Gabriela Kozlowska Graphics Branding & Identity One of the projects I've taken part in on DPS was the D&AD New Blood Awards, which I have always wanted to participate. This year’s briefs were very diverse, but the one that stood out to me was from LEGO. I decided to work alone, and it definitely allowed me to take more risks and stick to my ideas. My focus was on young people aged 13 to 18, those who’s initial interest in the brand would have decreased over the years. The famous LEGO tagline: “Rebuild the World”, was crucial to my work. This project went through a long drafting phase before I reached its final outcome, but once it did, it was stronger than expected. My take on this project was to create a LEGO teaching tool under a sub brand name LEGO: Release. I wanted it to allow students to actively show and talk about their feelings through the use of colour. Additionally, I wanted it to encourage a conversation regarding mental health in a classroom environment. From personal experience, I know it is not always easy to talk about our mental wellbeing, especially during puberty, but colours can be a great first step. I’ve used colour theory to represent the emotions accordingly and I believe a tool like this will help young people seek help. In the end, I also submitted this project for the Creative Conscience Awards 2020 under the mental health brief, because I truly think it has the potential to make a difference. I found out more about Creative Conscience during a mental health workshop in February. Fighting an on-going imposter syndrome throughout the years of studies as a design student, have been one of the things I've been dealing with heavily on the DPS year. D&AD Awards have been something I've been wanting to take part in for a few years, but was always second guessing myself and my skills. This years briefing was set up in one of the studios in LCC and we were all discussing the entry requirements and how to take the necessary steps to research and start our projects. At the time I was working with a graduating DfAD student on her final major project, surrounding the topic of mental health, a topic which I gravitate towards very often in design. Having personal experience dealing with mental health it's a topic close to me, so when I read through the LEGO brief I knew that there will be an element of that in there.
The end results of this was definitely a great learning experience, which allowed me to take a step into an unknown territory, and start touting myself a little less.
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Natalie Cheng / GMD Will Covid-19 permanently change our behaviours? This global pandemic has caused a multitude wave of new adaptations within us. Suddenly we needed to shift our social behaviors and switch up our daily habits overnight, which have since resulted into a range of societal issues. The practice of social distancing is without a doubt distressing, but it is quite fascinating for me to see how people are shifting their behaviours and lifestyles in order to adapt. Humans are social creatures and we are born to need social interaction. But with quarantine guidelines, we suddenly need to look for ways to occupy ourselves within the four walls in our houses. We started to rely more on technology (as if we have not done enough) for our activities– home workouts via YouTube, work meetings through Zoom, and communicating through Slack. In this new ‘world of remote everything’, our powerful technology advancement has the ability to solve our problems, but how much longer can we rely on it without feeling like our world has suddenly transcended into a dystopian episode of Black Mirror? Of course, there is no perfect solution. While there have been successful solutions to tackle social distancing rules, there are, however, others that I feel are quite ‘dystopian-like’. For example, in this image above, although I appreciate the thoughtfulness Giddy Grocer is doing to keep their customers and staff safe, I feel that it is an example of how using their shutters to separate the outside world is so unwelcoming and unpleasant like. Humans require physical touch. But suddenly we now need to have ‘contactless everything’; it’s a no-no if your mailman doesn’t run away after delivering your parcel. Perhaps we need to draw the line before our solutions becomes too extreme. In Singapore, its government has introduced a robot dog to encourage social distancing. It patrols parks and can broadcast social distancing messages through its attached loudspeaker. I’m aware that while technology is a great solution to many of our problems, we should also look beyond that. Since lockdown has prevented us from getting out of the house, it has provided us a set of limitations that can give us opportunities to think outside the box. In fact, Scott Barry Kaufman, psychologist and author of book Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, says that although variability is an aspect for creativity, it will also require constraints as it forces our mind to think outside the box. This is because our brains try to adapt to working more resourcefully within limitations. And apparently the most successful creative people allow for that to generate impetus and achieve higher. (Oppong, 2018) Lisa Sorgini is an Australian photographer and artist who started to document people’s day-to-day life parenting during lockdown. Her project series ‘Behind Glass’ give off a painterly feel just from making use of what she was limited with creatively. She managed to achieve this a painterly artistic aesthetic, and at the same time practicing social distancing just from the natural light from windows. (Steven, 2020) And here in Alice Rawsthorn’s Instagram post, I agree with her that creative solutions can also come simply and effortlessly. While we have been relying on technology so much that we are slowly losing our human interactions, maybe this is a time to remind ourselves that technology is not the one step solution for all. We are humans afterall, and our solutions should be too. How the pandemic has shifted my way of working During the beginning days of the lockdown, it was so prevalent to see people in the supermarkets panic buying. Since young, my parents brought me up to not waste food, and so just thinking about the amount of food waste there will be if people are unaware how to store their food got me concerned. While I always had the interest in the food industry, I kept myself busy with this excessive amount of free time with food related documentaries, podcasts and books. One of the documentaries I watched is called Cooked. Based off a book by Michael Pollan, it talks about the four kinds of "transformations” that occur in cooking. Michael said something in one of the episodes that struck me– he quoted Bruce German, a professor of Food Chemistry, “if I gave you a bag of flour and water, you could live on it for a while. But eventually you will die. But if you take that same bag of flour and water and bake it into bread, you could live indefinitely.” I thought that quote is especially relevant during this period. It is the time where the more we need to be more self-sufficient. And no doubt people are. We have seen a surge of people cooking and baking a lot more; clearly evident from the news reports of flour shortage in the UK. Similarly to everyone else, I was cooking and baking a lot more to keep me occupied. However, that actually got me insecure and led me to question myself because I compared myself to my other graphic designer friends. While they used this time to work on their craft, i.e design, here I am in the kitchen?! Don’t get me wrong, I very much still love design, but why do I not see myself designing instead? Quarter life crisis? Feeling really dejected, I questioned and doubted my abilities. But to get out of that negative state, I told myself to write down all of my interests in my journal. 1. Food and its industry 2. Socio-cultural anthropology 3. Travelling and learning about different cultures 4. Sustainability and our future world I noted down all the things I had been watching, reading and listening to during this time and they all fall into those categories. Is this where my true interests lie? However still holding onto my passion for design, perhaps I could do something that tie everything in together? Reading up on reports on how Covid-19 has caused millions of dollar losses to farmers, an increase of hungry people in developing countries, and our food waste implications on our climate shouted at me to do something. Mercato Metropolitano online incubation programme could not have arrived at the most appropriate time. Its brief is for young dreamers to pitch a project idea that resonate with their sustainable brand values. I sent in my video idea on Instagram, and as a result managed to have it selected to enter their second round of pitching. DreaMM Covid-19 have presented us lots of uncertainties. However, if not for it, we will not have the opportunity to reset and re-shift our way of viewing the world. We all need a change from time to time, and perhaps this is the time where we start to shift our habits positively and shape for the better. Bibliography Cagle, S., 2020. 'A disastrous situation': mountains of food wasted as coronavirus scrambles supply chain. The Guardian, [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/us-coronavirus-outbreak-agriculture-food-supply-waste> [Accessed 21 May 2020]. Epstein, A., 2020. Expert Calls For 'Indefinite' Social Distancing Are Chillingly Dystopian. [image] Available at: <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/17/expert-calls-indefinite-social-distancing-chillingly-dystopian/> [Accessed 11 May 2020]. Harvey, F., 2020. Coronavirus Crisis Could Double Number Of People Suffering Acute Hunger - UN. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/global-hunger-could-be-next-big-impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic> [Accessed 22 May 2020]. Oppong, T., 2018. For A More Creative Brain, Embrace Constraints (Limitations Inspire Better Thinking). [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/swlh/for-a-more-creative-brain-embrace-constraints-5a588c8a8619> [Accessed 25 May 2020]. Steven, R., 2020. Lisa Sorgini On Photographing Mothers And Children In Isolation. [online] Creative Review. Available at: <https://www.creativereview.co.uk/lisa-sorgini-photographing-isolation/> [Accessed 18 May 2020]. Toh, M., 2020. Singapore Deploys Robot 'Dog' To Encourage Social Distancing. [online] CNN Business. Available at: <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/08/tech/singapore-coronavirus-social-distancing-robot-intl-hnk/index.html> [Accessed 22 May 2020]. Williams, Z., 2020. Grains Of Truth: What The Flour Shortage Tells Us About Who We Are. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/apr/14/grains-flour-shortage-tells-us-about-who-we-are> [Accessed 23 May 2020]. 06/01/20 Rosie Williams, GMD Having reflected on my time working for Rare Design, I can see I have improved in a lot of areas of my practice. One of my main achievements is gaining confidence in digital design. Before working for Rare I avoided using software like Illustrator and photoshop as much as I could. Basically all of the projects I worked on at Rare involved using Adobe software, which was daunting initially but the best way to learn quickly. I worked on a varied range of projects and also had a varied range of experiences which have been exciting and meant that I have had an insight into different areas of the creative industry. I have also gained experience and interest in areas of design that I don’t think I would’ve ventured into otherwise.
My range of tasks and experiences at Rare have been varied. The first task I worked on involved packaging design, teaching me about it’s intricacy and how separate it is from the general design world. I found it interesting learning about the specific details and rules you need to know, for example how to work successfully on all the different packaging categories like food, cosmetics, medical etc. I also undertook a research project analysing and documenting painkiller packaging, exploring the visual language and tone of voice used to promote the product and target a specific audience. Infographic design was also a task I had. This particular design was for a workshop manual. Again an area of design I have only briefly touched on in the past. I found working on this a good creative test to design something stimulating and engaging that will help people absorb mundane but important information. I enjoyed the challenge of combining the visual aspects with the information to allow for the meaning to be translated effectively and accessibly. It was a very useful learning experience having feedback continuously given to me whilst working on this project. Having someone highlight the areas that needed altering meant I learnt quickly what looks right and how to design effectively. My time was not only filled with studio based projects but also experiences in the field. I attended a meeting with Heinz to refresh them on one of Rare’s packaging projects for them (the Heinz Amoy range). The meeting covered factors like the evolution of the designs, presenting the various different options for the packaging and reasons for the decision of the final design. Other areas where covered like challenger brands, key consumers and key drivers giving me a broad perspective into the world of marketing and food packaging design. It was really interesting to get an insight into the design process for a big project like this (and it was held at The Shard which added another layer of excitement to the experience). The last day at Rare was spent at a photoshoot for one of their brand identity projects for a residential home. It was refreshing to venture into another branch of the creative industry. It gave me a glimpse into another part of a project that contributes to it all coming together. Being surrounded by other people from industry gave me an opportunity to make connections and practice presenting myself as professional creative. Now that I have finished at Rare I am working on independent projects and preparing for interviews for my next placement. I have been working on a submission for a competition with YCN and Camden Town Brewery. It’s illustration based and I have created it digitally (something I wouldn’t have done digitally before, but have now developed the skills to do so). I look forward to my next placement, where I can apply my new skills and continue expanding my experience working professionally. Sophie, BA Design for Art Direction
Following on from our briefing email read a little into the actual discipline of noticing, it was something I somewhat hadn't considered before. This was a quote which was particularly relevant to me when reading “The discipline of noticing provides a way of working against the tendency to forget, to not notice, to be so caught up in entirely our own world that you fail to be sensitive to possibilities.” Mason, J. 2002. Before the coronavirus pandemic I was entirely caught up in my life, as everyone else obviously was too. I’m finding this time we now have to pause and think very alienating to say the least. I find trying to notice things more, I’m noticing the company I intern for trying to change their marketing strategy every day. Trying to reinvent how they communicate with their customers and trying to innovate new ways of creating content in order to remain relevant and get this instagram story reach targets every day. I’m noticing all the other brands I follow on instagram doing the same. Refining their processes and becoming more systematic in their approaches. Trying to appeal more direct to their customers, more ‘down to earth’. I’ve become more and more annoyed at the different adverts on the TV displaying messages from the likes of the Co-Op , GiffGaff and Microsoft. I’m cringing while watching to the point where I’m avoiding TV and sticking to Netflix. I feel as if there was such a race to create relevant ads representing community and family values, which has left me starting to resent the brands campaigning on my TV obviously trying to keep their empires afloat with ad revenue while they film their shop workers holding up various signs for a distasteful 40 second plug. The past 6 weeks of what’s felt like house arrest that I’ve undergone to be thankfully quite peaceful and generally I’ve adapted quite well aside from the few crying episodes. That is until I’m required to sit down and do work. I worked from home for my internship for the first 3 weeks to then be furloughed along with the rest of the country. I had settled into my work from home routine, I actually quite enjoyed it. The element of knowing I had to video call my boss at the end of the day and talk about what I had done, really made me work more. I now find it extremely hard to motivate myself to do work for my report or my SIP without any form of structure in my days. Despite how hard I try. I see on my instagram feed that what seems like everyone I follow is creating, mastering things like illustrator and cinema 4D and sometimes I can’t even be bothered turning the TV off before I go to sleep. Nevertheless, I might not be doing as much work as I should be but I’m certainly thinking about doing it - so I suppose I’m half way there. When I draw back on the discipline of noticing and how it relates to me, I think about my SIP and the work I’m trying to do for it. I am looking into the future of fashion workplaces which will eventually tie in with my thesis for year 3. I’m basing it on office spaces and wether or not they’ll become obsolete. I have managed to make a survey which I’m sending out to the people I’ve worked with in a fashion office to then make a small publication of their responses. While I’ve been there the company completely switched up their office set up to create a more agile way of working. The changes that this brought about were really positive in my opinion and the way of working genuinely improved. I’m looking forward to seeing what my colleagues think about office spaces though as I am one of the youngest members in the department, I was aware some of them didn’t quite take to the new work style. The positive of the pandemic around us is that it’s given me a lot of material to delve into for my research as well as a lot of changes I’m still witnessing first hand. The company I work for has had to adapt to an entirely remote way of working, as opposed to a cushy newly designed office space. Jobs like mine ( events/ VM ) were said to be ‘impossible’ from home, whereas although it’s challenging to communicate ideas at times it’s more than achievable. There has been clear changes like we communicate via webcam rather than coffee breaks and the new email sign off is ‘stay safe’ instead of ‘best’. However difficult the change as been to my team, we have managed to work efficiently and by introducing them to platforms like Wix websites and googledoc presentations, we’re able to digitise a lot of the manual presenting we did before. The change has been hard for the more senior members of the team who are less on board, so to say, with all this reliance on technology we’ve had to undergo and they would be happy things just ‘go back to normal’. However for now this is normal, and while there may of been initial prejudice I’m trying to embrace this situation and at some point when I gather the motivation - use it to my advantage. There is certainly a glimmer of home within the creative industries shining out every day with each new intuitive way of operating. Take the magazine covers being shot over FaceTime for example! I however do feel entirely out of touch with creating for some reason. After this year in industry I have certainly learnt I need to be in a creative environment in order to produce my best work, trying to inspire and motivate yourself surrounded by your teenage bedroom possessions isn’t the same as an office with likeminded people. I’m just hoping I can do my SIP and my report justice while I’m having to drag myself out of bed to sit at a desk and carry on with it. Mason, J., 2002. Researching your own practice: The discipline of noticing. Psychology Press. Sophie - BA Design for art direction
At the time of writing this I am still technically an intern, I’m just not currently working as nearly everyone within the company has been furloughed. I wanted to take this time to complete of of my required blog posts for DPS as well as get in some much needed writing prep before tackling my final report. I took a less conventional path as an Art Direction student, I worked in fashion specifically within the branding and communications department - specialising in events for a luxury e-commerce company. I chose this as although I do want to be an art director, I want to work in fashion specifically and this was a good way in. I have spent the best part of 9 months as an intern there, think devil wears prada but instead of New York - The Shard… I tell a lie, it wasn’t as bad as one might think and I actually did enjoy a large majority of my year even if there was an awful lot of tears involved throughout. I wanted to share some things I learnt from my first (almost) year working in the fashion industry. Fashion isn’t happy, its actually really stressful Behind every single extraordinary fashion moment, think Alexander Queen SS01, Rihanna’s 2018 Met Gala appearance and Chanel’s 2014 Grocery Store show is a team of highly talented, creative, and often highly stressed people. I have really had first hand experience of the sheer hard work that goes into every single element of the fashion industry. If you take into account that with every photoshoot often comes flawless outcomes. There are a team of interns, stylists, hair and makeup artists, set designers, art directors, production managers, photographers, editors, fashion houses, PR reps (to name the skeleton cast) involved to make this happen. Every garment is steamed and prepped in the hope to be used. Behind each cover shoot no one thinks about the intern sat on the central line at 5pm with 3 ball gowns in suit bags transporting them by hand to a photo studio in bethnal green (yes, that was me multiple times). Although fashion is and will always continue to be deemed art, it takes an awful lot to execute something that a viewer would consider so small. Appreciate how hard people work around you and if they seem stressed, they probably are. I found it’s always good to try your best not to add to their stress You don’t always need a fashion eduction (unless you’re wanting to be a designer, then go ahead) This is something I have seen spoken about a lot and even debated about myself after attending LCF for a year. I genuinely believe having a fashion education is rather pointless. In my case you learn from seeing and doing. You can learn a valuable lesson from every single person you meet - post room operatives often being the most wise and tent to provide as a great person to confide in. A lesson I learnt the hard way, label the samples thoroughly that you’re about to send in a taxi halfway across London for an influencer to wear because no, they don’t have the time to open the garment bags and see what’s in there for themselves! What a fashion school may teach you like essential designer knowledge and trend forecasting you might not need for a long while. Knowing how to steam clothes well, having a good speed packing gift bags and knowing how to answer emails efficiently then you’re good to go. The knowledge about the ins and outs of the industry comes once you’re mastered the above I found. Fake it til’ you make it Touching upon my previous education point, google is and will forever be your best friend. Working on the door at shows and events, utilise the search engine you have on that iPad! You want to know the likes of Suzy Menkes and Amanda Harlech. You're inevitably going to come across these people and knowing their faces (even if you did just google them in the toilets ) will only be an advantage and less embarrassing when you ask them if they’re on the list or not. Fashion Week is Not Glamorous. Unless you’re an Influencer What is an illustrious fantasy to most, may just be the worst/ simultaneously best week of your life! Think no sleep, uber eats in an office at 2:30 in the morning for a few nights on the row, bags upon bags of paper invitations you’re having to map out by postcode and hand deliver around London (thank you city mapper). You will not want your photo taken by anyone once you’re two days in and you will be able to recite a seating plan off by heart if you trusted enough to have anything to do with it! The closest you will most likely get to a #sponsored post at an influencers dinner is when you’re sat waiting for it to finish so you can help the production team clean up. Also a quick spoiler - though it says fashion week in the name, its actually fashion month. Weekends Are Essential If you work the traditional 9-5 with the odd weekend here and there you’ve hit the jackpot. Weekends should be a sacred two days where you do everything not to think about the commute to sit in a boxed in fashion cupboard for 12 hours of the day where you end up talking to the steamer. I learnt the hard way there's no need to answer work emails at 10 PM—turn off your phone and breathe when you can because as corny as it sounds, fashion doesn’t sleep but that’s not to say you shouldn’t. People will either think you’re going to have a breakdown if your replying at 3am or you’re drunk. Neither should be the desired goal. Be Yourself (the dreaded cliché) In my first months I really struggled to fit in where I worked. Being a student working in an environment where everyone seems so glamorous in their gifted designer samples you seem to think your Zara two piece doesn’t really cut it. Well, it does. As long as you’re determined, passionate and are someone who can hold a good conversation with your coworkers whilst in an uber - you’re set. I really found the thing that shines the most regardless of what you wear is your personality and if you’re up for a bit of a laugh and prepared to get stuck in you’ll settle in. And then you’ll maybe find some sample sales among the way.. because who doesn’t love cheap clothes? Claudia O-Wydrzynska Ba Graphic and Media Design When thinking about how the pandemic crisis has effected the creative industries, I can’t say if it’s negative or positive - it’s just different. Although artists can’t use certain workspaces and can’t physically collaborate - they overcome the troubles of staying at home in the most creative ways. Personally, the quarantine has actually given me time to finish off old projects, dip into unknown territory and do some open briefs, which I would consider doing while working full-time but I would never actually get to do them. I now have time to focus on my internship - even if it is only for 2 days per week, I was quite behind because of work. Recently I stumbled upon a logo competition from future brew and managed to plan out and send a finished logo in one day. Some days are filled out with creativity and inspiration - others are filled with procrastination and only procrastination. As for the creative communities there are many great projects that wouldn’t have been started if there was no COVID -19. Creatives are using loads of different platforms in ways never seen before. Zoom has become quite popular nowadays as people use it to host video conferences and such. This platform was used by stopmotion designer Erwin Van Den IJssel to make this year’s titles for the Playgrounds exhibition. This is a great example of how collaboration can form something spectacular and exciting. A platform with designer backgrounds for video calls has also been launched - it’s called Got Your Back and offers free to download artworks. Studio Ghibli also shared a range of backdrops. Even Animal Crossing which has become very popular since it came out in March is being used to share creative work with Getty’s art generator, where you can scan a piece of art into the game. There are many virtual galleries that have been created due to the pandemic - they are all a bit different but have the same goal in mind, to show artwork in a virtual space so that people can have the gallery experience online. Implied Gallery which is my favourite one so far as it lets you walk around (using the wasd keys just like in a game) a number of rooms where artworks are „hung” on the walls. They range from tablecloths to digital art. Epoch gallery is based in a virtual collapsed building in the middle of the ocean. With Google Maps style navigation it allows people to look at a number of paintings, prints and sculptures. Freewall Space is another great creative platform, it showcases contemporary art which is changed to a different piece every day at 15.00 (BMT). There is also an archive which users can go to see the previous featured artworks. Not cancelled is a non-profit week-long digital art event featuring Warsaw and Paris galleries. The website showcases artworks from different artists which include the prices if anyone would be interested in buying the pieces. Platform:London brings together 12 London galleries presenting shows that have been canceled or cut short due to the corona virus. Cyber Sanctuaries - is what I would describe as something I have never seen before. This exhibition shows the struggles and coping mechanisms of life in lockdown in a different light. This is a platform that is designed to take you on a virtual retreat where you can travel through space (with sounds included), be abundant, ground yourself in the city of Warsaw and do a smartphone cleanse meditation. This is an amazing experience overall and I highly suggest checking out the page: https://specter.world/CyberSanctuaries. I was also very pleasantly surprised to see that Noviki - a polish design studio based in Warsaw took part in this project too. They did part 2 Grounding which is quite bizarre - like most of their work. There are other great creatives whose work you can see there, I really liked the digital patterns in Expand made by Pinar&Viola. There is also an open call to submit a virtual cocoon.
Overall there is much struggle because of the pandemic but there are loads of opportunities that can let us explore our practice and maybe even try out something we never thought of doing. The only thing we can do is to stay safe, make the most of the free time that we have and support each other. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2022
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