creative futures 2013

Painting over the cracks with Paul Haywood: Believing that we should empower collective networks in response to conditions or demanding change. We should employ creative methods as a tool for social stimulation. Paul Haywood demonstrated this by sharing some social creative projects he was involved in that conveyed his message.

Gun crime was a huge problem in Mosside, Manchester impacting a great negative energy. An answer to combat this problem was a project conducted based on reusing gunmetal that was otherwise sat  in police custody being useless, draining money from the economy to simply leave it there. The project allowed for the gunmetal to be transferred from being a negative source of material to a commodity essentially connecting people’s creativity, and converting it to community positivity and developing a social enterprise.

This ingot is made from 100% recycled gun metal, it is designed as a keepsake or reminder of their campaign message to remove guns from the streets (Gunstogoods.org) Another project like this is showmetal whereby clothing is created and when purchased you receive a keepsake made solely from recycled gun metal. (www.showmetal.co.uk) These projects are extremely inspiring as it uses creative talent as artists to evoke positive change one step at a time. Every little helps.

Another of his projects to involve a community was that of associating colour to the local landscape essentially producing a colour range. The idea being that in a community you don’t have to be an artist to have an opinion on colour it is an abstract concept that everyone can have an opinion on and it can be valued.  www.coloredge.co.uk

How not to be a designer with Robert Wall! With an abundance of experience in a branding background, describes the essence of branding to be “having more than one style as the same style cannot be applied to every situation.” He famously worked in a design team whom created the rebranding of The National Gallery in London, who’s advertising strategy prior to was to use their most famous painting such as Van Gogh’s sunflowers on all their products, rather than showing what they stood for and why they have this painting in the first place. The National gallery offers edgy subject matters such as war, triumph, darkness, guilt and remorse to name a few. It is these words that are at the center of the rebrand and can be found on all merchandise and throughout the building. The typographic element is simple but powerful, just one of the chosen words can be featured individually and provoke a thought, but completing a whole image when featured together.

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Advertisement of the project led to taking the paintings out of the gallery and placing them in random hot spots throughout London featuring a small plaque with a phone number of which you could ring to get an automated message about the artwork. Although people are aware the pieces can be viewed for free in the gallery this brings an element of the unexpected when viewed from the streets. The innovation in this project excited me creating a real impact by seeing the paintings in real context not just online or in a printed brochure like had been done before. The paintings were in the best place that is with the people.

http://www.thegrandtour.org.uk

Another interesting design was that of a brochure needed for a client that produced toilet blocks for schools. The brochure was created from actual schoolbooks featuring all the products. As well as being ironic they are colorful and inviting to pick up after all everyone loves school don’t they??

http://www.thedisciplesofdesign.co.uk/preston-profiles/robert-ball/

Design and Illustration in illustrated publishing by Yasia Williams Leedham: A deputy art director for Octupus Publishing Group based in London. Yasia explained that she especially loved book design as she enjoyed having a physical product to take away at the end of all your hard work and enjoyed the challenge of getting the consumer to pick that certain book off the shelf, stressing that “it is the jacket that sells the book” Octopus has 9 imprint companies that sit beneath octopus working on a range of books from high end expensive books reaching a £40 plus price point such as fender and tribe to the lower end market such as Levis Roots cookbook, applying book design to a huge range of genres.

Some of the books discussed that stood out for me are as follows:

Food glorious Food was produced in only 2 weeks. Due to being based on a tv series essentially gave the book great promotion and free advertising.

Levis Roots cookbook could be seen as easy design as it is the name people want to buy. The cover is purely designed to sell him featuring a large vivid photograph. This stresses that it is important to know your market and what the consumer is looking for.

Designed for an upmarket butchers in London. The book oozes high end style due to being printed on specialist paper and featuring the thick black binder. I particularly like this cover as i love the use of both fonts and simple illustration.

Ginger monkey by Tom lane was inspiration for the book design who when approached was more than happy to take on the project. A spot varnish was applied to the cover to make it special, leading to it selling in 5 countries. The jacket has a luxurious cutting edge finish. I absolutely love the intricate patterns featured in this cover and the use of one simple colour against the pale background is a look i am currently inspired to achieve. This emphasises the need to  use the correct tools for the job, in this case, the researched illustrator that was used.

The Vintage tea party proved very difficult to try and place vintage with food.  It all became clear when they came across Adele Ildred whom was used to illustrate the book who is highly influenced by Edward Gofrey which can be detected in this book design. The theme of Alice and wonderland was used to create the element of fun and mystery that it potrays. A dye cut was used so the consumer could essentially see something else lying beneath the cover.

Candy Kittens (Jamie Long) has a target audience of 13-21 aswell as having a fuscia pink glittery cover it has a unique trick which demonstrates moving with the modern industry. You are able to scan the front cover with your mobile with an app named Laya which then informs a message to pop up to the consumer from Jamie Long himself about how to have your own Candy Kitten party. This works for the market age audience the book has. This stresses the age old question that exists not only in publishing but in design as a whole. Who are you aiming your design at? The jacket of the book must stand out to your desired audience on the shelf in front of the others.

An important point to touch on is that of Ebooks. At the end of Aug 2010 Ebook sales only amounted to 9% of book sales but his is set to increase rapidly over the next few years. Therefore when producing a book and jacet the designer now has to think of designing it for not only print but for online use also.  Although this is always kept in mind as 30% of published books are sold to amazon therefore the cover appears very small on screen so a too complex jacket would be ruined in transition from print to web.

http://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/

Product Design: How chickens helped me!! (Peter Hathaway) Currently working for Omlet creating new innovative functional ways to keep pets showed a few of his iconic designs and processes.

One of his experiments that stood out for me was that of running a marathon whilst drawing. He explained that the best design thoughts came to him whilst out running due to all the natural endorphins released when excersisng. Along with a friend they developed a handmade sketch pad on a scroll to be attached to the back whilst the other drew what was on their mind. The scroll allowed for a narrative to be seen like a map of thoughts on the run. This interested me in particular as I find my head clears and I come up with good design ideas whilst out walking therefore it is always important to have a sketch pad to hand to jot down random thoughts. It is now in my interest to develop a project such as this in the future.

Peter Hathaway gave us as design beginners a few tips to remember, which i plan on putting into practice:

1. Make it count, give 100% effort.
2. Work hard, Work smart, think in the most efficient way, think flexibly and strategically.
3. Make friends, it is not what you know but who you know.
4. Make media, you have to demonstrate that you can do it in different styles. Show innovation and remember practice makes perfect. Experimentation adds to your skill book.
5. Make your own look, Put yourself in the right lace at the right time, see opportunity and capture it. Clients must know you exist.
6. Determination. Learn from your mistakes, refine your ideas and return to previous works to make improvements.

Design Studio overview and insight. (fashion with Jane Davis) An interesting point made by Jane was that during becoming a new famous designer while attending a vogue design competition was asked to produce and stock a whole collection for House of Fraser and Ungaro, Jane made the decision to turn down the offers for these major contracts and still insists it was the correct decision to make. It may well be easy to get greedy when you think you have made you big break but more thought needs to go into your decisions. Being  at the correct time and place in your career is essential in order for the move to be successful.

Arguably her best collection was that of the welsh dragon. After gate crashing the BBC roadshow in Cardiff 1999 with the world cup being the feature of interest with clothing featuring the welsh dragon motif lead to the BBC wanting her to produce all of the world cup clothing featuring flags of all the countries.

I found her Peacock collection inspiring, it was launched in Dubai and Kuwait made after finding a peacock feather whilst out walking with her toddler son. Again our inspiration really can be right under our noses for new projects.

More interestingly she explained how as a designer everyone will hit a “burn out period” A period in which all energy and inspirationis lost causing it to be literally impossible to create anything new and innovative. Jane Davis solved this period by expirienceing nature in a climb up Snowdon. The natural environment led to her creating a magnificent dress which was exhibited in Paris, MOMA and Sanfransisco. Stripping our thoughts back to nature and what is naturally here created great things.

Three key points to consider:

1. Believe in yourself and your ideas.
2. Stay positive and stay strong, you can achieve anything you would like to achieve.
3. Any opportunity, take it, experience is key.

We are to believe and be confident in our own minds and our own ideas. Any idea can be a great idea if worked with correctly to produce something unique.

Gareth Lawn, Me Me Me: Now a creative lead at view creative informed us of the reasons he achieved his job position. He aimed high made and effort and said “hello” He physically sent a box containing a huge poster with a half tone image of his face, business cards, leafltes etc. He stood out out and looked different when up against other deigners who possess the skills and experience required. He stresses the importance of physically sending something in the post. A routeI feel I would always take as it has a completely different effect than simply viewing a website or online portfolio.

“I take briefs, research and generate moodboards, work ideas up from early stages through to final designs”

“IDEAS are what agencies are after and your ability to generate and pitch them to clients will be your biggest skill.”

He went on to explain and admit that “he knew nothing” when thrown into a job managing up to 18 projects at one time evokes a whole knew meaning of time keeping and multi tasking. You have to be enthusiastic about your work therefore making the correct choice with regards to choosing the right job for you is essential. You have to specialise in what interest you else you are bounding yourself to failure. I had never thought in this manner before just assuming that at some point you may have to just do what is available to you, but realistically is there any point embarking on such, just to produce bad work and confidence in your design ability. We all have different design skills and have to be utilized correctly in order to get the best results. Therefore selecting the correct path for you is essential.