OUGD602 Final Evaluation & Plans

OUGD602 Final Evaluation & Plans

Evaluation

I have found PPP very rewarding this year, its been great to begin getting EQUIP noticed through Leeds Print Festival and Creative review, holding our first screen print workshop that went very smoothly with future plans for more over the summer. Printing the Leeds Print Festival posters from something more allowed us to make a step in the right direction when it came to providing commercial screen print services, producing someone else's work rather than doing self indulgent projects we added much more thought and focus into the outcome. 

Doing a lot of live briefs and exhibition work has for me allowed me too really push external presence while launching the equip website will allow an online output of our work.

Personally though within my own practice I have lacked focus, putting all external effort into PPP, towards the end of the year it began to dawn on me that I needed to start getting some clients. A good portfolio of work was needed to obtain this, so I spent a few days compiling together and reproducing work to professionally shoot it ready to prepare a portfolio for surgeries to help me develop it to gain more work. Freelance work will always be something I take on wether I'm employed or doing Equip there will always be personal freelance work to as a whole gain recognition of you as a person or Equip. This and carrying on self indulgent projects and the pushing of a Risograph printer puts me or Equip firmly into a position within the creative sector that merges experimental print and print distribution. The end goal too be like Ditto who provide print services and a publishing company the difference been here I want to sell my own work as well as providing a vessel for other creatives products.

The visiting professionals who set us live projects and briefs gave me a taste of timescales and requirements for real life working practices, Im really looking foreword too scrapping the in depth documentation of every detail within a design process and focusing on my outcome without all these distractions diluting the idea. I feel I will get a lot more work done and make better use of my time and really begin to push my practice and potential employment.

I could have done a lot more research into studios I aspire too work for or aspire too be like when starting my own thing, focusing on the work I have been producing has been the distraction away from this while COP and the heavy theoretical approach I have had this year hasn't helped either, the manifesto we planned for EQUIP didn't go as smooth either due too the work and time balance but its something we will carry on pushing as its a very important element of the brand, it will be nice now not to rush it and really focus on creating high quality pieces with even more focused concepts to resonate our practice.

The final point that really benefited me this year was the DBA Hyperloop brief, allowing me to work with a number of creatives that had a range of skillets we produced a very well informed outcome that showed good time management and delegation between us showing another element of collaboration along side mine and Joe Lindleys Equip studio. The feedback we received from the DBA directors was priceless too, giving us all a shock when it came too the delivery of an idea, what we thought was the cutting edge and perfectly refined and delivered was shot down but allowed us to learn a lot about how we approach and present a problem.

Overall though throughout the 3 years from all the visiting professionals and live briefs and competitions I have really developed and focused the area I want too be within and have a real direction for the next few years for myself and for Equip. Its going to be really busy but these 3 years have certainly prepared me for that.

Plans

Through a number of upcoming portfolio surgeries I hope too develop all the best work I have created into a well developed outcome and fully understand how to present it too the best of its abilities while communicating the story of the brief and the resolution both with how the portfolio is presented but how I present it verbally to studios. The end goal will be too get an internship so I can begin applying everything I have learnt over my 3 years at university too a real world environment. mainly the;

Interaction with clients

Doing live briefs for commercial clients

Expanding on how too solve specific problems that are not directed by me and what I want but what the client needs.

Learning about the professional delivery of jobs, not just printing it out using the facilities at university. Contacting printers or contacting other production companies for example its not always about packaging an indeisgn file with the colours, fonts and images for a printer to produce. You could need something physical making like a sculptural outcome or maybe something screen printed on a mass scale. All these interactions from the sourcing of the printer too the dialogue are things I need to learn

I will be continuing pushing EQUIP with Joe with all these things I learn when I get an Internship, I say when very hopefully but I feel continuing pushing the presentation of my current work and pushing my freelance work to produce more work I will gain a better chance of employment.

The plans of providing experimental print and design services will be carried on if I don't get this placement within a residency at LCA, and whatever else happens I will still be buying a Risograph printer as the start of us offering print services. We got a taste for commercial printing within the LCA poster printing so we want to carry this on within other avenues as well as gaining exposure and selling our work at print fairs and holding mini exhibitions and more workshops through mine and Joe's contacts at areas around Leeds. 

Personal - Portfolio & Surgeries

Personal - Portfolio & Surgeries 

PDF Portfolio
Its important to have a physical portfolio to show the quality of your work and process's and a lot of studios ask for a PDF preview before inviting you in to see your physical portfolio. My portfolio can be adapted and manipulated to suit the studio I am sending it too, keeping a breadth of work in it to allow a range of work too be presented however I choose to assemble it.

The contents system will equally be customisable too add a snapshot and preview and add basic context too the work.

The description of the works are kept as concise as possible, outlining the basis of the brief, the problem and presenting a short but concise description of the resolution that adds context and meaning too bold and clear photographs of the work. 

Contacted so far
From now I until the next few months I want to begin getting my portfolio out there, in a bid too gain feedback on my work and allowing me to begin developing how I present it too show each projects potentials and overall allow me to have a body of work I can talk clearly and confidently about.

Portfolio surgeries will benefit this and so far I am in arrangement for 2 visits with Lee Goater and Lee Davies from Peter & Paul after sending him a PDF snapshot of my portfolio. 

Studio Research - Aspirations & Possible Contacts

Studio Research - Aspirations & Possible Contacts

As a means of focusing on an end goal for my own aspirations be it employment or where I want to position and develop my own personal practice or PPP a number of studios that approach Graphic design with a consideration of Print, Technology and Strong research will be gathered.

The end goal been to run a studio like this, with at first working with or for them too gain the knowledge required too develop a business of this standard. 

Ditto Press

Focused and bold experimental approach

Not scared of offending

Publishing brand to sell books

Offer print services

Multiple print services my end goal ideally having different printers traditional and modern

Catalogue

Sell there own prints and publications, a great way of gaining exposure and recognition while going too a lot of print fairs and exhibition

Bring other interests into there online presence something I want to expand on with a lifestyle blog

Contemporary aesthetic

Atlas

International presence, an end goal showing location isn't a limitation with a good internet presence

Produce a lot of cultural work

Undertake briefs in a brave way, showing they take restrictions too the limit. There confidence is obviously what clients like.

SPIN

Merge the contemporary with the traditional when it comes too communicating brands they approach the outcome using contemporary values but still maintain typical brand deliveries using typography as a focus for carrying tone of voice and a focused attention to emulating the clients services. 

Risotto

A very playful studio that supports the colours within risographs, playing off there main business focus within there business model probably the most established risograph printers out there using there delivery and presence of providing print services too also sell print that ranges from home-ware application too stationery showing multiple target market considerations. 

People of Print

As I learn coding I want to establish an online presence through a lifestyle blog that will then feed into a design blog, eventually been able to release zines of all the best content like People of Print. The only difference with my model would be the focus of the merge between technology and print rather than a traditional print process, targeting at the contemporary creative sector.

Workhorse Press

Another risograph studio, been in contact with these for a few years and fully appreciate what there doing using the risograph as an output for there quirky illustrations which brings in attention to the services they offer gaining UK wide recognition from there scottish base. They go too all print fairs in the UK to gain this wide reach, something we will learn from really trying to push our presence. 

Made By Field Work

A studio that fully appreciates the progression of technology while still maintaining a feeling of craft, something I have been focusing on all year and somewhere I will be contacting once my portfolio is perfected as I could learn a great deal from these guys approach to expand my application of craft within considerations of technology.

Alan Kitchin, Ian Anderson & Danny Leigh Talk's

Alan Kitchin, Ian Anderson & Danny Leigh Talk's

Obtained a ticket for the Print Festival talk and had a great day and come out feeling very inspired and educated from a number of creatives and professionals who approach and appreciate a range of subjects, showing how multiple disciplines can come together to create a very well informed delivery of subjects.

The overall theme was obviously print so it was nice to hear such a varied number of opinions from different practitioners and has certainly informed my thoughts too the process.  I took a number of notes and formed a few opinions from them to take foreword. 

Ian Anderson

As long as the outcome is off screen Ian considers the outcome as print based, this is his focus on the print process. Anything away from the screen. 

The process doesn't have to be as organic and messy as screen-printing, letterpress or purely hand on crafts.

Screen print is now trying to replicate digital print, losing its character it once had, its tactility within imperfections and the idea of happy accidents, I fully agree with this statements and the accidents from slight bleeds too offsets and miss registrations is what makes this process so appealing to me. 

The idea of controlling a glitch and the idea of using mistakes within even digital print process's creates a repurposing of these past print happy accidents. 

Less is more is an excuse for minimal thought process and asthetic application, I fully agree here I used too be very minimal in my approach but now I like too add a variety of process's and visuals as I feel each individual entity can strengthen a whole design outcome. 

Repurpose a design output to your own, add your own technique to screen printing, im trying this at current with the incorporation of digital screen printing, merging digital and screen printing together through a lot of my work. 

Danny Leigh

Talking about film posters and there context.

1983 Fly posters pasted on boards on abandoned London houses, creating a certain aesthetic within run down areas in London. 

Original film posters focused on promoting an experience, not snapshots of the scenes of the film. I agree with this, theres an element of interaction lost within poster design and I feel its through the detachment through digital technologies. 

1950s introduced the idea of taglines bringing in marketing techniques taking it away from been pure visuals and started to apply the use of language and added context to support the visuals, showing real thought process's in every stage of making a poster. 

Alan Kitchin

This talk will go on to influence one of my most substantial projects within EP. See here.

His ideas on if he doesnt own it he makes it resonates with how I want to make a laser cut typeface that shows the limitations of letterpress. 

Influenced by the Bahaus. 

Albertus is the most used typeface, consider this when repurposing a typeface synonymous with the mass distribution of information as an expansion of my COP within EP.

Multiple collaborations with Monotype, showing there appreciation too there origins through the collaboration with an artist that uses the origins of type distribution as his sole practice.

Got his email to send him my letterpress project and a signed book too:) 

EQUIP - Studio Plans Plans Plans

EQUIP - Studio Plans Plans Plans

Me and Joe put together a business plan providing a run down of basic costs, predicted incomes and our current plans as a collective for the year and after this year. 

EQUIP - Website

EQUIP - Website

A simple continuous page website was created too act as a visual collation of all our work, with a sub page acting as a blog for our creative influences and our day to day activities. We felt it was important to show what goes on behind a creative agency that is just starting up, its honest and adds an insight too what influences there creative practice. Rather than just a presentation of there work and no context or meaning too who designs it.

Obviously keep things clean but references too music and day activities can show outside influence, this will help when it comes too clients who dont fully understand the full creative process's if they can relate to something your interested in or see your interested in real life things it will give them more confidence in the brand. 

The alteration of black backgrounds and white photoshoot backgrounds shows the contrast in approaches and possible resolutions we offer, ranging from conceptual branding too research projects too experimental and contemporary print outcomes showing a full breadth of work in a simple set of formats.