SB1 E D I TO R I A L A W E E K Produce a series of self initiated editorial illustrations. These articles are responding to Lifestyle and Health issues, published in The Guardian, New Statesman and The New York Times. This brief has been easy to keep track. Knowing this was a self initiated brief with no responsive deadline, I responded to the brief every Friday. I think having this set day a week really helped me organised my time and focus on the brief for that specific day . However, when other briefs became more prominent, this brief was then neglected only completing 6 weeks of this. I felt that this brief also really helped inform my practice as I have developed a process of working when addressing a editorial. Having this time limit of a day forced me to become more efficient with the critical analysis of my work and better at making design decisions. This is still something I need to continue to develop and practice the production of my ideas. I am happy with some of the work I have produced for this brief. I feel that it has pushed me to develop my concepts in creating interesting visual metaphors. COP3 helped with this also, as I explored they way in which experience a image. This pushed me to think about what experience I wanted to create, pushing my communication skills. However due to the quickness of the process, I felt it impacted on the production and the final aesthetic of my work. Due to producing the finals in Photoshop, I produced flat work. I used it as a process rather than a tool. After experimenting through other brief, I have now developed
a way of applying my hand made textures, using digital as now a tool. Overall this has been a very beneficial brief in terms of moving my practice forwards. I have continued to develop my conceptual thinking , as well as gaining time management skills. This process experience will benefit my professionally. It has also helped my professional portfolio and I will continue producing editorial illustrations to develop it further.
SB2 LEEDS GENECTICS LAB LIVE BRIEF: G R A P H I C D E S I G N C O L L A B O R AT I O N Propose a mural design for the entrance and waiting area of the Leeds Genetics Laboratory. This is a live responsive brief in collaboration with graphic designer Sarah Winter. This initial collaborative brief developed a lot through research. Our initial outcomes were to produce a campaign for the NHS promoting the importance of it. However during the process of this brief, the opportunity to respond to a live brief arouse. Having a responsive brief to work too was beneficial for our time management. We had a set deadline to work to. I have learnt at even though I’m good at setting personal deadlines, I like having set date to work too. Collaborating is challenging but has taught me valuable communication skills. When developing ideas it is beneficial to have someone else critical analysis. Organising time and learning about compromise has been challenging when collaborating. Research was a very important part of this brief. Conducting a primary research trip to the venue, it helped inform our designs and concepts. I don’t think this brief has benefited my portfolio or pushed my practice. I’m not very happy with the final outcomes of this brief as we didn't’t push our conceptual ideas or in the development stage. However it has been beneficial exploring other aspects of illustration and how I can apply my skills differently. Overall, even though this has not improved my portfolio, I have gained a lot of professional skills and experience. Working to a set deadline will be good experience for future work. Collaborating has taught me a lot about communicating on a professional level.
SB3 W E D D I N G I N V I TAT I O N S : C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H G R A P H I C D E S I G N E R Produce illustrations for a clients wedding invites. These illustrations include a weeding crest and illustrated map of the venue. Graphic designer Polly Woollard will the produce and design the wedding invites. This was a collaborative brief whilst also being a live brief working for a client. Not having worked with a client before, valuable skills were learnt though out this process. I learn that communication is a very important aspect of this when designing and addressing the clients needs. The development of the crest and venue map wouldn't’t have progressed without this conversation. These are professional skills that will now take on to when working with other clients. However, by producing something for a client, I learnt that I became quite frustrated in a client situation. As they had a set visions of what they wanted to product to look like, I wasn’t able to develop my practice in that way. I wasn’t able to experiment and push different ideas. This is something I found to be a challenge but came to terms with. I don’t think brief has benefited my portfolio either. Even though I have gained new knowledge and experience, I think I should’ve stayed focused on creating work for my portfolio and that I am happy with. Time management was also very important during this brief. As we were working with a client we had set deadlines to work towards. Communicating with Polly at this stage was very important as we had to work together and set each other deadlines so the wedding invites could be completed on time. Overall, I am pleased I participated in this brief as I have explored another aspect of illustration which I wouldn't’t have normally explored. Also I have gained professional knowledge about working with a client and the processes it has.
SB4 C O L O U R S M AY VA RY Produce a 5x5 illustration in response to the theme ‘Out Of Order’. This illustration will be exhibited at Colours May Vary. After not making a lot of work I was happy with, this gave me the opportunity to push my practice producing something I would be happy with. Working with a theme gave my work more purpose and challenged my work conceptually. Also working to a square format was challenging which I think forced me to think about the space I have to work with more. I felt that I pushed my worked through the use of textures, and it was at this point where I felt I was creating more work that I was happy with personally. Thinking of a target audience was a challenge within this brief as it was so broad. Trying to create something that appealed to a buyer was a bit stressful. However I addressed this through thinking of how to create certain emotions. Creating a simple but humorous print made it appeal to a audience. Professionally this was a good experience to get involved in as my work was exhibited and exposed to the public. Also I had to act in a professional manner in the creation of the exhibition. I have now had a better insight into what goes into the creation and development of a exhibition. Overall, this brief was really exciting and rewarding. I felt that I produced a piece that reflected my work well. Also I gained positive feedback for my print which have me a confident boost. Also being featured on the Colours May Vary Instagram gave more publicity to my practice. I need to continue to push myself and take opportunities like this again.
SB5 P E N G U I N D E S I G N AW R A D S Redesign a book jacket for Truman Capotes’ In Cold Blood’. Think about how to be innovative with the main focus exploring typography. This brief had a very positive impact on my practice, as well as developing new professional skills. When I approached this brief I felt that I wasn’t creating work I liked. Spending a lot of time on the development stage, I felt that I really pushed my practice into different areas. I became more experimental with materials again, pushing the aesthetic of my practice. A challenge with this brief was that it heavily focused on typography. I found myself more willing to throw myself into this brief as it was a new challenge dealing with type and a different subject matter. I immersed myself into the design process which pushed my designs. I reminded myself the importance to allow time for development. I am going to continue to keep developing, learning from design mistakes as this pushes my practice forward. Weaknesses of this brief was I didn’t manage my time that efficiently. Focusing on the front cover, I then didn’t allow myself to develop the back cover and push this as far as I wanted. Overall I am really happy with the outcome of this brief. I produced something a bit different to most of my work, but I have shown that I can adapt and apply my skills to different briefs.
SB6 N E W S TAT E S M A N Produce a editorial illustration in response to a New Statesman article based on the book SS-BG. Illustration should be produced to a 188x178 mm format. This was an interesting brief and learnt a lot about the editorial industry from this. Even though this wasn’t a commissioned brief, it was set as if we were working to a commission deadline. Having 2 weeks to complete this made me understand that timescales of editorial differs, not being really quick turnarounds all of the time. I also learnt that throughout the designing process, there would be a conversation between the director and illustrator. Struggling with this brief at first, I learnt that I need to draw through concepts to develop them. The more I developed ideas, the more engaging they got which resulted in a effective concept.Visual metaphors helped my thinking at this stage. This was a very informative brief overall. It was great professional experience having out work critiqued by Gerry and learnt a lot about the industry from her . Most importantly I learnt that when struggling with a brief/idea to keep drawing and push through this.
SB7 GREETINGS RANGE Produce a greetings range. This should include four gift card designs a wrapping paper design. This brief was developed in my own time. Struggling with my final major project at this stage, I needed something to distract myself with. The biggest lesson I learnt from doing this brief was to stay creative when having a creative block. I showed that I can apply my skills to different aspects of illustration. Having developed more typography skills from the Penguin brief, I felt confident to address typography. A challenge with this brief was thinking of how to apply my skills in different ways. I had to think more about what appealed to a buyer. Research into greetings realy helped this process. I then pushed humor and sensitivity for these products. Overall I have shown that I can apply my skills to a different brief. I have gained professional skills analysing my work from a business viewpoint, think about how I can use my illustrations to make money.
SB8 F I N A L M A J O R P RO J E C T Produce and design a children’s book addressing the effects of deforestation. The book should be educational targeted at 2-4 year olds. The aim of this brief was to push my publication skills and educate through a narrative. Something I struggled with was the time period it stretched over. Having worked o quick responsive briefs, I then had to apply my organisational skills differently and set myself my own little goals. I started out not having clear direction where I wanted the project to go, letting the development and the experimentation be the main focus. Here I learnt that I struggles not having a clear direction as I got lost not knowing what the purpose of my work would be. Getting myself back on track setting myself the direction of a children's book, my work got back on track. Experimenting and pushing my practice was a big part of this brief as I challenged how I made my work. I learn here that it is important to experiment to keep developing making new interesting work. Research was important and informed the progression of this brief. Not knowing how to make a successful children's book, gaining feedback from Charlotte Trounce helped inform my work. Overall, being a self initiated brief it has still informed my practice. I have developed knowledge about children's book publishing which will help me professionally. Also I have learnt most importantly I work best when I have a clear direction to the end result.
SB9 J A PA N G U I D E B O O K C O V E R Produce a illustration for graphic designer Nathan Laville. This illustration will be used for the front cover of a Japan Guidebook. This brief didn’t benefit my portfolio, but I learnt a lot about collaborating and its weaknesses. As there was already a set idea of the illustration for me to make, I struggled not being able to experiment ad push the idea. I learnt that I like to have some freedom to some extent where I can develop concepts. I struggles with the really quick turnaround of this brief, only having 2 hours to complete. Developing quickly is something I still need to work on as well as working under pressure. Overall, this has been the most unsuccessful brief in terms of the product. However I have learnt how collaboration can go wrong and be limiting in this case.