OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Spin the Aub

Recently I found the website Spin The Aub by illustrator, animator and director Anna Ginsburg and designer and art director Freddy Taylor. The interactive site involves nine animated aubergines and nine musical soundtracks acting as a showcase for Ginsburg's hybrid style of animation.

Spin The Aub is a lighthearted and fun distraction, users can control the speed of the aubergine spin as the various soundtracks react accordingly. “The obvious association with the aubergine emoji is a nod to all that is saucy,” says Anna.

“Freddy and I wanted to push one ridiculous idea to the absolute limit. A rotating aubergine is such a simple concept, yet the possibilities are endless,” Anna explains. Each of the nine aubergines are made up of 100 drawings; there are four hand-rendered, four CGI and one hybrid of everything. Anna, who created all the 2D hand-drawn elements and stop motion animation, worked with Joseph May to help on the CGI animation. All types of the eggplant are portrayed including a furry one, a pixellated one, and even a denim one all making an appearance.

“Original soundscapes” have been composed by FrnkBoff, each an imagining of the individual aubergines adding another element to the project as the vegetables morph, ripple and explode.

I found this project really interesting. Despite it being a potentially silly/jokey idea I thought it was an extremely innovative and unconventional way for the illustrator to showcase her work to the world. I really like the colours used and the different styles of illustration and animation explored in the project. It's a clever but simple way to combine a number of different mediums. This project has showed me that even the wackiest of ideas can be a clever way of getting your work noticed and showcasing it in the industry. Any way of getting remembered and talked about will be extremely important when it comes to finding a graduate job after university. 

From quickly reading this article I realised how it highlighted the importance of collaboration in industry. Ginsburg would not only be collaborating and in constant conversation with Taylor the animator when creating the video, but they are also likely to have a lot of input from the band themselves. Again showing that cross discipline collaboration is a vital skill. It'll be important to remember this as I move further into level 5 as I move onto briefs involving collaboration with illustrators and animators. 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Before the Flood - Documentary

The other day I watched Leonardo DiCaprio's eye opening documentary 'Before the Flood'. After watching 'Cowspiracy' this summer I have found myself being much more concious of the damaging effects humans are having on the environment in ways such as our diets and wastage and still find it shocking how little the vast amount of people know about the effects we as individuals have on climate change. It has inspired me to look for ways in which I can do my part to help and has made me more concious of the actions I can take as a designer to produce ethical and environmentally friendly design as much as possible. 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Ted Talk - Simon Sinek

Today I watched the Ted Talk 'How Great Leaders inspire Action' by Simon Sinec. The talk translated easily into a multitude of different professions and the underlying message was transferrable into a number of different practices. The message was that: 

Great leaders, companies and designers answer the question of WHY they do things rather than what they do, or how they do it. This is always at the forefront of their motive and purpose and this is what makes them successful. 

This theory is defined by Sinek as the golden circle. The companies that follow this rule are the companies that consistently achieve new things and seem to defy all of the assumptions. Very few organisations know their cause, purpose or beliefs / know why they do what they do, in terms of reasons other than to make a profit - and making a profit is a result rather than a true motive. 

However the inspired leaders work from the inside out, explaining why they do something before anything else. 

'People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with people who want what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.' - Sinek. 

This theory also works on a biological level. The cross section of the human brain is broken down into 3 different components which correspond perfectly with the golden circle. The neo cortex corresponds with the 'what' level, which is what you say and hear and can see. However the two inner sections of your brain are where your 'gut' feelings come from like trust an loyalty. This part is responsible for all human behavior and everything that we do and has no capacity for language. This instinctive and subconscious level corresponds with the 'why?' as it's the part of your brain which deciphers what 'feels' right. This is the part that makes you want to invest in something and become a part of it as this is what you believe.  

If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe. It is important to make as many people believe in the same beliefs as you to hit the tipping point into the third wave of consumers known as the 'early majority'. 

If you want mass market success or mass market acceptance of an idea you need to hit the tipping point between 15 -18% market penetration. The first 10% are consumers who just 'get it',the risk takers who trust their limbic brain and invest in the idea you're selling before anyone else. The 'Early Majority' will not try something until someone else has tried it first. Innovators and early adopters are more comfortable making these gut decisions as they are comfortable with what they believe. They want to be 'first' and will do the things that they believe to prove to the rest of the world who they are.

This video taught me to not design in pursuit of results such as money or fame, but to create things with a purpose and belief in mind at all times. Without this no-one else will believe in your product or you as a designer and the results and noone will want to invest in you as a person or the things you create/design. 

If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe in what you believe. 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - After Effects

Over the last few weeks we have had various inductions into Adobe After Effects which I have found really fun and engaging. It is definitely something I am interested in using more in the future to enhance my practice as an emerging designer. The process of bringing my designs to life is something I'm really looking forward to putting into practice, especially since identifying digital design as one of the paths I am interested in following as part of my professional career after university. The ability to use After effects will enable me to communicate more clearly with developers in the future to bring my designs to life and will also come in handy when displaying work on my online portfolios and behance page. 

(The above is an example of a simple gif by Andy Orsow, Designer and product marketer at InVision, created in After Effects that could potentially show how a user experience button works on an app etc.) 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - GLUG

Last week I attended Glug, a creative networking event that celebrated the abundance of creative talent that Leeds has to offer. 

As well as talks from only studio and Intern magazine, there was a talk by 'She does digital' a Leeds based women in tech group. The talk was extremely insightful into the world of digital design, something whichI had not really considered previously.

As I'm in second year now I have really started to think hard about the paths I want to go down after university and which seem the most prosperous and abundant routes to follow.

The world of digital is getting larger every day however, being new to graphic design the thought of designing for screen has always terrified me as I always thought the ability to code was essential for this area of design. This particular talk however was particularly eye opening as it threw my previous perspective completely out the window.

The talk explained that the market for design talent working in digital media is vast and only getting bigger, there aren’t enough people working in digital and the problem is getting worse meaning there is an abundance of jobs available for this area of design. Women in digital especially is a huge problem. Most of the ‘technical’ roles are filled by men.

Women are also continuously conditioned to think that they’re not good with technology with mums in particular get branded as technological fools, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, where many smart women are deterred from learning digital skills.

After the talk I went and chatted to Rose from Leeds advertising agency epiphany and the co founder of she does digital for more advice on what to do if I wanted to crack the digital world after university. She advised getting some more digital work into my portfolio and to stand out from other members of my class and to practice my skills, enhancing my interest in the area. She also listed the number of potential jobs that were available in the world digital design which was absolutely immense. It was definitely food for thought and I'm certain I will try and enhance my practice by incorporating more digital design in future projects. 

Another stand out message from the night was that sadly a huge amount of creative talent is leaving Leeds and the north in general to head down to London. One of my major aspirations in life has always been to move down to London after university and make a living for myself there as to me London is the epitome of business and creativity in the UK. However after hearing the talks this seems to be no longer the case as many northern cities such as manchester Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool all have booming creative industries. Despite still wanting to live in London for at least a few years of my life it has somewhat alleviated the pressure of having to live in an extremely expensive and somewhat daunting environment if I find it isn't for me. 

Overall it was a very inspiring evening and I will definitely be going to the next Glug event. 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Design for Print Reflection

After the completion of the studio brief 'Design for Print' I feel much more aware of the details and requirements that are needed when it comes to designing a piece of editorial work. This module has been highly beneficial to the way in which I work and set about starting a project making me feel much more confident when it comes to producing a final design. 

Specifications like grids, guidelines and colour management are a lot clearer to me now and make much more sense than they did at level 4. I know feel more confident in my abilities to talk to publishers and printers and understanding requirements such as binding methods, paper stocks and finishes. 

There are some elements of the publication that I produced that could have been better however I now have the skills and knowledge to identify the correct processes that could be used to make these amendments and with additional time and funding I feel confident I could produce further publications at a high standard to be marketed for sale. 

Despite this I still feel editorial design and publishing is not the area of design I want to specialise in however many of the skills I learnt from this module are transferable into other areas of Graphic Design such as design for screen, branding and packaging etc. The processes and disciplines I learnt were extremely beneficial for enhancing my practice. 

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - The Happy Newspaper

In May earlier this year I saw a post on Instagram from Emily Coxhead, a graduate graphic designer/freelance illustrator who I had been following on Instagram for a few years. The post was doing a shoutout for any illustrators who would like to submit a piece of work for the new project/buisness she had just set up called 'The Happy Newspaper'.

Immediately I sent her an email showing her a range of my illustrations in different styles in the hope that she was still looking for applicants. This was the email:

Thankfully I got a reply almost straight away:

From there we emailed back and forth a few times to establish the deadline for the illustration and confirm styles etc. This was the finished drawing (featured in the newspaper):

Emily credited my drawing in the newspaper by putting my design instagram's username on the page so readers had a direct link to more of my work, getting my name out there.

A few months later in August, completely out of the blue I received another email from Emily asking if I could do another illustration. Obviously I jumped at the chance. It was also really lovely to think that a creative who I looked up to had thought of me and liked my work so much that she got back in touch to do another drawing. This was the email: 

My response: 

And the drawing:

The other week Emily got in touch with me again for the latest issue of the Newspaper to celebrate it's first birthday! She wanted a drawing of Freddie Mercury and the comet that had been named after him.

This was the final drawing as seen in the newspaper:

I've really enjoyed working with Emily on this amazing project for such a lovely and worthy cause. It's been so nice to feel part of the design community and actually contributing my work and getting it out there into the world rather than just sitting in my sketchbook. 

Supporting small businesses is something which I am always proud to do and watching Emily's grow into a small empire since I first came across her work on the MMU Art school's graduate show is something that I'm always impressed to see. She now has over 11.9K followers on Instagram, a book which has been published by Penguin, shoutouts from the likes of Richard Branson and a whole range of her own products from cards to mugs. 

She is one of my main role models and is the definition of how hard work and passion for doing what you love seriously pays off. I hope to collaborate with her more in the future.