FLUX WEBZINE ISSUE 2, 3 AUGUST 2012
Editors Ben Smith Michelle Stark Jeremy Swanborough
Production Coordinator Ben Smith
Magazine Design Ben Smith
Submissions We encourage Brisbane-based readers to submit suitable artwork for consideration by Flux Collective. If you wish to submit artwork, please contact Flux Collective at mail@fluxcollective.com
Creative Director Michelle Stark
Digital Manager Jeremy Swanborough
Contributors Ben Smith Michelle Stark Jeremy Swanborough James Wickham Jasmine Holm
Special Thanks To James Wickham Rain Wickham
Cover Design Michelle Stark
Typefaces PT Sans Pro Regular Catorze 27 Style 1 Book
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Twitter www.twitter.com/flux_collective
GUEST DESIGNER
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DIGITAL ART
POSTER
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DESIGNER PROFILE
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ILLUSTRATION
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EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
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Hi Readers, With the London Olympics in full swing I’ve been finding myself reflecting on the nature of competition. As I watch our Australian athletes express their overwhelming elation and feelings of pride, I can’t help but consider the vast number of other Olympians who have fallen short of winning medals. The television broadcasts show their devastating disappointment and tears of crushing defeat. Being highly competitive myself, I am well aware of the emotions that arise when you don’t win or achieve a certain level of success consistently in your chosen field. And being a part of a highly competitive industry, these emotions can come up regularly. Recently I have been discussing the competitive nature of the design industry with some final year design students. Graduation looms and many of them are feeling quite fearful of entering into the fray. Will they have what it takes? Will they get work? How do they compare to other students who are about to graduate? Do they have the goods to make it in the competitive design arena? The concept of competition gets the best work out of some people. But for others it can be a deterrent. Creatives are not all confident people. We are not all capable of the charismatic self-promotion that is sometimes required to get ahead in a competitive industry. Many of us are plagued by deep insecurity and find our creativity stifled significantly when we succumb to
viewing design as a competition. So I wonder if the pressure of competition is somewhat misplaced in our industry. Personally, I have found great inspiration recently from the story of Olympic silver-medallist swimmer Christian Sprenger. He was not one of Australia’s ‘medal hopefuls’ for this Olympics, and so he did not fall prey to the hype that surrounds such athletes. He approached his final race with one key goal – to swim like it was going to be his last. He chose not to look sideways at his competitors. Rather, he swam his own unique race and focussed on doing the job his own way. And, most importantly, he enjoyed it! He wasn’t swimming to win gold. He didn’t expect a medal. He achieved his best ever results by being in the moment and enjoying his craft. I believe that as creatives we can draw encouragement from Christian’s approach. Despite the fact that much of our work is driven by commercial constraints, we can still enjoy the process of design. It’s not all about the outcome, and it’s not always about being the best. I propose that if we discard the competitive pressure and stop comparing our work to that of others, this will result in the best design outcomes. So swim your own race, and enjoy the process.
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DESIGNER PROFILE
JAMES WICKHAM founder of saltprint, saltmedia, salthouse & sprinkl (and other creative endeavours)
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Wick founded Salt in 2002, using office space at his local church south of Perth, and designing the church’s newsletters and marketing material to get started. He developed a family of creative service brands, including Saltprint which has became a national success providing an easy to use web to print system for SME and design agencies. Other members of the Salt family include Saltmedia for web design and marketing, and a creative co-working space Salt House in central Brisbane. A recent addition to the mix is Sprinkl, a grass-roots networking event for creatives. Wick is currently engaged to be married soon, and he has five kids between two houses in Brisbane and Perth. He flies between the states every month which he says may seem chaotic, but in reality it works like a well-oiled machine. The mix of city and suburban life gives balance.
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DESIGNER PROFILE
What was your first design job? I was an artwork slave for a jigsaw puzzle company. It wasn’t quite design, but it felt good to be getting paid for pushing pixels. What is your career highlight so far?
Launching Salt House, our creative co-working space in Brisbane where we share our studio with other creatives and freelancers. Who or what inspires you? In brand design which I spend most of my time, its feelings and ideas that inspire my design. Music and coffee also get my creative juices flowing. What is your dream job? Idea boy. I would just come up with ideas all day, and the ideas would be farmed and nurtured while I just keep giving birth to more ideas. Do you have any advice for juniors? Don’t wait for a better computer, software or bigger design studio opportunities to become the designer you want to be. Everything you need for inspirational design is in you already. Use what you have (even if its a 4B pencil and paper) and let your design do the talking.
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a selection of saltprint designs
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DESIGNER PROFILE
live “design-off” at sprinkl networking event 10
we asked james... SCREEN or PRINT PEN or MOUSE TEA or COFFEE SUMMER or WINTER EARLY BIRD or NIGHT OWL SERIF or SANS-SERIF THE MEDIUM or THE MESSAGE GRID or NO GRID NEVILLE BRODY or MILTON GLASER UNI or INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE WORK TO LIVE or LIVE TO WORK TUMBLR or PINTEREST
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POSTER
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As is the way every 4 years, I draw great inspiration from the Olympic Games. There’s just something about the reward, the emotion, the achievement of goals after years of determination, and the bringingtogether of different countries that makes me happy. So, this issue’s design comes in the form of an ‘Olympic-esque’ typographic poster. This piece of work carries a dual meaning. It primarily communicates the epitome of sporting success – the ‘dream’ of competing at Olympic level. The idea for the typeface came to me in a dream state. It seemed a natural progression to combine the two ideas. Featured in the centre of this composition is a golden sphere, placed there as the focal point to represent the Olympic gold medal. The sky imagery that makes up the background represents the dreamscape, a reflection of the words in the quote, and the concept of soaring to great heights. Diagonal rays of light are featured in the image and these provide an ethereal element, reinforcing the dreamscape feel, while mirroring key angles in the typeface. The typeface itself marries the subtle styles of ancient Greece (the birthplace of the Olympics) with glyphs that could communicate a futuristic civilisation, allowing the gold medal graphic to be alternatively perceived as a planet. This alternative insight is intended to result in increased audience interest and viewing time, the ultimate aim of any design. A free download of this poster will be available on www.fluxcollective. com feel free to print it and use however you would like.
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ILLUSTRATION
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One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. The endless, unexplored void that stares down at us each night inspires film and art culture like nothing else. With little understanding of what lies beyond we allow our imaginations to run wild. Even with the exploration of the moon, many stay sceptical to whether we have even stood foot on the sacred face that gives light during the night. Giving place to conspiracies that will make you wonder if people have logical thought patterns at all. This particular illustration was a combination of textual experiments, along with trying something a little different to the normal composition of artworks. I also had the chance to try out some of my new custom made sand and rock brushes and if you look carefully you can see my own personal contribution to the moon conspiracy.
- J*
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DIGITAL ART
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The design you see here has been through several incarnations throughout its development. The original concept was to simply overlay a series of letters, words and images. In the development of this concept several typefaces, compositions and images were trialed – none of which successfully achieved the desired design outcomes. It was back to the drawing board for a complete overhaul – which wasn’t the most exciting prospect, in much the same way that overhauling a skyscraper’s architecture after it’s already been built, is not an exciting prospect. As frustrating as the overhaul may have been, it worked. However, the design was taken even further when I found myself frequently being asked “Why?” – Why those letters? Why that composition? Why those colours? Just...why? My response to this; “Why not?” As designers, and society as a whole, why do we confine ourselves to a set of seemingly logical constraints? Why can’t we do something, simply because we can? Why can’t we think ‘outside the box’? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that thinking ‘outside the box’ is an absolute reason to do something, but it’s never the reason why we shouldn’t do it. The final design reflects my personal belief that we should endeavour to never be limited by the “Why?” Instead living our lives, and our designs, by the “Why not?”
- B.
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GUEST DESIGNER
JASMINE HOLM Jasmine Holm is a recent graphic design graduate from Brisbane with a love for all things creative. Being a conceptual thinker with a keen eye for detail, she enjoys working in multiple disciplines of design, illustration and photography. Jasmine is constantly seeking inspiration and is heavily influenced by her surroundings. In her spare time she will be found buried in literature, sipping coffee while scribbling in a notebook, behind a film camera or enjoying the sunshine with her favourite humans.
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next issue... 17 AUGUST 2012
featuring ... designer profile of a local letterpress legend! :::: new typeface :::: new illustration :::: new digital art :::: & another exciting guest designer