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.
