Presentation // Who am I as a Designer?

WHO AM I AS A DESIGNER?

• I see myself as multi-dimensional. I'm definitely interested in the imagery side of graphic design, as opposed to layout, type, kerning and that sort of thing. 
• I've always been interested in loads of different mediums and fields, and I constantly feel an urge to try everything.
• I don't like to limit myself to one type of graphic design, or at least I feel it's too early for me to decide on that as I'm still growing and building my skills.
• That being said, this year I need to bring together my interests so that I can channel them into particular mediums, so that I can really improve my knowledge in particular areas

• When it comes to my style, I approach briefs with an illustrative and expressive touch, although I wouldn't say I'm an illustrator... but that might be in my future.
• I like to create hand rendered design that is unique to me as that is what I find most fulfilling.
• I prefer creating my own typeface than using someone else's, it just doesn't feel right to me.

• I prefer to work independently rather than in a group, and I think that's because I lack confidence in my work, so I don't like to share my ideas with other people, or I just feel uncomfortable  I really want to change that this year as I gain confidence  but that is something that I hope will change over this year as I gain more confidence in my work, as I think that's the problem. 

EXTENDED PRACTICE

• I'm interested in projects that let me get really creative, like creating a publication, which is something I can get very hands on with - like binding, shape, page design... it's telling a story through visuals and  I love the end result of a book, as it's physical and feels much more like an object (????)
• This also relates to book cover design, as thats more focused and obviously putting a story into a visual context.

• Branding is another area I'd like to explore further, my COP last year was about semiotics in political branding and how values are conveyed in brands. I found it a really engaging exploration and I learnt a lot about how it works.
• I'm interested in the psychology behind graphic design, which is really prominent in branding.
• In terms of what area of branding, I want to stay away from corporate 

10 BRIEFS

• The 10 briefs aren't all completely planned out, such as the competition briefs... I think I'd like to do a D&AD or YCN brief, but I'll leave that until more information comes out.
• With live briefs, I know someone who is starting a freelance bar tending business, and the branding is awful so they said I could rebrand them.
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• I'll definitely do a brief from a visiting professional, ????????
• For collaborative briefs, I've already planned to create some kind of publication or zine with someone off printed textiles, which I think will be a learning curve as it's mixing two disciplines and getting the best of both worlds. I think I much prefer that kind of collaboration rather than with someone who has the same practice, as you can gain someone else's knowledge and they can add something that you would never be able to.
• I find collaboration with other graphic designers harder and a little more complicated, so it will be good practice to do this this year. I haven't sorted that brief out yet, but would possibly like to do something with branding.
• Some other ideas for projects I have are personal projects such as creating a zine or book of the photographs I took over summer

PPP

• This year I'm going to try to visit some studios and engage with designers, so that I can learn what I would kind of workplace I'd be best suited to. From that I'll try getting hold of a placement, ideally somewhere abroad as I think it would be a really valuable experience and something that I'd probably regret not trying out. If that doesn't work out then ideally London or Leeds so it can be flexible.
• I want to definitely rebrand myself soon as this will help with getting a placement and communicating what kind of designer and person I am.

Context of Practice

• How branding uses colour psychology and semiotics in order to attract consumers.

OUGD502 // Design Strategy Presentation

For my self branding, I took a playful and loose feel by using paint brushstrokes, as it represents me in the sense that I love drawing and painting, or anything freehand.

I used a paintbrush to create my initial, to make it like my own stamp or signature. using someone else’s typeface would not feel right as I’m trying to represent myself in one letter. It also reflects my regular use of hand rendered typography through out my work.

My promo pack consists of an introduction about myself, a simple creative CV, and some samples of my work.

I tried to keep the booklet as simple as possible with a minimalist style, to contrast with the featured work as its all very colourful and illustrative... it can speak for itself.

In the CV, I made it lighthearted by adding some info about myself as a person outside of graphic design, which makes it more personal... i think it’s important to sell your personality just as much as your work.­

 I use Behance quite regularly to share my work, i like the interaction aspect of it that isn’t present with a personal website - which i haven’t made for myself yet.

For now i feel comfortable with just an online portfolio like this.

Its quite rewarding to see people view and appreciate my work, as its a confidence boost and it definitely motivates me to get more work up there. I think its important to expose work to the outside world at this point, because thats who we’re designing for.

I’ve learnt alot about presentation from looking at designs in the industry, photographing work well is crucial to exposure on sites like this which is something i’m building on.

I’ve also found a lot of great work on Behance as well as designers and studios, its good to see a constant stream of what they’re up to.

In level 5 i have improved on my research skills a lot, and how to not always go for obvious design, but more conceptual.

this is something that developed with the responsive module, as the projects were for the outside world with real target audiences - something i haven’t experienced before.

When i created this film poster for Her, i looked into the scenes and settings in the film and colour schemes used throughout which were quite particular.

Putting strong research in was also vital with the penguin book cover competition and secret 7.

I’ve found responsive to be the most important module in shaping my style and its given me alot of confidence and insight into the industry and how it works.

With getting my design put on sale on the Feathr website, it goes to show that competitions and live briefs can go along way and are important experiences as students.

 My main interests are branding, editorial and illustration.

Branding is something that’s grown on me lately, as I've learnt a lot about how it works through COP research and theres a lot more to it than i thought.

Working with a person or a company’s assets and connotations makes for an interesting process and a meaningful outcome that needs to portray them for the long run so its really important. Its a lot more than just the visuals.

Editorial is something that I haven’t worked with much, but its something I want to explore and try out more.

Here are some examples of publications that I really like the look of. They’ve opened my eyes to so many creative ways of designing layouts.

I find it really satisfying to hold a booklet as it feels more like a finished product, rather than a piece of paper or seeing work on a screen.

Where do I see myself in the future?

Well, ideally I’d work in a small design studio when I leave college, then someday I’d like to try out freelancing as the thought of designing on my own is quite appealing as I think thats how I best work.

However, the thought of not having a steady income is quite scary and I think i’d feel quite isolated.

I guess we’ll see.

I’ve looked at design studios in quite a few different countries to suss out what cities are good for design, as I’m quite keen to move abroad after college.

I’m particularly interested in Barcelona as when I’ve visited it before I really loved it.

There are quite a few studios there that I like,

Forma and co and vasava stood out to me as their styles are not too different from my own. i love the use of colours and the balance of illustration and typography from both of them.

 Cocolia is another design studio in Barcelona that is multi-disciplinary, they do a lot of set design. There style is really bold and colourful and expressive which interests me, and they’re just really unique.

I also researched studios in Amsterdam, which is another city I’m fond of.

Well, get some solid work experience and be confident within the industry before i actually finish my degree.

Mostly just improve my work and my time management, being organised with projects is something I have really got so much better at since level 4, but i could still be better - such as the time it takes me to create designs, i want to try to work faster without jeopardising the quality of my work. it takes me so long to complete some projects because i’m indecisive and have to perfect everything. thats something i need to work on.

OUGD502 // Module Evaluation

PPP has been a very useful module, as I have been able to focus on the professional side of my practice. By developing my brand and researching into the industry, I feel a lot more informed and ready for the outside world. I used to feel very reluctant to enter the industry and scared about gaining opportunities, but I have discovered in Level 05 that I now have more confidence in my work and myself as a designer.

By creating a Behance profile and LinkedIn account, I feel more in touch with the outside world and have learnt a lot about how to present myself and put myself out there and make contacts. However, I feel that I haven't networked enough - I haven't sent any emails to people just to ask questions. This is something that doesn't come naturally to me, and no questions have popped in to my mind.  Of course, I want to email companies looking for placements, but that is something I haven't done just yet. Saying this, I have interacted with people on my Behance feed, by checking out their work and commenting what I think of it. This has lead to people finding my work etc.

Photographing my work professionally is something that I am working on - before this year I hadn't done it and it is harder and more time consuming than I first thought. It has really done my work justice, however I want to improve my photography skills more to benefit myself further.

The brief 'Taking Care of Business' was something that taught me a lot about how businesses work, and how studios run. We worked well together as a group, however it was hard work as I felt that 5 people was too big of a group and we often disagreed on things.

I'm quite happy with my self branding, however I found it a really difficult task, as its hard to sum yourself up so minimally. I also haven't had any outside input from anybody. I know that I will want to change it in a couple of months, but I have definitely improved it from Level 04. I think that it represents my style well.

Studio Brief 01 // My Brand

Visual Identity

For my self branding, I have taken a playful and loose feel by using brushstrokes of paint. My reason for this is that it represents me in the sense that I love drawing and painting, or anything freehand. 

The 'S' is (obviously) my first initial, but I used a paintbrush to create it, to make it like my own stamp or signature. using someone else's typeface would not feel right as I'm trying to represent myself in one letter. It also reflects my common creation of hand rendered typography and how crucial I think it is. 

Almost all of my work incorporates illustrative or expressive touches... I feel unfulfilled by creating extremely minimalistic and clean cut shapes, as I feel its so common and can lack personality or a unique touch.

Saying this, I still enjoy creating simplistic designs that are functional and very straightforward. Hopefully this is reflected on the back of my business card, where I have made it as simple as possible using Futura in capital letters. I chose Futura as it is a very clear and easy to read sans serif font, that still has a young and exciting touch to it. Fonts that are often used like Helvetica or Univers do not reflect me... I find them too cold and invisible.

I have spaced out the letters so that the type is bolder and stands out more, thus seeming like more of a statement.

I have used both blue and red brushstrokes on different formats of my branding, to create more of a wider colour scheme, and to make the pattern fresher. 

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Promo Pack

 

My project pack consists of an introduction about myself, a simple creative CV, and some samples of my work. I represented my brand clearly through the booklet by using the familiar brushstrokes and logo, as well as Futura and Biko (very similar) in regular and bold throughout.

I tried to keep the booklet as simple as possible with a minimalist style, to contrast with the featured work as its all very colourful and illustrative... it can speak for itself.

In the CV, I made it lighthearted by adding my personality traits and my interests outside of design. I think this makes it more personal and makes it seem more human.

Although I enjoy most aspects of design, I put illustration, branding and editorial as my focuses, as they are the areas I seem to be the most skilled in and with the most experience. I'm still not set on one area to focus on in the future.

I used a photograph of myself in the introduction to make myself more memorable and show confidence and personality.

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Online Portfolio

Instead of creating my own website just yet, I have uploaded work onto the online portfolio website Behance, because I can't afford to have a website up and running at the moment. I also feel that as I am in second year and not yet coming to the end of my studies, that an online portfolio is enough.

I created a Behance account a couple of years ago, but only started uploading content in second year (but have included some works from Level 4). I have found the site vastly useful for many different reasons:

• finding lots of inspiring work to scroll through
• discovering new designers and design studios
• learning how to get maximum exposure through layout and presentation of posts
• networking via follows and comments on peoples work and vice versa
• an online base for my work, so anyone can access it at any time
• supporting fellow students and their work

I have learnt that to be discovered by others, presentation is key, so over the past couple of months I have photographed some work more professionally and have been constantly editing posts to try to make them more appealing and user friendly to scroll through.

I also have been commenting on a lot of peoples' work that interests me, as this makes yourself known and is a good way to be remembered, or spotted by people reading the comments.

I have used a friendly photograph of myself as my icon, to make myself more memorable and also to humanise my page, and make it seem more genuine and down-to-earth. I may edit it to add some of my branding at a later date.

Behance is a nice way to keep tabs on popularity of your work and it is definitely a confidence booster to see the amount of 'appreciations'. It spurs me on to upload more work and show people what I am capable of.

I have used online downloads of mockups to present certain work in a more professional setting, which makes it a lot more presentable. I have also put thought into choosing appropriate cover photos for each post, to draw people into clicking on it. Sometimes that means showing close up details, or just the overall outcome.

On each post I have chosen an array of photos that show clear details. Written text explaining the designs is always included, but I try to keep it as brief as possible to keep people's attention.

My online portfolio - http://behance.net/sophiem

Personal branding: Research and inspiration

Martyna Wedzicka

Sofi Azais

Jeannie Phan

Christian Vizcarra

Rutos

Luke Latham

Kylee Barnard

Abbas Mushtaq

I have found some interesting and effective self branding examples that have given me a clearer outlook.

I'm finding it difficult to come up with an idea that is both simple and a perfect portrayal of me as a designer... I'm not one for 'minimal' design, but a more expressive approach. A few of these examples are more illustrative in style, showing it is possible but I haven't developed a very clear 'illustrative' style myself yet, making it difficult. Nor do I identify as strictly an illustrator, as I enjoy many aspects of design.

Abbas' identity is very clear cut and effective; everything fits together like a puzzle and gets to the point. The concept is there, making it fit very well to him as designer.

Some more examples that help with the promo pack side of things:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/20537977/Hello-Personal-Presentation

https://www.behance.net/gallery/24079151/Portfolio

https://www.behance.net/gallery/11089883/Portfolio-CV-2013

These examples have been very helpful in figuring out how to sell myself and how to neatly present work. Some of it is very creative, which I don't think I have the time for - so I am looking to create a clean and simple promo pack that effectively communicates me as a designer.