External Positioning, Year 3 by Richard de Cazalet

EXTERNAL POSITIONING EGRD3013

RICHARD DE CAZALET STUDENT NUMBER 0906519

CONTENTS

EXTERNAL POSITIONING Development of Skills Where am I? Where am I going? Where have I been? Who am I following? SELF PROMOTION Business Cards Version #2 Online Presence Web Development & Design Visitors Overview

. . . . . .

4 4 6 8 10 12

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14 14 16 18 20 24

FREELANCE WORK Web Development Printing

. . . . . . 26 . . . . . . 26 . . . . . . 30

EXHIBITIONS Type Directors Club Handmade and Bound Sideways Festival

. . . .

COMPETITION BRIEFS PaperCo 2011 RSA Stamps

. . . . . . 40 . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . 42

SEMESTER EVALUATION

. . . . . . 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY

. . . . . . 51

. . . .

34 34 36 38

DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS During my time at University, I have learnt, and put to use, a wide range of skills. These skills have been acquired through various workshops and developed through utilising them in my practice. From the graphs opposite you will be able to see where exactly my skill sets lie and how the different areas have been developed during my time at University as a whole, but also more specifically this semester. I designed the skills displayed on the graph to be relative to each other rather than measuring skills on in absolute units.

Illustration has always been the strongest aspect of my practice and I this is an area I am always striving to push. As you can see it has been constantly improving over the years. I feel I am at a point where I have developed a style I am happy with and demonstrating visual continuity between my works. As I believe it is my strongest skill and a skill which I enjoy practicing, it is definitely an area in which I would like to pursue in my career. My most improved skill this semester which you can see in the bottom graph opposite is Web Development. This is a new

skill I have acquired and have endeavored to come to grips with in as much depth as possible before I graduate as I feel it is a hugely beneficial and desired skill in the industry, especially in the global digital era in which we now live. My weakest areas are clearly advertising, bookbinding and branding. This is mainly due to a lack of experience and practice in applying these skills. However, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a huge interest in these areas and would be happy to concentrate on the skills I have already developed, and thereby are stronger.

Dec. 11 Aug. 09

Comparison between Aug. 2009 and Dec. 2011

Dec. 11 Aug. 11

Comparison between Aug. 2011 and Dec. 2011

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EXTERNAL POSITIONING WHERE A M I?

After I had looked over my practice and my work from previous years, I established the areas that I would like to put into a professional practice. This is demonstrated in the Venn diagrams opposite. The size of the circles in the diagrams represent my confidence and experience in that area and again, the sizes are relavent to each other in both diagrams. As you can see, my independent practice was and still is by far the area in which I feel most comfortable and has only improved since the beginning of this semester. I believe I have built up a decent amount of independent work that I am happy to include that in my portfolio. In order to put the skills I use in my independent practice into a more professional context, I feel that freelancing would be the best route for a future career.

Prior to this semester, the only freelancing I had any experience in was in branding, more specifically logo design. This isn’t particularly an area which I am interested in and as represented in the diagram, I have other skills which I would prefer to practice in freelancing work. This semester I managed to get some experience in web design and development as well as getting back into printing. The next step would be to include my illustration and photography work as these are in fact my two strongest mediums and desired methods of working. I have gained some more work experience through more curational roles and exhibitions. Previously, I had exhibited work in the Rag Factory and assisted in curating a number of end of year art shows. This semester I have participated in

curation at JWT, London and published work at Handmade and Bound, both of which I found hugely valuable experiences and ones in which I would like to pursue further. I feel an internship would be a fantastic opportunity and experience to gain some further knowledge in the industry and see the inner workings of a professional environment. In some respects, I regard my work as a balance between ‘art’ and ‘design’ Presently, I am opting to pursue a career in design however I am not neglecting my artistic motivations. I feel freelancing would grant me the best opportunity and flexibility to keep and handle on both areas of interest. In years to come, I am considering the decision to opt for a postgrad in fine art, however do not want this decision to be resolute until I have more professional experience working in the design industry.

LOGO DESIGN CURATIONAL ROLES EXHIBITIONS

August 2011

WEB DESIGN ILLUSTRATION PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTING

INTERNSHIPS

ILLUSTRATION PHOTOGRAPHY SCULPTURE

WEB DESIGN PRINTING December 2011 EXHIBITIONS CURATIONAL ROLES

INTERNSHIPS

ILLUSTRATION PHOTOGRAPHY

ILLUSTRATION WEB DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY SCULPTURE FILM PRINTING INDEPENDENT PRACTICE FREELANCE WORK WORK EXPERIENCE DESIRED FREELANCE WORK DESIRED EXPERIENCE

EXTERNAL POSITIONING WHERE A M I GOING?

“In my experience, the freelance life suits two types of designers. The first are resourceful individuals with specialist skills [...] The second type is best characterized as the creative loner. These are individuals with a strong personal vision that cannot be comfortably accommodated within the structure of a design group or an in-house studio. They are often designers who cannot compromise their work.” - Shaughnessy As I have briefly mentioned, I feel freelancing would be the route in which would suit me and which I would most like to pursue for a future career. After reading Adrian Shaughnessy’s ‘How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul’ it only emphasised my desire to work freelance. What draws me to freelancing is being able to work for myself. I have always worked very independently and autonomously. I have enjoyed developing my skill set and over the years most of the skills I have acquired have been self taught. Admittedly, attempts at working collaboratively in the past has not been as successful as I would hope and is perhaps one of my

weakest skills. I revel in self-reliance and I feel my work reflects that of an independent designer, often setting myself proposals demonstrating a self-directed practice. My illustrations up until now had been somewhat introverted until I began developing a unique visual aesthetic that I hopefully I will be associated with. However, as you will see later in the portfolio, I feel I have developed a successful piece of design, incorporating my illustration skills in a more financially valuable fashion. This is something I wish to build upon and incorporate into a professional context as I feel illustration is my strongest suite. Additionally, having acquired new skills this

semester, mainly Web Development, it has given me a much greater chance at applying more skills to a greater demand. Although I am opting for a career in freelancing, I would like to take the opportunity to do some internships and work temporarily in some relatively larger design collectives. I feel this would give me a good insight into the process of working for commissions that I could then apply to my own freelancing work. Moreover, the possibility of building up a portfolio on the side while working in a company after graduating would give me a chance to develop my portfolio independently as well as working on grander projects in within company.

Flow chart demonstrating direction after graduation

Revisit previous clients

Seek out freelance opportunities

Approach independent businesses

Designer Breakfast Facebook

Graduate University

Self-Promotion

Creative Pool LinkedIn

Behance

It始s Nice That Peepshow

Approach practioners for internships

Collectives

Just Us Central Illustration Agency

Companies

Folio NB Illustration

Freelancers

EXTERNAL POSITIONING WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Tracey Emin’s ‘Love is What You Want’ at the Hayward Gallery ‘Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance & The Camera’ at the Tate Modern Ai Weiwei’s ‘Unilever Series’ at the Tate Modern ‘Gabriel Orozco’ at the Tate Modern. ‘Postmodernism: Style and Subversion’ at the V&A ‘Newspeak: British Art Now Part II’ at the Saatchi Gallery ‘Pick Me Up’ at Somerset House ‘Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978 - 2010’ at the Whitechapel Gallery ‘Handmade and Bound’ at St. Bride’s Àngels Ribé’s ‘In the Labyrinth’ at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona ‘Museum of parallel narratives’ at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona ‘Basement’ at the Regency Town House, Brighton. ‘The Burt Brill and Cardens Graduate Show 2011’ at Brighton University Wimbledon MA Show 2011 Camberwell MA Show 2011 Chelsea MA Show 2011

Visiting contemporary art galleries is an activity which I have enjoyed increasingly since the development of my own artistic practice, mainly as my work is approached mostly with influences from that of a ‘fine art’ angle. I attempt to visit as many galleries as possible but most frequently the Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum and South Bank Center. Of these galleries, I have experienced some amazing works which have permeated me with a greater creative drive and that keep me updated with the latest contemporary art scene. Some of the exhibitions visited during the past year are featured on the left.

‘Love is What You Want’ A Tracey Emin retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London

‘Pick Me Up 2011’ A contemporary graphic art fair exhibited at Somerset House

To see the range of successful works of a single artist, spanning from old works to new, exhibited in such a large gallery was a huge inspiration on its own. To date, I have exhibited work in a professional context on three occasions and it has been an experience that I found extremely rewarding and fulfilling and one that I will endeavour to follow up in the future. I understand it would be a long road to be even considered for a retrospective exhibition but it is an ambitious goal to drive me forward through small exhibitions in addition to hopefully some larger. What I admire about Emin’s work is its introspectiveness which unfortunately seems to be something almost impossible to achieve in a design industry, but still immensely challenging within the art world. There are elements of my work that sometimes engage with introspectively however lately I have been attempting to project my thoughts on a grander more universal and relatable scale. There were pieces in the exhibition which I had enjoyed thoroughly and some of which I had never discovered before. One being a film piece titled ‘Why I never became a dancer’ I found the film profound, unusual and particularly interesting in the exhibition - an observation through a narrative. It was this short film that inspired me to create more filmworks, something I had never really experimented with much before this semester but feel now much more comfortable with and will certainly be using in future work.

Having visited the Pick Me Up exhibition last year in 2010 and discovering a slew of new of amazing contemporary graphic artists, I returned again this year. Little to my surprise I found the exhibition just as awe-inspiring. Pick Me Up has a illustration heavy curative approach which I am keen on. As the majority of the graphic artists and illustrators exhibited in the gallery are ‘up and coming’ it is a great way of discovering new works and artists to follow. Additionally, provided that Pick Me Up continues to be an annual event, it grants me a great opportunity as a graduating student as I wish to pursue my illustration skills in various applications, exhibitions being a fantastic way of receiving coverage. What’s more is the printed works are for up for sale so the opportunity to earn some money is also provided. Some of the practitioners I discovered through the exhibition were Pietari Posti, Margaux Carpentier, Paul Blow and Victo Ngai. Downstairs, in the lower part of the gallery, there are magazines and other miscellaneous prints for sale. It is here that I discovered ‘It’s Nice That’ (http://www. itsnicethat.com/) publication to which I am subscribed. The quarterly publication contains a range of works, articles and interviews from practitioners within the creative industry presenting me with a further means of discovering inspirational works while the interviews often give great insight into professional practice.

University of the Arts London MA 2011 shows, Exhibiting graphic design, fine art and illustration This year I attended the MA shows at Wimbledon, Camberwell and Chelsea. As an emerging artist/designer in a competitive industry, I feel it is important to note the current competition. It is an incredibly insight means of discovering how other contemporary emerging practitioners are approaching their work and to what level. From these visits I also made a number of contacts and discovered some fantastic artists and designers. The sense of leaving education, graduating and entering a professional working world feels immensely daunting and I believe it is important to question whether I feel satisfied with my current position. The notion of applying for a postgrad has entered my mind on a number of occasions however after receiving some advice I feel I would benefit more from gaining some experience in a working, professional environment which I will be able to apply during my studies at postgrad level. Thus, I will let my desires to further my education simmer for a number of years, while in the meantime I aim to focus on a freelance career.

EXTERNAL POSITIONING WHO A M I FOLLOWING? To keep updated with the numerous creative sources that are available online, I keep a bookmark folder of websites that I visit on a regular basis and add to it when I happen upon a site of interest (see image right) These websites include design agencies and art collectives, art galleries, practitioner’s portfolios, resources, design networking sites and blogs. As I have mentioned, my objective is to be become a successful freelancer however I believe I may benefit from seeking out and completing a number of internships to give me insight into the internal operations of a professional practice. I feel that approaching smaller companies and agencies would be more appropriate than ones on a grander scale as generally the smaller the organisation the more intimate and less spread the production and labour becomes. In this case, I aim to seek out chiefly art collectives such as ‘Peepshow’, ‘It’s Nice That’, and ‘Just Us’, or granted the opportunity, shadow a fulltime freelancer. Both of these options would provide me with a wealth of knowledge that I would be able to apply to my own practice. 12

In regard to approaching the practitioners, it will require a vast amount of research into what they would be looking for, submitting an edited and unique portfolio appropriate to each of the companies or designers. As I am currently focusing on my studies at University, I do not forsee myself attempting to start any job or internship prior to June 2012, and hopefully applying for positions in May. I have been tracking, following and subscribing to all the companies and designers I have discovered, and through this getting a feel for their style and what they’re about, narrowing down my selection to some of the results you can see opposite. In addition to online resources, I have been on a number of studio visits and attended talks by visiting speakers, some of these include; Kate Gibb, Lizzie Finn, Rick Poynor, Noam Toran, Ricky Churchill (at Kemistry) and Patrick Burgoyne (at Creative Review) which have been a massive eyeopener to a range of different practices and have provided me with some well-needed advice.

Noam Toran Visitng Speaker at the University for the Creative Arts, Epsom I attended the talk given by practitioner Noam Toran in the University auditorium on December 1st. I found it to be one of the most insightful, inspiring and self-relevant talks I have attended to date. Toran works independently as an artist and makes most of his money through exhibitions. He creates his artworks by writing proposals for projects and applying for funding through numerous galleries, institutions and museums. These fundings see him through to the project’s actualisation.

A lot of Toran’s work revolves around creating or analysing narrative. Creating narrative has always been something I have been interested in trying to incorporate within my illustration, whereas Toran’s work consists of film and sculpture. Both of these areas are mediums I feel I had just started exploring and am excited to develop. As I said earlier, Emin’s film ‘Why I never became a dancer’ had already prompted me to start using more film in my work. I found it fascinating as the talk also introduced a discussion about

production methods, as I am always trying to expanding my knowledge on the use and application of various mediums. Toran spoke about rapid prototyping, which is effectively 3D printing (see image below) and also discussed seeking out specialists to assist in projects where other skills are required, such as digital animators, 3D modeling and makeup artists. This is the sort of collaboration I would enjoy in a professional practice, dipping into other areas of expertise for assistance in the creation of independent artistic projects.

‘I Cling to Virtue,’ Noam Toran, Rapid Prototyping

SELF PROMOTION BUSINESS CARDS Getting noticed is always going to be an important element in any competitive industry. Business cards are a universally effective way of distributing and promoting yourself and your work, being able to hand over your name, website, and contact details in one fell swoop. The aim is to entice and encourage prospective individuals to visit my website and find out more about my work through an intriguing and interesting design. The design of a business card is highly important as it gives the audience an instant impression of you and your style. I found this to be a challenging

aspect of the design as I work within a range of different mediums and aesthetics. After much deliberation, I decided upon a photograph from a project I did last year as the background image for my cards. This was suggested by one of my tutors after a tutorial, as not only does it give the audience a glimpse into one of my projects, it is a fairly ambiguous image which would perhaps encourage the viewer to investigate more about the work. I handed out these business cards at the TDC Exhibition at JWT, Handmade & Bound and on various other social occasions.

Initial Design

Reworked Design In terms of aesthetic, I feel the imagery still works on a small scale. Additionally, the geometry and symmetry in the image gives the impression of considered design, reflecting my hopes to become a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;graphic designer.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

The top image was the original design, however, after getting it printed and receiving feedback I felt there was some changes that needed to be done. Most notably, I made the background image smaller so that it is not as close to the edges and gives the elements on the card more space.

I also made my name brighter as after printing, it was not clear enough as it appeared on a digital screen. Finally, having completed my website and having it up and running, I removed the web address for my blog and changed it to my personal website instead.

Final design (FRONT)

Final design (BACK)

Initial design #1

VERSION #2

Initial design #2

Initial design #3

After I completed the business cards, I looked towards another piece of feedback I received; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why dead fish?â&#x20AC;? It is evident that some people are not so keen on conceptual works and prefer more traditional techniques. As for me, I enjoy both styles and my work is represented in both of these fields. Therefore I set about creating another batch of business cards with a different aesthetic. This way, if I was conversing with a prospective client, I could gauge their style and hand them a card appropriate to the situation.

I used this pencil illustration of the owl as it shows a technical skill of illustration, with a contrast between colour and greyscale, sharp geometry and soft pencil strokes. Additionally, it evidences a recurring theme in my work being nature.

This second version of my business cards are double sided as I wanted to keep the illustration on the front clear of intrusive text.

As I mentioned previously, the design of a business card gives the audience an impression of my style. It may seem contradictory to have two contrasting business cards demonstrating different styles however as a client would only ever be shown one of these cards, it eliminates the problem.

ONLINE PRESENCE WWW.RCAZZLES.TUMBLR.COM WWW.DECAZALET.COM In light of the sweeping digital movement of the last decade, having and maintaining a presence online has become a vital aspect in becoming successful within any given field. The Internet is a fantastic open source where you can share your works, your thoughts and aspirations. Moreover, a source in which virtually anyone can access, which has its share of pros and cons. Most obviously, it grants anyone the opportunity for their work to be seen by a greater audience but also, this highlights the importance of what you share on the Internet.

Currently, I have two sources of online work. Firstly, I have my blog www.rcazzles.tumblr.com It is here that I share all of my thoughts regarding my practice, for example; works in progress, proposals, updates, and various photography work. I have been using this blog for over a year now so I would imagine viewers would be able to judge my interests, recurring themes and thought process from looking through it. This is a great way to show the world what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re thinking and how you come to certain conclusions and of course, just getting work out there using minimal effort and using up any unburnt creative energy.

Secondly, I have finished making my website, www.decazalet.com I felt I needed a way of showing my work in a more professional and refined context, with edited content. As previously mentioned, since finishing my website I have included it on my business cards which gives a much more professional finish and appearance on the card. Having your own website, and using it as an online portfolio, as an artist or designer is crucial in order for prospective clients and people in the industry to see what you are all about. Not only would they be looking at your work but also the design and layout of the website. Therefore, I strived to make my website as comprehensive as possible with considered design, maintaining visual continuity in regard to my own independent work as the website itself is a major contributor to the portfolio it displays.

In my about section on my website, I composed an artist statement in order to give viewers a concise and accurate textual representation of my work. I feel it is important to be able to articulate what exactly it is you do and why you do it in a textual form in order to back up the evidence demonstrated in visual work. You can read the statement on the about section of my website.

WEB DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN

These are some screenshots from my website. After attending the HTML workshop for beginners it refreshed my memory of my knowledge of very basic HTML and encouraged me to pursue a new skill. Additionally, I felt learning how to build a website would be hugely beneficial as web development is a very desirable and employable skill in the industry, not only to make websites but there is a huge amount of online content developed for consumer products. One of the main advantages being the level of

interactivity achievable using a digital medium. In order to kill two birds with one stone I set about to create my online portfolio and by doing so acquiring the knowledge and skills of web development through trial and error. The screenshots on this spread is how the website was designed and viewed on some resolutions, however the site does look slightly different in some other resolutions. This is an issue which I have yet to solve.

I attempted to create a simple, minimalistic and easy to navigate website, taking inspiration from websites that I found successful. I drew out a number of different designs (see sketches opposite) before settling on one. I wanted to give all the elements on the page enough space so that the work itself would be the focal point. Additionally, as a lot of my work has varying styles, I wanted my website to be relatively neutral so that the various works can sit on the page comfortably without looking misplaced or conflicting with the aesthetics of the website.

WEB DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN

The whole process took me over two months of hard work. HTML, used to add the actual content of the page, and CSS (cascadingstyle sheets), used to create the ‘look’ of the elements, were by far the most developed areas of web development I achieved this semester. I started with a very basic understanding of HTML and no knowledge of CSS whatsoever, but feel very confident with both now. Along the way I discovered some aspects of Javascript and Jquery, used to create sleek transitions and interactivity on a webpage, however this is an area of web development that requires a lot more attention which I will seek to further in the near future. 22

I feel very accomplished in the fact I essentially self-taught myself the process of web development as it’s definitely not an easy skill to acquire. I believe this demonstrates an ability to independently develop my skills set to benefit myself professionally. On my website, I have featured a ‘links’ webpage. On here, visitors can find access to other online pages of mine. This way, hopefully I can generate a greater traffic to and from my website and my other pages, which include Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Additionally, from this webpage, clients will be able to download an pdf version of my CV.

Currently, the Facebook and Twitter links remain relatively inactive as my website has only recently be put online but my intentions are to gather followers from all the locations and lead them to this one source in order to reach the largest audience possible. Next, I intend on creating a Linkedin account and linking it to my website. Linkedin is a great way for creatives in the industry to network and share their design profiles online, a way of being discovered but also a way of discovering others.

In order to create some sort of visual identity and continuity for myself I created my basic logo, my name in Gill Sans Light which can be viewed on my website and my business card. The idea is I can apply this logo to various pieces of design works to hopefully tie in other pieces of design I have produced. It is simple and purely typographic in order to create a logo that could be easily adapted to any piece of design. Moreover, I decided to use purely text in an attempt to avoid creating an aesthetic that I would be tied to, while avoiding visual imagery which is more likely to be misperceived.

Logo Design

VISITORS OVERVIEW Linked on Tumblr blog

Reposted by Tumblr follower

Since acquiring my website I have made attempts at advertising it, on my blog, on my business cards and ensuring it comes up as a result in a Google search Through â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Google Analyticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; I can track various stats regarding the hits and demographic of my website. In the three weeks that I have had my website online, I have had 94 unique visitors to the site which equates to an average of

four new visitors a day. However, as you can see from the graph, rather than a steady stream of people visiting the website, there have been two major visiting points. The first peak was when I posted about my website on my Tumblr blog, reaching almost 50 views. The second peak is when that post was reposted by one of my followers, which granted me roughly another

40 visitors. Evidently advertising my website on pages in which I already have an audience is an great way of generating traffic to my site, and as in this case, not only am I reaching my own immediate followers but also sometimes a secondary audience through their followers. I still have a long way to go but it is a reasonable start for now.

FREELANCE WORK WEB DEVELOPMENT After completion of my website, I was approached to create another online portfolio for a recent art graduate. This was a really great opportunity for me to put my newly acquired skill into action by making my first commissioned website. After negotiating fees, drawing up an invoice and laying down deadlines, I was provided with a number of websites to look at to take inspiration from, analyse elements of their design and create a new website for the client. As the client was an art student himself with an idea how he wants to be perceived through his website, I understood the importance of creating a design in which he would

be happy with, keeping elements of visual continuity between the design of the website and his own work. I found it very exciting making an online portfolio for someone else and using their imagery and text. It was almost like curating an exhibition, having to think about the way in which image and text sits in a space, how the page is navigated, the order in which elements appear and so on. The website was completed far ahead of schedule and much faster than the time it took me to finish my own website. Unfortunately, the website is not yet online as the client is lacking funds to purchase a domain and hosting but it will soon be available at... www.jameswilliammurray.com

An example of the html coding for one of the webpages

Homepage of www.jameswilliammurray.com

Example of artwork page #1 28

Example of artwork page #2 Similar to my own website, I applied a minimalist style to the design of this website. I feel creating a simple website with a clean, comprehensive design is effective when displaying artwork as it allows the various images to sit on a neutral background without creating a conflict between foreground and background. Additionally, the white space feels a lot more open, giving more room to work with placing text. The website currently features 12 webpages including; Home Page, Selected Works (displaying 8 different artworks), About and Contact with a collective total of over 900 lines of HTML and 500 lines of CSS. This includes Javascript which adds another visual feature to the website. In order to create soft, smooth transitions between the pages I have applied various ‘fade-ins’ to replace to the jolty and irregular default loading that would normally appear. This is most effective on the ‘selected works’ page when the list of works cascade in, fading in one by one on the left of the screen which then allows

‘About’ webpage the viewer to open up one which they desire to look at. The work then fades in to the right of the writing. This was the most challenging element of coding which I learnt through exhaustive and extensive Google searches. The client was extremely happy with the finished result, and so was I. I feel I have come a long way in acquiring this new skill in just a couple months and feel ready to take on more commissions for other types of websites in the near future.

FREELANCE WORK SCREEN PRINTING This was another piece of commissioned work from the same client I made the website for. The prints are going to be exhibited and sold in February 2012 in a gallery in Lewes, East Sussex. The client supplied me with a number of photographs of walnuts which he asked me to edit and screen print. The only main requirement was to keep the walnuts realistic looking. In order to do this I had to create a greyscale image and print onto specialised acetate using a halftone printer to keep the detail in the image when screen printed. This creates a dotted effect when printing called halftone dots. Below are the edited versions of the photographs and on the right is an image of the positives (the walnuts printed out on the acetate ready to expose on the silkscreen for printing)

After working on these two pieces of freelance work, I am sure this is the route I would be most happy pursuing in the future. I understand I have a long way to go in building up a reputable name and a client base but I feel like I must be doing something right since the client returned to me for more work after I had made his website I can safety say I have made a secure contact in which I will be able to find future work. I believe this has set me off to a good start towards building up my client base and some more regular contacts. Additionally, all the work I create I can put in my portfolio to demonstrate the external work I have done in addition to my own independent work, which hopefully will give me the professional image I hope to achieve.

Using the positives from the photograph on the previous spread, these are some of the results from the prints. I used these prints as tests in order to determine the outcome of the image as I had never used halftone in screenprinting before. What I discovered was that getting the contrast right in the positives was crucial as some of the prints came out too dark or too light in some areas. The print on the far left I consider a successful print as the client is happy with it. Therefore, I will return to the photo editing process and create the contrast to match the one of the successful print in the other walnut images. These prints were printed at A4, however the final prints will be much larger, and be printed onto A1 sheets. It has been good experience for me to do some work for a client as there is a more definitive level of expectation that is required to meet which is not always the case when working on personal projects. From here, I hope to build up my client base to formulate a larger range of external work I can include in my portfolio and on my website.

EXHIBITIONS TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB

I was granted the opportunity to help curate the Type Directors Clubs at JWT in London. I had previously only helped set up a couple exhibitions in the past but nothing on this scale or in this type of environment. One of the main challenges, as always with curating, but in particular here, was negotiating the space provided. In this case, there were numerous static objects and fixtures that couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be moved; tables, sofas, desks, lights, staircases etc. This threw in a very interesting aspect in terms of the design of the space.

I was one of the four members in charge of the books and magazines. We decided to display them on the large table near the entrance of the space. After much deliberation we decided to lay them out in the hanging fashion salonstyle in which various sized objects are placed closely next to each other filling in small gaps. I feel this was the right choice as it is a great way of showing a large body of work in a small space. There were a number of issues which we had to take into consideration; were there going to be chairs? If so where? Which way round shall the books face? What colours look right next to each other?

Are the heights of the books evenly spread across the table? and so on. After we had finished arranging the table, our group assisted in putting up the remaining posters around the space, granting us the opportunity to dip into another side of the curation, in which other considerations were being taken place; how will the visitors negotiate the space? What will they see first? Do these two posters sit well next to each other? During the private view, the table was definitely the focal point of the evening, with a constant stream of visitors gathering around, leaving

and returning, all to pick up and look through the books. That evening, I also took the opportunity to network and converse with some people in the industry. I handed out a number of business cards and had a couple of interesting conversations with the guests however I still feel my confidence needs some work in situations like this which can only be gained through practice. I found the whole curation experience hugely valuable as I acquired a deeper understanding of curation and how it works, which I can apply to future exhibitions in which I may help curate or in which my work might participate.

EXHIBITIONS HANDM ADE & BOUND

The Handmade & Bound event was an opportunity to show some of my work in a sellable environment and to see some inspirational artwork and books from other artists and designers. I really enjoyed producing the work for the fair as it gave me a great drive to work towards a goal. 36

I wanted to apply my illustration skills in a sellable format. After being given the advice by various tutors that typography is a key skill illustrators need in the industry, it gave me the incentive to design a typeface.

Though this work (right) is not specifically typography, and rather an illustrated typeface, I attempted to use the opportunity to demonstrate a considered harmony and balance between illustration, with a practical and purposeful function, and typography.

The cards display a typeface based on bird feathers. Each card showcases one letter that is comprised of illustrated feathers from a bird that start with that letter, for example, A is for albatross, B is for blackbird etc. Each feather was hand-drawn in pen and coloured with colouring pencils, scanned in and arranged in Adobe Photoshop to form characters. In order to maintain a stronger visual continuity between the letters, as each of them are comprised of different feathers, I decided to design a framework in which the letters could sit. Unfortunately, none of the cards sold at Handmade & Bound but since then I have sold over 100 cards through advertising them on my blog, website and word of mouth. People tended to buy groups of letters to spell names. This proved to me the appeal of giving more depth and dimension to my illustration through customisation, personalisation and interactivity. Even though nothing sold at the art fair, it was a valuable experience and I would be interested in doing more work like this and submitting it to more fairs in the future.

EXHIBITIONS SIDEWAYS FESTIVAL Just before the start of this semester, I submitted a proposal to an art festival in Belgium called ‘Sideways Festival’. The festival was to take place on a route spanning across the length of Belgium, from West to East and was calling for artists to produce work revolved around themes of ‘walking’ - a relatively open subject. I had recently completed a successful project I titled ‘Wayfinding’ (which can be viewed on my website) that explored the notion of ‘desire lines’, paths which naturally form through the continuous erosion of walking. It fitted the brief

perfectly and so I set about writing a proposal which included a project synopsis, the project’s form and a budget. Unfortunately, my proposal was not successful but it was not a complete failure as I gained a lot of valuable knowledge from this experience. After discovering my application was unsuccessful, I emailed the curator, Andy Vandevyvere, and asked for feedback. In the screenshot below you can read the email reply I received. As he states; ‘We decided to radically opt for a mobile, itinerant festival’

As my project was a static piece, it no longer fitted their selection criteria. However, I found some consolation in the reply I received; ‘I want to stress the overall quality of your proposal, which was well argumented and clearly structured [...] Also, the traditional ‘lane art feel’ of your work is interestingly enriched with the reflection on desire lines’ Going through the process of writing a full proposal and setting a budget was fulfilling and something I am hoping to do more of in the future - a very valuable experience indeed.

Screenshot of the email reply from the festival curator 38

Project proposal

Project budget

COMPETITIONS PAPER CO 2011

Last year, I participated in the annual PaperCo competition brief. This was a project that was nothing like I had ever worked on before, mainly in the sense it was an external brief and all the ramifications that come with it. It was an insightful project that provided me with knowledge and experience that I can, and have, applied to future external projects. I found the brief challenging, to say the least. It was suddenly much more ‘real’ than projects I had worked on before. While working on this project, it was necessary to consider so many more aspects than had been considered for previous class-based or self-initiated projects.

To name just a few of the issues that had to be considered in the solution were; it needed a direct and specific target audience, a practical solution to the use of materials and resources and it must be easily reproduced on a large scale. Additionally, as previously mentioned, working in collaboration is not a skill in which I find easily so that brought further challenges to this brief. However, I feel my working partner and I developed some strong concepts together which I do not think are represented hugely well in the final submitted product. I feel the end product would have benefitted from being reworked after the presentation, and it would

have been if more timemanagement was in place but there was simply not enough time to fit it in around other arrangements. This has taught me that it is vital to plan and predict in order to be prepared for more work at any stage. I had attended a pitching workshop which helped my confidence in the presentation to the client for this brief. However, the real presentation was extremely valuable as presenting, and pitching to a client in an unfabricated situation was totally new and different to pitching in manufactured circumstances. Although the project was not necessarily deemed ‘successful’, the experience and insight it provided me with was invaluable.

COMPETITIONS RSA STA MPS Admittedly, I began this brief struggling for ideas despite attending tutorials for additional help. As always, on any large brief, I started by doing some research on the internet, looking at previous winners such as Amy Rodchester, looking at the royal mail website at previous designs, and looking in various books and stamp collections in The aim is to create a set of an attempt to produce some six stamps that encourages ideas. people to write letters. From having completed the PaperCo brief, it supplied me with knowledge and understanding that I did not have before, such as thinking about the target audience, packaging of the product and taking the project that one step further. These are concerns that I have applied to this competition brief by RSA.

As you can see opposite, I produced a large mind map of literally all the ideas I could think of and I surprised myself how many ideas I thought showed promise. Due to time limitations I have concentrated my workings solely on the idea I feel has the most potential and depth. However, there is one other idea which I may follow up in January, if time permits . . .

MAIN SECONDARY CONCEPT EVENTS / OCCASIONS I started thinking about the purpose of letters and when someone might send a letter or card. Often I find I have stamps lying around the house as I use them relatively rarely. The consumer would have a set of six stamps, each one would be for a specific seasonal event or occasion e.g. birthday, Christmas, holiday, valentines day, thank you and congratulations. This would allow the user to buy a pack that they can utilize year round and will have a stamp readilyavailable when they need to send those all-important celebratory letters / cards. It would also give the receiver a more personalised package as the stamp would be relevant to the contents of the envelope. Rough visual of concept I have two ideas about creating the imagery on the stamps; 1) Simple, relatable, illustrative designs that are representational of traditional seasonal events or celebratory occasions. 2) Creating the imagery using materials associated with that occasion, e.g. writing “Happy Birthday” using ribbon, “I love you” using melted chocolate or writing “Merry Christmas” in snow. 42

MAIN CONCEPT BRITISH FOLKLORE From having done some research into previous stamps by the Royal Mail, there was a diverse range subjects that came up; literature, science, historical figures, monuments, fictional characters, nature. Though mostly (but not always) they were themed around ‘Britain’ as in ‘British literature’ ‘British scientists’ etc. This is a theme I wanted to continue. I decided to look at British folklore, folklore being traditional cultural legends, that were initially conserved and passed down through oral history. Obviously with the arrival of the modern era, these tales are readily available to anyone, given they have access to the Internet.

I wanted to make the connection between letter writing and oral tradition. By using these stamps, these folktales are being conserved through the act of writing (letters) which is how traditionally stories are preserved. Additionally, I feel British folklore is such an interesting subject with a huge range of fascinating stories relating to places all over the UK and yet the stories are hardly known apart from locals of the area generally being an exception. Therefore, my aim is to encourage not only letter writing, but also to encourage the audience to find out more about British folklore. Below and left; some of the initial sketches and designs for the first stamp I created.

Initial design

Rough sketchs 44

Initally, I wanted to create stamps that represented the folklore through accurate and clear illustrations. I started with the story of ‘The Lady of Bradley Wood’ which, in short, recounts the tale of a sad ghostly woman who wanders Bradley Wood in search of her child. I started out by drawing some concept sketchs just to get a rough idea of how it could look and then decided to draw a portrait

of the woman. The initial design of the stamp was in portrait, however I decided to rotate it and use a landscape canvas to work with as it is more cinematic giving it a greater sense of narrative whilst allowing me to work with the limited space a little better. I drew the typography by hand in an attempt to give it a folkish aesthetic, which I feel was successful. However in terms of the

aesthetic as a whole, I feel it was too literal and looks like the illustration belongs in a children’s story-book. Although that would obviously be fitting for a folktale, it was not the appeal I was looking for. Idea in mind, I decided to move on to a different folktale, take what I had learnt from creating this stamp and made use of the opportunity with a fresh outlook on the project.

After the completion of this following stamp, my confidence in this project grew dramatically as I resolved some issues and discovered more ways to drive the project forward. You can see below two designs for the stamp design of the ‘Mermaid of Padstow’. There are many variations of this tale, but on this stamp I can depicting a version in which she through a handful of sand at a harbour on Cornwall’s north

coast, which in turn created the infamously dangerous ‘Doom Bar’. I initially drew a design which contained the title of the tale, as I had done for the previous stamps. Again it added the folkish look to the stamp but I still felt something was amiss. I decided to remove the text and felt this was a vast improvement on the design. There was too much information trying to fit on a small space and by removing the text, it gives clarity to the illustration with room for it to ‘breathe’. The illustration is very symbolic, only hinting at the narrative of the folktale but not giving much away. I am happy with the illustration and the aesthetic as a whole but it left me with the question of how can I get the audience engaged with folklore if they do not know what its about? . . .

THE NEXT STEP RSA STA MPS PACK AGING I started thinking about how stamps are packaged and often they come in a small booklet, a great opportunity for some more design. As stamps are so small, it only makes sense that the booklet they come in is small too, which still does not provide a vast amount of space to include a relatively large amount of information. This is where the beauty modern day technology comes into play. The booklet, on the inside cover, could contain information for the audience about the theme of these stamps, letting them know they are based on British folklore.

As the stamps are removed from the booklet, where the stamp has been removed (so printed on the booklet) would be a QR code. QR codes are a great way of letting people access a vast amount of information, quickly, easily and it can be shrank down utilizing the smallest spaces. The code behind each stamp could send the user to a web page, either RSA or Royal Mail, upon which they could find the full story of that folktale. As I feel these tales are so appealing and interesting, I believe it would encourage the audience to use their stamps by giving them an incentive, where they can find out what the illustration is depicting.

It would also be possible to include the title of the folktale underneath the QR code incase users do not have a smart phone. Another opportunity the QR code opens up is the possibility for a competition or similar. If the titles of the stamps were obscured and they only displayed a symbolic representational illustration, this could encourage the audience to try and guess what folktale the stamp depicts, and submit their answers to a website linked through the respective QR code. This would hopefully motivate people to discover some of these fantastic stories through some easy online research

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Green Children of Woolpit

The Mermaid of Padstow

The Legend of Mistletoe Bough

These are three designs for the final stamp collection. After the deemed failed that was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Lady of Bradley Woodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; I decided to look at hands as a running theme and as a means of communicating the narrative in each tale. I chose this for a number of reasons. Firstly, before the arrival of the modern era, letter writing was obviously all done by hand, a very personal means of communicating. I feel that the imagery of hands can communicate to a large audience as gestures and body language is a universal language. Secondly, by using the imagery of hands in each stamp, it gives the set

a much more rounded aesthetic and they feel like they belong together in a set rather than a series of different unrelated illustrations. Finally, I found that in a lot of the folktales there were actions or gestures that involved the use of their hands, so for simplicity reasons, by using hands as a theme I made it easier for myself. I am happy with these three stamps (though there is still some fine-tuning needed) but I will continue to work on the next three in the set so they will be ready for submission to the competition

SEMESTER EVALUATION Throughout this semester, my main focus has been on my skills base, as I have always been keen on working in a variety of mediums. From this I feel I have benefitted have learnt to utilise them in more effective ways for my work. I have improved my knowledge in more digital based works. After attending the html workshop for beginners and the Adobe Premiere intermediate workshop, it gave me a starting point and a great incentive to further these skills on my own accord. I hope this will give me a better chance when I graduate and enter the industry having armed myself with more employable skills. I also challenged my illustration, deciding it needs to be more functional or put towards a purpose, essentially less decorative and more useful. Moreover, I aim to enter the industry as a designer with illustration skills, not as an illustrator due to the especially competitive nature of the illustration industry with so many amazing illustrators looking for work. I decided that freelancing would be my optimum route

to follow in terms of my imminent career. This way I would be able to utlise my skills set appropriately and when required. Additionally, it would grant me the opportunity to undertake more selfinitiated learning and putting it into practice when and where suitable.

I feel the next step would be to continue with some self promotion, through participating in more events where networking would be available, such as exhibition opening nights and conferences. Additionally, I would like to generate more traffic to my website through using my other online pages (Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook) For example, attending a conference, blogging about it online and tagging it with a tweet to the relevant page. This way I would be reaching a much larger number of people through secondary audiences. I have started building up a client base but still have a long way to go before I would feel comfortable to get continuous work. In the meantime I am confident and will be searching for internships for when I graduate in June 2012.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Adamson, Glenn - “Thinking Through Craft” Adobe - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/first _ website _ pt1.html Ai Weiwei’s ‘Unilever Series’ at the Tate Modern Àngels Ribé’s ‘In the Labyrinth’ at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona Antas, Axel - www.axelantas.co.uk Arnheim, Rudolpf - “Visual Thinking” ‘Basement’ at the Regency Town House, Brighton. Behance - www.behance.net ‘The Burt Brill and Cardens Graduate Show 2011’ at Brighton University Camberwell MA Show 2011 Central Illustration - www.centralillustration.com Chelsea MA Show 2011 Creative Pool - www.creativepool.co.uk Creators Project - www.thecreatorsproject.com de Cazalet, Richard - www.decazalet.com, www.rcazzles.tumblr.com Designer Breakfasts - www.designerbreakfasts.co.uk ‘Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance & The Camera’ at the Tate Modern Facebook - www.facebook.com ‘Falling Down’ - directed by Joel Schumacher Finn, Lizzie - www.lizziefinn.com Folio - www.folioart.co.uk ‘Gabriel Orozco’ at the Tate Modern. Handmade and Bound - www.handmadeandbound.com ‘Handmade and Bound’ at St. Bride’s Hardy, Anne - www.anne-hardy.co.uk Hughes, Robert - “The Shock of the New: Art and Century of Change” It’s Nice That - www.itsnicethat.com Jean, James - www.jamesjean.com Just Us - hwww.justusdesigncollective.com Jquery - http://api.jquery.com LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com ‘Museum of parallel narratives’ at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona NB Illustration - www.nbillustration.co.uk ‘Newspeak: British Art Now Part II’ at the Saatchi Gallery Oliver, Vaughan - www.vaughanoliver.co.uk Propp, Vladimir - “Morphology of the folktale” Pye, David - “The Nature and Art of Workmanship” Roberts, John - “The Intangibilities of Form” Rodchester, Amy - www.amyrodchester.com Royal Mail - www.royalmail.com RSA - www.thersa.org PaperCo - www.paperco.co.uk PeepShow Collective - www.peepshow.org.uk ‘Pick Me Up’ at Somerset House ‘Postmodernism: Style and Subversion’ at the V&A Posti, Pietari - www.pposti.com Shaughnessy, Adrian - “How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul” Sideways Festival - www.sideways2012.be Snow, C. P. - “The Two Cultures” Spadling, Julian - “The Eclipse of Art, Tackling the Crisis in Art Today” ‘Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978 - 2010’ at the Whitechapel Gallery ‘The Story of Film: An Odyssey’ - directed by Mark Cousins Toran, Noam - www.noamtoran.com Tracey Emin’s ‘Love is What You Want’ at the Hayward Gallery Tumblr - www.tumblr.com Typographic Circle - www.typocircle.com Wimbledon MA Show 2011