OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns #2 Publication Design

As a collective we decided to keep the design of issue #2 the same as the first, not only because it appeared to be successful but also to create cohesion between the two publications. This would also allow us to sell both issue as a twin set after the initial release of issue #2.

After submissions closed, 49 works were selected for print. The colour scheme for issue #2 would also be different, and the collective chose an orange and a teal for final print colours. All of the selected works were edited into individual colour separations in order to be printed on the Risograph. The design itself again featured full page spreads of each submitted work, page numbers, initials, and a vertical tag-line on the outer edge of each page.

The title of the issue was again taken from one of the featured works, and the cover design was based around this phrase: where's your coat you're going to be cold? After a series of discussions and critiques as a collective, the final cover design was decided. It was based around the phrase in the context of a line a parent might call after a child as play with their friends in the street of the park. Therefore the cover is representative of block or buildings, depicting a snapshot of a housing estate similar to where each member of the collective grew up.

Issue #2 cover design

Selected spreads from Shy Bairns volume 2: Where's Your Coat You're Going To Be Cold

A full black and white pdf of the publication is below:

Shy Bairns #2 Full Black and White by Erin Blamire on Scribd

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 03 - Life's A Pitch Collective and Presentation

From the research into existing collectives it was noted that successful collectives utilise partnerships between artistic individuals who share common interests but have different skill sets that other members can also benefit from.

For this reason I chose to work with George Wilson to form a new collective. We both have a keen interest in Editorial design and traditional print methods, however I am stronger with physical work and George is stronger with digital work. We have a strong relationship outside of university, sharing many of the same interests from music and film to food and travel. Because of this our work often deals with similar themes and our personal projects take the same direction.

As a duo we decided to call ourselves Studio Normandy. The correct branding is vital to a start-up studio and through our branding we wanted to portray our personalities and a sense of humour. The name came from a combinations of both of our fathers names - Norm and Andy. Using family names in this way hopefully demonstrates that our work is concerned with community and our ethos as a collective is to positively impact the immediate area around us in Leeds. Humour also plays a large part in both of our personalities so a slightly comical name would portray our ability to have fun to any potential clients.

As a collective our work would reach into multiple disciplines, with the possibility of exploring film and moving image and 3D work. Work would take an even mix of personal projects and client-led work, as we both have an interest in the more commercial side of Graphic Design. It was agreed that any commercial work would probably take the form of design work for local businesses and the local community as we both have a strong appreciate for the need to support independent businesses and the artistic community.

Structuring the collective would be relatively simple as there are only two members. We are both strong leaders but understand when it is important to listen and be led creatively, so direction would fall on a project-to-project basis depending on the strengths needed for each creative challenge.

To promote ourselves as a duo we would produce a quarterly catalogue style publication featuring examples of our work and collaborations that we have participated in. This would then be distributed across the country to design studios and creatives in all fields, as well as to universities and university alumni, in order to make new connections with potential collaborators and maintain a network within the professional creative industries. We would also attempt to put on as many exhibitions as possible as connecting with the creative community face-to-face is the quickest and most effective way to form partnerships. These exhibitions would give our studio a chance to show other creatives our projects and discuss ideas and possible collaborations in a friendly and informal environment.

Funding for start-up collectives can often be challenging so our bigger projects would need to be funded through crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter. Future projects would then be funded through careful planning of any profit that is made from previous work. There is also the potential to apply for funding from the Arts Council England once we are a more established studio.

Having the correct space to work in was also very important to us and we both agreed that as a collective we would be based in Leeds. Leeds has a rapidly emerging art scene that is both exciting and fresh, and with close links to other major cities including Manchester, Liverpool and London would greatly benefit our reach in the artistic community. Within Leeds we researched possible studio locations, including Duke Studios, Serf Studios, East Street Arts and Assembly House studios. These are all artist-led community spaces, which would comply with our ethos of being a part of the creative community, and would also provide us with both studio and exhibition spaces which would suit all of our collective needs.

Feedback from our presentation for this idea gained positive feedback. It was commended that we formed the creative partnership out of an existing friendship as this showed that the collective would be driven by our continued interest to work together as both friends and designers, and also showed that the collective would be fairly structured and would be symbiotic relationship. We were warned however about the risk of producing too many self-driven projects, as these tend to be self-indulgent without considering a real function for what is produced. However this could be combatted through work always retaining the studio's ethos of impacting a wider community, and as such all work produced would have a wider purpose.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 03 - Life's A Pitch Research

Brief

An important part of your professional growth is to develop an ability to work collaboratively and productively with others. Working in small mixed groups drawn from a number of LCA creative degree programme’s you will develop fully and pitch a professional proposal for a public facing venture to best showcase and promote the individual works of the collective.

This could take the form of ( but certainly is not limited to) an exhibition, publication or online presence , or perhaps a combination of these. Through research and planning you will explore the basics of how to identify an appropriate venue, audience and market, structure your team to optimise your individual and group skills and knowledge, investigate the legal and financial obligations of developing and launching a creative initiative, seek appropriate professional support & advice, plan and control finances and effectively promote, brand and communicate your presence to external parties and partners.



Research

As a starting point for this brief I undertook broad research into other existing art and design collectives in the UK to investigate how a collective could be structured and how different artistic disciplines could work together:

Bread collective is an award-winning design collective based in East London, formed of a network of creatives working across a variety of disciplines They specialise in illustrative typography, murals and installations, as well as art direction, graphic design and branding.

Dust collective are a collective of individuals: 'designers, printers, artists, illustrators, musicians, writers, developers, organisers'. As a group they tend to work in combinations, bringing together their individual expertise and complimentary skills to articulate and solve design problems.

Behave. collective is an artist-run collective founded as a response to the lack of inclusive opportunities available. Their members reach from Falmouth and Bristol to London and Manchester. They work predominantly in the DIY art scene across the UK, creating zines and organising unconventional exhibitions, with a focus on collaborating with artists whilst providing a support network for each other.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 02 - Interview Email Communication 5

A further week later there was still no reply, so I sent one last email in an attempt to continue the conversation:

Hi Will,

Sorry to send such an obvious hassle email but I just wondered if you would have time to look over my questions soon? The deadline for this interview is coming up so if you won't be available because of work that's totally fine, just let me know - would still love to chat with you sometime about your practice when things die down.

Also saw you're working with It's Nice That now, that's really cool!

Best,

Erin

The same day Will replied:

Hi Erin, 

Apologies I have been pretty useless with getting back to you, largely due to me starting up at It’s Nice That while still freelancing with other projects so it’s a bit of a juggle but I will definitely have some responses with you by the end of the weekend as with it being bank holiday I could get some free time when I will be able to look these over.

Does that sound alright with you?

Hope all is well and sorry again about the lack of reply, sure you understand.

Thanks,

W

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Presentation

During my personal presentation I cover a range of topics, from my experience of Level 05, my work outside of university and ideas for the future.

I started the presentation with a brief overview of my work so far this year. Similar to Level 04, my work so far on Level 05 of this course has mainly been focused on Editorial design. I did thoroughly enjoy the Design for Screen brief as it was something that I had never done before and thought I would not be interested in. However it gave me a greater appreciation for user interfaces and the way design can influences actions and decisions, which will also translate across into how I design generally. I have also taken on the challenge of several live competition briefs this year, including a brief to design posters for the Student Union within College. This opportunity allowed me to practice communication with a client and to create a project that was more commercial in style and covered not only print but animation and moving image as well.

A large part of my practice this year has been running NEST magazine, the College's student magazine. I took over the position of Editorial Officer at the beginning of this year and it has been the most challenging role I have taken on, but also the most rewarding. In the presentation I covered my experience of this, from gathering submissions and designing the magazine to organising a launch event, screenprinting tote bags by hand and hand finishing 1000 copies of the new issue. Many of the tasks I had to undertake in this role were new to me and so I was forced to lean a plethora of new skills very quickly, but all of these skills are transferable to many different areas of Graphic Design and will provide with valuable experience in running and managing a magazine.

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Pressision, the printers who took on the job, and to be able to see the magazine being printed and bound. This gave me invaluable experience in dealing with professional printers and the many demands that come with working in partnership with an external company. The launch and accompanying exhibition involved communicating with local art spaces such as Colours May Vary and curating a series of works. The launch night itself was a success and gave me insight into events planning and managing a budget. I utilised social media heavily in my efforts to promote the magazine and I collaborated with another Graphic Design student, Joe Turner, so as to create an effective social media presence.

I will continue to run the magazine this year and I also applied for the position again into next year. During the student elections I campaigned to promote myself as Editor-In-Chief, which equated to a large amount of public speaking. As a result of this I am now more confident speaking in front of audiences of all sizes and have gained skills that will be valuable when pitching ideas to clients as part of a studio.

I also covered the work I have undertaken outside of university. One such project is Shy Bairns, a collective I formed alongside three friends with a vision to create a platform to promote and give a voice to underrepresented artists in the North of England. This project involved creating a zine based platform in which we took submissions from creatives of all disciplines across the North and then compiled selected works into a 68 page, perfect bound, 2 colour risograph printed zine. The zine featured 26 Northern artists and was printed with worker co-op Footprint in Leeds. My role within the collective was to design the publication and work alongside Footprint to print the zine. The whole project relied on effective communication, strict budget management and tight deadlines, and was a chance for me to explore the kinds of freelance projects I might create after graduation. The project was crowdfunded through the sale of pre-order of the publication which also gave the group insight into how a freelance creative might finance artistic projects. As a collective we are currently working on a second issue and an upcoming exhibition, and Shy Bairns as a practice allows me to push my work beyond the College and begin making connections in the professional industry.

Making connections has been an important part of practice this year and the PPP interview studio brief has provided me with an opportunity to reach out and connect with creatives who influence and inspire me. For this brief I chose to interview a recent Graphic Design graduate called Will Knight. Myself and Will attended the same high school and grew up in the same town, but then attended different foundation courses and studied degrees at opposite ends of the country. Will's current work explores the North-South divide within the arts and I was interested in the similarities between our practices, having originally come from the same town. I emailed Will and asked him a selection of questions about his practice and he was keen to talk to me about his work and his experience doing a degree and then ultimately joining a Graphic Design studio in the South. This proved to be an important contact to make and one that I will utilise again through third year and after graduation.

Off the back of this communication with Will I also applied for an Editorial internship with Unit Editions, an independent publishing house that produced a wide variety of publications for an international audience. Initially the internship wasn't something that interested me, however I contact Unit Editions regardless and asked them for some feedback on my work, with varied success.

After this limited experience with contacting industry professionals I wanted to reevaluate the ways in which I present myself to the creative industries. Early this year I set up a Behance account online with a view to use it as an online portfolio that I could use to show contacts my work. My presence online is a factor of my practice that I wish to build on further over the coming year as this will strengthen the connections that I make and increase the number of opportunities that are available to me both during my degree and after graduation.

Looking to the future, plans for the summer include contacting Footprint again and having discussions with them on how to set up and run a workers co-op, as this is something that will greatly benefit the running of the Shy Bairns collective. Into Level 06 my main aims are to improve my skills further with Editorial Design and networking with creatives in Leeds and further afield in Manchester and London.

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