Archive
2014/15
Throughout this academic year BA (hons) Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art have played host to a number of industry professional who have provided studio talks, workshops and seminars. Graphic designers to magazine editors, all have shared their expertise and experiences of the industry. We took the time out to sit down and get to know them a little better.
Alec Dudson
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Andy Lodge
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Ben Freeman
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DRME
09
Hungry Sandwich Club
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Numiko
15
Something More
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Alec Dudson Alec Dudson is the innovative mind and editor behind Intern Magazine, a bi annual independent print publication concerned with internships in the creative field. He recently visited us to run a workshop based on the creation of independent magazine concepts. We took the time to question him on his own experience of interning as well as creating a independent magazine.
www.intern-mag.com
When did you first learn you wanted to work in editorial design? I got into sort of through my mates going off and doing internships and once one of them had been of out to new york for a couple of months and id been sort of sat at home in new york that kind of convinced me to look into doing internships and it wasn’t necessarily the travel aspect of it that sort of got me into it but that was certainly part of it and I applied for most of them in London and it just so happened that the first one that got back to me took me to Milan so not coming from a design background that was almost my baptism of fire and it was a bit odd going to one that was not only a design magazine but architecture and design magazine because both of things I had no formal background in what so ever but the kind of people I was working with out there and the friends that I made out there very good designers and that kind of I suppose that two months I spent with them was always going to be the point in which I decided to pursue magazines and try to get work in it or just think maybe its not for me. As an editor I do work in editorial design but I am not designer its more of an over view. I have the final say but I certainly I like to work with designers because I know I need a designer to do the job so I like to sort of let them do what they do so as much I like to design myself, its been a crash course in design. From having noting to do with it in 2012 to this now two years later I interact with designers on a day-to-day basis. It’s been nice. What is the purpose of intern magazine? Its got a duel purpose first is to showcase the kind of underclass if you will, of workers. Who are now filling these positions? That have kind of immerged or freshly defined as internships and the second is to encourage a frank and open debate about the effects of internships on the industries. That they’ve found them in more and more industry’s and the amount of work that interns do behind the scenes still seems to be on the increase so to cut It short it’s a magazine for and by internes but the hope is that with in that within that there’s enough variety and perspective, and in story it can be generally appealing to people who are kind of visually stimulated or into creative pursuits. How did you go about bringing the first edition of intern to life?
today. If I was going to make a magazine and stand a chance it had to do something different and it had to be able to go and stand on its own to legs. Obviously things like a use of prerequisite the design had to be up to a certain standard or it wouldn’t be accepted and wouldn’t make it off the shelves. I spent about two weeks toying with ideas and the idea I kept coming back to was about internships once I had decided on the concept I pitched it to Davey who was the creative director of boat magazine where I was interning at the time and also to Chris who was the freelance designer who has gone on to be one of the three lads who’s handled the art direction from the start. So once I had kind of got a reaction off them that supported the idea that there might be something in it, I kind of hunkered down to asking more people running it by the people I had worked with in Milan more opinions I got on it the more takes I got on it. I decided about three to four weeks after it was just before Christmas I come up with it and decided in the new year I was going to move back up to Manchester where I went to university and try to put it together I say us, it was mostly me. Kick starter went live in may in that year so there was a good five months of pulling together contributors story’s and getting it over to the designers to get to the point where we had issue zero. So bear in mind that was only twelve pages and four articles but kind of coming from now where just emailing people going I am starting a magazine do you want to be in it. At the time I couldn’t even guarantee payments, which is one of the key parts of the magazine. So the closer I got to that the more I realized I had to do something about finding some money and it was when I was in Milan with Domas. I was out there for design week. Part of Domas exhibition was a section on kick starter and it was the first I ever heard on kick starter and while most of the stuff out there was product design because it was far more what there into. I was outstanded at the financial sort of bench mark these people had hit they kind of pitched for loads of them which pitched for £2000 pounds they got like £10,000 pounds really interesting machines but what struck me about it was this way you could hold onto complete creative control of what you wanted to do and essentially set up a pre order system. So having done some research and see that there are other magazines of a similar kind of design aesthetic that had successfully been crowd funded or started concentrating efforts into launching that. That was very much a product in itself but one that proved to be worth the time I suppose.
It started of getting the concept right. I was always very adamant of that, as you’ve no doubt seen that
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How has intern magazine grown since you first started out? I think the main difference now we’ve just closed the start of the month we’ve just closed the submissions window for the third issue I guess the biggest difference is first issue I pretty much until the kick starter I had just been sat at the laptop searching the internet high and low for the right kind of people at the right point of their career the kind of story’s and its really amazing this time round, we had open submissions for issue two as well but this time round I guess as the magazines got more popular and more people heard about it more people apply to it. The standard of the stuff we get sent in and also the kind of how much more in tune with what were kind of about the story’s we get pitched are real, but its by no means job done hopefully a nice indication that the magazine and its values are reigniting with people that sort of what to be involved in it which are really cool. What is the importance of getting your work noticed? I suppose if I am going to talk about it from a young persons point of view essentially it’s the way you get jobs isn’t it certainly as a graphic designer they’ll always be self initiated projects and there’s something really nice about self initiated projects that’s what intern is for me. The magazines larger point is to help people get paid for what they do and you know we live in a visually driven game like design. Being a successful designer you could be really talented designer, but there’s also a side to a profession that is getting yourself out there talking to the right sort of people making connections with people I have long hated the idea you’ve got to work a room and give them a card and you’ve got to be everyone’s best mate I have never had that mentality I have always found that very uncomfortable. I would like to talk to somebody because I am interested to talk to them I don’t want to talk to them to butter them up. Getting noticed is an integral part of I guess the craft of design in a larger sense and I guess that its one that isn’t always catered for particularly well for in education. I think that’s where a lot of internships stem from the fact that there’s a little bit of a drop off between graduating and being ready for people to give you paid work and unfortunately the way that often manifests itself is unpaid internships like you’ve got to get experience before you get paid. What is the importance of an internship?
I think in its purest form and this is the thing my personal views on internships aren’t necessarily reflected in the magazine. The magazine has to be completely impartial and show you both sides of the coin lot of people want to boil it down to are they paid or not is that right or wrong. The magazines stance is that there are more facets to it to that. For me in its purest form internships are a great opportunity to work out for yourself whether it’s an industry you want to work in. A great opportunity to work with people who’s work you really admire a lot of the time there can be a real wake up call when you kind of meet the people who make the work that you love and turn out to be not how you expected or they turn out to be awesome and then it all makes sense. Importance of it is the opportunity to really get a feel of the industry that you want to work in and how that industry works. Its rarely rocket science but its getting used to the little work environments they’re very kind of tribal in that the people who are involved in it they want to protect it for themselves and there’s not very much transparency. I hate the saying but get your foot in the door but get in the room with them hear what they’re talking about see what makes them tick see how they go about doing certain things. In reality some of it can be quite depressing but it fills in potentially on a short term it can help you decided whether this is something you want to do for the rest of your life because there’s nothing worse. What city’s have you interned in and which were your favorite? Milan and London – I guess there different Id never been to Milan before its an interesting city to live in I wouldn’t live in it I don’t think but I met some really amazing people there and London I was there for 7 months I haven’t got the point in my life where all the shit that goes with living in London balances up against reasons for being in London. The frustrating thing is off the back of the magazine I could probably go down there and find magazine related work hell of a lot easier. But I don’t like the lifestyle I am more of a community soul. I like to be able to cycle round to my little brothers and knock on the door and have a five-minute cycle back. So Milan because I m always intrigued about new places and I suppose that was better but there’s a longer list of places that if not interning that kind of relatively unanchored nature of what I do with the magazine I could go on move somewhere tomorrow and carry on making intern and because more of my contributors I have never met they live in New York
they live here there and everywhere. Its kind of nice that there’s an opportunity to see the rest of the world and that’s the beautiful thing with design. •What is your favorite magazine or publication? Apartmento – I don’t know what it is about it, having worked with them out at Domas that gave me a real interest in design interior, furniture and architecture. There’s so much you can read into what people do, I think what’s most interesting to me visually is how it doesn’t matter how famous people are nine times out of ten when they get photographed for Apartmento there’s crap everywhere I love that its really kind of welcoming in an odd way in the same way. If it’s your home and you’ve got people round your mortified if it’s dirty. There’s something really nice that it’s really honest. But also I like it because it’s so well done in its commercial side of it. It’s a really successful magazine. Once piece of advice for students or young professionals looking for internships? Have the confidence to walk away if it turns out its a bit crumby and not what you expected even if its somebody. It’s really hard to do if its your first one or its with some dream agency. But it could be the best agency in the world but if you get there and you’re kind of fobbed off with not being given real work or getting paid. If your two weeks in and you feel like when am I going to learn something or be trusted with something the worst thing you can do is just crack on and waste your time and money. It’s difficult to say sorry its not working for me thanks for the opportunity but its just not for me. It’s hard to do but they will respect you for that. If they’re worth their name they will understand. If the situation isn’t benefiting you or being enriched by it then its pointless being there. The sooner you can make them decisions the better. If this happens at a big agency you go to a smaller one not as renounced you’ll get better projects. Don’t be afraid to speak out and certainty don’t feel like the only thing that matters it the big name on your CV because it doesn’t.
Andy Lodge Andy Lodge is a creative director and designer, he visited the level 6 students to run portfolio critiques and provide information on networking with in the graphic design industry. His keen eye for layout and vast array of contacts was extremely beneficial in helping the students build strong portfolios, so it was only natural to ask him what he looks for in graduate design portfolios.
www.andylodge.com
When did you first become interested in art and design?
What advice would you give to young professional’s thinking of setting up there own studio?
Primary School
Talk to as many people in the business as possible, everybody’s journey is a different one but there’s something to learn from them all.
What inspires your creative practice? The constant need to make the next job better than the last. Do you think it’s become easier or more difficult for young designers to get noticed with in the industry? Technology has made it so much easier to discover, research, follow and get in touch with companies all over the world. Combine this with increasing numbers of graduates means it’s even harder to get that first job, they are out there but the companies recruiting can afford to take their pick of the best.
What is your favourite typeface? At the minute it’s GT Sectra and Neology Grotesque as we’ve just used them both on our new brand. What would be your dream brief? I really don’t have one. Often the briefs that initially seem to be the least interesting, bring the most rewarding outcomes.
And what is the best way to get noticed? Great work, presented well with understanding and passion. What advice would you give to young creatives about to enter industry? Make the most of Social Media (Linked in as well as Twitter). Research the companies you want to work for thoroughly. Work hard and be passionate about everything you do. What is your favourite exhibition you’ve been to this year? Haven’t been to any this year yet but my favourite from last year was Philip-Lorca diCorcia at The Hepworth Wakefield. What is your favourite piece of work you have designed? I’m pretty pleased with how the new ‘Saltaire XS’ range brand turned out for Saltaire Brewery. What are the benefits of being a self employed designer & art director? It’s definitely more rewarding but there’s more responsibility too. You might have complete autonomy, but dealing with every other aspect of the business threatens the time you want to spend being creative.
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Ben Freeman Ben Freeman is the cofounder and owner of Ditto press, a primarily risograph printing press and publisher. With his vast array of knowledge and wisdom in the creative field he helped the graphic design students discover and explore their methodologies whilst visiting the college. We took the opportunity to ask Ben about the ins and outs of start up businesses and how to turn your passion in to a career.
Dittopress.co.uk
When was ditto founded? Ditto was founded 5 and a half years ago What does ditto do?
to decide what we do. The answer of turning your passion in to a career is being really clear in what your passion actually is. Because as I was saying earlier there are things that I would like to do that I don’t have time to do.
We are a publishing company we do everything to do with publishing design produce and publish books, as well as help other people to publish their material as well. We also do training workshops and consultancy.
What are you hoping the students will get from your workshops?
How do you go about setting up your own print studio?
What I hope they will learn is how to think about the way that they work in a more individual way and not just do what they think people expect to see. Because that’s just boring.
We did a very thorough business plan and took out a loan that we used to buy equipment. We did it how you’re supposed to set up a business really, which is quite boring, but it pays off in the long term. What type of printing do you specialise in? We specialise in riso printing and have just purchased an off set press. So off set printing, riso printing, but also we will use any print process if it is appropriate for the project. So sometimes there will be a bit of screen printing and a bit of foil blocking. What first attracted you to risograph printing?
What has been your favourite project to work on? I’ve had lots of projects that seem like a dream project when they started and they turn in to a nightmare, or projects starting off that seem really boring and turning in to dream projects. My longest term client produces high end furniture and lamps, and although I think their work is really beautiful its not something that I ever thought that one day I want to do all the branding for a company that makes high end door knobs for hotels. But it’s turned in to the most rewarding working relationship over the past 7 or 8 years. It’s not something I ever expected to love, but I love it.
It’s cheap and colourful. That’s it. We were the first people to come up with this business model using this machine to print for other people and publish our own stuff and turn it in to a thing.
What advice would you give to students using external printers such as your own?
Are you passionate about any other printing techniques?
Go to printing presses and watch how it’s down. Learn how printing works. Don’t just send things to printers and expect them to come back they way you want them to look, that’s just silly.
I’m not really passionate about any printing techniques, they are just tools. It’s just a vehicle for an idea and for artwork. So I love Offset printing, I love riso printing, I love screen-printing. The thing that I really enjoy is problem solving. With in printing there are so many problems everyday. Like how to get this thing and that thing to work and look how you want it. How have you turned your passion in to a career? Just being really, really pig headed about stuff. And also we went through a long period of being really, really skint, and I think there has often been times when I have thought I could just go and get a job in an ad agency and get paid ten times what I am getting paid and not have to stress and leave work at six. But actually the truth is I really enjoy running a business and not having a boss and being able
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DR ME DRME are a design duo based in Salford made up of Ryan Doyle and Mark Edwards. Established in 2010 they have created a unique aesthetic using collage. During a workshop they challenged the students to switch off the computers and create designs using the resources around them. The briefs they delivered where briefs that they too had worked on. This refreshing and engaging workshop really challenged the students, but paid off with great results. We sat down with them to find out more about their working relationship.
Dr-me.com
Who and what is DR.ME? DR - DR.ME is a creative studio based in Salford Manchester and we work on various types of projects ranging from graphic design, illustration, moving image… ME - Advertising? DR – No. Art direction. Where did the name DR.ME come form? ME – It’s a miss ordered anagram of both our names, Ryan Doyle and Mark Edwards… We were drunk when we thought of it. DR – All the best ideas come when you’re drunk What led you both to become designers, what is your background and where do you come from? DR – Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a cartoonist, so the way I thought I could become that was to go to university. I did a foundation course, still wanting to become a cartoonist, but that turned in to my tutor telling me I was better at graphic design, and that’s how it came about for me. ME – I used to play in bands when I was a kid and I was always a lot more interested in designing the cd covers and band posters than I ever was actually. Playing in the band. So I did an art foundation and found out it was graphic design that I wanted to do. What were the first jobs you ever had? ME – I worked as a waiter in the Quaker Tea Rooms in Kendal DR – I worked in Matalan in Perth. What about design jobs? DR – Our first design job was for Umbro, they got us to design a tee shirt for the European cup that was held in Poland and Ukraine. So we did a tee shirt and a football design and that was our first job as a studio. ME – Yes I suppose that was our first proper big paid job. DR - But before that we were doing self-initiated jobs, stuff like valentines cards. Who or what would you say inspires your creative practices? DR- Musicians, artists, illustrators, it may sound cheesy but it helps to be surrounded by other
creatives… ME – Rather than just going straight to a design blog, your favourite magazine or book or something like that. Having people around you to talk about your work and bounce ideas with that maybe aren’t from your background to get a different perspective. DR – I tend to stay away from any kind of design blogs as well sometimes you can be subconsciously influenced by them. What is the importance of finding you’re individuality with in the design industry? ME – Huge. It kind of sounds like a joke but it is a massive thing, and I still think we will try and work in different ways going forward. I’d be very sceptical for someone to come and say in 5 years time you will still be working in the same way as you are working today. We tend to think if we finish a project we’ll just be like ‘that is the best shit we’ve ever done, it’s fucking amazing’ and then a year later we think actually its not very good. Who are some of your biggest clients? ME – Manchester international festival, young Turks DR – Sony ME – yeah Sony, Red bull, the XX. Did you meet the XX when you designed for them? ME – We met Jamie once, he was really nice. DR – Its was cool because we’ve seen a picture of them and they had a cap on that we designed… ME – The Mexico poster design that we made, Young Turks had hats made. It’s funny working for them because initially when me and Ryan became friends we went to an XX gig at the death institute and it was their second show or something like that. What is your favourite piece of work that you have created? DR – We made a music video for a band called Dutch Uncles which was all stop motion, it took us 2 months. The process was very long. We tried to keep it quite traditional, it was cutting paper out and moving it and stuff, but the final product at the end when it became a music video was so satisfying, because you know how much work you put in to it. So that was probably my favourite piece. ME - I’d agree with that, most intensive, but most rewarding.
What advice would you give in regards to setting up your own studio? DR – Have a website, definitely. ME – Make a list and continue to make a list every year. DR – Every year we make a list of goals that seem out of reach to us, we’ve done that every year, but by the end of the year we’ve normally ticked most of them off. Over the years they’ve got more and more ambitious which they should do if you want to develop as a studio. This year is the hardest one so far; we haven’t got many of them yet… ME – We’re going to Miami. What advice would you give in regards to setting up your own studio? DR – Have a website, definitely. ME – Make a list and continue to make a list every year. DR – Every year we make a list of goals that seem out of reach to us, we’ve done that every year, but by the end of the year we’ve normally ticked most of them off. Over the years they’ve got more and more ambitious which they should do if you want to develop as a studio. This year is the hardest one so far; we haven’t got many of them yet… ME – We’re going to Miami. What was the definitive moment you decided to start up your own studio and why? DR – I remember walking home from a night out ME – I think that’s when we came up with the name as well. So I don’t know if it was the name that came first or the idea of working together. No, I think it was the idea of working together first. DR – During our course as well we were very likeminded and everyone else had their own thing, they weren’t really interested in starting up their own studio they were more interested in going in to big studios in London, which is fair enough but we both had a common interest in starting our own studio because we both liked the same designers. ME – And then we got the internship with Mike Perry in New York together, so that was a big thing. What is your favourite country you’ve visited? ME – I love New York. It’s a great place to live. I like Barcelona but haven’t visited there for years. DR – I like Sweden I went to Stockholm once, which was really good. ME – Dublin is also really nice, we went to Box set which is a design festival there. It’s really good I
went about 3 or 4 years ago. It’s a beautiful city, I kind of wish as good to cycle around Manchester as it was in Dublin.
“ It may sound cheesy but it helps to be surrounded by other creatives .”
Hungry Sandwhich Club Martin and Andy are familiar faces to many of the graphic design students. This design duo graduated from the graphic design degree in 2014, with their bright and fun illustrations the pair have gone from strength to strength since collaborating through out their time at Leeds College of Art. We visited them at their studio space provided by the university at Duke studios.
hungrysandwich.club
Who and what is Hungry Sandwich club? M – Hungry sandwich club is me Martin A – And me Andy M - We are a graphic design, illustration and animation studio based in Duke Studios. What is your main area of discipline? A – Well our main area of discipline comes from animation now, but we appeal to people who like to have a animator, who is also savvy in design and illustration. We learnt animation in the last year of our course properly, in after effects. We actually get most of our work from that because people have in house illustrators but not really in house animators. We often work with agencies, for example we work freelance for the BBC quite a bit, just as animators. It’s really good bread and butter work and supports us financially to do more design and illustration work. But our main focus is illustration, That’s what most of our work revolves around. M – But we still look for that fun and playful work. That’s our niche. How do you work together most successfully? A – Next to each other. The studio when we moved in was set out with desks facing away from each other. But we like to be on top of each other and see exactly what each is doing all the way through a brief. If you are going to be a duo you have to work together, that’s the whole point. You have two brains, so you might as well as both peoples inputs at every stage of the design process. How much did you work together throughout University? M – Throughout third year, from brief one to the end. We found that as a pair, the 2 weeks we spent on a brief we were able to produce so much work. We also help motivate and push each other. That’s when we realised that we work better together. When did you first decide to collaborate with each other and start a business? A – In first year actually, Martin was sitting on the computer next to me doing some illustration and I thought this guy is good. We became friends through the style we liked. M – I guess there was a lot of type and grid on the course, and we fell in to the illustration side so we connected through that.
A – But what we do now, we decided to do in third year. I wanted to do it more than Martin so he took some persuading. It’s quite a big risk and pretty scary. A lot of people will tell you not to do it because you don’t have the experience and advise to go in to a studio or design job. But if you’re hard working and know what you want then you should just go for it. What is the most important lesson you learnt at leeds college of art? M – I think it is that routine, the hard work. Since we’ve had the studio space it hasn’t been hard to work long hours because we kept to the same routine. However I think we had been on a more lacks course that would have been the hard adjustment. A – Yes, because it would be entering the deep end, but we were already working those hours so we just went straight on. I think collaboration as well, the course does try and push collaboration and we wouldn’t be here now . Also pushing the competition side, that helped us be confident in what we do, because the course isn’t as focussed on animation and illustration, and we got lots of credit for our work at a competition level. When did you decided you wanted to set up your own studio and how did you go about it? M – The Christmas of third year. It was cool because then we spent the next few weeks saying here’s what it is and here’s what it’s about. We got to write a manifesto and work on branding, all the things you don’t have time to do if you’re looking for work. We found the tone of voice, the style of work we wanted and looking in to other studios. A – We got to do that while the pressure was off, so we weren’t trying to make rent for the studio or anything while we got all of our stuff together. It came about really when we applied for a placement at Duke studios, at the time we weren’t sure if we wanted to do a studio or not and we thought a way to get to know other studios was to ask them what their favourite sandwich is. Instead of saying ‘Hi can I have a placement?’ We just asked whats your favourite sandwich as a conversation starter. We then made paper crafted sandwiches to give to the studio and called the project the hungry sandwich club. We didn’t get the placement because they thought it was a stupid idea. But the name stuck, we don’t regret the name because we get fun work out of it. What advice would you give to students or young creative thinking of setting up their own studio? A – If you’re hard working and think you’ve got something different to offer, don’t just do something
that everyone else is doing, because they are your competitors. Because we were offering something a bit different we’ve managed to find our own niche. Doing the animation and illustration we found out we weren’t competing with anyone. M – You need to have that extra skill, graphic design and… Or you reach out in a particular way such as code or 3D then that will be really helpful. A – You’ve just got to go for it. What are the benefits of working in duke studios? A - The people. Being surrounded by creatives. These people become you’re friends and then they become collaborators and clients. We get a lot of work through Duke Studios. Such as all the Leeds Indi Food Festival stuff. We’ve done design work for Duke Studios. Our first big job was the Tour de France junction boxes, and that came from someone who contacted Laura the owner of the studios and she passed it on to us. M – We have photography studios, laser cutters, conference rooms. A – Usually start up business are ran from a bedroom for the first 6 months, so we were really lucky to be offered the space by Leeds College of Art. Other wise we wouldn’t be here. How do you go about finding your clients? A – We’ve been really lucky that many have come to us. I think a benefit of living in Leeds is it is relatively small so it’s easy to get your name out there quick. If we were in London at this stage we’d probably still be a no one. But we are starting to become a little something in Leeds, which is nice, and people want to work with you. The animation is key as well, many clients go to designers asking about animation and they don’t know where to go with it. So at the minute we are trying to become the go to people for animation and graphic design. M – We’ve just been lucky that when ever we may have expected a dry patch the phone rings. A – We’ve just done the computer arts cover for December and that came about when they did a small feature on us in D&AD, he wanted some high resolution images from us so I emailed him and said if you want any work doing just let us know. We were featured again and I followed up asking if they wanted any animation doing. Finally it paid off. What is your best achievement as a studio? A – The computer Arts cover is up there. M – The Crabbies work too! A – We’ve designed digital billboards for Crabbies
all over the UK. We went to see one the other day, they’re huge! M – It’s really satisfying and surreal to see something you’ve been working on, on your computer screen on such a large scale. A – They are our biggest clients to date, and that’s what we are most proud of. Whats your favourite exhibition you’ve been to this year? A - Well I’d have to say; when I was at my placement at Lord Whitney I met a woman called Linds. She did an exhibition called the evangelist; it was quite a fine art exhibition. She’s a musician and you listen to her music as you go around the exhibition. A – My patch was another good one too, it was a small cosy one and I got a screen print out of it. What is it like to be a designer in leed? M – Leeds has that small business, independent scene. Its easier to make a name for yourself and network. Its nice when you see work around and you can differentiate whose work is whose. A – That happens a lot in leeds, you’ll see something around and be able to pin point who did it. Its nice because it’s filled with small businesses that want to work with each other to better each other. We’ve been welcomed in pretty quickly. The only bad people we’ve worked with are people from London, I say no more.
“If you’re hard working and think you’ve got something different to offer, don’t just do something that everyone else is doing, because they are your competitors.”
Numiko Numiko are a digital design agency based in Leeds. Having worked for major clients over a long time span, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to quiz them over the digital design industry.
numiko.com
Who and what is Numiko? We are a digital agency with an abundance of passion, expertise and energy, which we use to help our clients achieve wonderful things through user research, design and technology. Our clients include Design Council, Channel 4, Nesta, WaterAid and Goldsmiths, University of London. What does the name Numiko mean? After graduating from Uni in 2006, six of us got together to form New Media Collective. It was an exciting time and by pooling our talent and skills across But a few years’ later, six became five, then four and we weren’t really much of a collective anymore. The company was beginning to change with us employing some exceptionally talented people and we had created a portfolio of re- ally high-profile clients. It was time for a rebrand and from playing with newme-co, ‘Numiko’ was born! We’re pleased to say nearly 15 years on, three of the original six still work at Numiko (along with 20 other people!). Describe your design aesthetic in three words? Crafted, Inspired, Engaging What is the importance of digital agencies? When we started out in 2000, we were part of an exciting new world of ‘new media’ but now we’re joined by loads of other digital innovators all vying for audience share. We try to be different - our team is made up of researchers, strategists and designers. We solve problems and go on to realise them. We’re interested in what makes audiences tick and the most exciting ways to engage with them, time and time again. The online environment is so fast-paced – it’s our job to keep ahead of trends and audience behaivour, and to then use this insight to create experiences that make a positive difference to real peoples’ lives. What has been your most rewarding brief? The brief we were given by the Design Council was ginormous, and we were allowed to really get our teeth into it and completely redo the website from the bottom up. The main objective was to create a site which re-established the public face of the Design Council and cement it as the com- mon denominator across everything design, in all areas of society and industry.
The discovery stage of the project took six months alone, as we engaged with stakeholders and users to find out what was wrong with the current platform and what could be better. From this research we identified 48 different user groups! To be able to design for all these different users, we grouped them into seven categories, which enabled us to define functionality and content requirements across the site. From here we created a definitive set of design principles to ensure a consistent and coherent expe- rience throughout the site. These included focusing on the important content, using bold imagery and typography, and championing functionality to create a simple and elegant design. We settled on a series of design patterns that could be deployed across dynamically generated pages – these patterns became our building blocks; like lego, every pattern fits together in browser. In terms of design what is your favourite website and why? Without saying it would have to be designcouncil. org.uk! We developed this site over a 12 month period and it engaged everyone in the studio at one time or another – and it still does. We wereexcited about this project before we even won the tender, so to be given the brief was such an exciting moment.The main aim for this project was to create and organic and intuitive user journey through a beautifully crafted site; mirroring the Design Council’s own objectives of creating functional and innovative designs that better people’s lives. When the site launched in February 2014, it received critical acclaim from the design community, in the UK and abroad. It was named Awwwards Site of the Day – an accolade voted for by industry professionals with an interest in design, usability and creativity. It also featured in Design Week and was listed in .net magazine as “an inspirational site”. What is the importance of ethical design in your studio? We don’t work with clients that sell cars, or Lynx. We come to work and solve problems on things that we really care about, for people we enjoy working with. We always focus on the users and creating organic and intuitive user journeys. Users are always at the heart of our designs - not how much profit we might
be making from a job. What is your favourite UK city? Leeds, of course. How do you create a friendly studio culture with a large number of employees? We have an open plan studio with break-out spaces for people to sketch, share ideas and play games if they want! Everyone is treated equally and we value and respect the uniqueness that each person brings with them when they walk through the door. We encourage people to walk or ride a bike to work – we like to keep fit. We get a massive box of fruit delivered each week from Leeds Market that everyone can tuck into - healthy body, healthy mind and all that!More seriously, we share our experiences, successes and failures so we can grow together as a team and provide a better service to our staff and our clients. What is the relationship between a designer and a developer? Instead of passing projects through the studio like a production line, we work on projects in cross disciplinary teams. This enables designers and developers to work collaboratively from start to finish on projects. We live in a device-agnostic world where websites need to look and function brilliantly no matter the device, and this is only possible when you have designers and developers working together to solve each and every part of a website together. What advice would you give to a young creative wanting to join a digital design agency? Our advice would be to gain as much experience and feedback about your work while studying. Build up your portfolio and make it available online – potential employers will want to see examples of your work. Enter competitions and try and gain valuable experience as an intern. You don’t need to be able to code to be a digital designer but having an understanding of the basic structure of websites and even a little knowledge of HTML can go a long way. If you could redesign any website which one would it be and why? Wikipedia would be quite the challenge! Simply because of how important it has become to everyone online - it’s used by all for information about every kind of subject. Redesigning a site like that would be a huge undertaking - it’d be great!
“ It may sound cheesy but it helps to be surrounded by other creatives .”
Somthing More Something more are a multidiscipline design studio based in Leeds. They  believe that every brand should be a wonderful experience. The trio ran a work shop challenging the graphic design students to follow their motto and create a wonderful brand experience from mundane subjects such as water suppliers and train services. Their enthusiasm and positive out look on the importance of good design was both inspiring and motivating.
www.designsomethingmore.com
Who and what is Something More? We’re a design studio based in Leeds, but working anywhere and everywhere. At the moment we are made up of three partners, Jon, Si and Stephen. How did you three decide on setting up Something More? We’d worked for a long time together at Elmwood. We’d all learned so much over the years, and it had given us the confidence to go out and do our own thing. The time felt right for a new challenge and to build something new from scratch. On your website it says every brand should be a wonderful experience how do you go about achieving this? Our belief is that if you make things wonderful to use, people will take notice and gravitate to them. It seems obvious in some ways – why would you make a brand that wasn’t a wonderful experience? Why wouldn’t you design things to put people first? Yet, it’s amazing how many companies don’t put these things first.Design and creative thinking should be a central part of how a brand works. The best brands are the ones that have strong ideas and principles that run through everything they do. They have purposes that extend beyond just ‘selling stuff’. Design isn’t a nice visual trick that just wraps around at the end.I think we hold a strong sense of optimism about design and the amazing things it can do. As a designer you are in an incredibly lucky position where you have the opportunity to make powerful changes in the way people see and interact with the world. Design can make a difference in an infinite number of ways, big or small. How do we make sure it’s a wonderful experience? I’m not sure that there’s one specific thing we do, but putting people first in whatever we create is always front of mind. It’s important to be objective about what you are making and think about it from the users’ point of view. Designs don’t exist in a bubble on your mac – you need to think about how they are going to live in the outside world and how people will interact with them. Do you think your work has an overall tone of voice? Something we are very aware of is to not create a house style. A tone of voice that develops in a project should always be true to that specific challenge and client. It needs to be considered and relevant to whatever you are doing.
Left unchecked, house styles can naturally start to develop around what you know, what you are good at and what feels comfortable. Over time you can get jaded by what’s worked and hasn’t worked in the past. Experience is important, but it can also be a hinderance. It’s important to approach things from a neutral start point every time and embrace the unknown. A new project is an opportunity to learn new things – if it feels a bit uncomfortable that’s always a good sign. Getting different perspectives is also invaluable. We have a strong culture of collaboration with people outside of the studio – different writers, illustrators, photographers, typographers, animators (etc) who all bring in new ideas and talents to projects. They challenge us and help make things better. What has been your most rewarding collaborative brief? One thing we’re really excited about is designing our new studio. We have taken residency at Duke Studios’s new building on Sheaf St. The downstairs space is a big open-plan floor, so we are taking the end-section to build an independent, stand-alone structure within it. Whilst we’d had a lot of thoughts about how we wanted to use the space, we quickly realised we would get a much more interesting (and usable) concept if we collaborated with someone on it. We’re now working with an architect who are helping us to develop plans for it. Giving up a degree of creative control is a little frightening, but also exciting as we’ll get something different and much better than what we could have ever done ourselves. What did you hope the Graphic design students would get from your workshop? Hopefully people came away with the idea that design can be a really powerful force to change the world around us and the way people see it. It’s easy to be drawn to briefs which already sit in nicely designed worlds; museum identities, book covers and gin packaging, etc. We wanted students to be thrown into a brief that was intentionally a bit unglamorous – but then see how they could interpret it to be really exciting. The most rewarding challenges often deal with things you don’t like or didn’t know about in the first place. If it’s something you wouldn’t normally have chosen it allows you to approach it with a more open mind, with fewer
preconceived ideas about what it ‘should’ be. The problems we gave were open-ended to encourage students to establish a big idea and direction before they got into drawing things up. What is the biggest piece of advice you could give to a start up studio? Having a clear idea about what you stand for and what you believe in is a good starting point. As for everything else, there’s a large amount of figuring it out as you go along – which is exciting. Is there a specific country that inspires your practice? There’s so much great work appearing from all over the world that it’s almost overwhelming – it’s difficult to narrow it down. What are the benefits of working in duke studios surrounded by other creative’s? It’s really nice to be surrounded by lots of people doing lots of interesting things. It’s inspiring to meet new people and see how they work. Where do you find inspiration outside of design? Go on holiday, watch films, read the news, go outside, go for a run, see friends, eat. I’m not sure designers ever have a fully off switch, but it’s important to just be interested in as much other stuff as you can be. Inspiration can come from the least likely places. What has been your favourite event or exhibition? We’re really looking forward to going to Here 2015 in June. Designs of the Year also continues to be a really inspiring selection of work. Closer to home, the Leeds Print Festival is a fantastic event for the city – such a wide variety of amazing talks and workshops in one place. What are the perks of being a creative in Leeds? It feels like there’s a real creative community building in Leeds at the moment – lots of people collaborating together to create great things. There’s a nice desire and restlessness to just make things better.
“ It may sound cheesy but it helps to be surrounded by other creatives .”