Week 03: Fields of practice
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
Research, analyse and explore the terminology and language that we use in the area of graphic design.
Imagine through your research a new term for a selected piece of design that breaks definitions of design practice.
Communicate clearly through your forum and blog and comment on your fellow students work in relation to different fields of practice.
Participate in and reflect upon debate on the ideas wall.
Manage your independent learning through good planning and self direction.
Reflect & Produce - Breaking the boundaries of graphic design
Exploring the definitions and terminology and language that we use in graphic design today
List 10 different types of graphic design practices today.
I based my list of the practices I am most familiar with and a brief description:
Logo design - Creator of a memorable and recognisable logo through typography and symbols
Brand identity - Effectively communicates the brand's values, and message
Brand guidelines - Collaborate with the logo designer/brand identity team to show how logo should be used
Web designer - website creator from start to finish
Photoshop editor - using software tools to edit and manipulate images
Motion Designer - animated or motion graphics
UI designer - visual elements of digital interfaces such as websites, apps, and software.
UX designer - user-centred designs that are intuitive, accessible, and efficiency
Print designer - Layouts set up predomanently to send to print production
Lecture: Part 1
Designers, design, new languages, theory and the new aesthetic
Simon Manchipp (SomeOne) , Sam Winston, Kristoffer Soelling, and Tom Finn, Regular Practice (KS),
Sarah Boris (SB), Julian House, Intro (JH), Adrian Talbot, Intro (AT)
The main aim of this series of lectures was to discuss the focus on the effect globalisation has had on design practices worldwide.
Simon Manchipp - SomeOne
Simon Manchipp explores the benefits of working on a global scale and canvas. He explains how his current portfolio is spread across America, Europe and Mumbai and works with different cultures creatively approached into everyday designs. His stance is that the globalisation of communications is happening and can’t be stopped and is something to be celebrated and embraced.
“Simply put, I think that it’s terrific. There’s a lot of negativity surrounding globalisation and how it’s leading to a homogenisation of thinking, but actually, I think the opposite is true, I think it’s encouraging greater collaboration, it’s encouraging bigger ideas and then it’s allowing us to work on a much bigger canvas.”
Sam Winston
Sam explains how, although the digital space means travel is not a necessity, sometimes face-to-face business and connection, are still the best way to show an interest in something serious.
“The globalisation has added a lot of speed to life, it’s added a lot of connectivity to it, but I don’t think it’s necessarily changed some quite basic things about how we operate.”
Sam also talks about the picture books he produces in multiple languages. Being in 23 languages, the pressure is on him to create all the text in black only allowing for a cost saving on one plate change. Does this stifle him as a designer and is this something he has to push back on? It makes economic sense but as a designer, he is always looking at creating something different.
Tomm Finn and Kristoffer Soelling - Regular Practice
Tomm gives an example of a client in Puerto Rico, and preparation for SKYPE meetings to establish their process and what they need to achieve as they can’t just call up very easily. They have nailed this down now to a slick process as they don’t have the scope to go forwards and backwards.
They discuss the style of visual interpretation but also how they can buy print production from across the globe for both economic reasons and specialists in the print production field.
Sarah Borris
Globalisation has given Sarah a massive amount of opportunities globally including a month-long residency in France, at a graphic design festival, where she had the opportunity to demonstrate her practice to local people. It has also presented her with opportunities to speak at the ‘Good Graphic Matters’ festival in Breda in Holland and has had her work acquired by the Stedelijk Museum and exhibited in Russia.
Sarah concludes that globalisation has opened a lot of doors and also new ways of thinking but the negatives are that that anyone can do anything from anywhere so the competition could be greater?
Julian House and Adrian Talbot - Intro
They stress that with the globalisation of design “anyone can do anything from anywhere” but face to face business is still important. You can now conduct a business almost exclusively from behind a screen which means that, of course, you can work with anyone anywhere. Their MD Katy, is very much a people person and they stress that they are approachable which is the key reason, to building a successful business and this has attributed to their company’s success after thirty years.
“It’s amazing how quickly you can clear up what was never a big issue in the first place. The danger of dealing, of working online, through sending PDF via email and stuff, is that potentially very small problems can turn into what seems like a huge problem and then a meeting dispels all of that, and it just becomes a case of saying “well maybe we’ll do this”, and I think that that is a really important thing.”
In the second lecture, Harriet Ferguson of Pearlfisher reflects on graphic design practice globally and broadly.
Previous Falouth MA student, Harriet has worked with Pearlfisher for the last 10 years, a global based design company, and discusses how working for a global practice has affected her design thinking in collaboration with global brands and colleagues from other global practices.
She discusses how global design can benefit us as students and employees in several ways. Firstly, it exposes them to different design perspectives, styles, and techniques worldwide, broadening their knowledge and understanding of design. This can lead to new ideas and approaches, inspiring students to think outside the box and develop their unique design style. Secondly, the global design allows students to gain a global mindset, which is crucial in today's interconnected world. Understanding cultural differences and designing with a global audience in mind can help students create relevant and appealing designs to a diverse range of people. Finally, exposure to global design can provide students with networking opportunities, enabling them to connect with designers and design firms from around the world and potentially open doors to international job opportunities in the future.
Harriet summarises at the end of her video in handy bullet points:
• Be genuine, no bull;
• Tell the story, one that the brand you are designing for can truly own;
• Find a unique way of talking that stands out and is fresh in the category;
• Keep it simple, consumers have enough on their plates already;
• Think global but act local;
• Consider the impact on the planet and what the brand can give back;
• Make it fun – an emotional engagement with a brand will make it more memorable
I absolutely love this and have copied this as my ow manifesto of rules to work by!
Reactions to the lectures
Question: How has Globalisation affected your business over time?
I think this series of interviews concludes that the pace of global design has increased and is possible and effective within different time zone and cultures, but the need for face-to-face contact is still necessary to engage with a client who will want to work with you. I think it comes back to the old adage ‘People do business with people’ they like and trust and sometimes it is important to meet in person to forge those relationships.
Global design is happening already and maybe we should embrace it as a source of new cultures that we can add to our ideas and inspiration.
With technology advances, we also have the ability to always stay in touch with our clients and colleagues at every step of the design process through Slack, Teams and Zoom calls, so we can still build friendships and trust and engage through online relationships.
I do wonder though, in the future, with sustainability being key in today’s society, whether we may become more socially responsible for reducing our carbon footprint and limiting face-to-face meetings that we currently rely on to build business relationships, and will this have the reverse effect on the boundaries of global business?
Week 3 - Wednesday online lecture, our manifesto
This weeks lecture was to discuss the future of graphic design as a discipline.
As a task we had to form our own manifesto and for what we thought was the future of Graphic Design as a discipline.
We had 5 minutes, to list 10 words which we felt defined what we thought were really important to Graphic Design or our practice.
My 3 words of what is important to me - and my rationale
Colour - My daily conversations with clients explaining the different processes between CMYK and RGB, Pantone, RAL colours etc.
Print - My background and it still a technical process
Sustainability - (Linked to print) Print runs can be smaller and more cost-effective. More bespoke projects. Personalised print make interesting design projects and the need is on the increase.
Our collective manifesto -
It was interesting to see our combined thoughts.
Sustainability was a concern for us all, and how this could affect the future of design.
This was great for all the group to come together and have their imput.