Over the past few weeks I've been ignoring PPP because of the Responsive deadline and working on my COP essay, so I thought the best way to get back into PPP was to produce my personal branding.
I bought some acetate to print the fish onto. Whilst there were no issues with it going through the printer or anything like that, I found that the colour printed translucent onto the acetate, which somewhat compromises the effect I wanted. If I'd been more forward thinking with this and known this would happen in advance, I could've altered the vectors and screen printed them onto the acetate to get a better result. Another problem I had with the printing was that the lighter text didn't come out very well, which isn't an issue I've ever had before.
I also found that the business cards were flimsier than I wanted them to be, although retrospectively this was inevitable because of how thin the border around the acetate is.
When I was doing the printing I didn't have access to an A2 printer, which meant that I had to assemble the folder part by part. I do quite like the hand-made feel this gives it, as it goes with the theme of not being too serious and a bit fun.
Despite these issues, my branding definitely represents me well through it's lack of seriousness and hand-made imperfections.
When I wrote about Square One design the other day I mentioned that they'd done lots of work that is encouraged by the First Things First Manifesto but that I wasn't particularly bothered about that. I think this because I think the First Things First Manifesto is far too idealistic and no longer relevant.
Towards the beginning of the year in COP we had a studio task to write a piece of triangulated writing about the First Things Manifesto with reference to an example of Graphic Design as an exercise to help our academic writing.
I personally feel that it's far too idealistic to say that you shouldn't do work for certain types of companies or organisations, as many people, and not just designers, aren't in a position where they can be turning down work, purely for financial reasons.
Given the established nature of the some of the signatories of the 2000 manifesto such as Erik Spiekermann, Lucienne Roberts, Ellen Lupton, Rick Poynor, and of course Ken Garland himself, make it so idealistic in my eyes. I wonder how many of the signatories would want to sign it had they just finished a degree and been looking for work.
With this said, the last manifesto was published in 2000, a time which I can barely remember. Given the financial difficulties that western economies have gone through in years since then, reading and understanding the manifesto now must be taken with a pinch of salt because of the social change that's occurred since then.
In summary, at this moment in time I feel like I have no obligation or even duty to pay any attention to the manifesto because feeling like I have a moral existence within my professional line of work is useless if it results in their being no professional line of work. In 10-15 years time if I've established myself in a career, then that is when the First Things First Manifesto becomes important to me.
Through browsing Facebook, I was recently made aware of an exhibition that is going to be put on by Leeds Arts Party, which I intend to enter some work for.
The link to the exhibition description is here. I think this is a good opportunity because I'm currently working on a collaborative brief for OUGD503 which is suitable for entry into this exhibition, and it being based at LCA makes it convenient.
The only potential stumbling block is that we need to submit work by the 20th of March, and we're currently no-where near completing the brief, so we're going to have to hurry up with the packaging, given that that's the part of the project that relates to sustainability.
Given my liking for my home city of Sheffield, I thought it a good idea to look into design studios in Sheffield that could potentially be a route into the design industry for me. I'd much rather start my working professional life somewhere I know and like rather than have ambitions of moving straight away to London, Amsterdam or Barcelona.
Vivid
Vivid specialise in Web Design, Brand Development, and Marketing Campaigns. In order to attract work they offer a free 'Brand Review' before work is started to find out whats important to the client and pinpoint what needs to be improved on.
They encapsulate the pride and friendliness that I like about Sheffield in their website, making it clear on their website that they're from Sheffield as well as using the local colloquialism of 'Na Then'.
The work they do is varied judging by their portfolio, but it's all really nice work and seems to be complete projects rather than doing some work as part of other work, which demonstrates a strong trust between the studio and the client.
Zemleduch Design
Zemleduch was founded by Błażej Zemleduch from Poland in 2000 after he'd completed an Architectural Engineering degree in Wroclaw. He collaborated with Sheffield based companies in the past which brought him to Sheffield. Zemleduch does interior design as well as branding, logo design, web design, print design and illustration, as well as murals and interior design, which makes it slightly different from most studios.
The international history of Zemleduch is reflected in some of their work, with the studio having done work for companies and organisations in places such as Poland (which is to be somewhat expected) and Strasbourg in France.
Square One Design
Like Vivid, Square One is a design agency that mention their location on their website, which is something that other studios I've looked at such as Ochre Media, N&S, Knox and even Zemleduch don't do.
They've worked with a variety of local businesses ranging such as City Taxis, as well as some of the things the First Things First Manifesto endorses (not that I'm particularly bothered about this) such as schools and South Yorkshire Police.
I actually know Jonathan, the account director, through my family. Before I sent off my university applications I had arranged to do two weeks work experience with Square One, and I think it was probably one of the main reasons I was accepted into LCA. I enjoyed my time their and hope to speak to Jonathan over Easter at some point with a view to organising a slightly longer placement period over Summer. I last spoke to him at Christmas at his youngest sons first birthday, so didn't deem it a suitable time to discuss it then.
On the second of March I was contacted by Jacob Higgins, who is a blogger for Ochre Media, a Marketing and Design Agency. He told me that I was welcome to write a 'guest article' for the blog. I found this a bit odd, so I e-mailed him back enquiring about it.
My Brief Conversation With Jacob
I explained my situation to Jacob, that I was in my second year of a degree cause, and because of that I didn't feel like I had any justification to write an article for a blog such as this due to not really having any particular area of expertise, which I saw as important given the specific nature of the posts.
I had recently added my e-mail account to my blogger page, allowing visitors to my blog to contact me directly. I asked Jacob if this was how he had contacted me, and told him that I'd added my e-mail address in the hope that people would contact me, as I'm currently lacking direction for where I want to go after finishing my degree. He confirmed that he'd found me through my blog, and told me that people can make a career out of a hobby, as well as saying that I'd be welcome to post to the blog at some point in the future.
I found this very reassuring, as the fact that I'd been identified as a potential contributor to a professional agency at this stage of my degree because of the quality of my blogging is something I find very reassuring.
Ochre Media
Like previously mentioned, Ochre Media are a Marketing and Design agency. They take a much more commercial approach to their work than most design studios do because of the marketing element of the company. This is something that I appreciate as I think that graphic design is often quite idealistic and at times doesn't take a very practical approach to communication, although with that said, because of this crossover their design work isn't, in my opinion, as successful as it could be. I found their website to be quite slow and somewhat confusing because of the size of it, which is something I find very strange given that they're trying to promote a streamlined service.
When I was doing some research for OUGD505 looking at WWF Apps, I found that most of them had very little design put into them apart from a Norwegian one which (I think) was a guide to sustainable fishing. Other apps I looked at were from India, Hong Kong, Poland and Germany.
Bleed - Norway
Bleed's manifesto starts off with "Be Different", citing Einstein's suggestion that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. Something I've disliked about the Scandinavia and Swiss design styles is that it tends to be very similar, so the fact that Bleed make a point of varying their work is something I respect. I think this very much reflected in their website, which looks like it has messy hand-drawn text on it. They also quote Picasso, "I'm always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it". I think these two quotes are reflected in the work they do, with examples below. That said, I do think their website is a bit difficult to navigate, which is a downside of this philosophy and style.
Studio Knox - Sweden
Knox was founded by Scottish designer Chris Knox, and works by the philosophy that design should be innovative, sustainable and user-centred. They did some work that I thought was really nice explaining Stockholm's green credentials, and that really backs up how they try to work to that ethos, but there are also other examples which I see as just generic hipster contemporary design which is just text laid over big images and various blocks of colour laid over each other in different transparencies. I do think that some of there work does somewhat highlight my issues with Scandinavian design. That said, I do like their website a lot and it's very user-friendly.
Nordenswan & Siirila - Finland
N&S are a design company that specialise in corporate identity and like to work primarily print-based. They pride themselves on their creativity, craftsmanship and personalities. Given this, I think their website does a really good job of communicating this as it gives off a positive feeling because of the bright yellow and smiling faces. I really like the look of this studio, as all their work really reflects everything they say on their website, and their isn't much needless cringy rhetoric like their often is when studios describe themselves.
