nousvous meeting

today me and vicky went to nousvous studio to have a chat with them for research and to ask them advice about getting into the industry. And what lovely people they were. Heres a brief outline of the minutes i made:
When they first get briefs they get everyone together to come up with ideas and they start making visual ideas quickly. This is something i need to take heed of with my gender issues brief because i am waiting for responses from questionnaires but in the mean time i could be drawing ideas. some of them do illustration on the side and can use this to either promote or take up time when there isnt much work on. Do things for free if it will benefit you and get your work and name spread. If i end up working for a company i definitely want to do things on the side like illustration and selling cards and stuff.
I asked them who their dream clients would be and it was nice to hear them say things in the culture areas like music festivals and arts sector (which a lot of their work is for anyway). I asked if they would turn down a big job if they thought it was unethical and they said yes but they would try to negotiate it first so that it wasn't unethical. I figured I can use this for my design context if because my theme is social issues and I can use companies that have a real awareness of ethics in what work they do.
i asked them what the role of the computer is in their work because it always seems very handmade. They said they see it as a finishing tool because a lot of there work is illustration based and also, because its print based, they said they work in the physical world because the end product will ultimately exist in the real world, not on screen. i really liked this.
They advised us to keep being experimental in our work, even when someone says exactly how they want it its always good to keep coming up with fresh ideas.
I asked them if they think its better to go to London and they said it is because of the contacts and opportunities but 'you dont have to live there to be active there.' You can still visit and get yourself known through visiting places down there. They said we will be taking for granted the fact that we have lots of people around us in college but when weve left you need to find people to talk to about your work because all input is good.
They also advised us on how to price yourself and what the business side of it is like. Overall they said you only learn by doing and not to worry about things (i think i came across as a bit of a worrier)
Heres some of their work

Statement of Intent

Here is my revised Statement of Intent following todays tutorial

action plan

Im not reallly sure if action plans should go on the blog or just in the project file but here it is for my first brief

FMP Tutorial - progress evaluation

My Brief-




In my tutorial today

- keep looking at my guardian work as a benchmark for professionalism and also to remind myself of the way I like to work and how the 'style' can be appropriate or altered to be appropriate for another brief.
- Start the brief that I have written for myself as more of a longer one (I will aim to finish this in reading week I think)
- make an action plan for this first brief - occupational gender stereotypes
- Keep doing competition briefs so that I can practice working to specific set guidelines that aren't my own. I will probably keep most of these briefs quite short as this suits the way I like to work.
- For design context look at design for social issues or companies who have an moral ethos in how they work. Also look at design which integrates illustration as a heavily used means of communication.
- The overarching theme is social issues so i can do a number of briefs to do with a number of issues. so this first one is about gender, the next one could be under age drinking etc. Below is a list of social issues I could design around:
- Equally, I could pick any subject that isn't necessarily to do with an issue, and then deal with it in a socially responsible way.

General social issues
Abortion
Affirmative action
AIDS
Alcohol & drinking
Animal rights
Binge drinking
Capital punishment
Censorship
Child labor
Children's rights
Civil rights
Creation science vs. evolution
Drugs & drug abuse
Drunk driving
Environmental protection
Euthanasia & assisted suicide
Famine
Flag burning
Gangs
Gender issues
Genetic engineering
Global warming
Government vs. religion
Gun control
Homelessness
Homosexuality
Human Rights
Immigration
Legalization of marijuana
National debate topic
Nuclear proliferation
Organ & body donation
Pledge of Allegiance
Poverty
Prayer in schools
Racial profiling
Same sex marriage
Sweatshops
Terrorism
Tobacco
Violence
World population

meetings

I have got two meetings arranged to interview designers for design context and ppd.
NousVous in Leeds on Friday 3oth January
Kiosk in Sheffield on Monday 9th February
I plan to ask them about how design and illustration are sometimes viewed as separate and advice about getting into the industry.
I knocked up a quick business card to give them too...

where i am at - part deux

Tonight I've been looking for more companies who do the kind of work i want to do and i came across my new favourite agency EVER - new future graphic. They demonstrate absolutely perfectly what i want to do with the FMP. They work with campaigning associations whose subjects are social and environmental issues. they produce print based work such as books, brochures, beer mats and even sandwich bags , sometimes for educational purposes, sometimes for advertising. I like them so much because i feel like they bridge the gap between design and illustration that i talked about before, as their work has a friendly handmade feel and contains lots of image, but is also conceptually sound. i think if i show this work at my tutorial it will explain a lot better what i want to do.

working with 'issue champions' We Are What We Do, new future graphic art directed, designed and illustrated their new book.









posters illustrating new political party messages

where i am at - breakdown

the group tutorial today made me realise that i need to clarify some stuff for my FMP (actually i was fully aware of this before).
I'm worried and confused because my subject matter, (as it stands is gender stereotypes), isn't directly related to design unlike something like sustainability or retail. I don't think it matters but people who have got a design related subject seem to be pretty sorted and know what they're doing and I don't :( I thought i wanted to do some sort of protest but i don't want to go down the guerilla root and i would rather make it either funny and undermining or educational but I don't know if this is something i decide later. For the tutorial i need to -

clarify subject
do a statement of intent
find briefs i could do
take along work ive been looking at

this afternoon i sent my portfolio to a number of companies who i like to ask if they would mind me asking them some questions or giving me feedback. These are who i sent it to:

hyperkit
joe baglow (illustrator)
nous vous
rgb studio
kiosk
no days off
elefantart
traffic
iwantdesign
a-side studio
studiomikmik