William Lyons, GMD - Written February 20th, 2020 Since my last blog post, I have managed to secure a position as an intern at Kino Design, a renowned London based branding design studio. I’m coming to the end of my time here and it has been a fantastic experience. I have been working alongside a small but excellent group of designers who are all very understanding of the role of an intern and it feels as though my position is being treated in more of a professional manner. I have mainly been working on a single branding project for the airline and hospitality however, due to a non-disclosure agreement, I am unable to mention more of the project details. I can mention that I have been working mostly with UI/UX design; a discipline which I found very intimidating before my time at Kino. We are currently developing an app alongside the branded assets which is a fantastic opportunity for me to develop my disciplinary skills and understand a different side of the industry within a professional context. During my time at Kino, I also started to take a course in Sign Writing; the traditional craft of hand painting letters for advertisements and branding projects. The course is held by Nick Garrett an artist with over 40 years of experience in the trade and fills an entire weekend with gaining the professional knowledge to push amateur calligraphers and designers to start sign painting for paid jobs. After the weekend course was finished, I reached out to Nick and expressed how much I enjoyed learning from him and he agreed to let me work alongside him at his studio for a few weeks afterwards. I have always been fascinated with the hands made aspects of sign writing as I feel that it would be a perfect professional context to present my style of work in. I have been working with nick on a range of projects mostly with the intention to benefit my skills of the trade. While working at his south London based studio, I aided him in the creation of a very large board commissioned by the Shoreditch based pub, Truman’s Brewery. I have been working on developing my sign writing skills for a couple of weeks now and I’m looking forward to finding jobs in which I can put my abilities into practice. Besides working in studios around London, I have continued to freelance and recently completed an album cover for a close friend of mine. Although the project sounds seemingly insubstantial, I felt that it was a great opportunity to provide a context for my unusual style of design; a truly autonomous brief where I was chosen for my specific capabilities within certain disciplines. I plan to continue my sign writing endeavours and I’ve even decided to commit to purchasing the correct materials in order to paint from home. One thing that really fascinated me during my time with Nick was that he was insistent on using the highest standard of tools for the job. I had always understood the adage “it’s not the pencil, but the hand of the artist”, however this has been completely undermined by Nick Garrett, who believes that without the correct tools and materials, the mediums quality decreases vastly.
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