Time To Get Online

This week were set the task to create a working website/online portfolio. 

While I have always wanted my own website, it is something I have put off, fearing I didn't have enough work to showcase on this platform. The task forced me to finally commit to creating an online  platform and really consider how I want to communicate my practice to others through digital channels. 

I wanted the home page to very much focus on my work, and therefore opted to feature a full width automated slider gallery, showing large-scale photographs of a range of projects. These images are also able to be viewed via arrows to both the left and right of the screen.

My 'Not Just For Show' (NJFS) studio identity sits in the header of the website, positioned top left, away from any potentials of interference with the imagery. This is a permanent fixture across each page of the website for consistency and presence/reiteration of the 'studio's' visual language.

Positioned at the top right of the page, also within the header, is a burger menu. Similarly to the Not Just For Show studio identity, this also holds a permanent, consistent position across all pages of the website for ease of navigation by visitors.

The menu opens from the right, revealing a NJFS blue box. This box covers around 1/3 of the screen, allowing the sliding project images to continue and remain majoritively visible. The menu provides links to the other pages of the site, which include an 'info' page, 'projects' page, and 'contact' page. Also present is a link to the 'home' page, allowing users to navigate the website fully from any page. Additionally, at the bottom of the menu is a direct link to email, as well as links to all associated social media platforms (instagram, twitter, facebook).

The 'info' page communicates to visitors of the site the premise of the 'studio,' being my own practice. It delivers the fundamental principles of my practice, focus and specialism.

The 'projects' page exhibits a grid of images, each being a link to overviews of the projects, with further information and images. Hovering over the images reveals the project title. 

The 'contact' page of the website provides contact information (studio email), as well as a contact form should any visitors wish to leave a message this way. The NJFS wax seal makes an appearance here in the background to reinforce the notion of contact/correspondence.

The website uses a consistent visual language informed directly by the Not Just For Show identity, using a colour scheme of blue, white and gold, and variations of typeface Georgia.

In an overtly mobile climate, the site has also been optimised for smartphone devices:

I have registered the website with a personalised domain, notjustforshowstudio.com, and also connected a custom mailbox stephen@notjustforshowstudio.com

Web Clinic

A session on how to achieve the best website/digital presence.

Tips

• Images - ensure they are cropped correctly.
• Consider how site will work across multiple screens/sizes.
• Work out lead image dimensions.
• View Page source (HTML) and look for f-jpeg.
• Images need to be ideally less than 1MB, most ideally half that.
• Avoid repetitive images.
• Mail-to links - ensure working correctly.
• Test website in different browsers.
• Test Website on multiple platforms (desktop, tablet, mobile etc.).
• Chrome is most popular browser.

Matt Essam - Be Remarkable: A Freelancer's Guide to Working Less and Earning More

Matt Essam is a freelance consultant to creative individuals and companies that do meaningful work, teaching them how to achieve creative fulfilment and financial security. Having seen Matt speak before at a Glug event and taking an interest in his story, his workshop for freelancers at Duke Studios seemed very much worth attending.

After quitting his job at a big marketing and advertising agency in London in 2013, Matt went freelance full time. He took on every project he could, working all hours possible, earning just enough to get by while living with his parent. While not the lifestyle he had envisioned for himself, Matt continued working over several years, during which time he built up a solid client base and reached his goal of being able to travel the world and run his business with nothing but his laptop. He stresses that while this sounds like a dream, he still wasn't doing work that he loved.

Matt expressed that he was sacrificing his values for a lifestyle he thought would make him happy. His projects lacked purpose, and financially, he wasn't any better off than he was when working his 9-5 job in London. 

After an unexpected loss in the family, Matt decided to make a change, finding the purpose in his work and re-aligning his projects with his values. He studied creatives with meaningful businesses, noting their ability to stand out from competitors by recognising their value. Having applied this to his own business, Matt now teaches others how to do the same as a career.

Matt detailed a 5 step formula to becoming 'remarkable:'

1. Identifying Your Values - Your values are the most important things to you in the world. If you don't clearly identify them, you'll find it difficult to achieve consistent fulfilment from your work. By knowing your values, you are better equipped to identify which projects to take on and which to decline. This helps you attract and work with like-minded people.
2. Your Niche - Most people make the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone. They aren't clear who they want to work with or who their target market is. The cost of this approach far outweighs the benefits. Once you identify your niche, it becomes much easier to find high value clients and win creatively fulfilling work.
3. The Problem - What problem are you trying to solve for your clients? If you aren't completely clear on this it can be very difficult to communicate your value and guarantee a return on investment. Being clear on the problem you are solving, and how, allows you to become much more valuable to potential clients. Don't take what your client thinks the problem is at face value, dig deeper and really identify the true problem your client needs resolving.
4. The Solution - Most freelancers and businesses focus on offering just part of the solution to their clients, making them comparable to others and making pricing competitive. By providing a full solution that solves a significant problem, you can add more value than anyone else, which you can charge accordingly for.
5. Your Clients - The quality of your life is based on the quality of your relationships and therefore if you don't love working with your clients, you and your business will suffer. Identify you ideal clients and work out how to add significant value to them. Once you become clear on the problem and solution, it becomes much easier to find rewarding projects, both creatively and financially. 

Additional Notes

• Use your values as your compass.
• Know which problem you are uniquely positioned to solve.
• The more specific you can be, the better.

Colours May Vary - Phantasm

To celebrate independent design store Colours May Vary's 5th birthday, 'Connoisseurs of Make-Believe' Lord Whitney were invited to co-curate an exhibition of work exploring the concept of Magic and Illusion.

The show features, prints, original paintings, ceramics, and textiles - featuring the work of Anna Peaker, Double Dagger, Tom Doggett, Lord Whitney, Passport, Dominic Kesterton, Louise Madzia, Jack Hudson, Tom Hudson, Lucy Sherston, Luke Drozd, Bronte Hall, Georgie Gozem, Joel Burden, Egle Zvirblyte, Akvile Magicdust, JooHee Yoon and Plæy.

Having visited Lord Whitney's studio in first year, this was a great opportunity to see their work again in a new environment. It was also interesting to see how the range of contributors responded differently to the theme, showing a range of varying interpretations and perspectives. 

Glug Leeds Does A Christmas Carol: Creatives - Past, Present and Future

For Glug Leeds' Christmas special, they embraced the festive season with a theme based on A Christmas Carol, with a journey through a three-speaker lineup (Dixon Baxi, Home Agency and Illustrator Joe Boyd) showcasing where the creative industry has come from, where its at now and the future of the industry. 

DixonBaxi are a branding and creative agency based in London, with clients including Eurosport, Premier League, F1 and Nike. The agency's mantra is 'Changing things for the better through creativity.' Speaking for the agency, founded by Simon Dixon and Aporva Baxi in 2002, was design director Harry Ead, who has been working at DixonBaxi for 18 Months.

Notes:

• Team of 30.
• Fear is good.
• Try new things (cornerstone of studio).
• Currently working on identity for Winter Olympics.
• Do what you love and fuck the rest.
• Change things for the better through creativity.
• Design with optimism.
• Restlessness pushes the studio forward.
• Work with awesome people.
• Don’t be afraid to ask why.

Home is a specialist integrated, advertising and marketing agency. With everything under one roof, the agency has a range of experts in varying fields - though they all work together and play together.  With a focus on engaging people, finding new ways to help them interact with brands, and above all else making sure their work performs to help clients sell their products, however they can. Speaking for the agency was Technology Director and AI Specialist Phill Midwinter.

Notes:

• AIO Marketing - Activities, Interests and Opinions, a person's characteristics used to construct individual psychographic profiles.
  
• Help users find what they’re looking for.
• Optimistic search engines.
• Curating knowledge and data.
• SEO - Search Engine Optimisation.
• Don’t be ignorant.

Joe Boyd is a freelance Illustrator based at Duke Studios in Leeds. His work is identifiable through bright colour, bold shapes, texture, detail and depth. Joe studied illustration and graduated from Leeds Arts University in 2016. He has since worked for clients including Studio Canal, The Guardian and 

Intern Magazine.

Notes:

• Works with Screenprint / Colour Overlay.
• Always take advantage of opportunities.
• D&AD New Blood winner.
• Networking leads to commissions.
• Make Connections.
• Do personal work
• Do work that you’re interested in.
• Persistence is key.
• Mentors and Duke studios are amazing.

Visiting Professional: Liv Sidall

Liv Sidall is a writer, editor and content producer working across print, digital and radio. She is the former editor of Rough Trade Magazine and host of Rough Trade Radio, and also online editor and features editor at It’s Nice That. Liv is now freelance and a contributing editor of Riposte Magazine. 

She has written for the likes of It’s Nice That, Riposte, Printed Pages, AnOther, Dazed, The British Journal of Photography, Mr Porter Journal, Grafik, Freunde Von Freunde, Amuseum, Beyond Magazine, St James Correspondent, The Debrief, Gymclass, Rookie, SomeSuch Stories and many more.  Liv also record podcasts, give lectures and host events and panel discussions.

Notes

• Studied graphics at Kingston University - Someone on foundation said to do that instead of Illustration.
• Conflicted studying graphic design but wanting to illustrate.
• Interested in working with others.
• The course was too conceptual - Silly work.
• Just doing stuff and hoping for the best.
• Always looked at other people’s work.
• Into everyone else’s work, not own. 
• Passionate about others work.
• Considering interest in other people's work, course leader Zelda hooked her up with internship at It's Nice That.
• Stayed at It's Nice That for four years as an intern to the editors.
• Hosted events.
• Wanted to be a part of the creative world, but not making stuff.
• Liv quit and went freelance for 6 months, though found working alone lonely.
• Wanted to start own magazine, moved to New York.

Rough Trade Magazine

• Started work on Rough Trade Music Magazine.
• Record company Est. 1976/7.
• People coming together talking about records.
• Looking at music magazines in London.
• Inject fun into music magazine scene.
• What if a magazine was a person - Rough Trade customer.
• In older magazines - people could afford to be fun and have creative freedom.
• Film bands playing in the shop (Rough Trade) and interview them.
• Started a new radio /podcast for Rough Trade.
• Magazine - representing vibe of the shop.
• 5000 copies.
• 1000 budget. 
• Monthly, 64 pages.
• Bruce Usher - Designer of magazine.
• Good to make plan - refer and keep track
• Issue every two and a half weeks
• Templates - 10 albums a of the month.
• Serious doesn’t look as enticing.
• Horoscopes from bands 
• Illustrate by Adam Hicton.
• Agony aunt - Johnathan Richmond.
• Features building Up - structure.
• Brett Fandonbrooker.
• Staff picks.
• Tour documenting disposable cameras
• Art of musicians
• April this year - handed over to be guest edited by Mac De Marco.
• Staff didn’t want magazine. 
• Started to like and contribute. 
• Shop magazine.
• Involving them more.
• Made redundant August 29th.
• Cancelled magazine after issue 18.
• Some things (mags) don’t last forever - Lack of budget, Lack of time.

Advice

• Think about what you are really in to.
• What do you really want?
• Don't worry about what hasn't been done before. Do it anyway.
• If you run out of budget just do everything yourself 
• If you can’t do something, get someone else to do it.
• Ask for help all the time.
• Don’t worry too much about what you’re actually doing, just get on with it 
• Tire theory - people will want to help you more if they can see you having a go (like changing a tire).

How to Write About Your Work

• Be clear about meaning of work.
• What is the work responding to?
• What are you trying to solve?
• What are you improving?
• What are you trying to communicate?

Write one sentence that covers the What, How and Why of a project.

• What is is?
• How does it do what its supposed to?
• Why is it needed/successful?

Example

The Bond Street Brand Directory is a luxury, portable publication available in London’s finest hotels, which invites visitors from around the world to enjoy an insider’s guide to one of the city’s most exclusive streets. 

You've Got (Real) Mail

This week we were set the task to contact a designer, agency or industry practitioner that we are interested in or admire. This process was to be presented in a five slide presentation detailing 

• 1. Name
• 2. Who you’ve sent something to and why.
• 3. What the item is and the concept behind it.
• 4. Proof of posting.
• 5. Any response or reflections on the task.

I chose to contact Dot Studio, a small, independent design and print atelier based in London. The print studio offer the following services:

• Foil Blocking.
• Screen Printing.
• Embossing - Debossing.
• Die Cutting.
• Duplexing  / Multiplexing.
• Colour Edging / Gilding.
• Finishing.

As a designer focusing on print-based design, with a strong affinity for high-end finishing, I thought

Dot Studio would be an ideal candidate to make contact with, that would potentially lead me to utilise their services in the future and also establish them as a contact. 

For the task, I sent a handwritten letter with multi-tone foiling on the front. I hoped this would indicate a commonality between my practice and the services Dot Studio provide, whilst showing my appreciation for the craft of print finishing. The letter read as follows:

'Hello Dot Studio!

I am a graphic designer currently in my final year at Leeds Arts University. My practice is very much driven by a fascination with print and finishing - this having led me to the discovery of your studio.

Although I have been following your socials for some time now, I wanted to take the opportunity to send you something more personal to show my enthusiasm and admiration for what you do at Dot Studio.

While I am only just in the beginning stages of establishing my practice, I look forward to the prospect of potentially working with you in the future as I continue to develop my identity.

I hope this letter find you well and in the middle of some foiling, gilding or embossing.

Best Wishes,

Stephen.'

In addition to the letter, I also included an A6 card bearing my self branding (NOT JUST FOR SHOW), screen-printed in gold on to Gmund Treasury Beauty stock (a duplexed stock that is used throughout my tangible branding collateral, blue on one side and gold on the other). On the back of this card I stuck a business card with my details on so Dot Studio would have details to contact me in response to the mailer.

Following the Not Just For Show custom wax-sealing of the envelope, which includes my crown emblem, I sent this letter to Dot Studio.

Below are images of the mailer, as well as the presentation required for the task (including proof of postage):

While the task was daunting, I believe it was an important exercise to carry out. It forced me to begin making contact with those in industry, which is increasingly important in this final year of study while still considered a student. If we hadn't been set the task, this is something I would have put off, meaning any skills or confidence in making such contact would have remained stagnant. 

I am yet to receive a response from Dot Studio, but remain hopeful that they have received the letter and will provide some form of acknowledgement in the new future.

*UPDATE* 

I never received any acknowledgment from Dot Studio, which is disheartening, although the premise of the task and the experience has still been beneficial to my confidence in making such contact again in the future to other studios/agencies/designers etc. 

Talk It Out

How do I establish myself as a professional?

• Stop referring to yourself as a student online (LinkedIn, Social Media etc.)
• Don't say you're a recent graduate.
• Sell yourself - play on your strengths and not your weaknesses.
• Fill your portfolio with projects that mean something to you. Not competition briefs. Your portfolio is supposed to tell a story. It should show that you are a problem finder, not a solver.
• Do projects that have real world application potential and test them.

Ikigai

 

Apply the ikigai concept to your briefs and projects.

How do I secure  placement, internship or junior position?

• Make a real effort to stand out.
• Show interest in work, explain why it interests, influences and parallels with what you're working on/who you are as a designer.

Side note: Never ask if you can work unpaid.

How can I put myself out there?

• Networking is being open to meeting new people whose ideas you admire and goals you may share.
• Do it on your own terms.
• Make a list of people whose work you admire, who you think could open doors for you and who you would like to meet. Contact them.

Visiting Professional - Frankie Ratford: The Design Kids

 

Frankie Ratford is a Graphic Designer and Founder of The Design Kids, a global design organisation that aims to help student bridge the gap between studying and working.

Interested in the intersection between design, travel and business, Frankie is not your typical graphic designer. Originally from Bournemouth, she dislike clients, sitting still, having a desk and staring at a screen, and so at the age of 18 she travelled to Australia and ended up staying, permanently. Since then, Frankie has gone on to adventure in over 50 countries, living life on the road in a number of 'pimped up' vans, hitch-hiking and designing as she goes. She does all of this on a tight budget, in part because she confesses she doesn't really know what she's doing, but mostly due to her belief that resourcefulness and enthusiasm will get you a long way.

Frankie's organisation The Design Kids (TDK) collates a range of free resources to help undergraduates learn new skills and secure their dream job, as well as offers paid workshops and retreats. Frankie started the organisation herself when she was still a student, recognising the difficulty faced by students in establishing contact with the industry and finding work. The TDK team is now 31 people strong, all managed by Frankie herself. At present, she is travelling around the globe, visiting schools and universities, talking to students about her life, work and the organisation - which currently has bases in over 50 cities across the world. 

The TDK website is a resource for design students to browse events, workshops and exhibitions in different cities globally. It also lists internships/placements, and provides information on how students can get their work 'out there' and how to develop their portfolio. Through the TDK instagram page, Frankie invites students to submit their work which is then shared on the account, giving students exposure in the industry and helping increase their social-media following.

It is Frankie's goal for The Design Kids to be the biggest graphic design resource in the world.

Best Advice

Find the one thing that you love and do it better than anyone else.

Fun Facts

• Can spot a double space from 2 meters away.
• Can guess a typeface in 3 seconds. 
• Favourite Colour: Yellow

G . F Smith: Lockwood Street Tour

Lockwood Street Entrance

Following the visit to G . F Smith's Paper City, a friend and myself were given the opportunity to have a personal tour of the paper merchant's Lockwood Street premises in Hull. We were guided around the factory by paper consultant Steve Taylor. This site has been home to G . F Smith since 1947 following the destruction of its former Hull and London premises as a result of WWII bombings.

Firstly, we were taken into a room exhibiting a range of packaging, publications, cards and other products which utilise G . F Smith's papers. These included pieces for the likes of Burberry, Mulberry, Glenfiddich, The White Company and Miller Harris amongst others, showing the company as a popular choice among some of the world’s most exclusive beauty, fashion and cosmetics brands.

Then, we passed through the sample room. Here, the swatches found in the Collection swatch book are available in A4 sample sheets, sent directly from the factory on request in every colour, shade, texture and weight from the Collection.

Following the sample room, we entered the factory floor in which all of G . F Smith's standard size stocks are held on pallets. We were even taken up in the lift to see how these were placed/removed during the daily operations of the factory. 

Next, we were introduced to a range of different departments and services provided by G . F Smith, including duplexing, envelopes, and packaging production, as well as the company's 'Make a Book,' 'Make a Frame' and photographic practises

Envelopes

The Hull based paper merchant has a specialist envelope team who produce envelopes both by hand or by machine. The majority of papers in the  G . F Smith Collection can be converted into seven standard envelope styles — DL Wallet, DL Wallet Window, DL Banker, C6, C5, C4 and 155x155mm. Additionally, customers can create their own own hand-made, bespoke envelopes from business card size up to A3. We were informed the envelopes are used by a number of large clients, including the Royal family.

Make a Book

G . F Smith's 'Make a Book' service allows customers to, as the name suggests, have a book made, hand-crafted by a team of skilled binders in Hull, and using the finest materials combined with the latest technology. By using premium quality photographic paper and silver halide printing technology, these books give photographic quality and vivid colour reproduction. Make Book uses Colorplan for the covers and for the endpapers, and you can specify any of 50 colours with a choice of 8 embossings. Additionally, you can personalise your book with foil blocking (available in 7 colours) or debossing on the front cover, back cover or spine. The books are delivered within seven working days of ordering or ten working days if you have personalised your book with foiling or debossing.

Make a Frame

Again, using premium quality photographic paper and silver halide printing technology that gives photographic quality and vivid colour reproduction, G . F Smith's 'Make a Frame' service allows customers to choose from Acrylic and Aluminium Wall Prints or specify one of over fifty Moulding styles with or without Mountboard. Also hand-crafted by a team of skilled framers in Hull, the frames use the finest materials combined with the latest technology. These are delivered within 7 days.

The tour of G . F Smith's premises in Hull was a wonderful opportunity to see how the operation is run, as well as to learn about all of the services they provide - of which there were much more than I had expected. While the tour was a fairly quick walk through of the different areas, it was greatly inspiring to talk to a number of employees, all of whom praised the company and had great pride in what they did there. As a designer very much inspired by print and tactile design, paper is naturally something I hold a keen interest in, and this visit to G . F Smith has only made my passion for paper stronger. I hope to keep this engagement with the paper merchant ongoing as I progress through level 6 and beyond. Steve Taylor supplied his business card at the end of the tour and encouraged this, which was great in regard to developing industry relationships and making contacts.

G . F Smith: Paper City

'In a world of transient communication and fleeting digital memories, paper offers texture and feeling, weight and sensation…'

Yesterday I attended G . F Smith's 'Paper City,' a 10 day celebration of colour and 'the freedom to play' for which leading artists and designers have been invited to play with the most fundamental creative material – paper.

 The event, which forms part of the wider celebrations for Hull as UK City of Culture 2017, has taken over the city's Fruit Market on Humber Street, and exhibits paper installations by some of the most exciting creative minds from the worlds of contemporary art, design and architecture – all using specialist coloured paper from Hull-based paper merchant G . F Smith's very own Colorplan range.

The creatives participating in Paper City are Adam Holloway, Max Lamb, Lazerian, Made Thought, Jacqui Poncelet, Joanna Sands,  Bethan Laura Wood and Richard Woods.

Additionally, the event coincides with G . F Smith's reveal of 'The World’s Favourite Colour.' After a global survey, the paper merchant has found and named the world's favourite colour to be 'Marrs Green.' The Fruit Market has a pop-up shop selling a range of Marrs Green products and collaborative pieces.

Paper City undeniably showcased the versatility of paper as a creative medium, and the breadth of possibility it provides. As a designer with a certain preference for print and tactile design, it was inspiring to see how the different creatives responded to the medium, be it through folding, hanging, or stacking the Colorplan sheets. The craftsmanship of all the featured installations was incredible, almost making it unbelievable that they had been created using only paper. The whole event had a creative energy that will most certainly impact the way I think about paper, as well as other mediums. It can be easy to focus on the limitations of mediums such as paper, though here at Paper City, the focus was firmly on the creative potentials.

Lazerian is a contemporary creative studio that manipulates established design concepts, created by British designer Liam Hopkins. Local Fish relates to Hull’s past and present relationship with the cod. It is made up of a four-metre-long anatomical paper model of a fish, central to the historic fishing industry.

'Local Fish' by Liam Hopkins of Lazerian.

Award winning brand identity development consultancy Made Thought, based in London, created a scale installation symbolising the way that the history of Hull and G . F Smith are interwoven and interlinked.The installation is a huge suspended tapestry of Colorplan paper, handwoven in the G . F Smith factory in Hull by its employees, which makes reference to the jobs, community and relationships that the company has create in the city during their 130-year history.

'The Fabric of Hull' by Made Thought.

For Paper City, Max Lamb has embraced the standardised stock paper sizes and weights produced by G . F Smith to create four pieces which might form a range of Colorplan 'furniture' – developing a potentially new standard weight of paper in the process; 35,000 gsm.

'35,000 GSM' by Max Lamb.

Jacqueline Poncelet's work has been developed through a system of cutting and folding, assembling and placing, using all of the colours in the Colorplan range. The floor-based installation creates a series of interesting and unexpected colour relationships, with intricate and irregular shapes – almost a three-dimensional painting that changes and develops as you move around it.

'Island Life' by Jacqueline Poncelet.

Bethan Laura Wood explores the relationships we make with objects in our everyday lives. Found in the unique location of an old smoke house, Bethan’s 'Paper Seaweed' gently hangs and sways to create a suspended world of colour and shapes. Combining the shapes of British seaweed with details from kite construction, Bethan uses the properties of laminated paper by cutting and twisting to transform flat sheets.

'Seaweed Kites' by Bethan Laura Wood.

Richard Woods’ architectural-scale interventions along Humber Street use standard sheet sizes of Colorplan paper to create graphic brickwork, building 'new' walls in an area of regeneration and redevelopment. The paper is also a material connection to the city and its history, a product that has been a building block of the city.

'Untitled' by Richard Woods.

For Paper City, Joanna Sands created an installation which uses the structural qualities of paper to create gentle curves that travel across the floor, using softer colours to enhance where shapes continue, meet and separate. She was inspired by the quality of light in Hull, reflecting and diffusing between the water, clouds and on to the land itself.

'Untitled' by Joanna Sands.

Apeiron Flow is an installation by Architect Adam Holloway that showcases the endless expressive potential of paper. Using principles inspired by nature to increase its structural stiffness, paper is algorithmically grown and crafted into an expansive and fluid sculptural form.

'Apeiron Flow' by Adam Holloway.

Marrs Green Pop-Up Shop