Katie Smith Designer and Visual Artist
www.katiesmithdesign-portfolio.com smithk70@coventry.uni.ac.uk 07523034479
September 2016 - June 2019 Photography BA (Hons) Coventry University September 2014 – June 2016 3 A Levels A*-B including Photography 2 AS levels. Cherwell School, Summertown. September 2009 - June 2014 12 GCSEs Grades A*-C Gosford Hill School, Kidlington
Katie Smith Designer and Visual Artist
A keen designer and visual artist working within the South East and West Midlands. Having undertaken a prominent role within the design element of various student led projects, I am now keen to help clients fulfil their design ambitions. Initial experience within interior design will be employed along with previous customer service experience and reappropriating it to help clients and their audience.
Experience Exposure Photography Festival, March 2018
- Co-director for the festival - Role required the co-directors and I to source a location and network the event amongst specified client lists. - My marketing role saw me design the overall festival logo and posters for distribution. - Following up the other participants to make sure they were performing their own roles. Communicating within such a large group has been something that I have had to focus on, making sure that lecturers are kept updated and any decisions are communicated between the committee before informing the rest of the particpants and organisers.
Social Media of @cu_photography
- Taking over the role of the course’s twitter feed, along with 3 others. - Engaging more within the industry, retweeting and posting about upcoming talks, festivals, bodies of work and writing that is being produced. This has helped me to remain focused on what is going on within the industry whilst being able to understand how important social media is within it.
Experience Continued
Technical Skills Good understanding of DSLR Cameras Three years experience with Adobe Photoshop and ACA Photoshop acreditation 2 years experience with Adobe Indesign 2 years experience with Adobe Lightroom
Student Ambassador, Coventry University, September 2017 Present - Providing tours of the Photography department and it’s facilities. - Engaging in conversations about the university and student life, answering any questions and concerns had by visitors about the course or university. Having been put forward as a student ambassador by my lecturers, I have been able to improve my interpersonal skills.
Introducing Exhibition, 3 October 2017
- Independent exhibition organised by myself and 4 other students. - Exhibition guide was designed by myself, alongside one of my peers, providing artist statements for each of the works displayed. The work and statements were not produced by ourselves but the overall design of the guide was our production. - Element of curation was also undertaken in organising the works of the 40 contributors. With such a varying amount of work, it was important that the exhibition guide and space was coherant, relying on an eye for design for both digital and physical formats. Woodstock Designs, Oxford, 11-15 March 2013 Stella Mannering, Oxford, 8-12 June 2015 - Interpreting scale drawings in order to place correct fabric orders. - Selecting appropriate fabrics to fit in with the purpose and style of the building. - Visiting sites to make sure that progress is taking place and that no issues have occured that could ruin the planned interior design. - Designing my own schemes, ordering the fabrics, designing the mood boards and making scale drawings to help others visualise the design better. Undertaking experience within interior design studios has helped to develop my eye for design, especially in terms of balancing textural elements. References available on request.
X^3
2017
The brief
Transformations in the photographic field across all stages – production, distribution and application, have had an enormous impact on the subject. The evolution of digital cameras and media has radically altered how photography is made and used, “Photography, as we have known it, is both ending and enlarging” (Ritchin, 2009). The transformation of media from print based to web has meant that publishing is no longer exclusive to a select group. This has altered how photographers work and offers new approaches to constructing narratives. Explore this alteration through a body of work.
The Outcome After exploring the digitalised glitch, something that has become explored even more in art , I realised the comparisons that could be made between our online identity and the glitch. Our online self is not a exact replica of the ‘true’ self, it takes the best bits and highlights them to a selected audience. Glitching these identities formed a strong part of the project, however, they dismissed the fact that these identities are highlight maleable and intertwine with each other. For this reason, each glitch was turned into a kaleidoscope, putting each identity into an easily readable form. Then they were placed on to rubiks cubes so that each identity could interact with each other to build up a completely new kaleidoscope.
The Challenges This project receieved a lot of interest due to the unique presentation method. There was potentional for a comapny to use the rubiks cube idea to form an aspect of their advertising however, whilst looking at the work again, I noticed how complex the work is to explain. For it to be understood, I need to explain it face-to-face with an audience. Therefore, it was soon developed into something that explored the same concept but was easier to explain. It could be placed within an exhibition space and the artist statement would explain everything clearly and simply.
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT INTO ACCUMULATION
The Brief The aim of this project was to develop an already existing project, whilst being aware of the range of practices and debates concerned with the role of publishing in a post-digital environment, focusing on publishing in its broadest sense.
The outcome Through deep research, my outcome presented itself as a zine, fold out book and an exhibition. The exploration still focused on online identities however, this time, the graphics were reworked. The project aims to highlight the dominating role the digital has within one’s identity as, through the merging of the online self and the ‘true’ self, complexities often arise.
The post-digital has become an integrated part of society, it no longer stands out to be a separated motion, but a reformulation of the digital moment, ‘where a digital mind-set is inextricably entangled with our existence, whether or not the digital technology is actually present’ (Openshaw 2015). This refers to more of an ‘internet state of mind’ where an art object is created ‘with a consciousness of the networks within which it exists’ (Archey and Peckham 2014:8)). Code-X: paper, ink, pixel and screen (2015) particularly highlights this as the combination of new and old media is evident whereas the presence of digital technology has to be investigated further through the traditional book as the use of hybridisation here brings about a thinking based upon the networks. This hybridisation can also be witnessed within my own body of work, Accumulation, as the role of digital technology in the development of online identities is investigated through the role of the art object and the tactility this provides. Taking this new media concept away from the digital and into a tiered experience based upon old media, emphasises how anything posted online is being ‘migrated into new forms’ (Fuller) and transformed into an ‘immersive accumulation of spectacles’ (Debord 1994) Making these references to other systems forms the basis of intertextuality as ‘the meanings of any one discursive image or text depend not only on that one text or image but also by the meanings carried by other images and texts’ (Rose 2007:142). Plugging into other ‘machines’ allows for the work to function better (Deleuze and Guattari), whether this is intentional referral or not, the referencing to outside sources encourages a particular way of thinking through the machines that have been selected. The objects formed as part of the exhibition are not just to fill the space but they represent an identity which, as part of Accumulation, has been manipulated to create a cultural object, one that then gets spread through multiple devices (Bridle 2012) in what is termed the New Aesthetic. The tiered experience becomes important here as the same graphics can be found to reoccur throughout the space and zine, specifically in the rasterbator images. However, the same images also are found digitally through social media postings which creates a new kind of cultural object. Both can be spread through multiple devices but due to the hybridisation of new and old media, it is done at very different speeds and received at various paces. Equally, in Sterling’s definition of the term The New Aesthetic, an ‘eruption of the digital into the physical’ (2017) is being witnessed. Accumulation continuously references and discusses this as the digital has been turned into the physical object for the prominent part of the project. But it doesn’t just remain this way, there is a constant flow between the digital and physical for the remainder of the work. The continual cross over between the use of digital and physical in every day experiences is why the post-digital has become an integrated part of society that often becomes overlooked, as the ‘digital mind-set is inextricably entangled with our existence’ (Openshaw 2005).
Logo Developments
Ally contacted me whilst she was designing her logo for advice on getting the logo to the best quality. Having undertaken the ACA Photoshop exam, I was aware of the necessary settings that her files would have to be. She also asked me to add colour to her file which we tried in various forms and soon came to this conclusion. Whenever I am working with clients, I feel it is important to keep them up-to-date with developments and work together to get the best result.
Marstan BDB contacted me in regards to creating a 40th edition logo to use on their website and promotional material. We both had different visions of what we thought looked best but we were able to come up with some designs that we were both happy with. The original logo had been previously designed for them by another designer.
Exposure Photography Festival Designs by Katie Smith
The Brief and outcome To create a set of posters to advertise the Exposure Photography Festival. Originally the posters were originally designed indivudally by each exhibition group, with the logo featuring on each poster in the exact same position. This became too diversee so I took on the role of designing all 6 posters. They needed to appear as a set hence the same layouts, information and fonts. Each one did however have a different colour scheme and two highlight images from each exhibition featured. This created a more cohesive identity for the festival that was able to flow through all marketing,
‘Introducing’ exhibition guide 2017
The aim of this project was to design an exhibition guide that fitted with the ‘pop-up’ style of the exhibition. Alongside organising the exhibition with 4 peers, I took a lead role in the designing of the guide.
EXHIBITION GUIDE
3rd OCTOBER 2017 ELLEN TERRY BUILDING
CHARLIE ALLEN
CLIMATE OF CONSUMERISM
This body of work focuses on a current issue being climate change. As long as deforestation, pollution and the consumption of unsustainable resources continue, people priorities will no longer lie within the services society has socialized us into. Consequently, these photographs are engaging to the viewer, ensuring their attention is absorbed into the photographs. The concept behind this was to produce a set of images to show how today’s world may look without human life, since being effected by climate change. Portraying these ‘consumerist’ havens, such as the petrol station, in such a way indicates the normlessness that would occur in a dystopian world. Showing them desolate and abandoned indicated how real climate change is, and the impact it could have in society. The methodology encompassed photographing locations which are gradually effected by climate change, and so becoming obsolete if change was to continue. Attaining the locations where this is appropriate and exhibiting it through an image was an arduous task, all taken after midnight. The purpose for this approach was in order for the viewer to question the individual images, and our future, if we continue to disbelieve the devastating consequences of climate change.
Perception, Power, Place is an exploration of pre-existing negative stereotypes through Documentary Photography, used to share the connection between photographer, Georgia Bond and where she is from. Created in response to different beliefs associated with Liverpool, which undermine the city. This body of work has been created using natives to challenge this, from how the photographer has assembled responses to how the city is viewed from those who live around her whilst creating a series of images within the homes of these people, documenting them in their day to day life to oppose what is expected of middle class ‘scousers’, in relation to the negative stereotypes underlying. This work also responds to the ideology behind documentary photography being implicated with fictitious elements within the work of different photographers, with original motives to inform an audience, viewers often don’t feel fulfilled with how not all can be truthful. The photographer aims for this work to exist truthfully in which an ethical foreground can be established for the documentary style, by forming relationships with her subject matter also in attempt to be an inside eye on the everyday situations she is capturing, employing more truth to the imagery. Perception, Power, Place is presented in book form, offering more understanding to the viewer due to how the text and images work in tandem with each other.
GEORGIA BOND
PERCEPTION POWER PLACE
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Introducing...
picturing the body Bakrania, Urvashi Bedford, Lucy Birch, Laura Bruce, Matthew Dimotriva, Denissa Dukes, Livy Ellinas, Tony Essi, Kamile Franklin, Alicia Georgiodi, Irini Gleave, Emma Gomes, Aitanna Hancock, Lauren Ince, Georgia Kööp, Johann Lambirth, Kieran Leonard, Jess Lovesay, Ella-Mae Matts, Jack May, Esther McGarry, Emma Ridley, Emma Smith, Jasmine Wotherspoon, Louise Yogachandrabose, Sinthu
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024 2018
Book flick through can be viewed at http://www.katiesmithdesign-portfolio.com/024 The brief of this project was to explore the sdense of Community, Culture and Identity within my local area. I decided to focus on the small details that are often overlooked. This heavily focused on textures and the final book that was produced highlighted this by using textured papers.