Veronica Jones

BAMM is a global agency, operating out of both New York and London. They focus on building their brand momentum, through pushing boundaries of research through new methodologies, unexpected conversations, asking suprising questions and latest technology. The agency provided a few students from Diploma in Professional Studies, with a brief to design an artwork which conveys a customer user journey. The design could have been a single graphic, or a number of smaller graphics that show the selected user journey. 

A meeting was then organised by Sarah Temple which provided me with the opportunity to present my idea to Matt Baker (Co-founder and Head of Creative) and Kelly Gates (Graphic Designer) from BAMM London. Where I presented my idea of undertaking a user journey of choosing a holiday. I began by elaborating on my primary research on the subject, which involved me in taking the first steps of selecting a holiday and brainstorming my previous experiences. I looked into which websites and social media platforms usually guide me in this process, as well as any of my previous experiences in doing so. For example, I retraced the steps of my recent holiday to Greece, this really helped me in placing my idea into perspective. I described a complex journey of investigation with all considerations of choosing a holiday, as I looked into a detailed and more spontaneous way of approaching the task. I explored two processes in two separate booklets, one of which focused on an extended user journey where everything was booked and pre-planned. The other booklet focused on a more spontaneous way of planning a holiday, for instance booking a flight for the next day and finding a place to stay once you land in your chosen destination.

Concluding, I represented these user journeys through the use of two flip-books, in which one elaborated a very detailed experience of booking a holiday and the other a much shorter and more spontaneous experience. I bound the booklets using fold-over  paper clips, which helped the book to flip and allow the audience to observe the different methods and websites, illustrated with a laptop, and a hand holding a mobile phone. This project allowed me to experiment with different mediums and learn a new skill, as I was able to create illustrations for the booklets, which is something I have not tried before. I found that this use of graphics and editorial design really represented this idea of quick online searches, which can be conducted in order to plan and book a holiday. Your holiday is just a click away! :)

Ewa Dykas
Graphic and Media Design
@_ewadesign

Saumya Mittal. Graphic and Media Design


As I complete two months of my internship here at LOCAL (https://www.wedesignlocal.com/​) in Mumbai, here are a few things I felt it might be relevant to share what I have learnt so far.

1) If the client calls you after work hours, you do not pick up. 

2) If the client expects you to work on weekends, you do not agree. 

Points 1&2 are especially relevant to India, as people don’t respect the lines between personal and professional life. I don’t think the same problem would arise in Europe or other western countries. 

3) You can never be too organised. 

I always thought I was organised until I started working. Arranging and Naming files in the correct order is something I’ve been struggling with. As a designer, I usually always forget to download files in an organised manner as I’m really into what I’m creating at the moment. As a result, if anyone except me wants to access the file later, they wouldn’t know what I’ve named it. 

4) The bigger the client, the more painful the entire design process is. 

I’ve had the opportunity to work for big international companies and small startups  in the past two months. I have learnt that smaller clients are much easier and flexible to work with. Though big clients pay more, smaller clients give you more creative freedom. Permissions take lesser time with them.

Bigger brands on the other hand, already have a very strict and restricted set of brand guidelines which leaves you very little to play around with. However, a studio being a business, needs both kinds to run.

5) Responsibility is stressful. 

I chose to work with a smaller studio as I wanted my work and my contributions to count. I wanted actual roles and responsibilities and not be the jobless intern. Luckily, my boss entrusted me with important responsibilities and I realised how stressful they can be. Being directly in touch and coordination with clients as big as estee really stressed me out. There is absolutely no room for error.

6) Keyboard shortcuts are your best friend in the design industry.

Every time I see my boss work on any software I learn at least 5 new keyboard shortcuts. I thought I knew illustrator and photoshop well, turns out there’s quite a bit I didn’t know.

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7) Never do charity. (For your clients)

We’re supposed to keep a tab here at the studio on the amount of time we spent working on each client. If a client has asked only for one creative, we focus on making only that one. More iterations, not options. Time is precious, you have to be careful about who you spend it on. 

8) Document everything.

Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. Hence, it is crucial to always document and keep every process and experience. 

9) Don’t make books and menus on AI.

I made a giant mistake of creating a food menu on illustrator. It took me twice as much as time it would’ve taken on indesign to format the entire thing. Lesson learnt for life. Any long document should always be created on indesign. 

10) It’s alright to make mistakes, as long as you don’t repeat them over and over again. 

Every time I made a mistake in the office which my boss later pointed out, I spent the rest of the day trying to come up with a reasonable defence for myself in my own head. I soon realised that the only person getting affected by that is me. 

I have adopted a more reasonable approach now. 

Accept the mistake. And don’t repeat it again.

11) “God is in the Details.”

This was a tagline we used for branding a luxury fashion store called evoluzione in India. I feel it’s quite relevant to us even as designers who work in the industry. I’ve realised that the most embarrassing thing that can happen while working is that the client points out a mistake which has slipped your eye. 

12) Ask as many questions as possible.

Every time I haven’t asked my boss what exactly she wants for the fear of sounding stupid, I’ve actually done something stupider. 

13) Personal work and inspirations are the source of every good idea.

Here at LOCAL, we usually have brainstorming sessions when we take over a new client. Every valuable contribution I’ve made to these discussions so far, has come from work I’ve followed or found during my free time. 

14) I have to make more notes.

Quite self explanatory. 

15)  Make friends with rejections and restrictions.

Everything you create at work goes through a number or rejections, your colleagues, your boss, and then your clients. We work with a lot more restrictions than we do at university. It’s always better to not take things personally. Helps you sleep better at night.

By Jasmine Walsh, Illustration and Visual Media BA

As the creative industry expands, there becomes more room for much needed diversity. 

From Fenty Beauty Makeup to hiring more POC in leading creative roles, diversity is something that's always in the back of my head, as a working artist and WOC. If no one in a company looks like me or showcases the ability to cater for my demographic then what do I have to give them as a creative? 

From 2014, small companies such as Nubian Skin have been in the black beauty and business limelight. Finally a (lingerie and clothing) company by a Black British Woman, catering for Women of Colour with a mostly POC team? Our prayers have been heard. 

Whilst it's not the most well known company aiming to reach the widest demographic of people it possibly can, Ade Hassan (the founder of Nubian Skin) is an example of working twice as hard to reach your goals. Whether that be clothing, graphic design, marketing or else where, Hassan was one of the first WOC within the UK to be awarded by the Queen for her services to fashion in this category, and specifically with her commitment to redefining 'nude' and what we label as the 'standard' skin colours in the UK.

From gaining an OBE from the Queen, to taking both her parents to the ceremony whilst wearing Traditional West African Clothing, working alongside/with a company such as Nubian Skin is something I've dreamt of since late 2014.

And coincidentally 4 years later, I happened to run into one of the Nubian Skin team members and insisted on showing her my work. After working with a company founded by a Woman of Colour, for Women of Colour and working almost exclusively with Women of Colour, the photoshoot was a step in the right direction for someone fearful that they'd find it hard to work with a company that caters for them as an individual. 

Christine Geiger. Graphic and Media Design.

Something that gets neglected from our courses has been a splash of reality. We’ve spent 2 years so far, 3 if you did a foundation diploma, completing a checklist of briefs and in return have been assigned a letter corresponding to the degree of which our tutors think our work complies with the checklist. This gets a little psychologically taxing when you think about the reality of the industry compared to the colouring by numbers for grades. Most of us know that Graphic Design is ultimately assessed by its audience, but actually living and believing this is something we learn by working on real briefs. 

Firstly, by removing the power of one person assessing your work, you allow multiple opinions and perspectives. Furthermore, your tutor is certainly not always going to be your target audience, it seems inappropriate to have them judge what is not really for them. 

Secondly, the concept of grades is dismantled. How do you quantify the success of a campaign, when you can’t monitor its hits on social media or count your profits from it? There is satisfaction in real gains other than receiving a standardized number or letter in the form of a grade. Moreover, a grade could never consider long term changes. Graphic Design is a world of subjectivity and qualitative data. It’s all about reactions to the design and not the design itself. 

Thirdly, there are no limitations. Your secondary practice gives you an edge in professional practice, and does not have to be cast aside for university briefs. DPS lets you rediscover your skills and nurture them. 

Lastly, and on a more personal note, I simply do not have the energy to return to another year of university without something to shatter the system that has been trying to ingrain itself into my ways of working. I feel like my work has become predictive and uninspired. DPS is exactly what I need right now. I get to have a voice again. 

​Su Chun Lin - Graphic and Media Design

I started my first placement at Book Arts Workshop in LCC.
 
Book Arts is a workspace mainly for manual work. There are various kinds of binding, technique such as foil blocking, and even paper making for students to explore, to apply on their work.
 
I am deeply fascinated by any kinds of paper related objects, such as papers (obviously), books, pamphlets, brochures, note pads, boxes, and so much more. Working in this space allows me to develop various possibilities of the materials in my free time.
 
When I am not free, my duty is mainly assisting the technician, Rahel, during workshops and inductions. Also, in the first few days, Rahel asked me to be familiar with the foil blocking machine, so I am proficient enough to instruct to other students.
 
Since this month is the beginning of the term, there were a lot of inductions and workshops running for freshers. What I observed during the sessions was that understanding and teaching are two totally different things. Understanding is more inwards, whereas teaching is like to transfer (or even translate) the knowledge to others. Interestingly, some people find easier to understand through text, some find easier through figures. There is not right or wrong, better or worse, it is just about which way works effectively for learners.
 
Furthermore, after running so many workshops with Rahel, I realize that it can be challenging when an interest turns into a job. Because it is actually quite tiring to repeat exact the same thing four times a week, if there is not enough motivation, the passion can be gradually exhausted.
I then had a chat with Rahel about how she keeps the enthusiasm without getting bored of repeating the routine. ‘When I see students get down to it and sometimes receive positive feedback after the session, I will forget about the tiredness.’ She gave me a warm response.
 
Working closely with a book making expert is a valuable opportunity to not only learn the handcraft method, but also problem solving and communication skills, which there was not as much chance to experience in my everyday life before. I am really satisfied for what I have gained so far, and looking forward to confronting more impressive things in the remaining journey.

​As an artist and as a person, one of the ideas that inspire my creativity and soul the most is the idea of being European.  Beyond the structure of the European Union nowadays, what I’m extremely connected to can be synthesized by the motto of EU: United in diversities (Adopted in 2000 and inspired by  Ernesto Teodoro Moneta 1833-1918) .  And especially now, where in the UK, this idea I am so closed to, is under threat,, as an answer to an academic brief called “Locating Practice” I merged my passions for graphic design, typography, music and politics. Starting  a project that give  a design shape to my way of European activism called ILOVEEULIKEALOVESONG.
You can get an idea of it here: http://imsointoeu.tumblr.com

​This  is why on Saturday 20th October I joined the march of protest against Brexit that saw around 1 million people protesting against the choice of UK to leave the EU.  I’ve been to similar marches before, but this time I took courage and I printed some stickers that I shared with other protestants, some of them started to attach the stickers a bit everywhere, and once again I felt the interest expressed by people to my project. 
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Lorenzo Epis / Design for Art Direction

Hannah Mayall

It's in every gallery, every art shop or university library. 'What they didn't teach you in art school' by Rosalind Davis seems like it should be at the top of any art students reading list. But for some reason I have always been reluctant to delve into it's pages and insights through my first 2 years of being a fully time creative undergraduate. 

But fast forward to this year, where I am embarking on my year in industry and I'm beginning to thing it might have been worth an hour or so of my time. I am currently positioned within Inception Group as a Design & Brand Intern, the company is fast paced, diverse in its offerings to the public and some what wacky. I have only been here for 3 or so weeks but it has been an eye opening experience so what you truly don't learn in art school. 

In my day to day role I work across almost all of Inceptions Group's 12 venues, designing artwork, promotional material and menus- that's the first thing I've learnt. Throughout my university course in most cases I put my heart and soul into one project, one brand and I can become absorbed into its language and aesthetics. But here I switch from one brand to another sometimes multiple times an hour and I have quickly learnt to become fluid in adapting to the job in hand. 

Secondly my role extends far beyond design. Need some labels ordering, need a quote for 1000 branded aviator sunglasses or a customer facing allergen menu? That falls on my desk and starts a mammoth email conversation thread in order to reach an outcome. These tasks are something I have had to learn the process for completely from scratch but in reality they are some of the most important jobs as ultimately unless a quote is provided the design material never leaves the desktop. 

I'm truly learning the ins and outs of a career in design and I am so glad I took this internship on a 6 month basis. I have been given the opportunity to completely become part of the team, see projects through right to the end when they are in situ at the venues and be given responsibilities for projects far beyond those that I currently experience at uni. So, here to the next 6 months of really discovering what they didn't teach you in art school. 

by Hunter Zhu - Graphic and Media Design

During one weekend in mid-October, I headed for the Chinese Academy of Art in Hangzhou by bullet train, to pay a visit with great reverence to the newly built China Design Museum located on the campus grounds.  
 
On April 8, 2018, which was the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Academy of Art, the China Design Museum (designed by renowned Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize) officially opened in much anticipation of the global arts community and museum circle. In terms of colors and materials, the exterior of the generally triangle-shaped museum is mainly made of Angolan red sandstone supplemented by French yellow sandstone. Siza artfully brought views of the outer landscape into the exhibition hall through giant windows which brought light, visual stimulation, and a feeling of openness to the otherwise tension-filled space. Siza reasonably planned both fixed and temporary exhibition spaces, and further extended the interior space to the exterior of the building to form several independently enclosed hanging yards, thereby largely enriching the variety of the museum’s flow lines.
 
The theme of the China Design Museum mainly revolves around the genealogy of Western modern design, especially examining Bauhaus and Western styles. Its construction and official opening announced to the international community that China finally possesses its first world-class design museum that effectively accommodates collections, exhibitions, research, and verification of domestic and foreign design works.  
 
Currently, the China Design Museum has 7,010 collections of Western modern design series centered on Bauhaus, more than 30,000 collections of Italian menswear, more than 700 collections of American movie posters, and so on. Meanwhile, five design exhibitions also debuted: “Life World: The Collection of Western Modern Design,” “Subversion & Reshaping: The Collection of Massimo Osti Menswear,” “Bauhaus Imaginisita: Moving Away,” “Lvaro Siza-Beyond Architecture,” and “The Document Exhibition of Architecture Design of China Design Museum.”
 
I was able to visit the “Bauhaus Imaginisita: Moving Away” exhibit.
“Bauhaus is the melting pot of design philosophy.” Although the Bauhaus School was founded a century ago, the school technically has only existed for just 14 years. However, it effected remarkable changes by creating the earliest mass-inclined design culture with a challenging and pioneering spirit of reform. The movement left a lasting impact and legacy on a host of social and cultural domains.

The exhibit “Bauhaus Imaginisita: Moving Away” was jointly carried out by the Bauhaus Cooperation Organization (Berlin, Dessau, Weimar), the Goethe-Institut, and the House of World Cultures. Several curators collaborated on the project, such as Marion·Von·Osten, Grant·Watson, and copartners from China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and so on. On the occasion of Bauhaus' centenary from March to June 2019, the Berlin House of World Cultures will hold a large horizontal show, in which “Bauhaus Imaginisita: Moving Away" of the China Design Museum will unveil four presentations around four significant Bauhaus objects with special significance: “Respond,” “Design Life,” “Borrow Ideas,” and “Eternal Spirit,” which will be comprehensively and intensively displayed.
 
“Bauhaus Imaginisita: Moving Away” exhibited 200 odd works from Germany, Holland, India, China, and other countries. What was shown indicated that the most essential part of the exhibition focused more on the theme “moving” instead of “Bauhaus.” Only about one-third of the total works displayed were from the Bauhaus period, while the rest depicted how Bauhaus went on to influence and inspire design in China, India, and the USSR. The 60 or so works by Chinese designers outlined the course of development of the ideological trend of modernist design centered on Bauhaus in China throughout the last century.  

After visited this exhibition, I deeply realized how the design thinking of Bauhaus affect the modern design. They taught us how to express the beauty of lines and structure by mathematical calculating, what is less is more and the function is possible to combine with aesthetic perfectly. When bauhaus combining with the Japanese aesthetics, it comes out Muji, and if it combine with the American values, it comes out the highly functional office blocks with a attractive outlook, which can be sold by a good price, place in Chicago. I was wondering how would it be like when the Bauhaus thinking meet Chinese philosophy, after I entered CAA (Chinese Academy of Art) I think I had my answer of that question. All the buildings in CAA are the new Bauhaus style of design which full of concrete, but interestingly there are also tones of Chinese elements such as bamboo, cane and wooden block to decorate the building. The layout design of whole area of the university is just like a big size Suzhou manor. I can see many cabin just like ‘house of horn’ hidden in bamboo forest and style of minimalism bridges connected with buildings cross the river. “This place is an utopia in reality!”At that time I said to my friends with me.