Afterlife

Jack Renwick – Jack Renwick Studios

I was lucky enough to see Jack before in the 4 designers conference in London during our first year trip, however for whatever reason the impact it has this year was much more. First off, the personality she had is infectious and made me sit up in my seat and listen, it’s such a great thing hearing someone speak to passionately but also having the personality to be funny and motivational even through the laptop. She really shows the importance of being yourself and not changing for anyone, stay true to yourself and your beliefs and what comes along will always be what’s best for you. But the thing that really sticks out to me when I think about the work the studio does is the level of story telling which goes into her work, it really encompasses what it means to work in branding and how important it is to stay personal, she goes far further than just making shit look good and creates work which makes you feel so much more than just making you see. It was so inspirational to see someone sum up exactly what it is to work in graphic design, specifically branding, and how important it is to pour your heart and should into everything you do, it’s something I’d never thought about to the extent at which I do now but it was really motivational for me.

Michael C Place – Studio Build

The inspiring this about the lecture was that for me I took more on board about being a designer and what that means, not only to me but to everyone, no one should feel as though they should be at a certain place in their life, that they should be doing more or less than anyone else. I’m very self assured for the most part, however I often struggle when thinking about where I should be and what I should be doing in terms of graphics. Should I be doing more work experience, should I be looking for a full time job or freelancing? The lecture and Michael himself taught me that more than anything, everyone is in their own place and don’t worry about what other designers are doing, work for yourself and the success will follow. I also loved that the way he got into his career was fairly unconventional and didn’t seem as though it was the plan all along to start start his own agency, it just shows that you need to keep your mind open because you never know what’s around the corner.

James Greenfield – Studio Koto

James Greenfield seemed as though he had moved through a more similar progression to most of us on the course having done a design course and then moving on to work afterwards, so It was great to hear about him and how he felt along the way. It was great and so reassuring to hear that someone of his skillset who is clearly a very talented designer still had doubts and to this day still has times when he struggles, it makes you realise that no one is that perfect and everyone has days when they may struggle, but its how you push through that, shown by the fact that James has come out the other side as a successful designer with his own studio. The way James talks about branding is also so inspirational, similar to Jack Renwick, he talks about the fact that whilst aesthetic and looking great is important, the work needs to instil a certain feeling in the viewer and if it doesn’t do that then ultimately it is useless. Whilst it puts on the pressure, it also acts as a constant reminder that no matter how good you are at making something look good, you still need to continue to learn about the other side of branding and that is motivational to me, no matter how much you know you can always know more.

Similar to Michael C Place, James Greenfield also spoke briefly about not putting too much pressure on yourself and giving yourself a break, don’t worry about other people/designers and what they’re doing, don’t stress yourself and beat yourself up about something because there is always something that can be done. Just another reminder that there is never a situation you can’t learn from. This part of the talk actually resonated with me not just from a design perspective but just overall, the best thing about a person is not how they make mistakes, but how they react to them.

Maris Latham – Cowshed

It was great to hear form a recent graduate of the course, not just to see a familiar face of someone you have seen and heard about, but also because it’s nice to know that it really is possible to go out and get a job once we leave. I had so many questions to ask but fortunately it seemed everyone else had the same questions. A big thing I took from the chat was about FMP and the way to go about it, of course take it seriously and treat it as the most important project yet, but make sure you have fun with it, use it to express yourself and create something you’re really proud of. It’s important to create something new and expressive because that’s the best way to ensure the project will be the best it can be. She also spoke so well about getting a job and how it feels to get a job after uni. I’m as confident as the next person but it is of course still worrying to think about getting a new job and having to do something I’ve never done before, so it was great to listen to Maris and gain a bit of confidence that it’s not as scary as it seems and it can happen.

Gavin Leisfield – Friendly Giants

Gavin’s talk was again very branding heavy and looked specifically into the branding of Go Ape. The most interesting part was the sheer amount of work needed, specifically in the initial stages. Early iterations, research, doing everything it takes until you realise the best design. I loved how it showed that realising a brand design isn’t something which just happens and isn’t something which comes easy, its long, hard work and it motivates me to always ensure I reach the most perfect outcome I can, regardless of how long it takes. I also love the challenge and I love making sure I am always the best I can be and seeing the way the studio did the same within the project is really motivational for me. Some of the brand decisions made within the go ape project were also inspirational in the fact that they had to improvise and adapt to end up with he best possible outcome, it really shows that when the right amount of work goes into it, anything is possible.

Paul Felton & Alex Woolley – Common Curiosity

The studio in itself is a very small one and the majority of the work done is completed by the two themselves, which before even discussing and going over work is extremely inspirational that 2 people can pull that off largely by themselves. One of the most important parts about their talk was the need to listen to their clients and understand the briefs, to build an understanding of the problem and in turn allowing them to realise the solution. This clearly within their work allows them to create work which makes a difference and really answer the brief rather than just look good. You can really tell even from first glance that their heart and soul goes into every project they do.

They also brushed over the fact that you need to be realistic and honest about what you can and can’t do. As I said previously I’ve always been family confident but that also causes me to be very hard on myself, particularly in design I tend to be too critical of my work when sometimes I shouldn’t be. They said that sometimes it isn’t you and your ability, its just that it isn’t the right project for you or you might not be able to do it and that’s okay, it isn’t an excuse, however it definitely made me realise that sometimes the project just isn’t for me and that’s nothing to be afraid of.

Gareth Dunt

The first thing to stand out to me after the talk was the idea of design for good. It’s something every designer says, they want to design for good and not for purely commercial project, however some people don’t have a choice and get stuck designing for the wrong causes. Gareth was someone honest enough to admit that he was stuck in the wrong sector of design and put up with the wrong things for too long and now he’s made a decision to change that and is thriving. This is something which makes you realise that you shouldn’t have to suffer for anything less than what you are worth, whether in design or in everyday life. I’m aware that being able to design for good causes 100% of the time is very hard to do, but you shouldn’t settle for the wrong attitude and the wrong type of work especially if you don’t believe in it.

Another inspirational part of the talk was the way in which he discussed how he views graphic design and that there is much more to it than digital design, much of his work is in installation design and it just makes you realise that design is all about ideas and finding solutions to problems, not making things look pretty on a laptop, whether It be physical installations, ideas, metaphorical meanings etc, a designer needs to be able to find and understand the most effective way of solving the problem, whatever that may be. It makes me think of my public display within my D&AD project and how I used the problem to inform that idea, but Gareth takes that to a whole new level which is really inspirational to see.