Juliette Stuart BA Illustration and Visual Media I wanted to make this post to talk about my fish-out-of-water experience as an illustrator who found her way into a design internship in an advertising agency. Not being particularly educated about either of those two fields I had a set of ideas about what my job would be, what I would be working on and how suited I actually was for the position – but my four months at Karmarama went above, beyond and completely off tangent from all my expectations.
Part ! – How it all began: I won the internship at Karmarama through a competition brief to design their new company tote bag. Myself and another student from GBI won, and I went first out of the two of us. Studying illustration, I had only recently begun to understand design after working with some GMD students on our first DPS project with R/GA, but my lack of technical knowledge and skill made me feel stupid and anxious. I worried that another DPS student would have benefitted more from the placement than me. I worried that the company would regret bringing me in at all. I worried that I would never be good enough to do any ‘real’ work, and would be spending the next few months ‘playing’ with the projects that my team members were working on. I also am not a great fan of mass consumer culture, or spending heaps on money on products, and I thought that this would be what we were creating adverts for. I turned out to be wrong about all of the above. Part II – How it began to change: As the weeks went by I got to know my amazing team; they were so helpful – answering every question I had, constantly assisting me with every technical issue I encountered and telling me everything I wanted to know about design. At the start, instead of constantly working I was allowed time to do my own personal projects, and watch online tutorials to up my digital skills, enabling me to expand what I could offer to the team. Through working on my own things people could see what I was capable of, and eventually by week 6 I was booked on to a project as the sole and only designer, and from that point onwards I was busy with live client work until the end. I also experienced a massive shift in my attitude towards advertising as an industry, in fact – as per one of my previously stated worries – not once did I work on anything to do with selling a product. Our clients include charities, health care services intent on changing the world and we have campaigned for inclusivity in the army (that campaign has been winning multiple awards this year) and Pride campaigns designed to increase thinking about countries that may not have the same LGBT rights as our own. There may be a few comparatively duller clients but Karmarama does do good in the world. Finally, the biggest change for myself personally was fostering a newfound passion for design. I began to understand it as a discipline – admittedly maybe not to the depths a GMD student understands – but the passion has been kindled nevertheless. I would have laughed at you a year ago if you told me that one day I would be getting excited about all the fonts I could take from the work server on my last day. Part III – How it will affect my future: First and foremost, although it may sound cheesy, the biggest way Karmarama has impacted me has to do with confidence. I went from being timid and afraid to understanding and learning that I am in fact capable and have potential. I have worked on live briefs in a fast packed creative industry, and I know that this will assist me in getting further placements, and has made me less scared of starting my next. It has taught me ways of design thinking, and I have begun to plan future creative projects that center more around design as a discipline, rather than illustration. The tools and technical skills have already influenced my creative process, I am beginning to discover my own style and taste every day and having the skills to create exactly what I see in my head. Overall, it has been the most amazing experience with the most amazing people. I owe everyone at Karmarama a lot. I hope my experience serves as proof that sometimes it is necessary to put yourself in a place out of your comfort zone. A steep learning curve goes hand in hand with reaching greater heights. Shout out to my [ex]design team if you’re reading this – Simon, Aisling, Josh, Hadria & Ryan. Stay vibey.
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Text by Ekaterina (Katya) Koroleva www.instagram.com/thegreatartofkate/ ekaterinakorolevaual.wordpress.com I went to the Videogames: Design\Play\Discrupt exhibition in the V&A. Don’t judge me too strict, I am not a hardcore gamer by any means. I haven’t played most of these games (mainly because I don’t own the required consoles), but I know of them. The following post is solely my opinion and view on the exhibition. The Journey – meditative platformer with beautiful graphics and soundtrack about a character running through a desert. The Last of Us – one of those games that you can watch like movies, it’s a zombie-survival story about a teenage girl and a man trying to make their way through a post-apocalyptic world. Bloodborne – I haven’t looked into it much, but I know it is a dark RPG. Splatoon – I have heard a lot about this game and have seen a lot of fanart, it is a team shooter with fashionable outfits and kind of fun splashy paint aesthetics. The most interesting part for me was the concept art, because it is my ambition to eventually become a concept artist for games or animation. It was also very interesting to look at the game designers’ notebooks with lots of writing, scribbles of level floor plans and occasional character sketches.
There was also a whole section dedicated to politics around video games. Feminism and video games, inclusiveness, is violence provoked by video games or is the violence in video games just a reflection of the society? – these were some of the questions posed at the exhibition. And, as always, no definitive answers were given, just different points of view, leaving the viewers to decide for themselves.
The third and final room was full of event posters for game jams and parties, there were also some hand-crafted arcade machines, which was a very interesting part of the exhibition. The visitors could actually play all the games in this area. The most innovative game machine looked like a LED tube, going from the machine to the ceiling and you play as a little green light travelling to the top of the tube, you have to move the joystick in a vibrating motion to defeat the enemies represented by red-orange dots on your way, and if you die, a whole bunch of rainbow-coloured sparks spread through the whole length of the LED tube. I enjoyed the exhibition very much and regretted going alone as it would be more fun playing the arcade machines with a friend rather than with random visitors. If you haven’t seen this exhibition yet, you have time till February 24th to go there. It is cheaper for students and even more cheap for the Art Fund Student card holders. Hannah Balogun GMD 2019, wowza. Christmas break is over, I've eaten way too much, I think my brain is semi-dead because of all the movies I've watched, and my sleeping pattern couldn't be more messed up... But no regrets. So I keep telling myself anyways. I'm back at work, and I guess the beginning of the year is slow because all I've done today is: - pointlessly search through Google whilst dozing at my desk hoping no one sees - taking a stroll to a 'hipster' coffee shop with my boss to get a free cappuccino and almond croissant because I'm sure he saw me dozing off (although that croissant was yum in my tum so I'm not complaining) - eating my lunch, not out of hunger, but out of boredom - more Google searching in attempt to inspire myself So yes, it han't been such a productive day so far, but not because of the lack of workload in the office, but because I'm still so lost with what I should be doing with myself creatively. I keep having this inward battle with myself - Illustrator vs Graphic Designer, but when it comes to both subject areas I always get stressed out about the purpose of either route. I tried to be productive this Christmas break and channel both sides, just before Christmas I tried exploring my own illustration style which was fun, but also short-lived because how many portraits can you really draw off head. Get's a little repetitive after a while, but I did post them on my Instagram account to motivate me to keep going. I could have continued, but as I keep asking myself what's the point? I'm tired of drawing for the sake of drawing, which is fine if I was looking for illustration to be a hobby, but my love for sugar is the only hobby I really need right now, I'm looking for purpose. I also tried, and am still doing the '70 Days of Hand Lettering' Challenge, which is pretty self-explanatory, and I will admit that I'm enjoying it so far as I focus on different types of typography rather than hand lettering. I feel like I and typography have been in a long distance relationship for a while, so it feels good to be looking for typefaces again and thinking about how letters can be formed and shaped to communicate different things. Despite there not being a real purpose for this task, I feel like it's a good way to reintroduce to Typography, but in terms of Graphic Design? Well, that's a story for another blog post mate. Nevertheless, I'm still confused, and it's just so annoying. When I first started GMD, I thought 'this is where I belong, I'm sorted, let's get to the self-development', the briefs gave me direction and purpose, a reason to design, but without those boundaries, I feel so lost. I know a designer is not limited to one route or method of working, but I don't want a case where all I know how to do it respond to something I've been told to do, I also want to be able to brief myself and make work I enjoy making.
I'm really hoping I'll discover this mystery purpose soon though because time is ticking I think my biggest fear within this year of DPS is not knowing what I'm passionate about by the time the Summer comes around because I really want to make sure year 3 is where I can grow and explore properly, through our Self Initiated and Industry Projects, along with writing a Thesis that I'm confident in, rather than being stressed out and having constant breakdowns. The thought of stress in year 3 gives me chills because after all, it's the final year where everything counts, and just for once, I would love to finish a project where I'm at least 90% satisfied with what I've produced. By Hunter Zhu Graphic and Media Design Pandas are often viewed as the national treasure of China as well as living fossils, giving us a glimpse into the past. The Chengdu Research Base of Panda Breeding (or more simply, the Panda Base) is an internationally-renowned institution where scientific research of panda breeding is conducted that was founded to save endangered giant pandas. Located only 10 kilometers from downtown Chengdu in the northern suburbs, the Panda Base covers an area of 1,000 mu. During construction of the Base, the giant pandas’ wild living environment was faithfully recreated by including features such as pools, brooks, and bamboo forests. There is also plenty of vegetation for the pandas to eat, such as tens of thousands of bamboo shoots and shrubs. The most popular attractions in the Base are the panda villas, solar greenhouse, moon palace, and the panda museum. On January 1, 2019, several of my friends joined me from different locations to make a special trip to the Giant Panda Base. In Villas 1 and 2, the adult pandas could be found playing and resting. When we arrived some of these pandas continuously ate bamboo leaves while we watched, and others ate bamboo shoots, one panda is especially adorkable, While holding bamboo shoots with its chubby hands, it used its mouth to tear open the hard peel, easily eating up the bamboo after a while. We also saw some pandas that were enjoying naps on wooden supports, while others were sleeping on the ground, and some of the more active pandas were playfully chasing each other around. Each panda appeared naïve and cute, and much like children, they would get up and play after having a good sleep. It appeared that the pandas were so free! The core area of the Giant Panda Base houses the solar greenhouse, which is where pregnant female pandas wait to give birth and where newborn and young giant pandas live. The round moon palace is split between indoor and outdoor portions, and here I saw several 2- to 3-months-old adorable panda cubs, one of cub used its chubby little hands to scratch itself,another was being fed ,while another cub slept soundly. They enjoyed eating, playing and sleeping, and I felt very relaxed watching them. For at least 8 million years, giant pandas have inhabited the earth, but no more than 1,600 wild pandas currently exist, and most of these are pampered by people. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was founded by saving 6 sick and hungry giant pandas from the wild. Since then, it has successfully taken care of 62 female pandas, which have given birth to 88 baby pandas, of which 54 have survived. Although giant pandas are no longer currently endangered because of China’s strong efforts to protect them, they are still very valuable and bring tourists all over the world unparalleled joy. |