
- Leon Carlton
- Abbie May

Places to look for internships:
- YCC (Young Creative Council)
- Social Fixt 
- Madland Hack
- It's Nice That
- Creative Ethos
- The Other Box
- Product Hunt 
- Liberty mailing list
- The Dots
- Exposure Room
- C4 Creative
- Young progress makers
- Creative access
- Hiive

Contact details:
- will.degroot@theelephantroom.net
- shannie.mears@theelephantroom.net

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

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:






Tuesday, January 30, 2018

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.