Studio Practice: Only Studio

Introduction

Branding agency
lots of work on designing for screen
collaborate a lot with other people
6 people
used to be based in Leeds, now based in Manchester
work a lot with education and niversities
work with non profit organisations
music, sony, music festivals
luxury, high fashion brands

Design for Screen

not very technical, don't know how to code, prefer print
just need to be able to communicate
open mind to bringing ideas to screen
constantly evolving, fast paced, endless opportunities
primary means of consuming a brand, experimental and interactive, it's here to stay, embrace

Steps

- Research, competitors, audience, personas (identify different people, users background story, basic description, who's using it, six different personas, what do they want out of the product), principles (5/6 principles to sit alongside the brief to check back at, who, what, where, accessible clear etc.).
- Wire-framing, Ideation, collaboration, developers, designers, art directors, everyone's ideas in simple sketch forms, test assumptions, client buy-in, map out the functionality of the project, separate the two stages out. Clients will know what they're getting from the product. Hierarchy, content where everything will live. 
- Design, take sketches, design all sizes, envision, functioning sites in the browser.
- Front end development, work alongside developers, what expectations are, communicate what you are trying to do.  

Goldsmith

Try to appeal to a different audience to show their other courses rather than art and design, keeping modern whilst trying to incorporate history, digital brand guidelines. 

Printworks

Digital, gifs, bringing things to life in screen, sense of movement, informed by digital thinking about movement, being playful with formats, seeing no limitations. 

University of Suffolk

Embracing change, bottom right corner hints at geographical location. 

Focus on social media rather than business cards. 

Lost Village

A different and innovative take on a music festival, created it's own typeface, looking like markings. Unconventional website, different.

Helbers

High end fashion, luxurious, look books, labels, tags, shoe boxes. Images on website, very little text and content, making it feel exceptional making it go a little bit further than your average site. 

Bring Me the Horizon

Taking content from twitter and Instagram, following them on their tout, quick project. 

Different sizes, laptop, ipad, tablet, phone
envision - programme to show prototypes on
research and wire framing are important
in industry normally someone else doing the research. 
20% 40% 40%
give the developing the different sizes, any special requirements, 90% of it right, animations and interactions, design went into development, just communicate ideas to the developer.
Come up with whatever you want and there will be people there that can visualise and realise it. 

Session: Networking

Networking is basically making friends.

James Victore

Methods of Communication - Email, Telephone, Facebook, Linkedin, Snapchat, Instagram, Dribble, Behance, Letters and Mail.

More about meeting people and sharing. 

Session: Manifesto

First of all within aspects of the course and second year I would like to focus more on briefs that I am passionate about and interested in, and even if the briefs at first look son't seem to fit this then try and fins ways round to bring my own interests in and make it relevant to my goals for the future and the things I love, therefore I will enjoy it more. I would also love to collaborate with people on other courses, such as illustration and photography, to create a completely new piece of design and work and develop skills of learning and working alongside others. Finally in relation to the course I am going to try and work within the workspace available to us more, in the studio and stay there from 9-5 everyday, therefore not only can I create better work by surrounding myself with people and getting feedback and help, but I can also have my weekends free.
 Which brings me to the next point of things I would like to achieve in my personal life, is to be happier and try to enjoy the university experience more, and also make time for myself and visiting friends old and new and enjoying the time off to do exciting and fun things, creating memories whilst I still can.
 Finally relating to my future ambitions of becoming a teacher, I would love to find more volunteer opportunities be that within my student ambassador jibs, working with young creatives and summer schools etc, or be that in the holidays finding schools to volunteer in and really just engaging with new experiences and building up a network of schools and references for when I apply for my PGCE and beyond.

Studio Practice: Village Bookshop

Village

villagebooks.co

Create a space where all interesting and creative, independently and self published publications would be accessible and available in town. People could come and interact and engage with this excellent print matter from all around the world
Bring stuff from outside the city into the city, publishers from around the world and also provide a space where creatives working and studying in Leeds could get exposure for their work and what they're doing. 
Second floor is a not for profit gallery space, collaboration with the artists village are exhibiting. 

What self publishing is?
Small staple bound rough and ready publication, this is quite limiting and it has now evolved in a big way. Anything that is independently published and creatively published could fit under the umbrella of a 'zine'. 

Why Self-Publish?
The age of the internet, where it's so easy to get your work seen, but the audience is seeing everyone's else's work at the same time. When you are reading a zine, you are only reading that person's book, seeing, touching smelling it entirely focused on that person's creative output. Creating something permanent, and outlook for a project. Book end a project with a physical output. 

Applications for self publishing?
Fairly limitless, (colophon foundry), creating a book about something that you have a passion for and our interested in, but also showcasing your talent as a designer.  'Made, Melbourne, Nourished Journal). Comes out every January. Wax Magazine (New York). Catalogue, (Library Paper), showcasing what they're about and communicating their ethos and aesthetic to people. Producing a book with someone else is a great opportunity to influence and change how that work is perceived by people. 

What we look for?
Heavily focused on photography books. Overall it is about creating an object, all the elements come together saying the same thing, every single element of the book says something about the content inside, forming a cohesive artefact that someone who picks up, gets immediately. Inspiration of how to think about books and how to look at each individual aspect together. 

Concept
Foundation for any good book, and how this concept is communicated. Is it obvious from picking up the book what it's about. Should have an under arching idea, the umbrella idea, all other elements come together to communicate this. Jigsaw puzzle book idea. 

Format
Has the potential to communicate a lot about the book and drive the idea. (Until death do us part). Max Siedentopf /Funny Money, book in response to tendency that tourists have, paying locals to take their picture, implicit bargain. 

Design
Encompasses everything, the whole book itself, layout, how the content is presented on the page. Should you be able to see the hand of the designer when looking at a book of someone's work. (Matthew Connors - Fire In Cairo). 50% bleed to full bleed photographs on the page. Zooming in on a situation, focusing on clarity, goes from abstract image to straight up portrait. End of the book is actually bound backwards. 

Print
Different ways to print a book, what suits the work and what suits the content. can drastically influence how people perceive the work. Reproductive print techniques, lose details in the image, decaying through repetition. (This is the same ocean, Melbourne). 5 colour risograph. Playing around with print techniques, experimenting and manipulating the content to look something new. Doesn't have to be printed the same all the way through. Paul Fung, Catalogue, loads of different print techniques throughout the book, contrast creates a change in how people look at the images. 

Paper Stock
Can change the feel and look of images and photographs. What works with what you're trying to say. Bartleomeo Celestino (Surface Phenomenon). Juxtaposition creates an interesting effect, shows hoe the designer can influence the work through layout. 

Binding
A lot of things to play with, loads of different binding methods that can be experimented with.  A book doesn't necessarily need to be bound. Changing the colours of stitches you use. 

Details
Spot varnishing, foiling, interesting little touches that people can do. It has to suit what you're trying to say. Every single copy could be unique, playful and fun. Doesn't have to be super expensive to make it successful and interesting. Little things, not going overboard, cheaply can enhance the book as a product. 

Book as a Product
Make something that you can sell and get out into the world. How they sit on a shelf and competing alongside lots of other books, (Israeli Girls). Thinking about the accessibility of it, commercial considerations. The best way to look at selling books in shops is that idea of exposure, people picking it up, flicking through it, more valuable than money and the price of selling a book. 

The Self-Publishing Community
Engage with this community, a lot of familiar faces which you meet all of the time Offprint, book fair in London. Engaging with that community more than anything else, you should pick up other people's books, pick up as many books as possible, see what other people are doing. 

Examples
Christopher Nunn - Ukrainian Street Dogs
Christopher Nunn - Holy Water
Tripod City - Gold Dust
Charlie Kwai - Overtime
Edward Newton - Flowers and Weeds
Ursula Jernburg - Characters of Jante
Slava Lopez - Illa

Session: Professionalism

Amateur
Semi-Professional
Professional

Commercial artists commercial art, employed or freelance possibilities.
Problem solvers and suppliers of a 'creative' set of solutions and outcomes.
Now seen as professionals in our own right.
Graphic Design was only named in 1922.

Personal Taste
Colour preferences
Committee thinking
Trend
Cultural and ethnic acceptance
personality clashes

What do you hope to achieve
Your work recognised
be recognised as a creative
seeing your name in lights
respected for your approach
fame
money

Negative side
can't get work
only poor quality clients
clients who don't listen
communication problems/breakdowns
poor and negotiated outcomes
not getting paid

Getting a system in place
manifesto or mission statement
how you work and conduct business

Write a mission statement or a manifesto that can be seen as what you would like to be seen as, as a creative practioner.
Blog post - to explain how you see this at this early point in your practice.
It will change in the future as you grow.
Post by 26th October.

First things first manifesto
Things that motivate and inspire your work and practice
Gets you to the heart if what you want to do
core purpose and focus
what influences every decision you've made
what's important to do and what's not

Studio Practice: GF Smith

Ben Watkinson from G.F Smith came to speak to us about their company and the different types of paper stock, embossing and other facilities they offer. 
Looking through their book, they have their main and most popular collection, 'Colour-stay', which has been around since the 1970s, and was inspired by pop culture however it is still extremley popular today. Then they have a series of white papers, and then a special collection with textured and specialist papers which are only generally used for very specific projects. 
They offer very high quality, luxurious paper used only in very special projects and companies. Their clients range from Burberry, Jaguar, Typographic Circle and Pentagram. 
They offer embossing and debossing facilities and different stocks for this also.

Studio Practice: Dalton Maag

Process

Stuart from Daalton Maag came into speak to us about type design and type anatomy and carried out a workshop with us. He firstly spoke about his process when dealing with clients, specifically so when designing the typeface for the BBC. 

 When designing a typeface for a client they begin with small groups with different workshops. Which helps the designers to understand what the client wants and what they're looking for. The workshops consist of looking at their existing brand fonts and looking at the positives and negatives of each, then they bring together a gallery of images which each have a typographic association which moves the brand world into the typographic world. They also have an axis of key words which relate to the brand where they place different typefaces to gage what types best represent their brand values. 

 The client then chooses their top 3 fonts and that is when the design can actually be started properly. A team comes together of around 10 or less designers, where they begin to discuss the brief and start to sketch and digitalise ideas. Legibility, use on screen, use of the typeface across all different medias are all aspects that needs to be considered. For example the BBC originally had helvetica, however the spacing is too tight and does not work well on screen, which is predominantly where it is used. The BBC wanted a large x-height, open counters and a humanist design, therefore the fonts chosen were manipulated to fit these characteristics. 

To begin digitalising the typeface, the letters are drawn out in Postscript, using as few nodes as possible, then they move to True Type to develop the typefaces further.At first on the characters a, e, h, i, o, p, t and v are looked at and developed as these have the most important characteristics which will then shape the rest of the typeface. Generally around 7/8 ideas are worked on at a time, then the client can narrow these down to 3. After this punctuation, and the rest of the uppercase and lowercase letters are introduced, however, just using a regular weight at this point. When the typeface is decided upon and the client is happy, this is when extreme weights are looked at, so extra bold and extra light, therefore everywhere else can fall between these two. 

Finally an Ascii set is produced including all uppercase, lowercase, numerals and punctuation and currency etc. The next thing to look at is the spacing and kerning and how the typeface is best well read. After this is the engineering part which is the other 50% of the job making sure that the fonts can work across all platforms consistently. Hinting is the next step which is controlling the way the pixels dit into the pixel grid to get better quality characters. Then finally the different versions of the typefaces are produced to fit with Desktop (TTF), Web Fonts (which are compressed versions), and App fonts. 


Optical Principles

We then took part in a workshop which was all about learning how to draw out letters and the characteristics that each letterform has and what needs to be considered. For example, the application of contrast which comes from the calligraphy behind the letters. The weight needs to be taken out of horizontals and the round on oval letters needs to be compensated for. When writing a 'H' and 'X', the bar and the cross have an optical centre rather than a mathematical centre as it needs to be adjusted to be balanced. After learning this, we had the chance to apply this new found knowledge ad previous learnt knowledge on type terminology together and try and draw out correctly aligned and proportioned letters.