Ask me: I'm a Design Lecturer...

As I get lots and lots of questions about help with design, projects, and general design advice- instead of having to sift through my jamesydesign blog, I though it beneficial to have a blog that you can ask questions to and see what problems others are having and ask for any advice you may need!
I promised you a good post! We’ve got an interview with an amazing individual, and an even more amazing illustrator Jordan Debney! We hope you are going to be just as excited as we were when New Zealander Jordan Debney and his amazingly crazy illustrations crossed our paths! Join us as we discover more about this fantastic illustrator and just actually what a ‘Quadricorn’ actually is… DL: Tell us about who you are Jordan and what you do?JD: Well I am a male human being, (self proclaimed) artist from New Zealand (it’s that tiny speck in the lower right hand of a generic map of the world). I have a great love for monsters and all things repulsive, horror movies and ice cream. I attempt to fuse all of those things into visually pleasing pieces of artwork.DL: Do you remember the first time you felt that design was the career path you wanted to take?JD: I have always enjoyed drawing as a child. I used to imitate drawings from comics and the collectable ‘Dragon Ball Z’ cards all through primary school and never actually knew I could make a career out of it. Although I always knew I wanted to work with art, I just never knew how. Enough drawing kind of made a career of itself. The more I drew, the better I got, the better I got, the more people started approaching me for artwork for their clothing line and album covers. Consider it a growing entity that can’t stop feeding. A: How would you describe your design style to our readers - and how would you describe your creative process?JD: I often find myself playing with mixtures of cornflour and water for hours, (you know, how it goes really fluid-like as well as a solid). I observe and concentrate on various parts the mixture as it flows down different shaped objects I find lying around. I do this for visual pleasure, as well as a creative study. I find it fascinating, as I try to share that fascination into my art work. It’s just a matter of making it flow and work well. I like to focus on folds of the flesh and disfigurements of the visual appearance while incorporating things that are usually considered ‘positive’ and bright colors. I usually get mixed reactions from people when they see my art, they don’t know whether to recoil in fright or give it a hug. Probably the only time a vomiting horned monster could ever be considered ‘beautiful’. A screaming monster riding the back of an ice cream is so ironic that it’s comical. DL: Has there been one person who has had a real influence on you, and your art work?JD: There have been many people that have influenced my artwork, as well have experiences. I didn’t want to be one of those alcohol driven people that don’t end up doing anything with their life. I want to succeed and be able to say I haven’t wasted my limited time on this earth. So I went with the one thing I knew I could do, and that was drawing. I look up to and admire the people I consider most creative. Trent Reznor for his music, Zack Snyder for his movies, James Jean and Alex Pardee for their art. I can always know that whatever happens, I will always have the things that these people do most creatively to keep me going. Seeing creativity fuels my creativity, and I have an unlimited source of it.DL: What has been your favourite piece of art you have worked on so far, what makes it your favorite?JD: That would have to be my ‘Quadricorn’ piece. (Shown at the top) What could be more awesome than a four horned horse with pincer hooves engulfed in gravity defying fluid?!DL: If there was one person from the creative world you could sit down with and have a chat with who would it be?JD: Firstly it would have to be Alex Pardee. Secondly, it would be more of a food fight, dressed as original gangsters, with marshmallow shoes and Chewbacca masks. During the violent toss of the pizza we would be telling a horror story that would make Rob Zombie’s head explode.DL: Have you ever been asked to do a piece of work that you turned down? If you did - how did you approach this to the prospective client?JD: A few weeks ago I got asked to commission a shirt design that infuriated me. They asked for me to design them a shirt with a specific character from a specific artist. I responded suggesting that they ask the ACTUAL artist to design the shirt instead. Artists should be approached because they like their style and their art, not to imitate another artists style or characters.DL: With the current climate in the world, how has this affected the art and illustration industry in New Zealand? JD: The art industry in New Zealand is very small in comparison to other art industries, everyone seems to ‘know of’ everyone. Using the internet as a tool to get your art seen is very achievable, but that can only go so far when you live in such an isolated country as New Zealand. The ‘word of mouth’ usually doesn’t even leave the shores of New Zealand, so being spotted for exhibitions in other countries best contemporary galleries and magazines is limited to ‘accidentally’ being stumbled across over the internet or books, and not to mention even more pressure to make a decent impression. Haha, I hope this answer is relative to what you were asking. (It was aha! .DL)DL: What advice would you give to other art and design students about how to develop their own creative style?JD: I’d suggest you first find your artistic medium and start from there. Each day just draw and draw and draw, you don’t even have to show anybody. Surround yourself with your favorite inspirations and artists you admire most. A style will eventually develop and your instinct will take it from there.DL: Finally, do you think that creative talent is being lost due to the lack of ‘obvious’ opportunities on offer to designers? JD: Yes indeed, and have discovered that it is very difficult to get your name into the art world, it will often require you to do work for free. You have to physically shove it into people’s faces and to do so making an impression that will be remembered. I’ve known of people with a huge amount of talent to just give up and do something that’s “easier”. So yes I do believe that talent is being lost and unseen. It’s just a matter of not giving up before the opportunities are available for you. I hope this was a great insight into the mind of a brilliant up and coming illustrator - and as an owner of a couple of fantastic pieces of work by Jordan I can honestly say that until you see his painted work or illustrations in the flesh you cannot honestly believe how fantastically detailed they are! (as i’m writing this i’m drawn to the huge Mars Attacks print framed and adorning my wall right now!) Hopefully we will have lots more up and coming designers being interviewed here to give you all a bit of a break from just my voice!!…and i’m still banging through the questions so if I haven’t answered yet I will!! Hope you enjoyed the show!J. Find more out about Jordan at www.eyerupture.com I promised you a good post! We’ve got an interview with an amazing individual, and an even more amazing illustrator Jordan Debney! We hope you are going to be just as excited as we were when New Zealander Jordan Debney and his amazingly crazy illustrations crossed our paths! Join us as we discover more about this fantastic illustrator and just actually what a ‘Quadricorn’ actually is… DL: Tell us about who you are Jordan and what you do?JD: Well I am a male human being, (self proclaimed) artist from New Zealand (it’s that tiny speck in the lower right hand of a generic map of the world). I have a great love for monsters and all things repulsive, horror movies and ice cream. I attempt to fuse all of those things into visually pleasing pieces of artwork.DL: Do you remember the first time you felt that design was the career path you wanted to take?JD: I have always enjoyed drawing as a child. I used to imitate drawings from comics and the collectable ‘Dragon Ball Z’ cards all through primary school and never actually knew I could make a career out of it. Although I always knew I wanted to work with art, I just never knew how. Enough drawing kind of made a career of itself. The more I drew, the better I got, the better I got, the more people started approaching me for artwork for their clothing line and album covers. Consider it a growing entity that can’t stop feeding. A: How would you describe your design style to our readers - and how would you describe your creative process?JD: I often find myself playing with mixtures of cornflour and water for hours, (you know, how it goes really fluid-like as well as a solid). I observe and concentrate on various parts the mixture as it flows down different shaped objects I find lying around. I do this for visual pleasure, as well as a creative study. I find it fascinating, as I try to share that fascination into my art work. It’s just a matter of making it flow and work well. I like to focus on folds of the flesh and disfigurements of the visual appearance while incorporating things that are usually considered ‘positive’ and bright colors. I usually get mixed reactions from people when they see my art, they don’t know whether to recoil in fright or give it a hug. Probably the only time a vomiting horned monster could ever be considered ‘beautiful’. A screaming monster riding the back of an ice cream is so ironic that it’s comical. DL: Has there been one person who has had a real influence on you, and your art work?JD: There have been many people that have influenced my artwork, as well have experiences. I didn’t want to be one of those alcohol driven people that don’t end up doing anything with their life. I want to succeed and be able to say I haven’t wasted my limited time on this earth. So I went with the one thing I knew I could do, and that was drawing. I look up to and admire the people I consider most creative. Trent Reznor for his music, Zack Snyder for his movies, James Jean and Alex Pardee for their art. I can always know that whatever happens, I will always have the things that these people do most creatively to keep me going. Seeing creativity fuels my creativity, and I have an unlimited source of it.DL: What has been your favourite piece of art you have worked on so far, what makes it your favorite?JD: That would have to be my ‘Quadricorn’ piece. (Shown at the top) What could be more awesome than a four horned horse with pincer hooves engulfed in gravity defying fluid?!DL: If there was one person from the creative world you could sit down with and have a chat with who would it be?JD: Firstly it would have to be Alex Pardee. Secondly, it would be more of a food fight, dressed as original gangsters, with marshmallow shoes and Chewbacca masks. During the violent toss of the pizza we would be telling a horror story that would make Rob Zombie’s head explode.DL: Have you ever been asked to do a piece of work that you turned down? If you did - how did you approach this to the prospective client?JD: A few weeks ago I got asked to commission a shirt design that infuriated me. They asked for me to design them a shirt with a specific character from a specific artist. I responded suggesting that they ask the ACTUAL artist to design the shirt instead. Artists should be approached because they like their style and their art, not to imitate another artists style or characters.DL: With the current climate in the world, how has this affected the art and illustration industry in New Zealand? JD: The art industry in New Zealand is very small in comparison to other art industries, everyone seems to ‘know of’ everyone. Using the internet as a tool to get your art seen is very achievable, but that can only go so far when you live in such an isolated country as New Zealand. The ‘word of mouth’ usually doesn’t even leave the shores of New Zealand, so being spotted for exhibitions in other countries best contemporary galleries and magazines is limited to ‘accidentally’ being stumbled across over the internet or books, and not to mention even more pressure to make a decent impression. Haha, I hope this answer is relative to what you were asking. (It was aha! .DL)DL: What advice would you give to other art and design students about how to develop their own creative style?JD: I’d suggest you first find your artistic medium and start from there. Each day just draw and draw and draw, you don’t even have to show anybody. Surround yourself with your favorite inspirations and artists you admire most. A style will eventually develop and your instinct will take it from there.DL: Finally, do you think that creative talent is being lost due to the lack of ‘obvious’ opportunities on offer to designers? JD: Yes indeed, and have discovered that it is very difficult to get your name into the art world, it will often require you to do work for free. You have to physically shove it into people’s faces and to do so making an impression that will be remembered. I’ve known of people with a huge amount of talent to just give up and do something that’s “easier”. So yes I do believe that talent is being lost and unseen. It’s just a matter of not giving up before the opportunities are available for you. I hope this was a great insight into the mind of a brilliant up and coming illustrator - and as an owner of a couple of fantastic pieces of work by Jordan I can honestly say that until you see his painted work or illustrations in the flesh you cannot honestly believe how fantastically detailed they are! (as i’m writing this i’m drawn to the huge Mars Attacks print framed and adorning my wall right now!) Hopefully we will have lots more up and coming designers being interviewed here to give you all a bit of a break from just my voice!!…and i’m still banging through the questions so if I haven’t answered yet I will!! Hope you enjoyed the show!J. Find more out about Jordan at www.eyerupture.com I promised you a good post! We’ve got an interview with an amazing individual, and an even more amazing illustrator Jordan Debney! We hope you are going to be just as excited as we were when New Zealander Jordan Debney and his amazingly crazy illustrations crossed our paths! Join us as we discover more about this fantastic illustrator and just actually what a ‘Quadricorn’ actually is… DL: Tell us about who you are Jordan and what you do?JD: Well I am a male human being, (self proclaimed) artist from New Zealand (it’s that tiny speck in the lower right hand of a generic map of the world). I have a great love for monsters and all things repulsive, horror movies and ice cream. I attempt to fuse all of those things into visually pleasing pieces of artwork.DL: Do you remember the first time you felt that design was the career path you wanted to take?JD: I have always enjoyed drawing as a child. I used to imitate drawings from comics and the collectable ‘Dragon Ball Z’ cards all through primary school and never actually knew I could make a career out of it. Although I always knew I wanted to work with art, I just never knew how. Enough drawing kind of made a career of itself. The more I drew, the better I got, the better I got, the more people started approaching me for artwork for their clothing line and album covers. Consider it a growing entity that can’t stop feeding. A: How would you describe your design style to our readers - and how would you describe your creative process?JD: I often find myself playing with mixtures of cornflour and water for hours, (you know, how it goes really fluid-like as well as a solid). I observe and concentrate on various parts the mixture as it flows down different shaped objects I find lying around. I do this for visual pleasure, as well as a creative study. I find it fascinating, as I try to share that fascination into my art work. It’s just a matter of making it flow and work well. I like to focus on folds of the flesh and disfigurements of the visual appearance while incorporating things that are usually considered ‘positive’ and bright colors. I usually get mixed reactions from people when they see my art, they don’t know whether to recoil in fright or give it a hug. Probably the only time a vomiting horned monster could ever be considered ‘beautiful’. A screaming monster riding the back of an ice cream is so ironic that it’s comical. DL: Has there been one person who has had a real influence on you, and your art work?JD: There have been many people that have influenced my artwork, as well have experiences. I didn’t want to be one of those alcohol driven people that don’t end up doing anything with their life. I want to succeed and be able to say I haven’t wasted my limited time on this earth. So I went with the one thing I knew I could do, and that was drawing. I look up to and admire the people I consider most creative. Trent Reznor for his music, Zack Snyder for his movies, James Jean and Alex Pardee for their art. I can always know that whatever happens, I will always have the things that these people do most creatively to keep me going. Seeing creativity fuels my creativity, and I have an unlimited source of it.DL: What has been your favourite piece of art you have worked on so far, what makes it your favorite?JD: That would have to be my ‘Quadricorn’ piece. (Shown at the top) What could be more awesome than a four horned horse with pincer hooves engulfed in gravity defying fluid?!DL: If there was one person from the creative world you could sit down with and have a chat with who would it be?JD: Firstly it would have to be Alex Pardee. Secondly, it would be more of a food fight, dressed as original gangsters, with marshmallow shoes and Chewbacca masks. During the violent toss of the pizza we would be telling a horror story that would make Rob Zombie’s head explode.DL: Have you ever been asked to do a piece of work that you turned down? If you did - how did you approach this to the prospective client?JD: A few weeks ago I got asked to commission a shirt design that infuriated me. They asked for me to design them a shirt with a specific character from a specific artist. I responded suggesting that they ask the ACTUAL artist to design the shirt instead. Artists should be approached because they like their style and their art, not to imitate another artists style or characters.DL: With the current climate in the world, how has this affected the art and illustration industry in New Zealand? JD: The art industry in New Zealand is very small in comparison to other art industries, everyone seems to ‘know of’ everyone. Using the internet as a tool to get your art seen is very achievable, but that can only go so far when you live in such an isolated country as New Zealand. The ‘word of mouth’ usually doesn’t even leave the shores of New Zealand, so being spotted for exhibitions in other countries best contemporary galleries and magazines is limited to ‘accidentally’ being stumbled across over the internet or books, and not to mention even more pressure to make a decent impression. Haha, I hope this answer is relative to what you were asking. (It was aha! .DL)DL: What advice would you give to other art and design students about how to develop their own creative style?JD: I’d suggest you first find your artistic medium and start from there. Each day just draw and draw and draw, you don’t even have to show anybody. Surround yourself with your favorite inspirations and artists you admire most. A style will eventually develop and your instinct will take it from there.DL: Finally, do you think that creative talent is being lost due to the lack of ‘obvious’ opportunities on offer to designers? JD: Yes indeed, and have discovered that it is very difficult to get your name into the art world, it will often require you to do work for free. You have to physically shove it into people’s faces and to do so making an impression that will be remembered. I’ve known of people with a huge amount of talent to just give up and do something that’s “easier”. So yes I do believe that talent is being lost and unseen. It’s just a matter of not giving up before the opportunities are available for you. I hope this was a great insight into the mind of a brilliant up and coming illustrator - and as an owner of a couple of fantastic pieces of work by Jordan I can honestly say that until you see his painted work or illustrations in the flesh you cannot honestly believe how fantastically detailed they are! (as i’m writing this i’m drawn to the huge Mars Attacks print framed and adorning my wall right now!) Hopefully we will have lots more up and coming designers being interviewed here to give you all a bit of a break from just my voice!!…and i’m still banging through the questions so if I haven’t answered yet I will!! Hope you enjoyed the show!J. Find more out about Jordan at www.eyerupture.com I promised you a good post! We’ve got an interview with an amazing individual, and an even more amazing illustrator Jordan Debney! We hope you are going to be just as excited as we were when New Zealander Jordan Debney and his amazingly crazy illustrations crossed our paths! Join us as we discover more about this fantastic illustrator and just actually what a ‘Quadricorn’ actually is… DL: Tell us about who you are Jordan and what you do?JD: Well I am a male human being, (self proclaimed) artist from New Zealand (it’s that tiny speck in the lower right hand of a generic map of the world). I have a great love for monsters and all things repulsive, horror movies and ice cream. I attempt to fuse all of those things into visually pleasing pieces of artwork.DL: Do you remember the first time you felt that design was the career path you wanted to take?JD: I have always enjoyed drawing as a child. I used to imitate drawings from comics and the collectable ‘Dragon Ball Z’ cards all through primary school and never actually knew I could make a career out of it. Although I always knew I wanted to work with art, I just never knew how. Enough drawing kind of made a career of itself. The more I drew, the better I got, the better I got, the more people started approaching me for artwork for their clothing line and album covers. Consider it a growing entity that can’t stop feeding. A: How would you describe your design style to our readers - and how would you describe your creative process?JD: I often find myself playing with mixtures of cornflour and water for hours, (you know, how it goes really fluid-like as well as a solid). I observe and concentrate on various parts the mixture as it flows down different shaped objects I find lying around. I do this for visual pleasure, as well as a creative study. I find it fascinating, as I try to share that fascination into my art work. It’s just a matter of making it flow and work well. I like to focus on folds of the flesh and disfigurements of the visual appearance while incorporating things that are usually considered ‘positive’ and bright colors. I usually get mixed reactions from people when they see my art, they don’t know whether to recoil in fright or give it a hug. Probably the only time a vomiting horned monster could ever be considered ‘beautiful’. A screaming monster riding the back of an ice cream is so ironic that it’s comical. DL: Has there been one person who has had a real influence on you, and your art work?JD: There have been many people that have influenced my artwork, as well have experiences. I didn’t want to be one of those alcohol driven people that don’t end up doing anything with their life. I want to succeed and be able to say I haven’t wasted my limited time on this earth. So I went with the one thing I knew I could do, and that was drawing. I look up to and admire the people I consider most creative. Trent Reznor for his music, Zack Snyder for his movies, James Jean and Alex Pardee for their art. I can always know that whatever happens, I will always have the things that these people do most creatively to keep me going. Seeing creativity fuels my creativity, and I have an unlimited source of it.DL: What has been your favourite piece of art you have worked on so far, what makes it your favorite?JD: That would have to be my ‘Quadricorn’ piece. (Shown at the top) What could be more awesome than a four horned horse with pincer hooves engulfed in gravity defying fluid?!DL: If there was one person from the creative world you could sit down with and have a chat with who would it be?JD: Firstly it would have to be Alex Pardee. Secondly, it would be more of a food fight, dressed as original gangsters, with marshmallow shoes and Chewbacca masks. During the violent toss of the pizza we would be telling a horror story that would make Rob Zombie’s head explode.DL: Have you ever been asked to do a piece of work that you turned down? If you did - how did you approach this to the prospective client?JD: A few weeks ago I got asked to commission a shirt design that infuriated me. They asked for me to design them a shirt with a specific character from a specific artist. I responded suggesting that they ask the ACTUAL artist to design the shirt instead. Artists should be approached because they like their style and their art, not to imitate another artists style or characters.DL: With the current climate in the world, how has this affected the art and illustration industry in New Zealand? JD: The art industry in New Zealand is very small in comparison to other art industries, everyone seems to ‘know of’ everyone. Using the internet as a tool to get your art seen is very achievable, but that can only go so far when you live in such an isolated country as New Zealand. The ‘word of mouth’ usually doesn’t even leave the shores of New Zealand, so being spotted for exhibitions in other countries best contemporary galleries and magazines is limited to ‘accidentally’ being stumbled across over the internet or books, and not to mention even more pressure to make a decent impression. Haha, I hope this answer is relative to what you were asking. (It was aha! .DL)DL: What advice would you give to other art and design students about how to develop their own creative style?JD: I’d suggest you first find your artistic medium and start from there. Each day just draw and draw and draw, you don’t even have to show anybody. Surround yourself with your favorite inspirations and artists you admire most. A style will eventually develop and your instinct will take it from there.DL: Finally, do you think that creative talent is being lost due to the lack of ‘obvious’ opportunities on offer to designers? JD: Yes indeed, and have discovered that it is very difficult to get your name into the art world, it will often require you to do work for free. You have to physically shove it into people’s faces and to do so making an impression that will be remembered. I’ve known of people with a huge amount of talent to just give up and do something that’s “easier”. So yes I do believe that talent is being lost and unseen. It’s just a matter of not giving up before the opportunities are available for you. I hope this was a great insight into the mind of a brilliant up and coming illustrator - and as an owner of a couple of fantastic pieces of work by Jordan I can honestly say that until you see his painted work or illustrations in the flesh you cannot honestly believe how fantastically detailed they are! (as i’m writing this i’m drawn to the huge Mars Attacks print framed and adorning my wall right now!) Hopefully we will have lots more up and coming designers being interviewed here to give you all a bit of a break from just my voice!!…and i’m still banging through the questions so if I haven’t answered yet I will!! Hope you enjoyed the show!J. Find more out about Jordan at www.eyerupture.com

I promised you a good post! We’ve got an interview with an amazing individual, and an even more amazing illustrator Jordan Debney!

We hope you are going to be just as excited as we were when New Zealander Jordan Debney and his amazingly crazy illustrations crossed our paths! Join us as we discover more about this fantastic illustrator and just actually what a ‘Quadricorn’ actually is…

DL: Tell us about who you are Jordan and what you do?

JD: Well I am a male human being, (self proclaimed) artist from New Zealand (it’s that tiny speck in the lower right hand of a generic map of the world). I have a great love for monsters and all things repulsive, horror movies and ice cream. I attempt to fuse all of those things into visually pleasing pieces of artwork.

DL: Do you remember the first time you felt that design was the career path you wanted to take?

JD: I have always enjoyed drawing as a child. I used to imitate drawings from comics and the collectable ‘Dragon Ball Z’ cards all through primary school and never actually knew I could make a career out of it. Although I always knew I wanted to work with art, I just never knew how. Enough drawing kind of made a career of itself. The more I drew, the better I got, the better I got, the more people started approaching me for artwork for their clothing line and album covers. Consider it a growing entity that can’t stop feeding.

A: How would you describe your design style to our readers - and how would you describe your creative process?

JD: I often find myself playing with mixtures of cornflour and water for hours, (you know, how it goes really fluid-like as well as a solid). I observe and concentrate on various parts the mixture as it flows down different shaped objects I find lying around. I do this for visual pleasure, as well as a creative study. I find it fascinating, as I try to share that fascination into my art work. It’s just a matter of making it flow and work well. I like to focus on folds of the flesh and disfigurements of the visual appearance while incorporating things that are usually considered ‘positive’ and bright colors. I usually get mixed reactions from people when they see my art, they don’t know whether to recoil in fright or give it a hug. Probably the only time a vomiting horned monster could ever be considered ‘beautiful’. A screaming monster riding the back of an ice cream is so ironic that it’s comical.

DL: Has there been one person who has had a real influence on you, and your art work?

JD: There have been many people that have influenced my artwork, as well have experiences. I didn’t want to be one of those alcohol driven people that don’t end up doing anything with their life. I want to succeed and be able to say I haven’t wasted my limited time on this earth. So I went with the one thing I knew I could do, and that was drawing. I look up to and admire the people I consider most creative. Trent Reznor for his music, Zack Snyder for his movies, James Jean and Alex Pardee for their art. I can always know that whatever happens, I will always have the things that these people do most creatively to keep me going. Seeing creativity fuels my creativity, and I have an unlimited source of it.

DL: What has been your favourite piece of art you have worked on so far, what makes it your favorite?

JD: That would have to be my ‘Quadricorn’ piece. (Shown at the top) What could be more awesome than a four horned horse with pincer hooves engulfed in gravity defying fluid?!

DL: If there was one person from the creative world you could sit down with and have a chat with who would it be?

JD: Firstly it would have to be Alex Pardee. Secondly, it would be more of a food fight, dressed as original gangsters, with marshmallow shoes and Chewbacca masks. During the violent toss of the pizza we would be telling a horror story that would make Rob Zombie’s head explode.

DL: Have you ever been asked to do a piece of work that you turned down? If you did - how did you approach this to the prospective client?

JD: A few weeks ago I got asked to commission a shirt design that infuriated me. They asked for me to design them a shirt with a specific character from a specific artist. I responded suggesting that they ask the ACTUAL artist to design the shirt instead. Artists should be approached because they like their style and their art, not to imitate another artists style or characters.

DL: With the current climate in the world, how has this affected the art and illustration industry in New Zealand?

JD: The art industry in New Zealand is very small in comparison to other art industries, everyone seems to ‘know of’ everyone. Using the internet as a tool to get your art seen is very achievable, but that can only go so far when you live in such an isolated country as New Zealand. The ‘word of mouth’ usually doesn’t even leave the shores of New Zealand, so being spotted for exhibitions in other countries best contemporary galleries and magazines is limited to ‘accidentally’ being stumbled across over the internet or books, and not to mention even more pressure to make a decent impression. Haha, I hope this answer is relative to what you were asking. (It was aha! .DL)

DL: What advice would you give to other art and design students about how to develop their own creative style?

JD: I’d suggest you first find your artistic medium and start from there. Each day just draw and draw and draw, you don’t even have to show anybody. Surround yourself with your favorite inspirations and artists you admire most. A style will eventually develop and your instinct will take it from there.


DL: Finally, do you think that creative talent is being lost due to the lack of ‘obvious’ opportunities on offer to designers?

JD: Yes indeed, and have discovered that it is very difficult to get your name into the art world, it will often require you to do work for free. You have to physically shove it into people’s faces and to do so making an impression that will be remembered. I’ve known of people with a huge amount of talent to just give up and do something that’s “easier”. So yes I do believe that talent is being lost and unseen. It’s just a matter of not giving up before the opportunities are available for you.


I hope this was a great insight into the mind of a brilliant up and coming illustrator - and as an owner of a couple of fantastic pieces of work by Jordan I can honestly say that until you see his painted work or illustrations in the flesh you cannot honestly believe how fantastically detailed they are! (as i’m writing this i’m drawn to the huge Mars Attacks print framed and adorning my wall right now!)

Hopefully we will have lots more up and coming designers being interviewed here to give you all a bit of a break from just my voice!!

…and i’m still banging through the questions so if I haven’t answered yet I will!!

Hope you enjoyed the show!

J.

Find more out about Jordan at www.eyerupture.com

I promised you a good post if I couldn’t blog today….

…so there will be a brilliant interview with a fantastic artist/illustrator here tomorrow!

So, how do you design a decent logo?   Here are a few tips that will hopefully give you a heads up on some good (and maybe obvious) points to consider when starting out designing a logo. I’ve seen this before… You should design a logo to suit the needs of the project or client. Don’t fall back onto a logo you’ve designed before - the logo and branding of a company go hand in hand, your responsibility as a designer is to create something memorable and unique for your client! What is it…? Every logo should convey a message to the viewer.  If potential consumers know or understand nothing about your client after looking at the logo, you have failed as a good designer (sorry). WHY IS MY LOGO ALL PIXELLATED?!  Your logo needs to be scalable so put down Photoshop, use the right tools for the job - Illustrator is pretty much the program you need to be using - never use Flash to design a logo (or Microsoft Word….) I have a gold membership on Stockphoto… Steer clear from anything expected. Remember, your logo should be memorable for the customer.  By adding cliché, clip-art  images, your logo will look unprofessional and be quickly thrown on the rubbish tip. What is it? Some designers complicate their logos by adding lots of detail, too many words, taglines, colours etc.  Keep it simple. You’ll be more memorable - think Nike. I found the filters on Photoshop - I couldn’t decide which to use…so I used all of them! For the most part, you should avoid excessive bevels, shadows, textures, filters. This will allow your logo to be used across many mediums - not to mention won’t be rubbish. Typography Issues. There are a number of common mistakes that are frequently made when designing a logo. Consider some below: The Spacing. Fonts are built a certain way for a reason. Excessive spacing between letters or very narrow spacing can really affect the readers interpretation of words (or cause confusion) Predictable Fonts. Helvetica is a brilliant font - but don’t use it for everything. Research new fonts, design your own! Just try to use something that isn’t predictable or the default. Crazy Fonts. Don’t use fonts like Party Let or Papyrus or Jokerman to create your logo. Try using simple, professional, legible fonts. Don’t use Comic Sans. Period. Ultra-thin fonts. Many extremely lightweight fonts may look nice on the computer screen but they may be difficult to use when trying to print on paper, screen on fabric, or embroider. Lightwieght fonts are also hard to read from far distances. Too many fonts. Try to stick to one font-style (maximum of two) in your logo design. This rule is especially true when you are doing JUST the logo design and not any of the other design work. What do you think? Excessive input from your client, his Mom, the secretary, your dad, your postman, the guy who sweeps the road outside your house and anyone else who will give you the time of day is well, excessive. Keep the design pure and clean by only involving those who absolutely need to be involved in the design process. Unable to be used in grayscale. One important thing to remember about logos is that they frequently will be used in strictly grayscale circumstances. (Faxes, copies, one-color prints) Make your logo as powerful in both color and black & white. Non-scalable. This is one of the most common tips around for creating logos.  Make sure your client can scale their logo. Most logos  should be usable in anything from a giant billboard to a tiny web icon. Not made for all mediums. People often design logos without taking into consideration their future use. Be sure to deign your logos with the intent that they can be used on the internet, in print, on a street sign, embroidered on a backpack, and screen printed on a t-shirt. Look at MY design. Don’t design a logo with the goal in mind that it will make your portfolio look great.  The first, and most important, goal of any logo design should be to help your client reach their target audience more effectively. Too abstract. While an abstract logo can be very professional-looking for a company, what does it really say to the customer? “We weren’t really sure how to visually represent what we do or how you will benefit from our services, so here’s a square with a swoosh”. Copy Cat Logo. BE ORIGINAL. Bad combination of colors.  Try to match the colors to your target audience, think about using complementary colours - neon green and red is never going to be a good look - be sensitive to the clients wishes, but design with consideration. Sketch it out first. Don’t just jump on a Mac - research and sketch out some ideas first - not many good logos are born out of an instant jump on the Mac session!! I hope this helps you all out a little bit! And remember if you need any other advice please just drop me a message here at DesignLecturer!

So, how do you design a decent logo?  

Here are a few tips that will hopefully give you a heads up on some good (and maybe obvious) points to consider when starting out designing a logo.

I hope this helps you all out a little bit! And remember if you need any other advice please just drop me a message here at DesignLecturer!

Ask me: I'm a Design Lecturer...: Portfolios: 9 ways to make your portfolio suck...
∞

designlecturer:

We all think we have the perfect portfolio. It is because we’re designers, we can do no wrong (sarcasm). But yet, we keep getting over looked for jobs and perhaps falling at the last crucial interview stage - this is a handy little list of ways to make your portfolio suck, if you can tick any of…

An old post about how to make your portfolio suck!

Phew.

All the questions have been answered! Took a long time!!!

However, if you still have a burning question anon or not just get in touch!

I’m a lazy bugger – what can I do to be a grade A designer?   Do your homework.
 There is no question that when studying any design related course, what you put in is what you get out. It’s not rocket science, but it really does turn out that the students who work the hardest and commit themselves the most end up with the best stuff!   Uni is expensive. Arrive on time. Stay late. 
Universities now are really expensive, so make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Arrive on time and prepared. Stay after class and ask questions; find out about more than just what the class covered. WORK A LOT.   As lecturers, we work for you.
 Teachers have an annoying habit of setting up to make you feel like they’re in charge. The reality is that lecturers, administrators, librarians etc are all there in the first place because you decided to attend. And they really do work for you. So be clear about what you want and need, and team up with other students to make sure that those desires are communicated to the people in power. Use the library; ask for help. Make us work for you.   Develop your presentation skills.
  Talking a good game will only get you so far – you need to ensure you have the substance behind you to back up your mouth! No matter how good a designer you are, without a certain level of presentation skills, nobody will ever know. Practice public speaking, prepare, and take any opportunity you can whilst in uni to practice speaking to large (and small) groups! There is no underestimating the harm to your future career that bad presentation skills can cause – no one likes ‘ums’ and ‘erms…’ and ‘it’s nice’.   Read. Anything. …except Nuts.
 This is the single best way to be and stay connected with the outside world. A talented designer with nothing to say isn’t much use to anyone, and there’s nothing more dangerous than an ignorant mass producer. If you live in a country that has a good newspaper, read it. If you don’t, find a good magazine (not Nuts…), or read countless ones on the web for free. Read blogs – whatever you need to get ahead!!   Don’t work alone.
 I know you know that design is a collaborative effort, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t practice getting along with others while you’re still in the studio. But that’s not the real benefit of doing design work with others: It’s more fun. If you don’t already know this, then you haven’t done design work with others.   Take almost any job. 
There is absolutely no replacement for the real thing, and practical experience in any design related field is more than you already have. So don’t spend six months after you graduate looking for the perfect job. And, certainly, don’t wait until you graduate to look for your first design job. You should be doing everything in your power to get some practical training onto your résumé and into your brain and hands before you graduate. That means helping out somewhere once a week, or bagging that summer internship. Do anything design-related. You’ll be respected more by future employers, and have some skills by the time you get out.

I’m a lazy bugger – what can I do to be a grade A designer?

 

Do your homework.


There is no question that when studying any design related course, what you put in is what you get out. It’s not rocket science, but it really does turn out that the students who work the hardest and commit themselves the most end up with the best stuff!

 

Uni is expensive.

Arrive on time. Stay late.


Universities now are really expensive, so make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Arrive on time and prepared. Stay after class and ask questions; find out about more than just what the class covered. WORK A LOT.

 

As lecturers, we work for you.


Teachers have an annoying habit of setting up to make you feel like they’re in charge. The reality is that lecturers, administrators, librarians etc are all there in the first place because you decided to attend. And they really do work for you. So be clear about what you want and need, and team up with other students to make sure that those desires are communicated to the people in power. Use the library; ask for help. Make us work for you.

 

Develop your presentation skills.


 Talking a good game will only get you so far – you need to ensure you have the substance behind you to back up your mouth! No matter how good a designer you are, without a certain level of presentation skills, nobody will ever know. Practice public speaking, prepare, and take any opportunity you can whilst in uni to practice speaking to large (and small) groups! There is no underestimating the harm to your future career that bad presentation skills can cause – no one likes ‘ums’ and ‘erms…’ and ‘it’s nice’.

 

Read.

Anything.

…except Nuts.


This is the single best way to be and stay connected with the outside world. A talented designer with nothing to say isn’t much use to anyone, and there’s nothing more dangerous than an ignorant mass producer. If you live in a country that has a good newspaper, read it. If you don’t, find a good magazine (not Nuts…), or read countless ones on the web for free. Read blogs – whatever you need to get ahead!!

 

Don’t work alone.


I know you know that design is a collaborative effort, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t practice getting along with others while you’re still in the studio. But that’s not the real benefit of doing design work with others: It’s more fun. If you don’t already know this, then you haven’t done design work with others.

 

Take almost any job.


There is absolutely no replacement for the real thing, and practical experience in any design related field is more than you already have. So don’t spend six months after you graduate looking for the perfect job. And, certainly, don’t wait until you graduate to look for your first design job. You should be doing everything in your power to get some practical training onto your résumé and into your brain and hands before you graduate. That means helping out somewhere once a week, or bagging that summer internship. Do anything design-related. You’ll be respected more by future employers, and have some skills by the time you get out.

Jumping on the Brand Wagon!So, every potential designer gets to that dreaded point where we have to take on that difficult client. You know the one I mean, bad tempered, foul mouthed, indecisive, the worlds biggest critic, never happy….. Yes, that shitty client called yourself! You could have a client list of all the most indecisive people in the world, and yet still we are our own worst enemy when it comes to branding ourselves. Most designers need an identity when dealing with freelance work, or even to utilise in your portfolio or website. It gives you a more professional look and a good brand can tell creative agencies or PR agency just how well they can sell your services to clients. I went for years without facing up to the fact that I needed a brand. I eventually needed one quickly for some potential freelance work, and I just went bowling in and came out six hours later with about half a dozen A3 sheets of scribbles and ideas and going WHY DID I START THIS?! Eventually at the end of it all, it was my playing around with type rather than fiddling about with some sort of icon or monogram which I was trying to do. I over thought the situation, and forgot what I hold dearest in design, typography and simplicity. (Although one can argue that i’m quite a simple person anyway so it represents me incredibly well!) So this all begs the question - what do I need to consider when i’m jumping on the ‘brand’ wagon? Design for yourself. You aren’t designing for another designer necessarily, but it is your brand, you want to show off every bell and whistle of design you know - but don’t! Instead approach the project as if it were for any other client, sit down list down what represents your design style and what you stand for as a designer. Clean simple branding rather than avant-garde design will not offend other designers, and won’t alienate other companies that may want to work with you! Listen to other people. Collaborate with other friends that are both designers and non-designers, talk them through your ideas and concepts - tell them to be honest. Friends love this because they never get the opportunity to say something you do is shit, and other designers will give you straight honest critique, but will probably help you with constructive criticism. You want people to understand your brand, and that it connects to you. Listen to other people part 2: Listen Harder. Being your own branding you tend to end up working too close to it and you clutch it to your bosom never wanting to hear it doesn’t look right. You basically lose all objectivity! Talk to your lecturers, other professionals you have encountered, or other designers on your course - they will bring you back to reality and talk to you objectively about the design and how it may be improved. Putting off designing your brand in the good times. You have left uni and you have freelance work coming out of your ears? (Hey look, it’s that pig flying past again..) Even if everything is going amazingly well, maybe you work in a studio, it is still important for you to develop your own brand image. You never know when it is useful, even if it is just for your blog or your portfolio initially, there will be a need for it when you expect it least. Not developing your brand when you’re twiddling your thumbs. You aren’t getting any design work? Well perhaps this is the ideal time to show off your skills and design your brand! This can kick-start your creative process and sometimes it is the fact you don’t have that professional image is the reason why your calendar is so sparse of deadlines. Remember you most of the time have to spend money to make money. A new brand identity, some new business cards and a quick small website can do wonders for a designers self-esteem and gives you pride in your own work! Just Do It. A simple phrase we all know and associate with Nike, wherever we see or hear it. Now i’m not saying you need to have a catchy tagline (rather much the opposite!!) but you do need to have a consistency. Like any brand consistency is the key for it to work. Make sure you are using your brand in the same manner each time; size, colours, typefaces, layout, visual identity are all consistent! This gives you a much more professional look. But it doesn’t stop there; - answer emails - make sure you start to put a consistent footer with your details under your name, not a kiss, (it never goes down well with people in the upper echelons of the BBC take it from me…) Make phone calls, talk in a professional manner, leave your business cards with everyone - sometimes it is the person you least expect to get in touch about work imaginable! It is the hardest project for any designer or illustrator to design their own brand identity, but it really is an essential element for any successful designer. It isn’t an ego trip, it isn’t something that makes you an instant celebrity, but rather a method that you can present your professional self to other professionals. Don’t rush it, and garner as many opinions as your fragile designer ego can take, it is better to hear something is right or wrong before you go and have it splashed across business cards or the web, and hopefully your brand will give you pride and propulsion to expand your clientele.Then what?Ok, There are two essential things to have as a new designer looking for work: An online portfolio A physical portfolio Many designers are using Behance.net these days, and it is a really good way to show off their work. I would really reccommend setting up your Behance account with some of your work on - it gets a whole load of traffic, and you never know when a firm may come accross your work. However, there are thousands upon thousands of designers on there and it can be better to showcase your work by having your own unique website.If you aren’t good with web development tools, don’t go for something too flashy and all singing and dancing - most designers can get to grips with basic HTML (and if you don’t i’m sure you will have at least one friend who maybe able to help!) just let your work stand out and be the highlight! Just look at my website, i’m no web wizard, but it’s easy to navigate, shows off what I do well, and has a sprinkling of interesting elements.My first website I was dead proud of, but I heard from a second hand source a potential client had said “it looks nice, but it isn’t that interesting..” this made me re-think my website into what it is today - a simple bit of javascripting really made the design more interesting and other non-designers seem to appreciate little things like this; I mean, I’m not trying to impress other designers, i’m trying to entice potential freelance clients - as soon as you remember this designing becomes a lot easier! Other designers might like to show off how wonderful they are with beautiful Flash based websites, but if your client has to download the latest Flash player to view it, or is technically savvy and owns an iphone or an ipad (or even both!) they are going to be able to look at your site either! Remember you are designing for yourself first, then others.One thing these days some designers completely forget about is having a physical portfolio. The majority of the time having an online portfolio will be sufficient, but having a physical one to does no harm - and a lot of interviews for creative positions will expect you to bring along a physical portfolio.When making a physical portfolio, make sure it is a good format, diverse content and presented well. If you can see that an image is pixellated then chances are a creative director will too! Spend a little time and money to put together a clean and easy to understand portfolio - and remember, you are probably going to be judged on your weakest piece!Self promotion is key to your eventual success!You are a creative person, you have spent a lot of time widening your experience and design style, and most likely in the last year of your degree you will spend a bit of time looking at self promotion.Creating yourself a brand or an identity (like my Jamesydesign brand) it will enable you to guide your self promotion effectively. What you do for self promotion is really upto your creative avenue - if you are a typographer, utilising this skill in either your portfolio or promotional material you can send a creative firm will really help you stand out. Like all designers, creative firms really like nice things they can keep! I have stacks of packaging, postcards, zines, cut-out and keeps, toys, 3D glasses the list goes on - we are all creative magpies looking for the next shiny thing to catch our eye - in this case use it to your advantage and get yourself noticed!Use social media to your advantage!We all know the tales of how Facebook has ruined people’s careers with one set of drunken photos being added, and many people are scared to utilised social media sometimes when promoting themselves. I see social media as THE outstanding method to get positive attention, to both yourself and your work.Twitter is one of the most fantastic social platforms a designer can have. Things can go viral fast, you can direct your tweets towards people, you can follow design firms and designers you both admire and have aspirations to work with. Mention them in tweets, but DO NOT twitter stalk them, ever. Directing one or two tweets here and there is great, but if you constantly direct tweets to them you run the risk of seeming really desperate. Tweet fellow student designers and build up a network of people, the last three major freelance projects I have undertaken have came from the result of people following my twitter account and seeing my work through that. (just remember if you are using twitter in this way, try to remember not to post things derogatory about companies etc - it’s a world of pain and can see you frozen out of a community quickly!)Making friends with design companiesBe proactive; find local companies that you think you would like to work with and that you think you can offer something positive to. If it is a larger company, it is probably best to phone them up first, and most likely you will speak to either a junior designer, or the receptionist. At this point is where I recall something my grandparents always taught me - treat EVERYONE in a business like you would the most important person you could talk to. I have seen people lose job opportunities just by being rude to the receptionist - they remember these things, they are the ones who will report back to the creative director, AND they have better memories than elephants - they will remember you being rude and on the flipside, very polite.If you fail to talk to anyone higher up in the company hierarchy, then politely ask for their personal email and send your details through that means instead.When you do have that email address, and you go to send an email out, make sure that you have researched the company and you know what projects they have worked on - be complimentary but not over the top! Explain in the email why you would be such an asset to their company, make the email personal to each company, and attach a small example of your work, whether it be a consise portfolio, or just something fun that shows how creative you are.Visit some design companiesWhilst completing your degree, chances are there will be lots of design companies coming to speak to you, or giving you advice, or even helping out with interview practice. This is always an opportunity to find out more and to present yourself as someone who is enthusiastic and interested in what they do, and how you can learn off them. Ask them about the possibility of doing some unpaid work experience, it is all about getting your foot in the door! Most design companies will look for people to come in and experience what they do this way, just keep trying, but don’t ever hound a poor design company and beat them down into giving you a days placement!Most designers when they get their foot in the door like this it possibly will lead them further, if not with this company another - once companies can see you are being proactive in getting experience of real world design, then they are usually more interested in talking to you!And finally….There are many more avenues that you can take to help get you ahead in the industry, but I think that one of the best things that you can learn quite quickly is that just because your tutor tell you that you are an amazing designer and you keep getting firsts in all of your work, it does not make you the best candidate for a design job. Creative companies thrive on a good, positive and most importantly creative and hard working atmosphere, and if you come into their world as the ‘big-I-am’ most likely you will be leaving before you’ve even made your first round of coffees for everyone!Be humble, be pro-active, don’t try and be something you aren’t - design companies want designers that will help raise their profile and earn them money, not persistent headaches!Be actively pursuing all of these things throughout your design course, get work experience whenever you can, and build up these networks over a good amount of time - do not expect to try and do all this networking at your final show! Chances are you will have had too many sleepless nights and glasses of wine to make any coherent sense! Utilise all of your time throughout your course to gain the best and most rounded experience and never ever give up, because it is usually when all looks lost that the best thing will come along! Again I hope all this helps in someway to someone! The post is photo reply enabled too - so show us your designs!!! For more design articles and advice follow us here at Design Lecturer to get an insight and any advice you may need! Jumping on the Brand Wagon!So, every potential designer gets to that dreaded point where we have to take on that difficult client. You know the one I mean, bad tempered, foul mouthed, indecisive, the worlds biggest critic, never happy….. Yes, that shitty client called yourself! You could have a client list of all the most indecisive people in the world, and yet still we are our own worst enemy when it comes to branding ourselves. Most designers need an identity when dealing with freelance work, or even to utilise in your portfolio or website. It gives you a more professional look and a good brand can tell creative agencies or PR agency just how well they can sell your services to clients. I went for years without facing up to the fact that I needed a brand. I eventually needed one quickly for some potential freelance work, and I just went bowling in and came out six hours later with about half a dozen A3 sheets of scribbles and ideas and going WHY DID I START THIS?! Eventually at the end of it all, it was my playing around with type rather than fiddling about with some sort of icon or monogram which I was trying to do. I over thought the situation, and forgot what I hold dearest in design, typography and simplicity. (Although one can argue that i’m quite a simple person anyway so it represents me incredibly well!) So this all begs the question - what do I need to consider when i’m jumping on the ‘brand’ wagon? Design for yourself. You aren’t designing for another designer necessarily, but it is your brand, you want to show off every bell and whistle of design you know - but don’t! Instead approach the project as if it were for any other client, sit down list down what represents your design style and what you stand for as a designer. Clean simple branding rather than avant-garde design will not offend other designers, and won’t alienate other companies that may want to work with you! Listen to other people. Collaborate with other friends that are both designers and non-designers, talk them through your ideas and concepts - tell them to be honest. Friends love this because they never get the opportunity to say something you do is shit, and other designers will give you straight honest critique, but will probably help you with constructive criticism. You want people to understand your brand, and that it connects to you. Listen to other people part 2: Listen Harder. Being your own branding you tend to end up working too close to it and you clutch it to your bosom never wanting to hear it doesn’t look right. You basically lose all objectivity! Talk to your lecturers, other professionals you have encountered, or other designers on your course - they will bring you back to reality and talk to you objectively about the design and how it may be improved. Putting off designing your brand in the good times. You have left uni and you have freelance work coming out of your ears? (Hey look, it’s that pig flying past again..) Even if everything is going amazingly well, maybe you work in a studio, it is still important for you to develop your own brand image. You never know when it is useful, even if it is just for your blog or your portfolio initially, there will be a need for it when you expect it least. Not developing your brand when you’re twiddling your thumbs. You aren’t getting any design work? Well perhaps this is the ideal time to show off your skills and design your brand! This can kick-start your creative process and sometimes it is the fact you don’t have that professional image is the reason why your calendar is so sparse of deadlines. Remember you most of the time have to spend money to make money. A new brand identity, some new business cards and a quick small website can do wonders for a designers self-esteem and gives you pride in your own work! Just Do It. A simple phrase we all know and associate with Nike, wherever we see or hear it. Now i’m not saying you need to have a catchy tagline (rather much the opposite!!) but you do need to have a consistency. Like any brand consistency is the key for it to work. Make sure you are using your brand in the same manner each time; size, colours, typefaces, layout, visual identity are all consistent! This gives you a much more professional look. But it doesn’t stop there; - answer emails - make sure you start to put a consistent footer with your details under your name, not a kiss, (it never goes down well with people in the upper echelons of the BBC take it from me…) Make phone calls, talk in a professional manner, leave your business cards with everyone - sometimes it is the person you least expect to get in touch about work imaginable! It is the hardest project for any designer or illustrator to design their own brand identity, but it really is an essential element for any successful designer. It isn’t an ego trip, it isn’t something that makes you an instant celebrity, but rather a method that you can present your professional self to other professionals. Don’t rush it, and garner as many opinions as your fragile designer ego can take, it is better to hear something is right or wrong before you go and have it splashed across business cards or the web, and hopefully your brand will give you pride and propulsion to expand your clientele.Then what?Ok, There are two essential things to have as a new designer looking for work: An online portfolio A physical portfolio Many designers are using Behance.net these days, and it is a really good way to show off their work. I would really reccommend setting up your Behance account with some of your work on - it gets a whole load of traffic, and you never know when a firm may come accross your work. However, there are thousands upon thousands of designers on there and it can be better to showcase your work by having your own unique website.If you aren’t good with web development tools, don’t go for something too flashy and all singing and dancing - most designers can get to grips with basic HTML (and if you don’t i’m sure you will have at least one friend who maybe able to help!) just let your work stand out and be the highlight! Just look at my website, i’m no web wizard, but it’s easy to navigate, shows off what I do well, and has a sprinkling of interesting elements.My first website I was dead proud of, but I heard from a second hand source a potential client had said “it looks nice, but it isn’t that interesting..” this made me re-think my website into what it is today - a simple bit of javascripting really made the design more interesting and other non-designers seem to appreciate little things like this; I mean, I’m not trying to impress other designers, i’m trying to entice potential freelance clients - as soon as you remember this designing becomes a lot easier! Other designers might like to show off how wonderful they are with beautiful Flash based websites, but if your client has to download the latest Flash player to view it, or is technically savvy and owns an iphone or an ipad (or even both!) they are going to be able to look at your site either! Remember you are designing for yourself first, then others.One thing these days some designers completely forget about is having a physical portfolio. The majority of the time having an online portfolio will be sufficient, but having a physical one to does no harm - and a lot of interviews for creative positions will expect you to bring along a physical portfolio.When making a physical portfolio, make sure it is a good format, diverse content and presented well. If you can see that an image is pixellated then chances are a creative director will too! Spend a little time and money to put together a clean and easy to understand portfolio - and remember, you are probably going to be judged on your weakest piece!Self promotion is key to your eventual success!You are a creative person, you have spent a lot of time widening your experience and design style, and most likely in the last year of your degree you will spend a bit of time looking at self promotion.Creating yourself a brand or an identity (like my Jamesydesign brand) it will enable you to guide your self promotion effectively. What you do for self promotion is really upto your creative avenue - if you are a typographer, utilising this skill in either your portfolio or promotional material you can send a creative firm will really help you stand out. Like all designers, creative firms really like nice things they can keep! I have stacks of packaging, postcards, zines, cut-out and keeps, toys, 3D glasses the list goes on - we are all creative magpies looking for the next shiny thing to catch our eye - in this case use it to your advantage and get yourself noticed!Use social media to your advantage!We all know the tales of how Facebook has ruined people’s careers with one set of drunken photos being added, and many people are scared to utilised social media sometimes when promoting themselves. I see social media as THE outstanding method to get positive attention, to both yourself and your work.Twitter is one of the most fantastic social platforms a designer can have. Things can go viral fast, you can direct your tweets towards people, you can follow design firms and designers you both admire and have aspirations to work with. Mention them in tweets, but DO NOT twitter stalk them, ever. Directing one or two tweets here and there is great, but if you constantly direct tweets to them you run the risk of seeming really desperate. Tweet fellow student designers and build up a network of people, the last three major freelance projects I have undertaken have came from the result of people following my twitter account and seeing my work through that. (just remember if you are using twitter in this way, try to remember not to post things derogatory about companies etc - it’s a world of pain and can see you frozen out of a community quickly!)Making friends with design companiesBe proactive; find local companies that you think you would like to work with and that you think you can offer something positive to. If it is a larger company, it is probably best to phone them up first, and most likely you will speak to either a junior designer, or the receptionist. At this point is where I recall something my grandparents always taught me - treat EVERYONE in a business like you would the most important person you could talk to. I have seen people lose job opportunities just by being rude to the receptionist - they remember these things, they are the ones who will report back to the creative director, AND they have better memories than elephants - they will remember you being rude and on the flipside, very polite.If you fail to talk to anyone higher up in the company hierarchy, then politely ask for their personal email and send your details through that means instead.When you do have that email address, and you go to send an email out, make sure that you have researched the company and you know what projects they have worked on - be complimentary but not over the top! Explain in the email why you would be such an asset to their company, make the email personal to each company, and attach a small example of your work, whether it be a consise portfolio, or just something fun that shows how creative you are.Visit some design companiesWhilst completing your degree, chances are there will be lots of design companies coming to speak to you, or giving you advice, or even helping out with interview practice. This is always an opportunity to find out more and to present yourself as someone who is enthusiastic and interested in what they do, and how you can learn off them. Ask them about the possibility of doing some unpaid work experience, it is all about getting your foot in the door! Most design companies will look for people to come in and experience what they do this way, just keep trying, but don’t ever hound a poor design company and beat them down into giving you a days placement!Most designers when they get their foot in the door like this it possibly will lead them further, if not with this company another - once companies can see you are being proactive in getting experience of real world design, then they are usually more interested in talking to you!And finally….There are many more avenues that you can take to help get you ahead in the industry, but I think that one of the best things that you can learn quite quickly is that just because your tutor tell you that you are an amazing designer and you keep getting firsts in all of your work, it does not make you the best candidate for a design job. Creative companies thrive on a good, positive and most importantly creative and hard working atmosphere, and if you come into their world as the ‘big-I-am’ most likely you will be leaving before you’ve even made your first round of coffees for everyone!Be humble, be pro-active, don’t try and be something you aren’t - design companies want designers that will help raise their profile and earn them money, not persistent headaches!Be actively pursuing all of these things throughout your design course, get work experience whenever you can, and build up these networks over a good amount of time - do not expect to try and do all this networking at your final show! Chances are you will have had too many sleepless nights and glasses of wine to make any coherent sense! Utilise all of your time throughout your course to gain the best and most rounded experience and never ever give up, because it is usually when all looks lost that the best thing will come along! Again I hope all this helps in someway to someone! The post is photo reply enabled too - so show us your designs!!! For more design articles and advice follow us here at Design Lecturer to get an insight and any advice you may need! Jumping on the Brand Wagon!So, every potential designer gets to that dreaded point where we have to take on that difficult client. You know the one I mean, bad tempered, foul mouthed, indecisive, the worlds biggest critic, never happy….. Yes, that shitty client called yourself! You could have a client list of all the most indecisive people in the world, and yet still we are our own worst enemy when it comes to branding ourselves. Most designers need an identity when dealing with freelance work, or even to utilise in your portfolio or website. It gives you a more professional look and a good brand can tell creative agencies or PR agency just how well they can sell your services to clients. I went for years without facing up to the fact that I needed a brand. I eventually needed one quickly for some potential freelance work, and I just went bowling in and came out six hours later with about half a dozen A3 sheets of scribbles and ideas and going WHY DID I START THIS?! Eventually at the end of it all, it was my playing around with type rather than fiddling about with some sort of icon or monogram which I was trying to do. I over thought the situation, and forgot what I hold dearest in design, typography and simplicity. (Although one can argue that i’m quite a simple person anyway so it represents me incredibly well!) So this all begs the question - what do I need to consider when i’m jumping on the ‘brand’ wagon? Design for yourself. You aren’t designing for another designer necessarily, but it is your brand, you want to show off every bell and whistle of design you know - but don’t! Instead approach the project as if it were for any other client, sit down list down what represents your design style and what you stand for as a designer. Clean simple branding rather than avant-garde design will not offend other designers, and won’t alienate other companies that may want to work with you! Listen to other people. Collaborate with other friends that are both designers and non-designers, talk them through your ideas and concepts - tell them to be honest. Friends love this because they never get the opportunity to say something you do is shit, and other designers will give you straight honest critique, but will probably help you with constructive criticism. You want people to understand your brand, and that it connects to you. Listen to other people part 2: Listen Harder. Being your own branding you tend to end up working too close to it and you clutch it to your bosom never wanting to hear it doesn’t look right. You basically lose all objectivity! Talk to your lecturers, other professionals you have encountered, or other designers on your course - they will bring you back to reality and talk to you objectively about the design and how it may be improved. Putting off designing your brand in the good times. You have left uni and you have freelance work coming out of your ears? (Hey look, it’s that pig flying past again..) Even if everything is going amazingly well, maybe you work in a studio, it is still important for you to develop your own brand image. You never know when it is useful, even if it is just for your blog or your portfolio initially, there will be a need for it when you expect it least. Not developing your brand when you’re twiddling your thumbs. You aren’t getting any design work? Well perhaps this is the ideal time to show off your skills and design your brand! This can kick-start your creative process and sometimes it is the fact you don’t have that professional image is the reason why your calendar is so sparse of deadlines. Remember you most of the time have to spend money to make money. A new brand identity, some new business cards and a quick small website can do wonders for a designers self-esteem and gives you pride in your own work! Just Do It. A simple phrase we all know and associate with Nike, wherever we see or hear it. Now i’m not saying you need to have a catchy tagline (rather much the opposite!!) but you do need to have a consistency. Like any brand consistency is the key for it to work. Make sure you are using your brand in the same manner each time; size, colours, typefaces, layout, visual identity are all consistent! This gives you a much more professional look. But it doesn’t stop there; - answer emails - make sure you start to put a consistent footer with your details under your name, not a kiss, (it never goes down well with people in the upper echelons of the BBC take it from me…) Make phone calls, talk in a professional manner, leave your business cards with everyone - sometimes it is the person you least expect to get in touch about work imaginable! It is the hardest project for any designer or illustrator to design their own brand identity, but it really is an essential element for any successful designer. It isn’t an ego trip, it isn’t something that makes you an instant celebrity, but rather a method that you can present your professional self to other professionals. Don’t rush it, and garner as many opinions as your fragile designer ego can take, it is better to hear something is right or wrong before you go and have it splashed across business cards or the web, and hopefully your brand will give you pride and propulsion to expand your clientele.Then what?Ok, There are two essential things to have as a new designer looking for work: An online portfolio A physical portfolio Many designers are using Behance.net these days, and it is a really good way to show off their work. I would really reccommend setting up your Behance account with some of your work on - it gets a whole load of traffic, and you never know when a firm may come accross your work. However, there are thousands upon thousands of designers on there and it can be better to showcase your work by having your own unique website.If you aren’t good with web development tools, don’t go for something too flashy and all singing and dancing - most designers can get to grips with basic HTML (and if you don’t i’m sure you will have at least one friend who maybe able to help!) just let your work stand out and be the highlight! Just look at my website, i’m no web wizard, but it’s easy to navigate, shows off what I do well, and has a sprinkling of interesting elements.My first website I was dead proud of, but I heard from a second hand source a potential client had said “it looks nice, but it isn’t that interesting..” this made me re-think my website into what it is today - a simple bit of javascripting really made the design more interesting and other non-designers seem to appreciate little things like this; I mean, I’m not trying to impress other designers, i’m trying to entice potential freelance clients - as soon as you remember this designing becomes a lot easier! Other designers might like to show off how wonderful they are with beautiful Flash based websites, but if your client has to download the latest Flash player to view it, or is technically savvy and owns an iphone or an ipad (or even both!) they are going to be able to look at your site either! Remember you are designing for yourself first, then others.One thing these days some designers completely forget about is having a physical portfolio. The majority of the time having an online portfolio will be sufficient, but having a physical one to does no harm - and a lot of interviews for creative positions will expect you to bring along a physical portfolio.When making a physical portfolio, make sure it is a good format, diverse content and presented well. If you can see that an image is pixellated then chances are a creative director will too! Spend a little time and money to put together a clean and easy to understand portfolio - and remember, you are probably going to be judged on your weakest piece!Self promotion is key to your eventual success!You are a creative person, you have spent a lot of time widening your experience and design style, and most likely in the last year of your degree you will spend a bit of time looking at self promotion.Creating yourself a brand or an identity (like my Jamesydesign brand) it will enable you to guide your self promotion effectively. What you do for self promotion is really upto your creative avenue - if you are a typographer, utilising this skill in either your portfolio or promotional material you can send a creative firm will really help you stand out. Like all designers, creative firms really like nice things they can keep! I have stacks of packaging, postcards, zines, cut-out and keeps, toys, 3D glasses the list goes on - we are all creative magpies looking for the next shiny thing to catch our eye - in this case use it to your advantage and get yourself noticed!Use social media to your advantage!We all know the tales of how Facebook has ruined people’s careers with one set of drunken photos being added, and many people are scared to utilised social media sometimes when promoting themselves. I see social media as THE outstanding method to get positive attention, to both yourself and your work.Twitter is one of the most fantastic social platforms a designer can have. Things can go viral fast, you can direct your tweets towards people, you can follow design firms and designers you both admire and have aspirations to work with. Mention them in tweets, but DO NOT twitter stalk them, ever. Directing one or two tweets here and there is great, but if you constantly direct tweets to them you run the risk of seeming really desperate. Tweet fellow student designers and build up a network of people, the last three major freelance projects I have undertaken have came from the result of people following my twitter account and seeing my work through that. (just remember if you are using twitter in this way, try to remember not to post things derogatory about companies etc - it’s a world of pain and can see you frozen out of a community quickly!)Making friends with design companiesBe proactive; find local companies that you think you would like to work with and that you think you can offer something positive to. If it is a larger company, it is probably best to phone them up first, and most likely you will speak to either a junior designer, or the receptionist. At this point is where I recall something my grandparents always taught me - treat EVERYONE in a business like you would the most important person you could talk to. I have seen people lose job opportunities just by being rude to the receptionist - they remember these things, they are the ones who will report back to the creative director, AND they have better memories than elephants - they will remember you being rude and on the flipside, very polite.If you fail to talk to anyone higher up in the company hierarchy, then politely ask for their personal email and send your details through that means instead.When you do have that email address, and you go to send an email out, make sure that you have researched the company and you know what projects they have worked on - be complimentary but not over the top! Explain in the email why you would be such an asset to their company, make the email personal to each company, and attach a small example of your work, whether it be a consise portfolio, or just something fun that shows how creative you are.Visit some design companiesWhilst completing your degree, chances are there will be lots of design companies coming to speak to you, or giving you advice, or even helping out with interview practice. This is always an opportunity to find out more and to present yourself as someone who is enthusiastic and interested in what they do, and how you can learn off them. Ask them about the possibility of doing some unpaid work experience, it is all about getting your foot in the door! Most design companies will look for people to come in and experience what they do this way, just keep trying, but don’t ever hound a poor design company and beat them down into giving you a days placement!Most designers when they get their foot in the door like this it possibly will lead them further, if not with this company another - once companies can see you are being proactive in getting experience of real world design, then they are usually more interested in talking to you!And finally….There are many more avenues that you can take to help get you ahead in the industry, but I think that one of the best things that you can learn quite quickly is that just because your tutor tell you that you are an amazing designer and you keep getting firsts in all of your work, it does not make you the best candidate for a design job. Creative companies thrive on a good, positive and most importantly creative and hard working atmosphere, and if you come into their world as the ‘big-I-am’ most likely you will be leaving before you’ve even made your first round of coffees for everyone!Be humble, be pro-active, don’t try and be something you aren’t - design companies want designers that will help raise their profile and earn them money, not persistent headaches!Be actively pursuing all of these things throughout your design course, get work experience whenever you can, and build up these networks over a good amount of time - do not expect to try and do all this networking at your final show! Chances are you will have had too many sleepless nights and glasses of wine to make any coherent sense! Utilise all of your time throughout your course to gain the best and most rounded experience and never ever give up, because it is usually when all looks lost that the best thing will come along! Again I hope all this helps in someway to someone! The post is photo reply enabled too - so show us your designs!!! For more design articles and advice follow us here at Design Lecturer to get an insight and any advice you may need!

Jumping on the Brand Wagon!
So, every potential designer gets to that dreaded point where we have to take on that difficult client. You know the one I mean, bad tempered, foul mouthed, indecisive, the worlds biggest critic, never happy…..

Yes, that shitty client called yourself!

You could have a client list of all the most indecisive people in the world, and yet still we are our own worst enemy when it comes to branding ourselves. Most designers need an identity when dealing with freelance work, or even to utilise in your portfolio or website. It gives you a more professional look and a good brand can tell creative agencies or PR agency just how well they can sell your services to clients.

I went for years without facing up to the fact that I needed a brand. I eventually needed one quickly for some potential freelance work, and I just went bowling in and came out six hours later with about half a dozen A3 sheets of scribbles and ideas and going WHY DID I START THIS?!


Eventually at the end of it all, it was my playing around with type rather than fiddling about with some sort of icon or monogram which I was trying to do. I over thought the situation, and forgot what I hold dearest in design, typography and simplicity. (Although one can argue that i’m quite a simple person anyway so it represents me incredibly well!)


So this all begs the question - what do I need to consider when i’m jumping on the ‘brand’ wagon?


It is the hardest project for any designer or illustrator to design their own brand identity, but it really is an essential element for any successful designer. It isn’t an ego trip, it isn’t something that makes you an instant celebrity, but rather a method that you can present your professional self to other professionals.


Don’t rush it, and garner as many opinions as your fragile designer ego can take, it is better to hear something is right or wrong before you go and have it splashed across business cards or the web, and hopefully your brand will give you pride and propulsion to expand your clientele.

Then what?

Ok,

There are two essential things to have as a new designer looking for work:


Many designers are using Behance.net these days, and it is a really good way to show off their work. I would really reccommend setting up your Behance account with some of your work on - it gets a whole load of traffic, and you never know when a firm may come accross your work. However, there are thousands upon thousands of designers on there and it can be better to showcase your work by having your own unique website.

If you aren’t good with web development tools, don’t go for something too flashy and all singing and dancing - most designers can get to grips with basic HTML (and if you don’t i’m sure you will have at least one friend who maybe able to help!) just let your work stand out and be the highlight!

Just look at my website, i’m no web wizard, but it’s easy to navigate, shows off what I do well, and has a sprinkling of interesting elements.

My first website I was dead proud of, but I heard from a second hand source a potential client had said “it looks nice, but it isn’t that interesting..” this made me re-think my website into what it is today - a simple bit of javascripting really made the design more interesting and other non-designers seem to appreciate little things like this; I mean, I’m not trying to impress other designers, i’m trying to entice potential freelance clients - as soon as you remember this designing becomes a lot easier!

Other designers might like to show off how wonderful they are with beautiful Flash based websites, but if your client has to download the latest Flash player to view it, or is technically savvy and owns an iphone or an ipad (or even both!) they are going to be able to look at your site either! Remember you are designing for yourself first, then others.

One thing these days some designers completely forget about is having a physical portfolio. The majority of the time having an online portfolio will be sufficient, but having a physical one to does no harm - and a lot of interviews for creative positions will expect you to bring along a physical portfolio.

When making a physical portfolio, make sure it is a good format, diverse content and presented well. If you can see that an image is pixellated then chances are a creative director will too!

Spend a little time and money to put together a clean and easy to understand portfolio - and remember, you are probably going to be judged on your weakest piece!

Self promotion is key to your eventual success!

You are a creative person, you have spent a lot of time widening your experience and design style, and most likely in the last year of your degree you will spend a bit of time looking at self promotion.

Creating yourself a brand or an identity (like my Jamesydesign brand) it will enable you to guide your self promotion effectively.

What you do for self promotion is really upto your creative avenue - if you are a typographer, utilising this skill in either your portfolio or promotional material you can send a creative firm will really help you stand out.

Like all designers, creative firms really like nice things they can keep! I have stacks of packaging, postcards, zines, cut-out and keeps, toys, 3D glasses the list goes on - we are all creative magpies looking for the next shiny thing to catch our eye - in this case use it to your advantage and get yourself noticed!

Use social media to your advantage!

We all know the tales of how Facebook has ruined people’s careers with one set of drunken photos being added, and many people are scared to utilised social media sometimes when promoting themselves. I see social media as THE outstanding method to get positive attention, to both yourself and your work.

Twitter is one of the most fantastic social platforms a designer can have. Things can go viral fast, you can direct your tweets towards people, you can follow design firms and designers you both admire and have aspirations to work with. Mention them in tweets, but DO NOT twitter stalk them, ever. Directing one or two tweets here and there is great, but if you constantly direct tweets to them you run the risk of seeming really desperate. Tweet fellow student designers and build up a network of people, the last three major freelance projects I have undertaken have came from the result of people following my twitter account and seeing my work through that. (just remember if you are using twitter in this way, try to remember not to post things derogatory about companies etc - it’s a world of pain and can see you frozen out of a community quickly!)

Making friends with design companies

Be proactive; find local companies that you think you would like to work with and that you think you can offer something positive to. If it is a larger company, it is probably best to phone them up first, and most likely you will speak to either a junior designer, or the receptionist. At this point is where I recall something my grandparents always taught me - treat EVERYONE in a business like you would the most important person you could talk to. I have seen people lose job opportunities just by being rude to the receptionist - they remember these things, they are the ones who will report back to the creative director, AND they have better memories than elephants - they will remember you being rude and on the flipside, very polite.

If you fail to talk to anyone higher up in the company hierarchy, then politely ask for their personal email and send your details through that means instead.

When you do have that email address, and you go to send an email out, make sure that you have researched the company and you know what projects they have worked on - be complimentary but not over the top! Explain in the email why you would be such an asset to their company, make the email personal to each company, and attach a small example of your work, whether it be a consise portfolio, or just something fun that shows how creative you are.

Visit some design companies

Whilst completing your degree, chances are there will be lots of design companies coming to speak to you, or giving you advice, or even helping out with interview practice.

This is always an opportunity to find out more and to present yourself as someone who is enthusiastic and interested in what they do, and how you can learn off them. Ask them about the possibility of doing some unpaid work experience, it is all about getting your foot in the door!

Most design companies will look for people to come in and experience what they do this way, just keep trying, but don’t ever hound a poor design company and beat them down into giving you a days placement!

Most designers when they get their foot in the door like this it possibly will lead them further, if not with this company another - once companies can see you are being proactive in getting experience of real world design, then they are usually more interested in talking to you!

And finally….

There are many more avenues that you can take to help get you ahead in the industry, but I think that one of the best things that you can learn quite quickly is that just because your tutor tell you that you are an amazing designer and you keep getting firsts in all of your work, it does not make you the best candidate for a design job. Creative companies thrive on a good, positive and most importantly creative and hard working atmosphere, and if you come into their world as the ‘big-I-am’ most likely you will be leaving before you’ve even made your first round of coffees for everyone!

Be humble, be pro-active, don’t try and be something you aren’t - design companies want designers that will help raise their profile and earn them money, not persistent headaches!

Be actively pursuing all of these things throughout your design course, get work experience whenever you can, and build up these networks over a good amount of time - do not expect to try and do all this networking at your final show!

Chances are you will have had too many sleepless nights and glasses of wine to make any coherent sense! Utilise all of your time throughout your course to gain the best and most rounded experience and never ever give up, because it is usually when all looks lost that the best thing will come along!

Again I hope all this helps in someway to someone!

The post is photo reply enabled too - so show us your designs!!!

For more design articles and advice follow us here at Design Lecturer to get an insight and any advice you may need!

jamesydesign: Something that I think a lot of students find at this time of the year is the difficulty of finding their creative direction, getting stuck and getting increasingly frustrated in not finding the ideas their projects require. Why is this? Well mostly it is due to being stressed and trying to force creativity. If it isn’t going to happen straight away, this can really frustrate and infuriate a person and sometimes it can cause sleepless nights, worry and self doubt in their own abilities. The simple answer is go back to the drawing board - think of what helps you to find inspiration, and reflect on how you can over come problems rather than stare them down and get despondent. There are many of ways to over come this feeling; Research - go back to find inspiration from others, look at how other designers have created projects and follow their lead. Sometimes there might be just one thing you see that sets off a chain of thought and sparks an idea. In this case my research went back to basics and tried to use the basic 2x2 red LEGO brick as my basic inspiration. Look at these websites to help give you a starting point; http://www.thedieline.com/ http://visualgraphic.tumblr.com/ http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk/ http://www.youthedesigner.com/ Sketch - we are blessed with paper and pencils in this society, yet we tend to overlook these in favour for that big shiny expensive Mac sitting in the corner. Sketching can be both therapeutic and rewarding when it comes to ideas. Above you can see the design process I came up with to produce an idea to get my students thinking about the LEGO brief they have got. I used the inspiration of the basic red block and sketched out some ideas and quotes to inspire my thinking and you can see immediately that they aren’t the world’s greatest drawings, but it gave me enough inspiration to progress the ideas forward. Develop - From here I was able to develop my ideas further using the Mac and after a lot of development you can see the final net that I came up with. By looking into packaging I was able to create my own basic net shape that suited my design - I wanted the direct mail box to resemble the LEGO brick when it arrived through the mail, and create an excitement and a level of intrigue to the recipient. Evaluate - People underestimate evaluation and analysis - it is a key element to any designing you do. Something can look amazing on the beautiful retina display of a Mac, but when it comes to printing and constructing it could look completely different. Sizes, colours, construction all might need adjusting but until you physically look at it you have no idea! By evaluating a design you could actually find more ideas and developments from this one idea! You can see my physical model above and from that I found that some tabs needed changing, a few sizes needed adjusting but overall I was kind of happy with it. Talk to others - by talking to other people, creative or not, it can really help you see your ideas in a different perspective. Sometimes when talking about your ideas you yourself might see things from a different slant and again this can really help you develop an idea - talk to your audience - be a more considerate designer. You see, I hope that all these points may help others out, and show you that you are not the only designer that gets stuck with ideas - but you are in a better position to deal with these problems if you follow these simple points. I hope this helps a few people out there and remember any issues don’t hesitate to just drop me a message or head over to designlecturer to see more helpful articles! jamesydesign: Something that I think a lot of students find at this time of the year is the difficulty of finding their creative direction, getting stuck and getting increasingly frustrated in not finding the ideas their projects require. Why is this? Well mostly it is due to being stressed and trying to force creativity. If it isn’t going to happen straight away, this can really frustrate and infuriate a person and sometimes it can cause sleepless nights, worry and self doubt in their own abilities. The simple answer is go back to the drawing board - think of what helps you to find inspiration, and reflect on how you can over come problems rather than stare them down and get despondent. There are many of ways to over come this feeling; Research - go back to find inspiration from others, look at how other designers have created projects and follow their lead. Sometimes there might be just one thing you see that sets off a chain of thought and sparks an idea. In this case my research went back to basics and tried to use the basic 2x2 red LEGO brick as my basic inspiration. Look at these websites to help give you a starting point; http://www.thedieline.com/ http://visualgraphic.tumblr.com/ http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk/ http://www.youthedesigner.com/ Sketch - we are blessed with paper and pencils in this society, yet we tend to overlook these in favour for that big shiny expensive Mac sitting in the corner. Sketching can be both therapeutic and rewarding when it comes to ideas. Above you can see the design process I came up with to produce an idea to get my students thinking about the LEGO brief they have got. I used the inspiration of the basic red block and sketched out some ideas and quotes to inspire my thinking and you can see immediately that they aren’t the world’s greatest drawings, but it gave me enough inspiration to progress the ideas forward. Develop - From here I was able to develop my ideas further using the Mac and after a lot of development you can see the final net that I came up with. By looking into packaging I was able to create my own basic net shape that suited my design - I wanted the direct mail box to resemble the LEGO brick when it arrived through the mail, and create an excitement and a level of intrigue to the recipient. Evaluate - People underestimate evaluation and analysis - it is a key element to any designing you do. Something can look amazing on the beautiful retina display of a Mac, but when it comes to printing and constructing it could look completely different. Sizes, colours, construction all might need adjusting but until you physically look at it you have no idea! By evaluating a design you could actually find more ideas and developments from this one idea! You can see my physical model above and from that I found that some tabs needed changing, a few sizes needed adjusting but overall I was kind of happy with it. Talk to others - by talking to other people, creative or not, it can really help you see your ideas in a different perspective. Sometimes when talking about your ideas you yourself might see things from a different slant and again this can really help you develop an idea - talk to your audience - be a more considerate designer. You see, I hope that all these points may help others out, and show you that you are not the only designer that gets stuck with ideas - but you are in a better position to deal with these problems if you follow these simple points. I hope this helps a few people out there and remember any issues don’t hesitate to just drop me a message or head over to designlecturer to see more helpful articles! jamesydesign: Something that I think a lot of students find at this time of the year is the difficulty of finding their creative direction, getting stuck and getting increasingly frustrated in not finding the ideas their projects require. Why is this? Well mostly it is due to being stressed and trying to force creativity. If it isn’t going to happen straight away, this can really frustrate and infuriate a person and sometimes it can cause sleepless nights, worry and self doubt in their own abilities. The simple answer is go back to the drawing board - think of what helps you to find inspiration, and reflect on how you can over come problems rather than stare them down and get despondent. There are many of ways to over come this feeling; Research - go back to find inspiration from others, look at how other designers have created projects and follow their lead. Sometimes there might be just one thing you see that sets off a chain of thought and sparks an idea. In this case my research went back to basics and tried to use the basic 2x2 red LEGO brick as my basic inspiration. Look at these websites to help give you a starting point; http://www.thedieline.com/ http://visualgraphic.tumblr.com/ http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk/ http://www.youthedesigner.com/ Sketch - we are blessed with paper and pencils in this society, yet we tend to overlook these in favour for that big shiny expensive Mac sitting in the corner. Sketching can be both therapeutic and rewarding when it comes to ideas. Above you can see the design process I came up with to produce an idea to get my students thinking about the LEGO brief they have got. I used the inspiration of the basic red block and sketched out some ideas and quotes to inspire my thinking and you can see immediately that they aren’t the world’s greatest drawings, but it gave me enough inspiration to progress the ideas forward. Develop - From here I was able to develop my ideas further using the Mac and after a lot of development you can see the final net that I came up with. By looking into packaging I was able to create my own basic net shape that suited my design - I wanted the direct mail box to resemble the LEGO brick when it arrived through the mail, and create an excitement and a level of intrigue to the recipient. Evaluate - People underestimate evaluation and analysis - it is a key element to any designing you do. Something can look amazing on the beautiful retina display of a Mac, but when it comes to printing and constructing it could look completely different. Sizes, colours, construction all might need adjusting but until you physically look at it you have no idea! By evaluating a design you could actually find more ideas and developments from this one idea! You can see my physical model above and from that I found that some tabs needed changing, a few sizes needed adjusting but overall I was kind of happy with it. Talk to others - by talking to other people, creative or not, it can really help you see your ideas in a different perspective. Sometimes when talking about your ideas you yourself might see things from a different slant and again this can really help you develop an idea - talk to your audience - be a more considerate designer. You see, I hope that all these points may help others out, and show you that you are not the only designer that gets stuck with ideas - but you are in a better position to deal with these problems if you follow these simple points. I hope this helps a few people out there and remember any issues don’t hesitate to just drop me a message or head over to designlecturer to see more helpful articles!

jamesydesign:

Something that I think a lot of students find at this time of the year is the difficulty of finding their creative direction, getting stuck and getting increasingly frustrated in not finding the ideas their projects require.

Why is this?


Well mostly it is due to being stressed and trying to force creativity. If it isn’t going to happen straight away, this can really frustrate and infuriate a person and sometimes it can cause sleepless nights, worry and self doubt in their own abilities.

The simple answer is go back to the drawing board - think of what helps you to find inspiration, and reflect on how you can over come problems rather than stare them down and get despondent.

There are many of ways to over come this feeling;

Look at these websites to help give you a starting point;

You see, I hope that all these points may help others out, and show you that you are not the only designer that gets stuck with ideas - but you are in a better position to deal with these problems if you follow these simple points.

I hope this helps a few people out there and remember any issues don’t hesitate to just drop me a message or head over to designlecturer to see more helpful articles!

The first annual Design Lecturer Design Awards are coming! After discussing, we have felt it wise to open the awards up to anyone in a full time degree or HND programme, or have graduated from one within the past two years (2011) It is free to enter the awards and no charges will apply whatsoever! Call for entries are open now - please read through the rules and lets get some good entries!! (There will be a physical award, hence why it is only UK entries at the moment - sorry guys!) You can ask any questions here and you can submit entries here Please reblog this about and follow designlecturer.tumblr.com - it is free to enter, and you could win something that would look fantastic on your CV!

The first annual Design Lecturer Design Awards are coming!

After discussing, we have felt it wise to open the awards up to anyone in a full time degree or HND programme, or have graduated from one within the past two years (2011)


It is free to enter the awards and no charges will apply whatsoever!

Call for entries are open now - please read through the rules and lets get some good entries!! (There will be a physical award, hence why it is only UK entries at the moment - sorry guys!)

You can ask any questions here

and you can submit entries here

Please reblog this about and follow designlecturer.tumblr.com - it is free to enter, and you could win something that would look fantastic on your CV!

Welcome all my new followers!

I am really trying to get back into posting regular updates on this blog, but to do it justice it’s your questions and problems that really drive the content.

So if there are any issues you think should be the basis of my next post then please drop me a message! It could be a burning question, advice on a project or anything design related - this blog is only as good as you guys want it to be :)

I think i’m alone now…….

Why should other people care about design if you the designer doesn’t?

Do you spend that extra half an hour in the studio or college, to maximise your potential, or do you skip off into the sunshine?

It is incredibly hard balancing lecturing, designing and life, but you know, I just manage to do it. I expect that any student wanting to pursue a career in design should treat the time they have in the upmost respect, using the studio, using my knowledge, using other students knowledge to help them develop as designers.

Design is a funny subject, the more insular you are the worse a designer you become. With no one to critique your work, to tell you how bad or how good a typeface is, or to tell you that red and blue spots are not the best idea for a corporate banking client - it makes you rely on your own judgement. Whilst we are all professional, we are also majorly modest in our own heads - most things we do are amazing, and it is just a blip that Pentagram haven’t been on the phone offering us a job! We need other creatives around us to drive our own imagination and designs forward.

I am just about to embark on a creative month working collaboratively with another graphic designer/lecturer to take up the 30 days of creativity challenge starting on 1st june. 

This is a brilliant opportunity to work with someone that has very different, yet very similar design styles as I do myself. I am excited in the thought of learning new techniques and creating a dialogue between each others creative process.

We sat for a couple of hours last week talking about the design world and how we both find excellent creative opportunities in our jobs and how we can develop the learning our students partake in day to day. In fact she is going to come and talk to my students to discuss the trials and tribulations of freelance designing - i’m sure they will take a lot more notice of her stories than mine as sometimes it is very difficult for them to see me as a freelance designer too.

One thing I do know, is that today lots of students have really valued my opinion about their projects and have developed their concepts accordingly - the fact that students as young as 16 are willing to take constructive creative criticism and use it in a positive way shows me that I am doing something right!

Follow our 30 Days of Creativity blog right here!

A happy customer :D

atlantisb asked:

I was the anon that sent the I hate my job post and I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH. that was the most helpful feed back I could’ve imagined. I was a few days away from going down and apply to be a cashier at Safeway or something, anything that wasn’t my job I currently have. Thank you so much for giving me faith in being a graphic designer again, as cheesey as that is. I really needed it. You have no idea.

No need to say thank you, I’m glad that I could give you some support and guidance when you needed it most :)

Jumping on the brand wagon……

So, every potential designer gets to that dreaded point where we have to take on that difficult client. You know the one I mean, bad tempered, foul mouthed, indecisive, the worlds biggest critic, never happy…..

Yes, that shitty client called yourself!

You could have a client list of all the most indecisive people in the world, and yet still we are our own worst enemy when it comes to branding ourselves. Most designers need an identity when dealing with freelance work, or even to utilise in your portfolio or website. It gives you a more professional look and a good brand can tell creative agencies or PR agency just how well they can sell your services to clients.

I went for years without facing up to the fact that I needed a brand. I eventually needed one quickly for some potential freelance work, and I just went bowling in and came out six hours later with about half a dozen A3 sheets of scribbles and ideas and going WHY DID I START THIS?!

Eventually at the end of it all, it was my playing around with type rather than fiddling about with some sort of icon or monogram which I was trying to do. I over thought the situation, and forgot what I hold dearest in design, typography and simplicity. (Although one can argue that i’m quite a simple person anyway so it represents me incredibly well!)

This is my identity btw, I use it on invoices I am too indecisive to finalise a website….

So this all begs the question - what do I need to consider when i’m jumping on the ‘brand’ wagon?

It is the hardest project for any designer or illustrator to design their own brand identity, but it really is an essential element for any successful designer. It isn’t an ego trip, it isn’t something that makes you an instant celebrity, but rather a method that you can present your professional self to other professionals.

Don’t rush it, and garner as many opinions as your fragile designer ego can take, it is better to hear something is right or wrong before you go and have it splashed across business cards or the web, and hopefully your brand will give you pride and propulsion to expand your clientele.

As always, good luck!

Wow it’s a sausage-fest here in the design world…..maybe

Anon asked: why do you think the is a lack of or lack of popularity for female designers? —- it’s just they don’t seem to make it ‘big’

Do you know what? I hadn’t even thought about this until it was asked! I’ve never really recognised the fact that there may be less female designers than male designers, I mean I think back now and every design firm i’ve worked with have been male dominated - how strange?

I think if we were looking at the creative industry as a whole, with those ‘popular’ designers at the forefront it would seem that it is a male dominated industry - but perhaps it could be for a few different reasons. Before I go any further, I must say I know lots and lots of female designers, and they are amazing (and some of my favourite designers are female) but I shall try to make this as in-depth as I can, without wanting offend anyone.

These can’t be designers…..they’re wearing suits……

Now a lot of people I have worked with in the design industry have been lovely, but there are a wealth of people who are so arrogant it defies belief, and men are just fabulously better at that than a lot of girls. It can almost devolve into a real ‘boys club’ type atmosphere. But perhaps it is more specific than that - perhaps generationally, girls will tend to not take the step into the industry after university.

I know many girls that decided to take their career into a different path after university, staying within the creative realm, but moving more into marketing and PR rather than staying purely within the graphic design industry. Now this isn’t everyone, but I can count more that took that path than the other in my mind and within my contacts, and it may be something (sweeping generalisation here so beware) to do with the fact that girls are much more organised than men!

Also, a bit controversial here, but I think that just like in life, girls mature quicker than guys and this can have an impact sometimes in a negative way when you get to uni. You see, being a guy I can let you all in on this, you see I didn’t take any form of education seriously until I was about 19, I did minimum amount of work, with minimum effort. Most of my friends were the same, especially the ones who followed the same path as me - all of us scraping b’s c’s - our girl friends - A*’s all the way through school, but when we all went to uni this really flipped. It has been the subject of much study, but there really is an understanding of that the school system is weighted in a way that girls find it easier to achieve than guys - mostly due to maturity and course structure. At uni this is flipped, guys start to get interested and have an impetus to succeed, where girls have been doing this all their life, it can almost cause them to educationally to burn out. (Like I have said, this is a generalisation, not everyone will be like this)

Also, in uni, girls and guys tend to fall in love and have a serious relationship, and after uni psychologically girls will tend to follow their partner in relocating for a job - society has it ingrained in many that the male will be the main earner and the female will make the sacrifice in their career. It is not always the case, but in many it is true. (not something I agree with, just observations made in studies)

It also could be as simple as the fact that most ‘well-known’ and “famous” designers out there at the moment are the sort of designers that have come from the “street scene” - the graffiti kids etc, and it tends to be more guys doing this than girls.

I have no idea really, (as you may have already been able to tell….) and it would be great to get other opinions on this!

My final point though is that in my eyes, no matter your gender, age or experience if you can design, you can design - and I would never choose a person for a job or course etc based on their gender (in my experience girls are generally harder workers when the going gets tough!)

ps. This post took ages to write and rewrite due to the fact I sound like a dick everytime I read it back, it may disappear soon!

Righty-o I’ve sorted the ask thing out…..

….and picked a lovely new theme. The problem with a lot of these themes here are that they would be awesome with a couple of tweaks here and there.

Now, I don’t have the time/can’t be arsed to fiddle around with Tumblr’s daft coding, so i’m just gonna leave it as is, plus, I like the body text typeface.

And it glows for fricks sake!!

So, now you can find the ask/submit at the top so knock yourselves out :)

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