“When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” — This is a concept that I’ve noticed within my practice recently, it’s a way of describing where I find myself now in my practice- with a vast potential for generating ideas, but without the capabilities to execute them thoroughly all the time. Alongside this I want to re-iterate a point I’ve made for the past three years in PPD, and a principle I’ve tried to work by in my practice throughout the time – “You only ever get out what you put in.” I’m going to return to this earlier concept and elaborate on it when I talk about my placement later.
The work that I have been doing for FMP has included a lot more live/collaborative work than I have done previously. I’m so grateful for this, since it’s helped me not only understand how different client relationships can work, but also get used to working alongside printers, with setting up artwork on spec for print, and considering print processes and appropriate stocks etc. From one of my collaborations with fashion student Sinead O’Herlihy, I’ve been getting exposure of my own work through what she’s been doing. She’s
taken her collection to Manchester Fashion Week, and used this as a point to distribute the business cards and lookbooks that we had professionally printed with foil and bespoke paper stocks.
I’ve been working steadily on my design presence and identity since last summer, and it’s something I’m gradually getting there with. I’ve had a live website and working identity for a while now- but it’s not something I’m happy with by any means, and I don’t think it reflects my practice very well. What I’ve been working on more recently is an overhaul of my own ‘brand’. One issue I’ve had is with what name to use- I’m under njfarrar.co.uk online, but my business cards read Naomi Farrar. I’ve contemplated loads of options and am beginning to settle on just ‘Naomi’ “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint Exupéry
So now I’m in the process of re-branding everything, and a full overhaul of my website is in the pipeline, ready for the new work I’ll be putting up at the end
of FMP. I’m getting new business cards printed, and looking into using some colourplan stock, possibly duplexed.
Events— I’ve made a real effort to attend as many design events/talks as I can this year, as it’s something I’ve shied away from in the past. As a result I attended InspireCreate in October, and entered a competition they held. This resulted in me meeting lots of creative professionals, including Adam from Logistik who asked me to come and spend two weeks in their studio. I’ve also been a part of ImagineThat, which is an online collective of creative people’s work, featured on blogs, and more recently in print- I have a double page feature in their latest magazine. I’ve also been to Note To Self in Manchester, which was a brilliant networking experience— I’ve been in touch with professionals who spoke at the event since, and have gained a lot of material for my context book too. I also attended Leeds Print Festival and Manchester Design Symposium, both of which had really interesting seminars from people in various positions throughout the creative industry.
I’ve also attended the D&AD event in Sheffield, which allowed a great oppourtunity for portfolio tutorials with a number of professionals working in studios throughout the north, this included Elmwood and Ian Anderson from The Designers Republic which is of great benefit to someone like me wanting to stay around Yorkshire. Creative Milkround was also a helpful opportunity, and again it’s great to get as much practice in presenting your portfolio as possible.
Adrian Shaughnessy spoke at Manchester Design Symposium about the need for the ‘Post Graphic Designer’ – the graduate who can do more than just work with print or screen, and realise bigger ideas and concepts- perhaps a building, event, or a brand experience.
I did my two-week placement that I gained from the Inspire Create event over Easter, and enjoyed it immensely. I was able to work on such a variety of briefs in that time that I’ve had a chance to experience working as a Graphic Designer in a different way- this is what I think Shaughnessy was referring to
with the ‘post graphic designer’ description. I want to be a post-graphicdesigner.
This is where I’m going to bring my earlier metaphor back in- if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I’m here at university, designing work for my own submission- I have skills that I have learnt myself, and been taught. And I’m able to collaborate- to an extent. But there are still limitations to what I can actually make happen. I can’t build a huge events venue in the middle of Hyde Park- but I CAN help design the experience. I want to work somewhere that allows me to realise things like this, and work on this sort of scale.
So, where does this leave me? It leaves me needing to work somewhere that I can explore the avenues like this- somewhere that employs a variety of creative professionals who can collaborate to get the best and fullest results from a brief. I want to stay in Yorkshire, ideally Leeds, and am going to go back and work at Logistik over summer for a while.
It’s somewhere like this, with a big creative department, that I want to work in, such as Logistik or Elmwood or Brass. I’ve entered the SH! Awards- the prize for which is a years placement at Brass. And I’ve already been in touch with Elmwood after the D&AD event, and applied for a job vacancy they had thereI didn’t get through, but it’s these sort of places that I want to target for my career. I say for my career, because a job is a job at the moment- and my priority straight after I leave will be to find something that pays the rent. I’ve also been in touch with Rabbit Hole and Founded, and am hoping there will be a possibility of a placement at Rabbit Hole after June.
Meanwhile I’ve been applying for general positions- admin work and such, hopefully just short term, to ensure I can pay the bills until I get a graphic design position. I’m going to be living where I am currently over summer, then looking for a flat with my boyfriend in August, so I can continue with my Leeds-Based Graphic Design Adventure!