Interviews

Tim Dee interview

What is the main struggle you have had yourself since coming out of university?

It's finding your own path within design and finding the niche in what you want to do. University for me was like when you do your driving test and you kind of learn to drive after you've passed your test. So that first 3 years is when you really kind of try to learn to do what you are doing. I suppose that continues anyway throughout the whole of your career. You start off and your first year is relying on friends and family in which you could tap at for work and then after that it was kind of like trying to work for yourself. So that was a big struggle as well. Basically just finding out what your about and getting better at what you're doing. Yeah I guess with the business stuff there was a lot more to learn as this was not apart of our course. So there was a lot of mistakes that we made. I guess that's like the main struggles, I mean there's struggles everyday, I could probably think of a lot more if I could prepare for that question. I'll probably go upstairs [to the studio] afterwards and the guys will be like 'what about this'. Shit loads of struggles everyday.

What's been your biggest struggle today so far?

Today? I think a lot of the time you are battling with people. The bigger the projects get, the more people you are kind of managing rather than what you want to do, which is design. Like selling design, which is another important thing that you have to learn, that's like a big job itself. To sell the idea to someone.

Do you ever feel that you are sometimes belittled for being a creative rather than taking a more 'academic' root?

I've not felt that particularly. Most the time people are excited about the design. When rebranding someone it's exciting just to show them what they could look like and a lot of people get on with the visuals quite easily. And get that kind of...excitement. There's a lot of positive reactions really. Also in the way in which we portray ourselves, most people wouldn't come to us that would be kind of belittling us. Because what we do is very visual.

Say if you were with someone who does not know about design, how do you feel that they interact with you as a designer?

My parents are kind of forward thinking with that kind of stuff. I think it would have probably happened before but less so now. Its different for me as well because I set up my own business, if people didn't understand design they'd kind of understand the business side of things. So i've never really felt that for myself. There's nothing wrong with someone thinking its a load of shit, a lot of the stuff we do is.​(laughs) ​that's fine, like it wouldn't bother me particularly if someone did.

Do you find it hard to balance projects in which you would like to take on with a smaller income, compared to that of larger projects in which you need to sustain the business?

I mean we've been kind of really lucky. Well at the start we kind of worked for anyone, and loads of stuff we weren't really into at all. But the more kind of cultural and art stuff that we have done, the more we've got and now it's very rare that we don't like the projects in which we run. We don't really do that many commercial projects just for the sake of doing them. Now we're at a stage where were nearly 9 years in. So we just have enough of the cultural and art like [design] to keep us going.

It's basically what we want to do and what we want to make, were in that position to do that. Were really small so that helps, because then we don't have a big engine to feed.

If you were to begin your creative career again, would you change anything? and did you expect yourself to be where you are now?

I would have studied graphic design possibly. All the stuff that we like is raw, we’re not really into pretty, quaint or cartoony. So like in some ways the fact that we haven't studied all those things means that our work is quite raw. We've got better at type and grid lines, things like that. Type plays massive part for me, it's the message really. [It’s] Way more of a focus then the end kind of prettiness or quaintness. Like when we transform one of our brands it is kind of really messy and ripe, and that kind of stuff interests me more because it has a punch to it. My favourite type of work is the one that's loud and a bit raw, and little bit more punky and has attitude. I guess I would still do graphic design yes. They usually say it's good to know the rules to break the rules, where we're just breaking them I think ​[laughs]​.

Where do you see yourself as a creative heading in the next ten years alongside the company?

It's 9 years now and we just still about finding out what we're like. Its taken ages for us, we've been really slow, taking baby steps.There's only four of us that work up there [in the studio] so it is like a small company. Me and Mark that started it, we took around 4 years before we employed anyone else. So yeah, I guess where I see us, we're currently playing around more with movement, just as an interest. And again quite raw like, more giphy than anything else. But we quite like that type of movement. Umm so [we’ll] play a bit more with that, and then yeah trying to perfect a kind of like, in house style. Like just try and home in on what that is and keep on playing with those things.

So how come you decided to stay up North, rather than say London, the hub of graphic design?

My family's from London, but it's cheaper to stay up here. ​[laughs] ​When you're starting a business it's cheaper to do so. I really like Leeds. I like the proximity of the city centre to everything else, you can walk around, your always like 45 minutes from anywhere. London's really exciting, my brother and sister are there so I go down there quite a lot to visit family. But we had some work in Leeds at the start and then we quickly got into working, and in the end we got international work like coldplay or Kylie Minogue, or Lily Allen, so it didn't seem to matter where we were. It hasn't really felt like it's stifled us being in Leeds. It's just, its helped us more than its stifled us. ​I suppose Leeds and Manchester have become more of a prominent art scene over the last couple of years​ It's changed loads since i've been here, like maybe since I was 19. So about 11 years ago now? It's changed loads, like you would have never thought about it being a food town, whereas now it is a massive food town. And you wouldn't think of it being as much about art as it has been, with new galleries and new exhibitions opening all the time. I think as long as a city feeds you in some way,

then you can kind of stay there. And it seems to create and feed us, especially with places like Duke studios.

What is the best piece of advice you could give a creative student right now?

Advice is always difficult because it makes me sound like I would know what to do. One of the things I realised, because I fucked around a lot at uni, is how much it costs to kind of make stuff. And you get all of that for kind of like free pretty much, or like very discounted. So I would have made more things, done more physical stuff because I didn't realise use it as much as I should have done. I should have played around with letterpressing. But then yeah, i’d also like [to] try and get inspired by like other people around. [University is] really good for inspiring yourself, and making sure that you are making connections with people. You do feed of each other, like the great thing about this place [duke studios] is having that drink on a friday night and having that creative scene because you see other people and what they've been doing, and their struggles with clients.You all laugh. It's a nice community to be involved with. Also don't be scared of digital because you are going to have to use it, you're going to have to get involved with it. It seems like a lot of students want to make books all the time, but one of the things about us was we came from the other angle of making websites first so we were really into digital. Mark was a developer, so I just designed for digital at the start, I didn't really know about editorial so much. So that's something that is lacking from people coming out of University, that they seem to be scared of it. Like the way to embrace it, like obviously you have an iphone and things like that, but just downloading apps, seeing how they work, like seeing how the UI works. It's about understanding how behaviour is on phones, that will set you in an amazing position to get a job because you are already part of something that isn't going to go away.

It's just going to keep on growing.

So do you think a lot of the work you've got now is digital, or is there a balance?

I think we've got a place now. It was at the start massively digital. So now we basically do a brand and we tackle all kind of angles of it. And obviously digital is a massive part of that, it's one part of a bigger kind of thing.

Starting up 9 years ago have you found it hard to keep up with technology?

We’re kind of like, I suppose, were like slight gadget kind of guys in a lot of ways, so when you are designing that is kind of imprinted into you. Like my dad is a computer teacher so there has always been computers around us as kids, so that's kind of helped. We've not had any struggles with that I suppose, like the thing with software maybe there is a few changes but it's always been adobe really.

If someone said change from adobe that would be a bit of a pain in the arse ​[laughs]​ don't know whether i'd bother with that. But that would be the only thing I can think that I would probably stay away from. But any new kind of like design for Vr, Id go into any of that because it seems exciting, why not. ​(I suppose it's kind of like always trying to take new challenges, like software kind of taking over the designers job.)​ That's why I think [It’s important] being at top of the pile with the branding stuff, it's the ideas that are most important. There are moments when you need to use those such things but it's the same as graphic design becoming a tool, and designing for like UI's. It's all just trying to get people to do something, or like gain some sort of emotion or reaction from someone. And that's why I don't think it’s never interested me to kind of like close off one thing and

say like i'm just into print, or i'm just into this type of style. We've done stuff before where we have painted loads of signs and that's been the visuals, and then we've done other things where it's been all to do with secret apps.That's why I like the job because it's that varied, and I wouldn't like to suddenly not do one aspect. Even print like I designed the city talking, and I just enjoyed doing that.

That's something that I really enjoyed doing, it was just like old school print, I think that's the thing, it's the difference of it all. We've designed exhibitions before, for corporate people. It was with Lord whitney and we make an indoor park, and it was exciting again. Then we were working with plants, we were putting bird sounds in, we made like a little mini experience. Its more than just one graphic design thing, it's like a bigger picture of like how you create an emotional reaction. And that's why we've always kind of said we like big type, and like punchy type because that, the words, gives a lot of emotion, sometimes more than pictures do.

Throughout your career what project has stood out to you the most, and that you have enjoyed doing?

I saw this thing on Netflix the other day about Paula from pentagram and she said it's always the latest project. And that kind of rang true to me. Because like it always feels like that project. There's some fun ones, like city talking.. A lot of the projects you do you look at afterwards and think like I hate that. Because you just start to look at it and think I could have done better. Which is good because it shows progression. But I always think it's the latest thing you are working on that you kind of feel most excited about. And then the next project comes along and you think I think I can make this more exciting. And that's hopefully the way it will keep on going. So in answer, the next project. [laughs]​ Leeds international festival. I've enjoyed doing. I think it's just an exciting new project to work on, another cultural project. ​I quite like the way that with your design that you can't tell what genders developed it, because I feel like sometimes like some people make masculine design or feminine design. Whereas I think yours is just really neutral. Especially because you use like pinks a lot​ Well yeah, I think that we try and make it genderless in some ways but umm every time that we use something that's really strong we try and soften it with a softer colour, so we try and like equal it out a little bit. So it hopefully gives that kind of balance, like a little bit less of a one sway. But you know what I mean, it's more just like raw like. Raw is a better word, I suppose it's hard to say really.

Eve warren interview - Have you ever felt that being a women has limited your job opportunities within the creative industry? If so, how?

No never. I don't think it's a very healthy mindset to think your gender will effect your chances of gaining an opportunity in the creative industry. It's also wrong for an employer to employ and curate creative teams based on gender, race and ethnicity. I completely understand that as a women it can be a really daunting experience to walk into a studio full of men for an interview but in my experience all studios I've interacted with have all been keen to close their gender gap. I've always felt welcome and during my time at Fieldwork we were a very evenly split studio in terms of gender.

Rather alarmingly though I've never worked in a studio where there have been people of colour. I do however work with someone who is deaf which is a first for me as I've rarely come across any designers with serious disabilities.

Statistics show that the lack of diversity in the creative industries is limiting organisations’ growth and it's been proven that investing in diversity has higher success rates in innovation and profit.

Great article ​here

- Colour is obviously a large part of your practice, what is your favourite colour to use within design?

It sure is! I really like the warmer spectrums so yellows, pinks and oranges are fun to use.

-Being based in Manchester the art scene and culture is highly relevant, how do you feel design in the north compares to design in the south?

I'm actually based in London freelancing at the moment which is great because I've never experienced working in the south before. I've only been down here since January but already I can see the contrasts. Manchester is quite gritty as a city with it's rich heritage in music and visual culture. I particularly love how the scuzz of the Northern Quarter really gives the whole feel of the place an extra edge over a lot of places in the UK. For example Leeds main creative hubs are still relatively new with the likes of Duke Studios, Colours May Vary, Fred Aldous and Headrow/Belgrave have only just popped up in the last 4/5 years.

To answer your question though I think freelancing in London, Manchester and Leeds has given me a great insight to how the North compares with the South. There's no doubt about it London pretty much has it all. There's a lot of heritage down here and for a long time London led the way in design on a global scale. However the North has some amazing stuff going on and it really bugs me that for

a long time London has been a talent sucker but this is changing and I'm quite passionate to be part of that change.

-What made you stay up north?

When I first graduated I remember being quite petrified / obsessively concerned about what was going to happen at the end of my third year as my parents lived in rural Lincolnshire and I didn't see going home as an option. I also wasn't in any financial position to take sabbatical and go travelling for a few months or move to London. My boyfriend Martin is one half of Hungry Sandwich Club and was offered the free incubator space at Duke Studios, also at the time we signed for a flat with some left over grant money. It was all very frightening but the fact that we were able to sign for a affordable flat and work for free in a coworking space was amazing. This would never happen in London.

-How do you feel the transition between university and industry has been? and is there anything you regret not doing in uni?

In hindsight I had a very smooth transition from university but only because I was organised. I think it's important to keep up some momentum and attempt to get a placement straight away. I won a placement at Manchester based design studio Fieldwork and worked there for a couple of months before interning at Golden. I really enjoyed my summer at Fieldwork and was fortunate that they wanted me back which eventually led to them offering me a full time position.

Most often graduates have no client or project management experience therefore you enter the industry at the bottom of the hierarchy. You go from being in total control of a university project to learning how to follow someone else's lead and vision. The transition can be quite difficult at times as many art degrees don't teach their students how to be commercially minded. This isn't a bad thing as there is always room for great ideas, it's just learning how to sell and execute them.

I think I regret not delving deeper into design theory...there's a lot of books I should have read. I also regret not pushing the idea of doing an exchange of some sort. It would have been great to study abroad.

From the interview it became evident that the location of her practice was not extensively researched and thus this makes me appear somewhat naive. I will definitely tackle this when developing further interviews.

Interview with Jane Bowyer What artists do you take the most inspiration from?

I am a huge fan of mid-century modernist graphic design so I have to say Paul Rand, Lester Beall and Alan Fletcher — the golden oldies. What I enjoy most about their work is it’s simplicity, it’s clarity and it’s playfulness. I also love the colourful work of Morag Myerscough. Outside of graphic design; Cindy Sherman, Annie Leibovitz, James Turrell. I’m drawn to storytelling and colour.

How do you feel as a woman within the creative industry? Do you believe your journey would have been easier if you were a male?

I feel great, thanks for asking! Just kidding. Do I feel my journey would have been easier if I were a male? Yes. But isn’t that true of most areas of our lives? We live in a world where patriarchy is not only deeply ingrained in cultures around the world but it's written into the law as a means of controlling the actions of women so when you’ve got all that going on it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where’d it be easier to be a woman than a man.

On a personal level, in my career I have encountered sexism but I’ve also had some excellent male mentors and colleagues who have championed me. I think there is still a ‘boys club’ mentality in some agencies that excludes women — its not always with conscious intention more a passive, unawareness of what discrimination might be taking place and how to do something about it.

Do you ever go through period whereby you feel like you need a break from design?

I’m yet to go through a period like that, I think I might take a different path from a traditional design agency setup but my heart if fully in graphic design and illustration and I can’t imagine doing anything else that would give me equal satisfaction and pleasure.