How to Talk about your work - OUGD602

What? How? Why?

• What is the core idea?

Establish what the idea is and make sure you can explain it to anyone in your target audience for the best coverage.

• How does it work?

Make sure you know how it works or will work, how will you sell it to your audience. How is it going to do what it is meant to?

• Why does it work?

Look at what makes it work, is it the colour the shapes the tagline? Make not of this, gain feedback and work on improving it always push your ideas further and learn for future projects.

Colours May Vary Exhibition - OUGD602

An exhibition was being held at Colours May Vary featuring a variation of artists and designers. Some illustration students from LAU had their work up alongside agencies and studios. Lord Whitney had some work on display but I did not manage to find any of their team to have a chat. We managed to have a look around their studio and hear a talk from the directors of Lord Whitney in first year so it would have been good to talk to them once more as they managed to really inspire my practice. The exhibition was great I didn't manage to network as much as I would have liked, usually I attend these events with a smaller social group than I did and feel more at ease speaking to new people in those circumstances. I always mean to talk to and meet at least one new person at events such as these to make sure I can keep adding to my contacts within the industry.

Task One, You've Got Mail! - OUGD602

The aim is to make a lasting first impression.

- Do not overthink it.

- There's nothing to lose.

- Only rule is it has to be physical.

- Let the context of who you want to contact inform the design and tone.

- Produce it to a professional standard.

- Inject some humour and personality in it.

- Make it traceable back to you.



via GIPHY

Off The Beaten Track - OUGD602

Make it your own

- Speak to others, collaborate
- No project is too big it might just have to be rethought
- Find what works, fashionable/trendy but make it your own
- Find what you like/enjoy your strengths
- Madness and Ambition
- Take risks but make sure it's worth it
- Tap directly into your interests and passions
- There's always value in being yourself


Turn heroes into collaborators

- Get in contact Email/Phone/Letter
- Sound Interesting
- Give to them and take back
- Be different


Think creatively about your career.

The Design Kids - OUGD602

Frankie visited from The Design Kids. As I love networking hearing from an agency that specialises in this was amazing. Frankie was really influential and passionate in what she does. I managed to speak to her a few times and asked a few questions within the talk. Frankie spoke about a job position opening in Leeds to organise events I was very interested in this and do have to say I approached about the opportunity before she offered money with the position, which is when most other people opted to apply. I managed to gain an email address from Frankie that she hadn't provided anyone else with after explaining my interest in networking and offering help to get in contact with YCN. She hadn't yet been able to contact them and I had a few contacts higher up in the networking section. After contacting Dean from YCN I was able to put them both in contact with each other. Frankie was very thankful for this. I have carried on showing my interest in the position through LinkedIn, Facebook and emails but have not yet heard anything more about the position or about events.

Traveling Man Exhibition - OUGD602

A small exhibition opened up to illustration students from LAU featured in a small comic shop in Leeds called Travelling Man. The posters were to feature British; film, tv and pop culture. This made for an interesting exhibition and to see how people interpreted the brief with different styles and ideas was great. You were able to see British culture from local people. The brief was not opened up to graphic design students but this is a project I would have personally enjoyed, film and tv often inspire my work and I would like to attempt a project this year including these passions.

Evaluation - OUGD502

Overall this year has been incredible it has had ups and downs but I think I have really managed to find myself within it and find where I would like to push my practice towards. New skills have been learnt, new directions taken and a lot of experimentation has occurred, my confidence has been boosted making it easier to talk to people within the community and to ask for help on collaborating and feedback as well as present to large groups. I plan to continue with all of these new found areas of myself to become stronger and more well rounded. I have even got back into self initiated work over this year using more new skills, since my post about new skills learnt over the year I have been practicing with even more methods such as Cinema 4D. Over and over I have come to realise that PPP is one of the most important modules I will ever do and within that branching out and pushing myself to do more, become better will inevitably let me immerse myself into the world of work and design quite comfortably without it being a mad struggle at the end. In my pastoral tutorial I spoke about looking over my PPP blog worrying that I may not have done the work or may not have enough but because it has become second nature to organise and plan this year my blogs have appeared throughout being a pleasant surprise at the end. Looking back I have had one amazing year of design and cannot wait to continue onto 3rd year to see what else I can discover about myself and my practice everything has become exciting within my work and I am up for challenging myself more or doing something that scares me to see what the outcome could be. Next year I hope to carry on with traditional means of working and carry on experimenting and getting in touch with professionals to help further my work. I plan on showcasing my work much more and maybe even getting some of it sold at fairs or online. My PPP blog will continue to be filled with new experiences and inspirations and I will continue to get out more and push myself.

Examples of some self initiated work:

OUGD505 Self Evaluation, So Far - OUGD502

505 was a module I at first didn't really know how to approach but after research and development I have been able to come up with some strong ideas. The first brief was quite interesting to look into as it meant looking into the history of the city I am currently studying in, giving me an insight into my surroundings. I wanted to start off not by going straight for a big music event but after some consideration I realised that music is a big influence in my life and keeps me who I am so it was actually the best option. The Who played quite famously in Leeds recording the album of the generation there so naturally I chose to look into them whilst gaining some new musical history knowledge of other acts. I screen printed the poster and had to go back to try another method which in the end worked out to look much better. I have said multiple times that I much prefer traditional print methods and so this project was from the offset a great one for me. The second brief was a bit more open which meant that I could find an issue I wanted to tackle in the world that may be close to me. I am looking into mental health and social media, looking at the side effects that the internet can have on an individual and what can we do to change this and use social media in a positive light. Since starting this year I have gained a lot of confidence when getting in contact with people so I email 4 charities from the get go receiving amazing replies back from them. I plan on contacted social media stars and started up an online campaign to help tackle the issue. I think this project may really help to define my practice and may even set a path to a career within charity work for myself. In the future I think this project will be one I look back on fondly so I hope to put my all into it to create a really strong outcome.

Practical Response - OUGD502

Above are the final pieces chosen after feedback and own judgement. I only printed onto gray stock and red stock influenced by the design within Mignola's work and within the character Hellboy. I used red acrylic for the same reasons and white to make sure that the red stood out. The white then lended a hand int becoming a highlight channel for the print giving a new layer to the design and the slight misalignment of the print gave a look of a 3 colour print using both highlights and shadows. The rustic look gives this feeling that a digital print just never would, if a screen print goes slightly wrong it then become unique and actually gives a lovely aesthetic to the piece. I plan to continue using this method and may even create some more just for Mignola within this series, I wasn't able to print anymore within the time frame but this piece I think links together well. Unfortunately my screen ripped whilst screen printing but this meant that I had a new experience within the print method and could show the cons of using it. Luckily a friend had space on his screen so I didn't waste much time and could get the design finished. Overall I think that this design shows off both my way of working and elements of Mike Mignola's practice, I am happy with the outcome and hopefully so will Mike if he receives it.

Practical Response Final Feedback - OUGD502

After showing the pieces around the design on the right was the final chosen for the poster. I also asked about how the interview could be transcribed, if it would be okay to put it all on the back of the poster or would it be best to include it in some sort of booklet. My tutor suggested creating a foldable poster zine to include the interview but I didn't think that the design of the poster would work folded down small so instead suggested creating a small publication to go alongside the posters. This seemed to be the best method to include the poster clearly whilst still linking it with the interview. The design on the left was the design chosen for the publication and will been screen printed onto the cover. I was worried about printing the content of the book but everyone said that plain white laserjet paper from a laserjet printer would work with the screen printed cover and stitched together. The publication also fits in with the fact that Mike Mignola is known for his writing. The entire design was based heavily on influences from Hellboy using bold block pieces and the typeface was taken directly from Hellboy. The kerning and highlights were added into the type but otherwise stayed authentic to the original.

New Skills to Improve Practice - OUGD502

As I have spoken about throughout these blog posts I have been able to incorporate a lot of new skills as well as some almost forgotten skills into my practice. I plan on using these skills to further improve my work and push me forward as a designer. Hopefully I can continue to gain feedback on my work to help me improve. Over the year I seem to have gone towards a more traditional method of printing and design which seems to suit me better giving new life to my work and something that just didn't seem to be there before. Digital design will still be strong within my work but I think traditional methods will quite often be the best for final outcomes.

Illustration:

Photography:

Screen Print:

Book binding:

Animation:

Mock-Up Soundtrack App, Advert from Joshua Storey on Vimeo.

Collaboration:

Making new contacts:

Getting out of the city - OUGD502

Since I brought my car up this year I decided it best to leave the city every week or so to refresh my mind and not be stuck in the same old place day after day. I have noticed that since doing this my designs work has improved and I have managed to clear my mind up quite a lot so that I am able to focus on the future and new methods of design or pushing my practice further. Even just a little trip 20 minutes down the road to IKEA is enough to clear things out and gain new inspiration. I have traveled to Roundhay Park, The Hepworth Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, IKEA, York, Liverpool, Manchester, Berlin,  Wales and been for multiple walks to the countryside. Not that I had to have a car or any of this but I think without it would have been a lot harder, even just discovering new places within Leeds has helped me gain new inspirations. My tutor told me at the start of the year that if I was becoming bored of the briefs then maybe it wasn't the brief but in fact me meaning that finding new inspirations could really help to change my perspective on the brief and make them more enjoyable. This has definitely shown within my work and I feel if I keep this up along with all the other changes I have made to my practice I will be able to keep going further and further to become so much stronger within design.

OUGD503 Self Evaluation - OUGD502

Responsive was by far my favourite module this year, I was able to take what I wanted and design it whatever way I saw fit to the brief. This way of working is how I would enjoy to see my practice head towards, either being able to pick and choose a brief or at least be able to take a brief relevant to my field of design and create it in my own way. The collaboration side of this module was pleasantly enjoyable, it managed to give me insight into the world of work through working with others that may not share the same design qualities as yourself. This meant that much more structure was needed in the organisation and time management of the project, it also meant taking into consideration the whole groups ideas. Overall I think that the projects I created for this brief I have managed to put the most effort into because I was able to enjoy them so much which meant pushing them all to their potential. Even if none of the projects get through the competitions I will not be downhearted as I have now seen a new world of design that I think would be very beneficial to my practice.

OUGD501 Self Evaluation - OUGD502

Going into Context of Practice 2 I struggled to decide on a theme. I went back and forth between ideas but finally landed on something I am very interested in. My practice is leaning back towards a more illustrative one so looking into comics was something I would be very interested in. The question had to be refined so that the topic could be put into a graphical context fit for my essay. In the end the question was Why is gender equality lacking within comics/graphic novels? I really enjoyed writing and researching this essay I gained many new insights into a more theoretical side of comic design. It was hard to gain some academic research based on around the issues within my essay in terms of pieces published on comics but it was possible to look into some interesting books. From this module I was able to look into and gain new information on a topic I already thought I was quite proficient in. This whole project has left me to consider multiple new skills and new theoretical elements within graphic design and illustration. I hope to consider this topic in more detail going into next year and maybe even branch into other topics that relate. This project I didn't actually produce anything physical but got a look into brand guidelines, I think if I were to carry on with something similar to this I would enjoy creating some physical outcomes.

Practical Response Development - OUGD502

As with all my projects it was hard to start out designing but after research and feedback I managed to come up with a final plan. I wanted to create a set of posters that could show off both my work and elements of Mignola's. Above is the development for the poster designs before I take them through to screen print, I have chosen to use this printing method as it reflects my love of traditional print and design whilst not over complicating the piece. I wanted the poster to look somewhat like a comic cover and to subtly incorporate some of Mignola's characters, the one above is Hellboy but I plan on mocking up a few more designs using some of his other characters.

Illustrated Report Feedback - OUGD502

I have no work to show for my practical outcome apart from a few rough sketches and illustration ideas. The only problem with the illustrations is that they are too similar to his own designs which people just thought seemed a bit pointless as a response. There wasn't much of my design within the work. The comic idea went down really well but after being questioned about the content or storyline as it were the idea seemed to fall apart. Originally I wanted to create a comic having my character The TimeKeeper and Mike's most well known character Hellboy walking along as Hellboy imparted knowledge from the interview as if it were one character teaching another about life. This just sort of seemed like it would drag as the characters would be walking along for too long with not much else going on. I suggested creating some screen printed posters as a series meaning it would relate to both my work using traditional methods and Mignola's work using inspiration from his characters. The only issue I had with this is that there would only be a practical response and would be hard to fit the entire interview in because Mike's answers were so long. There were suggestions that I take key parts from the interview and based the posters around this but I think that this would be too heavily based around the interview and no just around our work.

After the feedback the best method would be something crossed between the poster designs and some sort of booklet.

Illustrated Report Design Initial Ideas - OUGD502

I realised that from my initial research I was only looking into Mike Mignola's design and not into how this has informed my own practice. Over this year I have managed to produce many more projects using traditional methods and more experimental scarier designs. I would like this to be reflected within my report to show that I have changed and this interview has actually played a very strong part in this. I think I will look towards more of a traditionally printed method of design along with work relevant to Mignola. It is looking less likely for it to be possible to create a comic as the idea seems to boring, the comic would have nothing going on and way too much type. The booklet could have illustrations with Hellboy explaining briefly what Mike means from his long answers but this may be too time consuming to create. I will have to gain feedback to see what the best idea would be.

Lady Livid, Branding - OUGD502

A friend from home contacted me in regards to creating an identity for his up and coming band Lady Livid. Although this work has come from a friend and the band may not be top of the charts it is a project he is passionate about and he is managing to push really well so I was happy to help.

He had already mocked up some designs he wanted to see but I took a creative approach and experimented with a few different designs. He told me he enjoyed some of the designs but they already had a vision. I was fine to go along with this so set ahead with the designs he had given.

After creating these designs I had given some feedback explaining he needs to consider where this design will be displayed, what his target audience will want to see and how well will this work in the long run. He didn't really want to listen to any of this as he had his mind set on the design and this is what the band wanted, I did try and convince him again of all the elements he had to consider but he was stuck on one thing.

I took the design and changed it slightly for the album artwork just so that it had a bit more than just a basic gothic typeface mocked up by someone on word. I also added in some bonus material like a video intro and some t-shirt mockups. Hopefully he can keep this design throughout and if the band needs any brand or identity improvements he can come to me with confidence.

Lady Livid Intro from Joshua Storey on Vimeo.

Illustrated Report Research - OUGD502

Mike Mignola is very much a comic artist/writer. His sketches are definitely unique and therefore would be hard to create something based around illustration without completely copying his style. In the talk he gave for Creative Networks and Thought Bubble he admitted that he was exactly amazing at inking and in fact prefered to hire someone to do a better job. He is incredible at create a story though and immersing the the reader into the world the story is based around. From his interview it seems he does a lot of work based around what he wants to do, almost self initiated this is great inspiration knowing this can happen. The only problem is Mignola also said that he did have the experience before he could do anything self initiated but he always felt like he should enjoy the work so why would he do anything else.

Ideas for my Creative Report currently are to:

• Create a comic
• Create and illustrated journal using the questions
• Create a poster/poster series
• Create a small publication

From these ideas I will need to work on time management and organisation because some are quite ambitious in the time frame.

York Print Festival - OUGD502

York Print Fair was such a fascinating experience. This was the first year the fair has happened and it was set up by Jamie a tutor from Illustration at LCA. He managed to create such a brilliant event, the turnout was great, so many creatives turned up as well as members of the public and the space was incredible, although it was extremely hot. I had never been to York before and having this as my first experience was definitely a plus. I haven't been to many print fairs or any creative events like this until this past year, since doing so I have been able to expand my practice and create so many new contacts. A few friends from illustration had their own stall so I was able to gain some information about the fair when I entered. Another friend from Salford University also had a stall which was good to catch up and see some of his work in context. I spoke to many different creatives at the fair including a woman I was introduced to not long before the event by a classmate. I had a very long chat about her work, mine and about the creative world in general, she had just asked to collaborate with my friend from Salford and so I spoke about this with her and almost gave a little critique to help her practice. She was appreciative and just before I left I asked if she would come into our university to give a talk, she was really up for this asked for my name and gave me her contact details which I will be passing onto our tutors. 

Going to fairs like this has been so good for my practice, mainly it has boosted my confidence and lifted me from working solely behind a computer screen. I much prefer to have a chat about my work face to face and continue the conversation digitally until we can meet up again. Next time there is a fair I am hoping to put my work in to make sure I try something new and get my work out of a classroom and into the real world.

Collective Presentation - OUGD502

Collective Presentation by Josh Kevin Ezekiel Storey on Scribd

Our collective wasn't forced as such but was not intended to be a serious collaboration. Once we got into the presentation we did start to consider the idea of a collective in the future realising the potential of putting all the skills together to create stronger work outside of our solo practice.

YCN - OUGD502

I have made it a point to always talk to our visiting professionals if they are relevant to my practice not for the sake of making a contact but to make contact to someone outside of my everyday life. I always ask a question or questions that will help push my practice and give me a new insight. When YCN came in Dean said he would like to discuss my question further so I went up to talk to him. I received his email address and another contact from YCN, unfortunately I received no reply from their address but Dean did reply. I asked about the community I had suggest to set up and he replied, it took a bit longer to get a reply as he said he'd left the email in his drafts. I'm hoping to keep this conversation going and I have now sent an email hoping to go and visit the team or even gain some work experience. Contacting professionals like this is something still quite new to me but I have learnt that if you are friendly and genuine the worst they can do is not reply or turn you down and the best is that your practice gets pushed.

PPP Presentation - OUGD502

PPP Presentation by Josh Kevin Ezekiel Storey on Scribd

For my presentation I started by talking about work from last year, then onto new inspirations that have influenced my new work. I spoke about the professionals I have been in contact with and work from this year, the work from this year was influenced and made stronger from my new inspirations and from the contacts I have made. Finally I spoke about the future and how I am going to carry on pushing my work further and further to become a better well rounded designer.

Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson Curates the Hepworth Wakefield - OUGD502

From the start of this post I am going to admit that I had no clue about JW Anderson or any of his work. I was told on the day of the exhibition about the launch night and decided to go as a group last minute to see what it was all about. Although this isn't something I am interested in within my practice it is always good to branch outside to gain some inspiration you may not have received from other areas or from being sat at home. Just being in the presence of these people passionate about the work is great and the Hepworth in general is always a good experience. There was a room full of ridiculously long jumpers that was completely interactive, like I said we didn't go because we knew about the work so we spent a lot of time having fun interacting with it in this room. Even just little things like having interactive pieces in an exhibition or having a look at how work is displayed and laid out is always helpful. The exhibition was fun and different to what I am used to visiting things like this I think will really help me improve as a designer and keep things fresh for me.

Getting in Contact with Professionals, Second Contact - OUGD502

Both Evan and Craig got back to my messages. Craig was very supportive and really wanted to help out by giving me a skype interview, unfortunately work go in the way and I wasn't able to perform the interview after he was so accommodating. I have messaged him since and I am now awaiting a reply.

Evan was helpful and replied stating he would like to conduct the interview but I don't think he was comfortable doing the interview over skype as he would avoid the question. I have sent the questions over as he said I could but haven't heard a reply since.

I would love to get replies from both of these professionals even though I have already conducted an interview. This would still be great experience for me and would boost my confidence and open my eyes to new things in the world of design.

Berlin - OUGD502

Berlin was incredible. I have never been a huge fan of traveling until this year when I realised that I needed to branch out I wanted to gain new experiences outside of my room let alone England. The fact that this city is just so heavily inspired by design was just amazing. The architecture was outstanding, the artwork and culture unbelievable and how German everything was was ridiculous. By saying everything is German I of course mean everything had a function and everything did this function, pretty much all you saw was highly considered in every way and it seemed to make the city flow perfectly. From this trip I have managed to take away so much, I would love to return but also love to travel elsewhere to experience the world and inform my practice through new inspirations.

The Pentagram talk was good, Jusuf was funny and presented his points really well. I quite liked that for such a big organisation the talk was intimate and didn't feel as if it was corporate it just felt genuine. The questions after the talk seemed to give me more of an insight into the world and things I may not have known before hand. Some of the questions left me wondering but some answered queries I had like how to get in contact with professionals, although I am already doing this, Jusuf told us about how he got his job, he didn't give up and now is where he wants to be in design. This is a goal for me to not give up, find where I would like to be and push myself towards these goals.

Buttercrumble - OUGD502

Buttercrumble told me they would be more than happy to speak further on social media so I got in contact. I reiterated what I told them after their talk about the fact that I would like to get illustration back into my work. They were very supportive of this I even asked for some help on one of my projects. They gave me feedback on some illustrations and helped me with character development this was amazing help, they got me to refine my ideas so that the submission would be a strong one. This was a simple step in making connections and becoming more of a confident person and designer but it has really pushed my practice making it much easier to contact people in the future.

Presentation Points - OUGD502

PPP Presentation:

where you were at last year and where you wanted to head towards:

• aspiring graphic designer out of higher education
• very digital based but wanting to explore outside of that
• very limiting and not great with time management
• wanting to become more organised more outgoing and more experimental within other disciplines

new experiences that have inspired you this year:

• thought bubble new designers, mike mignola, berlin, other studio visits and new practices

chatting to professionals:

• YCN 
• Butter crumble
• Mike Mignola
• Evan Eckard
• Craig Cunningham
• People at thought bubble and other creatives that have come in

making new friends or reconnecting with old friends within other disciplines:

• illustration
• photography
• graphics students from other unis
• Ryan Upton

Working more illustratively

• greetings cards
• comic

where I am now and where I am looking towards being:

• Still not very organised but getting there ( I have a diary/planner now) 
• Not spreading myself so thin
• carry on within illustration and other creative fields to push practice further
• starting to create a professional network and build relationships
• become a stronger more confident person within my work and myself

Dan Saul Pilgrim

• Minimalist
• 
  
• Interned while at uni
• 
  
• Leeds University
• 
  
• Left Eye Blind
• 
  
• Got scholarship at uni set up website and Yorkshire Boast
• 
  
• Collaborated with photographer Justin Slee, set up kickstarter for The Coffee Shop Project.
• Coffee Shop North book collaboration between, photographer, designer, illustrators and writers.
• 
  
• Uses type to influence projects and design.
• 
  
• Contact people.

These are a few notes I took away from Dan's talk. Not long out of university and he already seems to be well on the way to having a happy life within design whilst still pushing himself within his own practice. What Dan creates isn't something that I am drawn to for my own work but it is very interesting and he seemed very passionate about it, even if I am not interested in what someone does for myself if they can show their passion for it I am more than happy to learn. Although the work Dan produces isn't something I could see myself doing, the way he goes about it is inspirational. The amount of people he contacted to produce his book and how involved he got in a project even if it was a self initiated one is absolutely amazing. I think if you can be passionate about something and find within a project something that you can enjoy the project will go a lot smoother and come out the other side with a really strong final result.

Nest Launch - OUGD502

The Nest launch was a complete success, Erin managed to put together and organise an amazing event, the turnout was amazing and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Now that we have the editor and chief of Nest in our class willing to put so much effort into it the potential incredible. Nights like this are so good to bring together a group of creatives in a way that they may never have before meaning new contacts can be made and work can be shown off. Overall the night was enjoyable everyone seem to have a great time and it brought together a community.

YCN + Thirsty Planet - OUGD502

YCN -

YCN showed  brief understanding of the company, I didn't personally know much about what YCN offer outside the student awards. They help out clients; research briefs, help clients get the best they can from who they work with and set up events for clients plus more. I asked if the company had ever thought about creating some sort of creative network or community for creatives everywhere. They seemed to like the question and wanted to engage further I spoke about how I find inspiration or talk to people through events and how could this lead to some sort of community to help build confidence and work. Both speakers left their emails for me to contact them about the idea further so I am looking forward to starting a conversation with this organisation.

Thirsty Planet -

Harrogate water is the longest running bottled water and spa in the UK, they have a very low carbon footprint with no landfill waste. In 2007 they wanted to give back to the world even more, so they set up the charity Thirsty Planet with fixed donations, a charity that is trustworthy (Pump Aid) and with a sustainable vision for the future. The insight into the company was quite helpful to see the client's side of rebranding a product and to give an insight into what could be expected from some of the companies in YCN.

Studio 12 + Buttercrumble Talk - OUGD502

Studio 12 -

Studio 12 seem to be an organisation that has been set up to help creatives of all shapes and sizes. Situated in the centre of Leeds it means the studio is easily accessible for all the creatives within our university. I have worked with organisations similar to this in the past such as YPS and the Red Rose Community Centre but it was never on this scale. Giving young creatives a chance like this is something I really admire and would love to get involved myself using some of the facilities that are offered.

Buttercrumble -

Buttercumble, twins that have gone about their creative journey together using their combined talents. The girls work a lot with illustration as well as graphic design meaning that both disciplines can be brought together to create their final outcomes. This to me seems so inspirational because it is what I would like to get out of design. I so much prefer to work with illustration, so being able to combine the practices would be great. After speaking with both the girls they explained  that my process seemed to be similar to theirs and that it is a good thing that I am sticking with graphic design because a lot of the time illustrators may not be taught the theory behind design. If I keep my illustration up and use both together I could create a very strong portfolio. The discussion I felt didn't seem to be over so asked if I could drop a message over twitter to the girls and they said that they would love to hear from me they followed be back over twitter so that I could message them directly.

Change of Heart - OUGD502

Often my design practice has been digital and solely this, because it is a quick method, it's cheaper and for me easier. Over the past few years I have felt almost like I can't branch out for these reasons and that I am a digital designer full stop. This year I have decided to experiment more, to do things that may scare me and to go back to a more traditional way of designing. After making more contacts and friends outside of the graphic design community and outside of our studio I have managed to do these things, going to talk and visits I wouldn't usually do or taking on more ambitious projects without shooting them down or going at them half heartedly. I have decided to start illustrating more, using traditional print methods and maybe doing more time consuming projects that will just mean I have to organise myself better. Already I feel that I have become more relaxed with projects and at the same time more excited to try more and do more. This has helped both inside and outside my design work which eventually comes back round full circle meaning I have more inspirations, more contacts and more skills to push my practice to it's full potential and them some.

Illustrative Report - OUGD502, Studio Brief 02

Initially the idea was to create a comic that could go alongside the interview conducted with Mike Mignola. A comic book would suit the project completely and really link towards Mike's practice but the way in which the interview has been conducted does not suit comic books. There is too much writing to squeeze into such a small amount of space without making the book too lengthy and boring.
Sticking with the comic book style illustrations created in this way would still be suited but using them in a different way. Instead of creating a visual to tell the story all the way through small illustrations to some up each question could create a really strong publication.

The original idea was to use Mikes character, Hellboy and my character, The TimeKeeper walking along as Mike passes the information onto me as if he were imparting wisdom. The idea is still strong just not completely relevant for this situation. The new idea has had some deliberation on whether the characters should be completely there from the start as themselves or myself and Mike sitting with the characters as silhouettes behind. Sketches will be drawn up to decide the stronger idea but, Hellboy as a character can bring a real sense of almost dark humour around so an idea to consider is having the character briefly discussing what was meant by Mikes well thought out ideas into a small brief sentence. Each question would be supported by an illustration whilst the interview itself would either accompany the illustrations side by side or would be all together in the back of the publication.

Presentation Exercise - OUGD502

Below are the notes for the presentation exercise. I tried to make the presentation friendly as if it were just me telling a friend about a film to keep the whole thing relaxed and boost my confidence.

Film title

Sarah the main protagonist is left home alone to babysit her little brother Toby. There’s a lot of foreshadowing and easter eggs throughout.

Thing is Toby won’t stop crying.

So Sarah reads him a story from her book, unintentionally she summons the goblin king played by this guy (Bowie)

The were other actors consider to play the role.

but obviously their crotch bulges weren’t up to standard.

Anyway Jareth (the goblin king) takes her brother to his castle in a labyrinth.

He explains to Sarah that she has till midnight to rescue him or he’ll be turned into a goblin forever, she doesn’t think that’s fair.

Jareth sets loads of traps and puzzles for Sarah 

So she makes some friends to help her get through them.

Just as you would expect, Bowie sings a good few times.

lot’s of other weird stuff goes on like seriously how could this film not freak out a child like the part that almost scared me with some creepy bag lady.

Then Sarah finds some magic words to cast Jareth away and she saves her brother 

There’s a big moral and realisation when sarah learns her lesson 

(don’t summon the the goblin king to take your brother away and then think everything isn’t fair cos let’s face it that’s life) 

and just as you think Sarah is sane again all the creatures she met on her journey say goodbye they have a party and the film ends.

OUGD504 Self Evaluation - OUGD502

Going into this project I didn't have much of an plan of how to tackle both projects. The first (design for print) was something rather familiar to me in the sense that I have made publications or books before and have worked with photography. Starting off the project I had very little idea of what I would like to do, I wasn't going to be traveling anywhere for a long enough time so had to make use of my own city. Preston was 'awarded' the unhealthiest high street in Britain so I wanted to play on this. There were many ups and downs throughout the project until I finally settled on a final design and outcome. The publication wasn't exactly to my full potential in the sense that if I had more funds to spend developing the project I would've been able to create the design I initially wanted but this would've also affected the selling cost of the publication.
The second project (design for screen) was something I would not have ever wanted to tackle in my usual practice but I am glad I did so that I have the understanding I know have of UI/UX design. Again the project was off to a slow start but once Only came in and gave a talk my project set off and I was able to to put the inspiration I gained into my work.

Towards the end of these projects I already felt done, I had become bored of the briefs simply because I felt too restricted and felt like I couldn't put my all into what I wanted to create. The second part of the project was definitely more open than the first but I now know that UI/UX design is not something I will be carrying on with. Publication or book design is something I still enjoy because of the hand rendered traditional side of it but I think if I were to go back to the project completely fresh I would have to branch out a bit more.