Shillington Post 05—The Anniversary Issue

THE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

04 // Why We Love Our Campus Cities 06 // 20 Stories for 20 Years: Graduate Showcase 14 // Rebranding a Design School by Anthony Wood

20 // Opinion: Moments of Discovery 22 // Decades of Digital by Sarah McHugh 28 // Portfolio Spotlight: Keir Mucklestone-Barnett

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THE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Cover Artwork // Anna Dunn

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20 years. Wow—what a milestone. Shillington has come a long way since 1997 when our first 12 graduates celebrated at a dodgy pub in delirious merriment. Back then I knew we were onto something big, but never imagined where 20 years would take us. We've expanded to six campuses (on 3 continents!), worked tirelessly to enhance our curriculum and propelled thousands of students into creative careers. It's been a wonderful journey.

Even while time and technology evolved and tested us to keep up, our mission has never changed. We've remained focused on one goal—creating an inspirational learning environment to send skilled, industry-ready designers into the world. Dedication to our students and industry keeps us going year after year.

In this special anniversary issue, we're celebrating the past 20 years. Sarah McHugh looks back at two decades of digital design and how it shapes our industry's future. Six teachers share why they love their campus city. We give insights into the "how and why" of our recent brand refresh. And we highlight 20 unique graduate stories from the past 20 years, formally launching our international #Shillumni network. Graduates—flip to page 13 for more details and a special competition offer.

Over the past 20 years, I've had the honour of working with the most creative, committed and passionate people in design. Countless people have contributed to Shillington's mission, and we only survive and thrive because of this powerful and purposeful collaboration. Thank you. To the incredible team who inspire and give passionately to our students every day. To our friends in the creative industry who share their expertise as guest lecturers, advisors and employers.

To our graduates who make us proud as top designers around the world.

And to all the future Shillington students we've yet to meet. Here's to you.

Happy reading!

Andy Shillington CEO of Shillington

OUR CAMPUS CITIES We have campuses in six cities across the globe. For this anniversary issue, we asked six teachers to share what makes their campus city the perfect place to be a designer.

JEN YANI FULL-TIME TEACHER, SYDNEY

LAURA WELDON HEAD OF PART-TIME (UK), MANCHESTER In Manchester there is a massive amount of inspiration right on your doorstep. Despite being a small city, it's a melting pot of cultures with a wide spectrum of commercial styles spanning from the grungy youthfulness of the Northern Quarter to the sophisticated boutiques in Spinningfields.

On top of that, there's obviously the rich history embedded in the city from the music of the 80s and 90s and the Haçienda scene. Having learned my trade under Manchester's Trevor Johnson, I feel very close to the design history in the eclectic city of Manchester.

As someone who only relocated to Sydney this year, I've been ever more aware of how beautiful a city it is to work in. It’s so much easier to be inspired when you’re surrounded by natural beauty.

The design scene is extremely active.

There always seems to be a talk or event to attend—AGDA constantly hosts inspiring events. There's also lots of galleries to visit, MCA being my favourite. Being in a new city, I’m also meeting and working with new people. It's always interesting to hear their stories and expand my creative network.

ANDY JUDD FULL-TIME TEACHER, LONDON London is an incredible city to be a designer, there is so much inspiration packed into every inch of it. You often feel like a curious magpie, hopping around searching for your next shiny idea. The diversity is what I find particularly compelling, from faded old signage on the bustling Underground, to sleek modern buildings and gritty graffiti marking the ageing brick walls.

London is proud of its DIY culture and the resurgance of sign painting, letterpress and numerous market stalls selling hand-crafted products makes it a really exciting place to be.

It's a city full of vibrance and vitality, radiating a buzz of opportunity, ideal for any designer.

TIA QUEEN PART-TIME TEACHER, BRISBANE Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name!

SAXON CAMPBELL PART-TIME TEACHER, NEW YORK New York City provides many alluring elements for designers.

The city is populated with tonnes of design inspiration. Along with inspiration, comes inspired people.

Another reason I love designing in NYC is that you’re surrounded by inspired people and dreamers.

Dreamers start companies, invent products, or provide a service, which gives designers the opportunity to collaborate with many great brands.

The push to work hard is another reason I love designing in New York.

One can’t be a lazy designer in NYC. From my experience, once you stop designing, you stop getting work.

Honestly, the best thing about being a designer in Brisbane is the strong design community. The momentum has been building for a while and it feels like we've now really embraced a new energy and culture which thrives on discovering and celebrating local talent.

Kudos to some of my favourite leaders of this push; AGDA, The Design Conference, The Design Kids and CreativeMornings.

ROSS HARRINGTON PART-TIME TEACHER, MELBOURNE Melbourne is a great city for culture, festivals and events. Many Melburnians have a healthy appetite for art and design culture, so there’s always something happening to coax the design community out of their studios and into the city.

Conferences such as Sex Drugs & Helvetica and AGIdeas are fantastic for meeting people from the design industry in Melbourne. I'm pleased to say that I've found the design scene in Melbourne to be very positive and welcoming rather than overly competitive.

20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS

WORDS BY ALI NEILLY

We've had a real mix of personalities through the doors of Shillington over the past 20 years—from pilots and wrestlers looking to change careers, to illustrators hoping to push their creativity in a different direction. There's a tapestry of inspiring stories to look back on and smile. In honour of our 20th anniversary, we're highlighting 20 of our wonderful graduates who've made their mark on the industry as a Shillington export.

Can you guess who's included? We've got the woman behind Hello May at number 1 and a pair of sisters tearing up America's creative scene at 12.

There's a former dancer turned designer at 14 and at 17 we've got a Shillington graduate who's now part of our team.

1. AMY PRUS—FOUND, PROPERTY BRANDING (PHOTO CREDIT: SAVI.COM.AU) 6 // Shillington Post

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20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

1. Sophie Lord

3. Jack Beckett

SYDNEY '00

LONDON '09

Many of our graduates go on to use their newfound skills in an entrepreneurial way. Sophie Lord used her talent to make a serious mark on the wedding world by launching Hello May, an innovative bridal magazine and blog. The expertly curated publication brings together an abundance of eclectic inspiration for brides-to-be.

Jack Beckett succeeded in founding his own studio, The Outside Collective after graduating. He's built up a portfolio bursting full of exciting work for clients like Cadbury, Playstation, Beats and more. Jack has also hired two Shillington graduates (Emmet O'Shea and Jenni Wijsmuller) to his team since setting up camp in Hackney back in 2011.

2. Josh Ezrick

4. Paul McKie

NEW YORK '12

BRISBANE '14

Josh Ezrick graduated in 2012, and he's been unstoppable ever since. After working his way up from a designer at Tory Birch to a Digital Art Director at Brooks Brothers, he's now the UI/UX Design Director at Conde Nast.

Paul McKie studied part-time at Shillington to evolve his signage business into the multidisciplinary studio Autumn—which is currently killing it on the Brisbane design scene. Paul can thank Shillington for more than just design skills—he brought on his teacher Brenton Craig as Creative Director fresh off graduation!

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20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

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3.

5. Timba Smits

7. Amy Prus

MELBOURNE '00

MANCHESTER '10

Following his time at Shillington, Timba Smits founded Wooden Toy Magazine. Since then he's continued his publishing career across the pond to London where he's Creative Director at Church of London, the team behind Little White Lies and Huck Magazine.

Keep an eye out for his distinctive illustration style on the shelves.

After completing the full-time course in Manchester Amy Prus decided to up sticks and take her design skills to sunny Melbourne where she created brand personalities and even produced some short films! Her design journey has since led her back to the United Kingdom where she's joined the teaching team at our London campus.

6. Johanna Scott

8. Holly Ovenden

SYDNEY '14

LONDON '14

Part-time graduate Johanna Scott already had an impressive international communications career, but decided to up-skill at Shillington to develop new technical skills, learn design thinking and prepare to launch a brand new venture. Now she's founder of Make Do Co, which helps build businesses that matter.

Holly Ovenden came to Shillington wanting to turn her passion for illustration into a career, following a role as manager at a private medical practice. With her drawing abilities and newly developed graphic design talent she secured a role at Bloomsbury Publishing, where she now works as a Middle Weight Book Cover Designer. Look out for Holly's work next time you buy a book, as she may very well be behind the artwork.

2. GUY PITTARD—METEORITE ARTWORK, YEARS & YEARS 3. CASS DELLER—MATCHA SOL PACKAGING 8 // Shillington Post

20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

“ I left Shillington with a bank of design knowledge and a presentable portfolio which ultimately landed me my first design job.” —Guy Pittard

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9. Alex Thurman

11. Nick Garber

MANCHESTER '13

NEW YORK '12

A previous student of architecture, Alex Thurman decided to jump ship to graphic design. He now works at Toaster, a vendor for Google that works alongside Creative Lab. Alex recently finished working as part of the team behind 'Inside Abbey Road' a project to support the launch of Google Cardboard.

Nick Garber won a wealth of awards for his editorial design with the contemporary science magazine Nautilius. He's since continued his editorial career and now works as a designer at the New York Times.

10. Mark Segal

12. The George Sisters

MELBOURNE '12

NEW YORK '11 & '14

Melbourne graduate Mark Segal recently launched Weberfy, an intuitive website publishing platform that has hundreds of themes to choose from—allowing anyone to create a professional online presence for their company or portfolio. We're lucky that he pays his success forward by offering free website portfolios for all Shillington graduates around the world.

Sisters Amanda and Anika George both studied part-time at Shillington. Amanda now works on the west coast at R/GA, working on the Nike account while Anika's landed at Nelson Cash in Brooklyn. Talent obviously runs in the family!

4. HOLLY OVENDEN—BLOOMSBURY PRESS 9 // Shillington Post

20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

” Shillington helped me push my own thinking and understanding of design.”

—Sherry Malik

13. Bianca Board SYDNEY '01 5.

After graduating, Bianca Board spent the next 15 years building a wildly successful web design business with her bare hands. Her contributions to the female entrepreneur community even earned her 'Australian Businesswomen's Network Member of the Year'.

These days she can be found working on her own web design platform Foxley.

14. Alexis Waller

16. Cass Deller

SYDNEY '12

BRISBANE '12

Alexis Waller was a professional dancer and dance teacher with zero experience in design. After only three months, she rocketed her way into the industry landing design roles at two top design studios (Re and Frost*) and was since headhunted to move stateside and work as an in-house designer at Apple, Inc. Talk about a change of career!

With a love for calligraphy, Cass Deller launched her own graphic design, illustration and lettering business following her time at Shillington. As the business has grown she's applied her designs to swimwear, stationery and interiors as well as partnering with brands such as Matcha Sol and Coco Daydream.

15. Guy Pittard

17. John Fry

LONDON '08

SYDNEY '99

Guy Pittard's love of music led him to graphic design and since graduating he's managed to successfully weave the two together, building up an impressive list of clients in the music industry. Since designing DJ Annie Mac's identity, he's recently provided the artwork for UK musicians Years & Years' record, 'Meteorite'.

Some of our graduates miss their time at Shillington so much that they come back as teachers themselves! John Fry studied in one of our very first classes in Sydney. Since returning as a staff member, he's taught at all of our campuses, and is now our Director of Digital as well as running his own web design business Sixheads with wife and fellow graduate Bec Brown.

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20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

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5. RACHEL URQUHART—WOMEN IN REVOLT 6. ALEX THURMAN—CREATIVE LAB, INSIDE ABBEY ROAD

7. SOPHIE LORD—HELLO MAY MAGAZINE (PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT SUPLICE) 11 // Shillington Post

20 STORIES FOR 20 YEARS // Graduate Showcase

“I feel like any visions can now become a reality because I have the skills to transform them into anything I desire.”

—Cass Deller

8.

18. Rachel Urquhart BRISBANE '15 Rachel Urquhart won a scholarship to Shillington Brisbane with an impressive video sharing her love of creativity. Already armed with serious illustration skills, the course helped bring her genius from page to screen and launch her own studio Pony Gold Studios.

In addition to her client work, Rachel also boasts an impressive Instagram following. 46,000 followers and counting!

19. Sherry Malik NEW YORK '13 Already an Art Director, Sherry Malik studied at Shillington to up-skill.

Since graduating, Sherry's design career has been a whirlwind of excitement which has led him across three continents where he's settled (for now) in London at Krow. Outside of work commitments, Sherry stays busy with personal projects, one of which, 'The Reading Project' received wide spread news coverage for its inventiveness.

20. Kyle Fyffe MANCHESTER '11 Straight after graduating, Kyle Fyffe joined the team at Creative Marketing agency LOVE where he got involved with projects for clients such as Pimms and Tanqueray Gin. After climbing the ladder to Senior Designer level he decided to go freelance, specialising in digital design and branding. Kyle's most recent work involves service design for the Cooperative.

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8. AUTUMN STUDIO—KISS THE BERRY BRANDING 9. SHERRY MALIK—THE READING PROJECT 12 // Shillington Post

GRADUATES! WIN A TRIP TO NEW YORK, LONDON, MANCHESTER, SYDNEY, MELBOURNE OR BRISBANE Share what Shillington means to you and be in the running to win an international trip!

Are you a Shillington graduate? If so, we want to hear from you! Whether you graduated in the 90s, 00s or just this year, it’s time to reconnect with all our incredible graduates. To officially launch our #Shillumni network, we’re hosting a competition. Tell us what Shillington means to you, and you could win a trip around the world!

THE GRAND PRIZE One lucky graduate will win a trip to any Shillington campus including flights, accommodation and spending money. Explore a new creative city and join us at Shillington for a special welcome event to share your story with current and prospective students.

So where will you go? Join Sydney on Bondi Beach, browse through the Tate Modern in London or head to the top of the Empire State Building in New York City? The possibilities are endless!

FIVE RUNNERS-UP Five runners-up will receive a special prize package.

Entry requirements • Your details: full name, Shillington graduation year /campus, phone number, website and social media links.

• 100 word statement: about how Shillington influenced your career and life.

• Visual representation: What does Shillington mean to you? Your entry can take any form. Surprise us!

Apply by Friday, 10 February 2017 Full terms and conditions at shillingtondesignblog.com

REBRANDING A DESIGN SCHOOL // Anthony Wood

10 LESSONS FROM

REBRANDING A DESIGN SCHOOL

CASE STUDY BY ANTHONY WOOD

Our visual identity has evolved a lot over the years—you could probably trace design trends year-by-year in our marketing materials. But our core identity is steadfast.

Fundamentally, we've stuck to our same mission since day one: creating an inspirational environment for students to learn practical skills and graduate industry-ready to land their dream jobs.

Rebranding our design school was a unique challenge. Our existing look wasn't broken, but didn't have flexibility to let our content shine. We needed to develop a framework that stripped back to the design fundamentals—allowing us to showcase our amazing student stories and creative output.

That's what makes us stand out from the competition.

That's our difference. That's our brand.

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REBRANDING A DESIGN SCHOOL // Anthony Wood

Thanks to all Shillington staff who contributed to our rebrand: Ali Neilly, Belen Ramos, Chris Norman, Holly Karlsson, Jason Cooper, Karin Harvey, Leyla Muratovic, Sara Mazzoni, Sarah McHugh, Shanti Sanggaran, Standing by Co., Steph Ransom, Steve House, Steve Waring, Tim Hucklesby and Wayne Smith.

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We decided to tackle the project from within.

Here's our story.

1. Run. Run as fast as you can.

All jokes aside, designing for designers is really tough. At Shillington, our leadership team is 100% designers and they're a picky, opinionated bunch.

From day one, we expected this process to be a roller coaster, but discovered that a team who understands design and design language starts ten steps ahead.

We just had to develop and defend solid reasoning for all our decisions. And isn't that how the creative process should always be?

2. Design school branding doesn't need to win awards.

Our team kicked off the process with a frank discussion. No matter what, we had to resist the urge to make our new identity too trendy and cool.

We had the talent and freedom to create something mind-blowing, but needed to remember our #1 audience. Prospective designers = non-designers.

Our visual language has to be simple, direct and accessible... not edgy, gimmicky or trend-based.

How to Submit Your Work to 40 Popular Design Blogs, etc.) and opinion pieces.

Establish an event series for #Shillumni and the design community. To move beyond logo slapping and event sponsorship, we want to better connect with our industry on an authentic level. By creating a diverse event series across our six campus cities, we'll be able to best show our brand.

6. Collaborate or die.

Our existing brand was actually designed to work with (and differentiate between) three separate Shillington courses, but we recently decided to focus solely on the graphic design course. This strategic decision was the main impetus to conduct a brand audit and develop a new brand direction.

It's hard to look at yourself with a magnifying glass. Our existing brand was fun and worked on many levels, but was inflexible. It also didn't effectively show our personality and left us in the lurch when it came to campaign creation. So we decided to dig deep and define our challenges.

There was a lot of good in our existing style guide.

We just needed to decide what to keep, what to improve, and what to send packing. Through research, we decided on an evolution, not a revolution. Stripping everything back to rely on the design principles.

Logo—Improve

We can rely on our output, as research shows.

We conducted surveys with the design industry, incoming students and graduates who told us our most successful and relevant communications showcased testimonials and student work This approach bridges the gap between study and industry and illustrates the success of our teaching methods. Our content—student work and graduate stories—are the core of who we are, and the brand grows from there.

4. Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk.

Another key insight from our research uncovered a need to position ourselves as a respected authority in the design industry. We shouldn't shy away from industry sceptics. We know our methods work.

These realisations guided a more holistic approach to the rebrand. Along with a visual makeover, we needed to introduce new Shillington initiatives. Our voice, stories and expertise should come first—it will only strengthen our brand. Here's how we're going to walk the walk, not just talk the talk: Launch the #Shillumni network. In conjunction with our rebrand, we're formally announcing our graduate network. They are the core of our brand, and we want to encourage them to be loud and proud Shillington ambassadors.

Continue sharing opinions and resources via social media, Shillington Design Blog and Shillington Post. In the past couple of years, we've developed a powerful online community of designers who benefit from our resource articles (50 Free Mock Ups for Designers,

Our previous photography—classroom snapshots, headshots, event galleries, etc. was all over the place. It proved tricky to streamline imagery across three continents, but with the rebrand, we created easy-to-manage guidelines for international visual consistency.

5. Conduct a brutally honest brand audit.

3. Above all, be the brand.

At Shillington, we pride ourselves on a distinctly personal approach to education. Our teachers are direct, concise, fun and approachable. So, our brand should build on that. Plus, the proof is in our output.

Happy graduates with amazing portfolios who get killer jobs.

Photography—Improve

We've all heard that branding is way more than a logo... but it still matters. We made the executive decision to free up our logo's colour restrictions and simplify the typography for legibility. We also customised the typeface, adding rounded tittles to make the mark fit with our brand essence of being direct and friendly.

And most importantly, rather than hiding our little circle logo away in the corner, our new brand materials feature it proudly. These logo adjustments allow us to own our mark so the brand can build confidence.

Typography—Keep We love ARS Maquette, and it's a typeface we've owned for years. No need to change it. We decided to keep the typeface, but enhance typesetting styles and avoid excessive underlines.

Shapes—Improve In our previous branding, the use of shapes related to courses we no longer offer, so whole categories of the graphics library were made redundant. They were also dominating and the "X" became too repetitive across materials.

For the rebrand, we refined the shapes and grid, and now they're used for subtle play and experimentation to create visual energy and interest.

Colour Palette—Lose Our previous colour palette (again) linked to courses we no longer offer, which meant we were restricted to only two colours. Way too much pink and green! To expand our horizons, our new dynamic colour palette includes six colours, two neutrals and plenty of tints in between. Now we have the ability to be playful and punchy.

Old school methods of working in isolation and presenting a finished "ta-da!" vision just doesn't work. It won't result in the best outcome. It takes a diverse team with different strengths. In the end, our internal rebrand team included more than 15 people discussing, collaborating and tackling different elements. Sometimes it felt like too many cooks in the kitchen, but at the end of the day we're proud of our feast.

7. Create lots of room to play.

An element of play is important for both the rebranding process and the final brand identity.

During the rebrand phase, our exploration got pretty nutty with lots of new ideas and out-of-the-box visual solutions. While we didn't end up using the majority (e.g. colour gradients, all-caps logo, unexpected new typefaces), supporting that creative freedom at the start helped build confidence in the direction we chose.

And down the track, our new brand architecture builds space for our designers to play and be expressive, with the core elements remaining the same.

8. Design sprints work.

Our team's biggest break-throughs resulted from a three-day design sprint. Four designers locked in a room, slogging the good slog. There's something to be said for total immersion!

9. For the thousandth time, simpler is always better.

Every designer's favourite catch phrase—keep it simple! The most visible change to our brand identity is the simplicity of our identity—cleaner, simpler, sans serif, confidence, bolder and bigger.

Strong aesthetic decisions communicate a brand confidence we desperately needed.

10. Your brand has to stand the test of time.

This project made us verbalise and visualise a new standard for longevity and flexibility. The brand system needed strong fundamentals and ability to evolve as we go. Our team recently saw Re's Chris Maclean speak at an AGDA event, and we really resonated with his idea that brands are always in #beta.

And the most important lesson of all? We have to trust our process. It's a risky business sending your baby out into the world, but it has to be done. We hope you're a fan of the result. Keep your eyes peeled throughout 2017 as we roll out new campaigns, test, learn and see where the new brand takes us.

REBRANDING A DESIGN SCHOOL // Anthony Wood

“We needed evolution, not a revolution. Stripping everything back to rely on the design principles.”

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Poster by Shillington Graduate Anna Mullin, sneakyraccoon.com

OPINION // Moments of Discovery

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OPINION // Moments of Discovery

MOMENTS OF DISCOVERY WORDS AND ILLUSTRATION BY FIONA MARTIN

Is there a correct route to becoming a designer? Full-time Shillington teacher Fiona Martin questions the traditional path into graphic design and reflects on her own journey.

“Eventually everything connects.” —Charles Eames Studying and working in the design industry is rarely a linear process. Unlike other careers, it's not something that can be easily planned or mapped out. No two designer’s journeys are exactly the same—they often meander through the realms of the unexpected which ultimately results in a more rounded designer.

The designer’s journey is a true exploration, comprised of different moments of discovery. These moments range from the very second you discover graphic design, to your favourite designer or which area to pursue professionally within the industry.

A good way of judging what the correct or normal journey into design is, is to read about the paths travelled by design heavy-weights Michael Beirut and David Carson. Carson discovered graphic design at the relatively late age of 26 by which time it was almost 'a second career' to him. Having completed a degree in Sociology and spending a brief stint teaching, Carson took a fortnight summer workshop at the University of Arizona, informally titled 'about this thing called graphic design.' Carson truly realised his passion for design when he travelled over to Switzerland to study with esteemed typographer Hans-Rudolf Lutz who introduced him to experimental typography.

Carson’s design journey was very much an experimental and highly intuitive one. With no formal design training, Carson used his intuition to determine what worked and what didn’t. His journey was essentially one big adventure allowing him to naturally discover what appealed to him along the way. He learned on the job, working as an art director for a number of different magazines, Transworld Skating, Beach Culture and Ray Gun.

This instinctual and spontaneous journey ultimately lead Carson to become the pioneer of 'grunge typography' and subsequently reinvent editorial design.

“Do what you love, trust your gut, your instincts, and intuition.” —David Carson On the other hand, Michael Beirut’s journey was more conventional. Beirut was bitten by the design bug at the age of fifteen when he happened to stumble across a book about design in his high school library. He knew from that moment that design would be his chosen path, so he continued down the more 'traditional' route of studying graphic design at University.

Upon graduation, he landed his first job at Vignelli Associates working for the great Massimo Vignelli.

After 10 years working at Vignelli Associates, he joined Pentagram and has been there for over 25 years, however he doesn't claim to have travelled the only path possible to reach such success.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to have lots of jobs in your career or date lots of people before you get married, but having just one isn’t the only way to do it, either.” —Michael Beirut So enough about the greats, what about me?

Well, so far my design journey is very much a Carson/Beirut hybrid in a lot of ways.

I discovered graphic design like Beirut at fifteen, working a summer job at my father’s friend’s design studio in Dublin, Ireland. I followed the traditional educational route of studying Visual Communication at university. Like a lot of graduates fresh out of university, I was unclear as to what type of work I wanted to do. I cast my net wide and tried to get

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as much experience as possible in a number of different areas; ranging from environmental design to branding, to digital. By taking this approach, I hoped I would naturally discover what I truly loved to do.

Relocating from Dublin to London pushed me to look for new opportunities to grow, develop and challenge myself as a designer.

My journey has lead me to my current role at Shillington. I'm learning in ways I may never have realised were possible if I hadn't made the decision to branch out. Every day brings something new and I'm continually inspired by the wide spectrum of stories students bring with them through the door each term.

As designers we can't afford to get comfortable, it's imperative to take a risk from time to time. Each student is a daily reminder of how important it is to take the path less travelled as you never know what it may bring.

“Without deviation from the norm progress is not possible.” —Frank Zappa

DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

DECADES OF DIGITAL WORDS BY SARAH MCHUGH // ILLUSTRATIONS BY STEVE WARING

iPads, smartphones, digital watches... the list goes on. Let's face it, Marty McFly's experience of the future wasn't too far off.

We live in a world heavily dependent on digital technology, and as design educators it's our utmost responsibility to keep up to speed with these advancements.

So, as we reach 20 years of Shillington, our teaching team reflect on how design has been impacted by digital progression and what this means for the future of Shillington graduates.

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DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

When I cast my mind back to when I was studying Graphic Design at university I vividly remember the battles I had with my Mac—the most modern model at the time it was an absolute beast of a thing. I would have to transport it back and forth from after each semester and it would fill the entire boot of the car!

Waiting for it to start up felt like an eternity. I'd often have numerous pages filled with thumbnails before I'd even heard the hum of the welcome screen. Now everything has slimmed down and sped up—from hard drives that fit in the palm of your hand, to keyboards that are as weightless as the devices they're attached to. When I compare what's in our design tool kit today to what was considered modern even ten years ago I can hardly believe it, things are changing at the speed of light.

During my early days as a designer we used Quark, Freehand and Photoshop—a far cry from the Adobe Creative Cloud package we teach as part of the Shillington curriculum. When InDesign emerged on the scene there was a reluctance within our studio to adopt it as everyday software, it was such a departure from the major player of the time, Quark. However, it wasn't too long before opinions changed and the industry realised the advantages of progression and embraced it. The integration between the Adobe programmes has made such a difference to our efficiency and process as designers.

Throughout my time as a teacher at Shillington and now as a Director, there has been a rapid increase in students displaying confidence and awareness of technology, alongside an understanding of digital design—it's become second nature to this present generation of designers. It's unfathomable to predict what our students will be like twenty years from now.

So, what does this rampant shift in digital technology and design mean for Shillington? Well we're constantly adapting our course content to ensure we're pushing forward rather than sitting stagnant. It's crucial that we consider our students' education, as we strive to provide them with the most informative and relevant content—inspiring them to challenge convention, remaining curious throughout their careers. Not to dismiss the past, but be aware of advancements and experiment with the ever-growing spectrum of what's possible.

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DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

It's extremely rewarding to watch our students learn and grow.

I recall the inclusion of digital publishing to the course a few years ago. The creation of the tablet spurred a seismic shift in publishing, with readers increasingly accessing their news and choice reading material in digital form rather than forking out for a forest of magazines and newspapers. It was a thrilling addition for the students, using their editorial skills to lay out an article before exporting it—beaming as the scrolling text functions brought their designs to life. Since then we've incorporated a multitude of digitally-focused briefs to the course, bringing the digital content to almost half.

One of the most exciting areas we've added to our content has undoubtedly been UX/UI. As teachers we're always ensuring our students are considering their design choices, from concept development all the way through to realisation and conclusion.

Blending software such as InVision and Sketch into the mix is enabling our students to push their ideas even further.

“We've come a long way since the days of blocky screens, limiting software and arduous loading times—but what does the future hold?”

Another way of keeping up to speed with digital strides is to consult our contacts within the design industry. During a recent workshop with Wolff Olins we spoke to Senior Strategist (Brand, UX) Sagarika Sundaram about her thoughts on the growing presence of UX/UI within digital design. Defining UX as 'the marriage between strategy and design', Saga believes that UX has always been an important element but now more so than ever as the digital market becomes more populated; "With so many digital tools out there and voices about how we feel when we use them, brands and products are now more accountable to serve the people they're designing for. Imagination is an important part of design but creating something within a vacuum is not what UX is about, it's always contextual." ­—Sagarika Sundaram We've seen an enthusiastic response to UX/UI from our students, with some sighting it as their favourite part of the course and an area they'd likely pursue after graduation. During a conversation recently published on our Design Blog with London graduate Tjerk Zumpolle he spoke about 'Monvelo' a digital project from his portfolio involving a bike sharing website for the city of Montreal; "A good user experience can so drastically change the way a user thinks about your brand. It’s an opportunity to win their trust. In general UX/UI design combines the endless possibilities of the digital world with branding. For me, that is where you can make a significant impact and really add value through design.

So is this is an area I can see myself working in? Definitely!"

—Tjerk Zumpolle The growing amount of digital related opportunities within the industry has seen an influx of recent graduates secure roles within digital companies following their time at Shillington. It's always a proud moment seeing hard working students land jobs at companies like Google and Apple where they're in a position to contribute directly to the digital advancements in our industry.

We've come a long way since the days of blocky screens, limiting software and arduous loading times—but what does the future hold? I for one, am incredibly curious.

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DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

In a bid to speculate further and discuss the current age of digital, we've extended the conversation to our global teaching team.

We query the blur in distinctions between designer and developer with Laura Weldon, take a deeper look into the addition of Sketch to Shillington course content with John Fry, speculate on opportunites for Shillington graduates with Enza Lacherdis and discuss with our resident typography aficionado John Palowski about how revolutionary software FontSelf is changing how we design and develop Typefaces.

John Fry—Head of Digital, Global Having worked at Shillington since 2000, you're now Head of Digital.

Could you highlight some of the most impactful changes you've seen in digital design throughout the past two decades?

In early 2000 I think we probably only had the students design a desktop website and maybe a banner ad. Digital was a module in the course like packaging or magazine layout. Jump to 2016 and digital is woven throughout the course, with lots of different touchpoints. Nowadays our students are designing responsive websites or apps (which didn’t even exist as an option in 2000), considering user journeys or personas as part of their process, or jumping into a tool like InVision to prototype their project.

Web fonts have revolutionised the way we design for web. Forget Arial or Georgia as your main choices *suppresses a slight shudder* in favour of beautiful and accessible fonts from services like Typekit or Google Fonts.

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad after that ushered in an era of Responsive Design—meaning your design could appear on lots of different devices, so you better have a flexible, modular design that adapts to suit this new device landscape.

Sketch is really a product of changing needs in the industry. Gone are the days of super detailed Photoshop mockups of a website or app. Instead these have been replaced with quick iterations of multiple pages/views that are then taken into some sort of prototyping tool. From here your aim is to test out the project with real users as soon as possible. Thanks to the popularity of User Experience (UX) thinking this has become best practice when it comes to digital design. Tools like Sketch really facilitate this new workflow. Also, I think students really enjoy jumping into another piece of software other than Adobe.

What I’m excited about now is the potential for designing interfaces for Virtual Reality. What the hell will that look like? Or what does wearable technology mean for your client’s communication needs?

Services like the various app stores have put the tools and market in the hands of pretty much anyone interested in creating an app.

Who wouldn’t want to be a digital designer in this day and age?

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DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

“We are training the students to challenge what is traditional and keep up to speed with how things are progressing in industry.”

Enza Lacherdis—Director, US Do you think our close alignment to industry standard in graphic design makes our graduates more employable, especially regarding the digital side of our education?

Having such a short course gives us the luxury of being able to make adaptations to the content as soon as it happens in industry to ensure our students are receiving the most relevant and accurate training possible. Given that our teaching staff are all still active within the industry, we have a direct connection to extract the current requirements of a graphic designer. In my five years teaching at Shillington, I've taught in both Sydney and New York. Within this time I've watched things change dramatically.

We've introduced elements such as designing for tablets, responsive websites, mobile apps, UX/UI and more.

John Palowski—Full Time Teacher, UK As a keen typographer, how do you feel about the repercussions digital evolution has had on creating typefaces?

The creation of typefaces, historically and still to this day, should always begin on paper. Whether the designer has undergone thorough training with a pen, or not, the basis of a typeface should be nutted out before moving it to a digital representation.

This is where the strongest ideas and the individual differences of a typeface’s personality begins to take shape. Things can get tricky when it comes to moving ideas across to a digital platform as there are now many options on the market—depending on your level of expertise, what the brief requires and what budget you have.

Alongside our awareness of industry, it's perhaps the actual process we teach the students that makes them more employable.

Processes play a huge part in employability within industry. When employers see not only what our students are producing but the method in which they're doing so, they can appreciate how we teach at Shillington and ultimately how equipped our graduates are as a result. As wonderful as it is to hear about students getting jobs, it's even more rewarding to hear from the employers about how the addition of our graduate helps with the efficiency of their studios. Jobs in digital are ever growing so we're finding more and more students working in digital roles.

FontLab still has its 20-ish year stronghold as the professional font creation software choice. However at $649, it isn’t a viable option for many, although they do offer a number of other products that offer a more entry level route into the field. Glyphs (at half the price) and Glyphs Mini (at a price of a few rounds on a Friday night) are relatively new to the field, with the latter being a very easy tool to pick up for those with experience in Adobe Illustrator.

Laura Weldon—Head of Part Time, UK Alongside teaching you're a freelance designer. Do you think the advancements in digital software are starting to blur distinctions between designers and developers?

As designers working in education we're always on the lookout for software improvements which can aid our students' development.

I was recently introduced to Illustrator plug-in, FontSelf by my colleague from Shillington New York. FontSelf allows instant testing, installation and exporting of fonts—which has made the testing and refinement process just as enjoyable as the design process.

There are some limitations to the software, but for an insight into the world of typeface design and seeing results within a matter of seconds, it's a fantastic program to share with our students curious about creating their own typefaces.

In my experience I think there's still a definite difference between the job of a designer and a developer. However it's absolutely the job of a designer to educate the client about this when they take on new projects.

What used to be considered a 'traditional designer' has evolved, with the definition, expanding yet still remaining a separate entity from that of a developer. As part of a design team a studio will expect a designer to be immersed in the overall process as a whole and be able to understand the language which links together designing and developing. At Shillington it is through our inclusion of programmes such as Sketch and InVision which involve UX/UI properties that enable today's designer to have a broader understanding of digital design, so they leave as a well rounded designer.

In an industry where clients are constantly demanding more bespoke deliverables—it’s tools such as FontSelf that put these skills within reach and can elevate any given branding or campaign-based project.

What do you think is the most exciting change in how we teach the digital aspects of design at Shillington. How do you see things advancing in the future?

Definitely the introduction of Sketch to the course. By including this in our curriculum we are training the students to challenge what is traditional and keep up to speed with how things are progressing in industry. We are introducing them to the broader spectrum of possibilities by encouraging self learning as we're all too aware that technology is changing all the time.

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DECADES OF DIGITAL // Sarah McHugh

27 // Shillington Post

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Following a degree in fine art, Keir Mucklestone-Barnett realised his passion for graphic design and enrolled on our part time-course in Manchester. Since graduating, Keir has quit his admin job and with his new skills and portfolio he's gained freelance clients, won awards and visited some of Manchester's top studios for placements. He's currently designing at Music and will soon move on to Holden's.

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1, 2 & 3. FOLK BRANDING & DIGITAL 4. HACKNEY ANNUAL REPORT 5. CAMPAIGN EVENT

CALENDAR: DEC ’16 – MAY ’17

09

02

04

08

WHAT: A LIFE IN LETTERPRESS, ALAN KITCHING WHERE: GLASGOW

WHAT: AWWWARDS WHERE: LONDON

WHAT: INTERACTION 17 WHERE: NEW YORK

WHAT: PAUSE WHERE: MELBOURNE

Awwwards is a digital thinker's conference of inspiring talks covering UX/UI to virtual reality. Gathering in the most important web hubs in the world— this two-day event is comprised of 20 talks. Get the latest from Google's creative thinkers and engineers as well as a line-up of influential speakers including Seb Lester; world renowned designer, Brendan Dawes; leading voice in screen design, Oliver Reichenstein; robotic couture innovator; and Hyperreality film maker, Keichi Matsuda among others.

Interaction 17 is the 10th annual interaction design education summit by the IxDA. Interaction design happens everywhere. This edition asks: how does environment shape interaction, and how should we, as designers, respond? Join 1,000 design leaders, professionals and students for an active program of workshops, talks and awards. Just as any thing becomes a surface for interaction—any where becomes a place where design happens.

Pause Fest is the premier, creative and technology conference festival in the Asia Pacific. A catalyst for innovation, and a uniter of industries—Pause Fest is a showcase for the leaders of the world's future economy. Put yourself into fast forward and immerse yourself in new ideas and fresh tech with three days of full-throttle creative, tech and business. Make ideas happen, develop successful products and master disruption to change and define your business.

Ends 5th February 2017.

Ends 12th February 2017.

DECEMBER

Alan Kitching is one of the world's foremost practitioners of letterpress, typographic design and printmaking.

This exhibition is a major retrospective of Alan Kitching's life and work—based on his much anticipated monograph Alan Kitching: A Life in Letterpress, published by Laurence King. Spanning Kitching's six decades at the forefront of typographical design—his bold, elegant work will be on display along with sketchbooks, proofs, artefacts, and equipment from his studio.

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

Ends 5th February 2017.

Ends 3rd February 2017.

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06

25

02

WHAT: OPENVIS CONF WHERE: BOSTON

WHAT: OFFF WHERE: BARCELONA

WHAT: D&AD FESTIVAL WHERE: LONDON

WHAT: HOW DESIGN LIVE WHERE: CHICAGO

OpenVis Conf is an annual two-day conference about data visualization on the web. It's the first-ever conference for developers, designers, engineers, data scientists, and managers. Learn about information design, data analysis and implementation using the best Open Web technology. OpenVis Conf brings together people who have demonstrated excellence in their work and are excited to share their discoveries, process, and contributions from a variety of backgrounds across industry and academia, technologists and artists, students and teachers.

What is OFFF? More than just a festival, and host to innovative international speakers—OFFF is a community for those eager to learn, to participate, and get inspired through conferences, workshops, activities and performances.

Made for the curious, it doesn't matter whether you're a graphic designer, motion designer, theorist, developer, professional or student. Our favourites among the line-up include Adam J. Kurtz, author/designer; Anthony Burrill, print-maker/artist; Jessica Hirsche, typographer/etterer extraordinaire and illustrator Wasted Rita.

Taking over Shoreditch for three days of creative excellence—D&AD Festival hosts over 150 speakers, over four stages at The Old Truman Brewery.

Representing the industry at all levels —meet fresh talent from New Blood and immerse yourself amongst the world's best in advertising and design.

Discover art directors, designers, digital experts, copywriters and photographers in show at the New Blood exhibition.

HOW Design Live is where creatives converge over five days to ignite their inspiration. Mix and match from four areas of interest: Design & Creativity; Branding & Packaging; Marketing & Strategy and Tools & Resources, and learn how design has the power to effect social change from industry heavyweights David Carson, Timothy Goodman, Gemma O'Brien and many more. Whether you’re an in-house or agency creative—or a solopreneur—take advantage of keynotes, workshops and master classes, that will take your design career to the next level!

Ends 25th March 2017.

Ends 8th April 2017.

MARCH

APRIL

APRIL

Ends 28th April 2017.

MAY

Ends 6th May 2017.

09

13

17

20

WHAT: LADFEST WHERE: PERU

WHAT: WEBSTOCK WHERE: WELLINGTON

WHAT: OFFSET WHERE: DUBLIN

WHAT: FITC AMSTERDAM X WHERE: AMSTERDAM

The Latin American Design Festival is an organisation that promotes Latin American Graphic Design internationally, and looks to highlight the social potential of design using lectures, workshops, exhibitions and free activities. Join leading Latin American artists over three days of inspiration and design, as LadFest cements itself as a growing platform for creativity in the world.

Webstock is an annual celebration of the web, what lies beneath, and its makers. It's a five day celebration of the creativity, the culture, the challenges, the craft, and everything in between.

Featuring industry leaders, makers, thinkers and doers from NASA, Airbnb, and Etsy among others... Webstock is attended by brilliant people who give a damn about the work they do, the way they do it and the impact it has.

Ends 11th February 2017.

Ends 17th February 2017.

Offset has fast become one of the world's most educational and vocational conferences in design. This three-day event brings the best in international graphic design, illustration, art, film, photography, moving image. Join key influencers Yasmeen Ismail, awardwinning illustrator and author; Kelli Anderson, interactive designer; Kirsten Lepore, director and animator and many more as they grace the stage with their awe-inspiring projects.

With over 2,500 attendees each year, mark Offset down on your iCal before tickets sell out.

Now in its 10th year, FITC Amsterdam X returns to host the design and technology event on the future of innovation, design and all the cool sh*t in-between. With world renowned speakers talking design, development, creativity and so much more—this isn't your ordinary conference. Feel inspired to pursue your dreams, create your very best work and mingle with like-minded individuals that could become key collaborators in your career... who knows, you could meet your next business partner, employee, mentor or boss at FITC!

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

Ends 19th February 2017.

Ends 21st February 2017.

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26

07

24

WHAT: TYPO WHERE: BERLIN

WHAT: BLEND WHERE: VANCOUVER

WHAT: 99U WHERE: NEW YORK

WHAT: BUMP FESTIVAL WHERE: BELGIUM

TYPO Berlin is a one-of-a-kind conference hosted by Monotype (FontShop) which has fast become the most important creative gathering in Europe. Centered around the thematic motto 'Wanderlust'—2017's instalment will tackle the topic of stepping outside your comfort zone and embracing the joy of change over the course of three days. With over 60 speakers lecturing over five stages, TYPO Berlin has become the pinnacle of the creative year.

BlendFest is an annual audiovisual celebration of motion graphics. During this two-day conference-style party, creative, design and animation loving makers are gathered as a family to feast on inspiration that pushes you to work better. Get to know some of the best professionals in the industry, with a star studded line-up of speakers, sharing their case studies, failures and successes. Surround yourself by the people you admire, because when you get together, amazing things happen!

The 99U Conference is a live experience that inspires creative professionals to bring their ideas to life and shape the future of the industry. Learn from the world’s top thinkers and doers, including Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister, in a series of main stage talks over two days. 99U speakers offer pragmatic, real-world insights that transcend creative sectors.

Visit leading creative workplaces, and expert-hosted workshops to get a chance to pick up career skills and dive into new disciplines.

Bump Festival is a one day digital /creative festival featuring seven talented speakers. With over 600 attendees at last years event, get your mind blown by leading illustrators, graphic designers, UX experts, creative coders and motion graphics artists in the creative industry and get inspired!

Ends 27th May 2017.

Ends 27th May 2017.

MAY

MAY

JUNE

Ends 9th June 2017.

JUNE

Ends 24th June 2017.

SHILLINGTON IS A PROGRESSIVE DESIGN INSTITUTION PROVIDING COURSES AROUND THE WORLD. TURN YOUR PASSION INTO A CAREER IN JUST 3 MONTHS FULL-TIME OR 9 MONTHS PART-TIME. shillingtoneducation.com | shillingtondesignblog.com | @shillington_ | #shillopost