Designer Book

con路tents 2. Summer & Start - My summer brief and our first project 4. Uncovering - Things I have learned about myself as a designer 6. Secret7 - My Secret7 submission 8. Speaking From Experience - The work that I produced for one of our most recent projects 10. Future - What I have been most interested in this year and want to continue with next year

sum·mer brief Over summer we were set a brief that meant we were to create our own illustrated alphabet. We could use whatever materials and media we wanted but the final outcomes had to visual represent us as individuals. I felt that an effective way in which I could accomplish this would be to use old photographs of me and cut the letters out by hand. Here is my favourite:

com·pact This brief, that we were given at the very start of the year, was our chance to give a good first impression through our design work. We were each given a word and had to somehow visually communicate it through 10 letterforms.

I was given the word compact and created 10 completely different letters all based around the idea of ‘compact’. Here is my favourite:

un·cov·er·ing 1. Aesthetics is probably the most important part of any design for me. If something doesn’t look nice then I won’t even pay any attention to it and I would expect everybody else to act the same way as this. This means that when I’m doing anything I always try to make sure that it is executed to my best ability.

2. I do actually know what I’m talking about most of the time, I just need the confidence to tell people. Especially in group crit’s, at the moment I don’t, but in time would like to be able to tell people what I think and constructively criticise and give useful feedback on the work of my peers.

3. I am capable of more than I think and thus far have shown. I know this and it is the main reason why I get so frustrated with myself when I have left work until the very last moment.

4. I realised, mainly through looking at the work of my peers, that I am not nearly as good as I thought I was. I have become aware that there are a lot of other designers that are just as good as I am, if not better, and so I will really have to try to step up my game.

5. However, I have got what it takes to make it in the real world as a graphic designer after this course, I just need to sort out my work schedule and put in the effort to keep progressing as a designer and individual.

se·cret 7 Not so long ago, we were set a brief that was also a live competition and in order to successfully complete the brief we had to actually submit our work into the competition.

The brief was to create a 7 inch vinyl cover for one of 7 songs; I chose Laura Marling’s ‘The Beast’. I enjoyed this project and found that trying to visually represent the song without actually showing the name of the artist or track was very challenging but allowed for much interpretation.

Once we had completed the brief and I had submitted my work, I felt that I had produced a very aesthetically pleasing design that also successfully communicated the overall theme of the song.

I went on to be one of the chosen winners of the competition and my work was featured in the exhibition alongside many other great designers and artists. This has shown me that I can do it when I really put my mind to it.

Heliotropium - The name ‘Heliotropium’ is Latin and translates to ‘The Intoxication of Love’; this name was derived from the structured, almost scientific approach to design that I used as well as the overwhelming message of the song. The flower represents the folky melancholic style of music, whilst at the same time being a strong symbol of life and perhaps even love.

speak·ing from ex·pe·ri·ence One of the most recent briefs we were given was to create something that would eventually be handed down to the new first year students that will be arriving in September. For this brief, I decided to work with fellow student and friend Priyesh Desai as I felt we both have similar styles of working and are both hard working students. We produced a book named ‘Preview’ which basically covered everything that we felt they could possibly need to know throughout their first year. I think that we were very successful and created something that was aesthetically pleasing as well as successful in terms of fulfilling the brief.

Preview Magazine - A brief insight into BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 4 at Leeds College of Art

fu·ture Throughout this year we have been introduced to a vast amount of different things including techniques, computer software and different styles of design.

Although I am interested by many aspects of what I have been shown, these are the main things that have really intrigued me: 1. Branding & Identity - I am very fond of clean and clear designs that are very effective and clever. This explains my interest in branding and identity; the way in which huge companies are summed up and displayed through a single image.

2. Print - This is something that I haven’t really explored much within my first year and I really regret it. I think that you can achieve so much through the correct appliance of print and would like to explore this a lot more in the future.

3. Editorial & Publication - This is my main area of focus at the moment.

The last fews briefs that we have been given have either been based around this aspect of design, or I have made it so. I think that the main reason that I enjoy creating publications so much is having something physical to show at the end of a project. This passion started when looking at the use of grids and lay-out and has since just grown.