Week 10: Designer, Author, Maker – Case Studies Exploring Trends and Outputs of Influential Studios
Weekly Learning Objectives
By the end of this week you should be able to:
- Research and analyse the role of designer as author and maker;
- Imagine and communicate a series of outputs you could make as an author;
- Manage your independent learning effectively.
Week 10: Guest Lecture, Craig Oldham
Lecture Introduction
This lecture has been created by guest practitioner Craig Oldham in which he discusses his work alongside case studies. This lecture explores the designer and authorial practice.
Watch the lecture and explore related materials, reflect upon these ideas, and use them as a springboard into your own investigations. Use the ideas wall freely to discuss, ask questions and share ideas.
Craig Oldham
Doesn’t see his projects as sitting within the realm of a graphic designer. It’s more complex. To just call it graphic design would be doing that work a mis-service. Graphic design is a service industry and the term seems out of date, perhaps communication designer would fit better in these times. ‘Graphic’ doesn’t cover the work we do any more.
The designer is in the middle: Client-DESIGNER-audience. The designer is designing for those people, not yourself. Your opinion is needed and wanted but your ‘tastes’ are not. Graphic design is a tool, a means to an end. The subject you use graphic design to produce is the important part, your design is just part of the process.
Design is reference based and not always original, nor does it have to be. All work is derivative and is better for that, an idea of resemblance: a function, a product.
Anything completely new ‘beyond our understanding’ is rejected, we fear what we don’t understand. We pull references from other disciplines, other places, things we’ve seen and it’s how we combine these which is the original idea.
‘A designer that does all these other things’ – a different path and direction, it’s good to have an interchangeable ‘box’ for yourself in order to do something different. Set boundaries so that you have something to aim for, but don’t be afraid to step out of those boundaries if the process needs it.
Why?
Because I’ve been asked to…
Ask yourself and it’ll be a different answer.
The self initiated projects Craig developed early in his career were a response to to liking his job, desperate to get home after 5pm so that his own ideas and needs could be ‘put down’. This resonates with me with how things were in my work for a long time, but doing my own things just to keep an interest and to keep convincing myself that I could do something different to the work being produced by my job.
Who?
Vanity, fame?
If you want to be famous then graphic design isn’t the best way to gain it. Craig says if you’re doing a self initiated project to gain recognition or ‘your name in creative review’ then that’s not a good reason. I agree with this in that doing something for the sake of it and ‘sending it in’ to be picked up by a magazine isn’t going to get picked up. But producing some work with a purpose, to make a point or to show a benefit or solve a problem… and that gets picked up, wouldn’t that as a nice bonus?
Compare this to music. Most musicians and bands have something to say and they feel they can say it through their music. Their aim might be to become famous but only through and for their music. Of course there are the ‘musicians’ who are famous because people say they are…
Would there be an audience to target with your idea, could that become an entrepreneurial project that you could use to start a new direction and ‘go for it’?
Could your project bring in more work for your practice? Could you gain commissions off the back of a self initiated project – could this be the sole reason for doing it, is it right or worn to do them for this reason? If it’s the only way you can show your real potential then that’s a good enough reason, even if it’s to prove to yourself the you’re able to pull something off that’s different to your day-to-day, same old stuff. Maybe funds to carry things right through stop you at stage one…
Could you make a conscious decision to set aside income from ‘real work’ to fund these side projects in order to make them happen? Having this as part of your studio plan could stop the subconscious barrier (or blatant opinion of a third party) that makes it feel like you’re wasting money.
Craig Oldham: Epiphany Editions
Films are ‘a filter across the world’
Fictional books which appear in a film and how they were pivotal in the plot. Replicate the ‘props’ from the film and use them as examples of influence. The book might be an ‘entry point’ for someone, ‘drawing them in and giving them something to leave with’, they recognise it as being from a favourite film, the book might leave them knowing about other work from the same time period: Jenny Holser (?), Guerrilla Girls and Barbara Cruger (?).
‘They Live’ (Film) John Carpenter
Shepard Fairly (?) (Obama ‘Hope’ Poster.)
(A lot of underlying political views in Craig’s work we seen on the course.)
What is the content for these books, what else has the film got to say, the projects is about that content and not the design; typeface, paper, etc.
A cyclical process – like the film, look at this book, go away and watch more films by John Carpenter. Like the design of the book (my point of entry), go watch the film.
‘Design is at the mercy of the content’
The book is full of connected subjects; the consumerism, the gender issues within films at the time, artists from the time which fit in with they style of the messages. Pieces were submitted by others connected to the film. John carpenter wrote the forward, Roger Lookhurst (?) a film critic, wrote a piece about the history of x-ray specs. The book includes a lot of texture-shifts, glossy pages for the submitted pieces and uncoated stocks, black on white, white on black. This plays with the idea that in films when you see the truth you see in black and white so when you het to these dividers in the book you know you as the reader are moving into a shift in content. The book contained hidden messages of some of the hidden commands from the film.
The book has a cover and some spreads printed with bubblegum scented ink, if you watch the film you’ll see the relevance.
The thought and attention to detail; the scent, the glyph typeface used in the aliens messages, the presidential election posters and the content submitted by various people involved in the actual film (and the design layout) make this piece stand out as a great piece of work.
Week 10: Resources
Read | Watch | Listen
Below is this week’s list of materials. For the full module resource list, please refer to the Course Hub. We encourage you to also carry out your own independent research into themes delivered. Do not forget to use the Ideas Wall to share new ideas and thoughts.
Creative Mornings, Anthony Burrill(2017) Make it Now [online]. Available at: Anthony Burrill : Make It Now (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 11 June 2019]
2. Soames, M. (2008) ‘17 things we know about Daniel Eatock’ [online] Eye Magazine, Winter. Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/17-things-we-know-about-daniel-eatock (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 11 June 2019]
3. Kelvyn Smith: www.smithsrules.com/ (Links to an external site.) [online]
4. It’s Nice That, George Hardie, 2016 George Hardie on five decades of illustration (Links to an external site.) [online]. [Accessed 11 June 2019]
5. Parry, V. (2018) ‘A Certainty of Ideas: Tom Sharp’s Poetic Vision’ [online]. Available at: https://www.oneandother.com/community/features/a-certainty-of-ideas-tom-sharps-poetic-vision (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 11 June 2019]
6. Lettering Artists Tom Perkins, David Kindersley, John Neilson
- www.letteringartstrust.org.uk (Links to an external site.)
- www.bl.uk/events/david-kindersley-alphabetician (Links to an external site.)
- www.letteringartstrust.org.uk/artists/browse/john-neilson (Links to an external site.)
7. Alan Kitching, The New Typography Workshop (Links to an external site.)
8. Julian House Ghostbox Records
- ghostbox.co.uk/category/julian-house/ (Links to an external site.)
- Q&A Ghostbox Records (Links to an external site.)
- Ghost Box at Further (Links to an external site.)
9. Rock, M.(1996) ‘The designer as author’ [online], Eye Magazine, Spring. Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/the-designer-as-author (Links to an external site.). [Accessed 11 June 2019]
Anthony Burrill
From the Analogue Era…
RCA – No computers. ‘Computers were too complicated to use in those days’. Photocopiers were the thing.
‘I’ve managed never to have a job’
There wasn’t the visual culture in the 1990’s that there is now. Always had a sense of going somewhere. Eric Kessels – the worst hotel in the world – worked on the brochure as anti-marketing item which made it desirable. Shows how brands can talk about themselves with a bit humour.
How do I want to work, to operate?
Gather ideas and come up with your own solutions.
Find what it is you want to say
2010 Mexican oil-spill.
Tom Gaal Brussels, idea was to print a poster using the oil from the beach.
Launched on social media and a website.
Over-analising and over-thinking tends to kill things.
Posters began to take off so became less reliant on ‘work’ and could be more choosey about what work he wanted to do. A slow process – investing time in yourself to develop your own ideas and projects. It’s awful being told what to do by an idiot.
Let’s hope so…
17 things we know about Daniel Eatock
The Sagmeister principle: if you say things that are nice, honest and blindingly obvious in a designer-y sort of way, then everyone will love you.
George Hardie
I have a rolling ruler, it’s the most inaccurate tool in the world
Alan Kitching
I met Alan Kitching once at an exhibition opening where I told him his work on show ‘was* better than I thought it would be’.
*I missed out the vital word: ‘Even’.
He turned and walked away…
Julian House
Three channels, one pop-chart.
Comes from a time when media was fallible, tapes were wiped and things did fade. Now we live in this strange digital perpetual present.
‘It doesn’t fade any more, nothing disappears into the shadows.’
Week 10: Workshop Challenge
The Challenge
Author and Maker
- Find two examples of designers who demonstrate authorial / making expertise in the delivery of a component of their practice. Is it their sole output, are they passion projects or are they opportunities where they saw a gap in the market?
- Upload onto the Ideas Wall and discuss.
- Think about a series of outputs you could make as an author.
- Generate 10 ideas for discussion, upload to the Ideas Wall and elaborate further on the blog. Please note, this is the first step of you considering one idea that will be researched and potentially launched as an authorised artefact through the last part of this module.
Possible examples: things I’ve thought of choosing but would need to look up/at to see if they fit the bill.
Book: ‘The Typefaces’
Erik Spiekermann & p98a Workshop
Craig Oldham & the Hand-written Letter Project
Creative Boom
Erik Spiekermann & p98a
Erik Spiekermann studied art history at Berlin’s Free University which he funded by running a letterpress printing press in his basement.
He has had a very successful career as a graphic designer and type designer, producing clean, clear information design and complex corporate design systems for clients such as Berlin Transit, Düsseldorf Airport, Audi, Bosch, VW and Heidelberg Printing, setting up FontShop, the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts, in 1989.
He talks a lot about his passion for type and typography, and is a living knowledge-bank on the history of letterpress.
p98a.
p98a, a gallery and experimental letterpress workshop in Berlin is dedicated to letters, printing and paper. Set up in 2013 by Erik Spiekermann in an historic building in Potsdamer Straße 98a, from where the studio gets its name. The workshop houses actual printing presses, as well as digital printers and their editorial offices, described by Erik as: “my hobby that costs me a lot of money”.
They are trying to re-introduce letterpress printing into the realm of production but on higher technical level, not just for nostalgia or as a museum. They explore how letterpress can be used in the digital age and look to save the ‘analogue approach’ by printing, collecting, publishing and running workshops which start with a historical introduction to letterpress and a look at different printing methods.
Their view is that any designer, especially these days, should understand where it all came from physically, learn the rules that are still used: the grid, the sizes, and the technical terms such as kerning, leading, typesetting…
“We are trying to do cool stuff. We make wood type, we print posters, but posters are actually a sideline to make some money”
Paper is still a pretty decent medium.
It doesn’t just bring the pleasure of reading, it also satisfies other senses, like iTunes -vs- a vinyl record, nothing beats holding the physical product. It’s something to cherish, to look after. Keeping the history and the processes of print current can only be a good thing. Letterpress has been around for over 500 years and the phrase ‘print is dead’ couldn’t be further from reality. It is digital which is the disposable medium.
“In the analogue world you have to tidy up after your work”
According to Google, a web page has between 2.7 and 15 seconds to grab your attention, I didn’t stay long enough to check it out…
References:
https://www.p98a.com/about
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Spiekermann
https://www.typeroom.eu/article/erik-spiekermann-p98a-s-innovative-revival-letterpress
https://www.google.com
Katy Cowan & Creative Boom
Creative Boom is an art, design and visual culture magazine aimed at anyone working in visual arts and communications: artists, designers, illustrators and photographers.
Its founders Katy Cowan; a journalist and media broadcaster working for regional and national radio stations, and her husband Tom; a software specialist developing websites, apps and systems.
They became Boomerang PR in 2009, just after the recession when there was a growing number of creative freelancers struggling to find work. Katy been working as a freelancer at the time and, with spare time on her hands, came up with the idea of Creative Boom. Originally setup with just a handful of subscribers as a simple blog for creatives, its main focus being on exposing new talent in the creative industry.
With regular posts, newsletters and feeds on social media Creative Boom has become a leading platform in the creative industries. Attracting an audience of over seven million readers using the inspiration, tips, and resources available to help them succeed.
There are now over 23,000 subscribers to its weekly newsletter featuring highlights from each previous week, and a recently added Podcast with guests like print designer Anthony Burrill, graphic designer Malcolm Garrett and Ian Anderson, co-founder of the iconic studio; The Designers Republic.
The Podcast went straight to the top of the Apple Podcasts’ charts on its day of launch with 20,000 downloads in its first couple of weeks.
I’ve always found Creative Boom a useful place to go looking for information and inspiration, especially the recent Podcasts. I had work featured in an article when I started my current studio and Creative Boom is where I spotted the new “Falmouth Flexible” courses to which I made a knee-jerk application…
Katy Cowan.
Katy is a down-to-earth, genuine person. She hasn’t let the success of her ‘little blog’ go to her head, she’s approachable and helpful to anyone who asks for advice. She looks to make improvements and still listens to what her audience wants; a fun and friendly personal blog about creativity.
“I’m very much a do-er. I don’t like to spend too long thinking about things – I like to put things into action, and fast. I figure – if things go wrong, I can always change things – and I’ll have learnt important lessons along the way. It’s a no-brainer really”.
References:
https://www.creativeboom.com/about
creativehuddle.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Boom
https://www.boomerangpr.com/
Possible 10…
1: Photos of famous ‘then and now’
inspiration for the idea comes Lindsay’s mention of the 1990’s and then from the state of Shaun Ryder on Celebrity Gogglebox, he’s ruined.
Would need to work out how I’d get the images? Ask for a selfie… ask for a quick-drawn self portrait?
Send out a massive amount of requests and hope by the law of %’s someone responds…
2: Illustrated favourite words
Ask people to draw their favourite word. Either literally – the letters – or its meaning, ie. car, draw a car. Create a book in alphabetical order, but would it need the whole alphabet?
In the film ‘The Kray’s’ they’re asked by their teacher for a ‘wonderful word’ which was Crocodile.
3: Something to give me an excuse to buy a Riso printer?
Start a set up like https://hatopress.net/about
4: ‘The problem with websites’
Not sure what this could be yet, maybe a set of quotes or opinions? Displayed on its own website…
5: Covid +/-
Current events of the lockdown and social distancing, etc. are a (hopefully) once in a lifetime occurrence. Ask for one positive (at home more so saving money) and one negative (at home more…) from the lockdown period. Result in type only book, website – straightforward results to show?
Voice recordings?
6: Pin badges/Tote bags
Favourite PMS colour, favourite letters…
7: Chapeau de Bras
I thought of a Zine around seven years ago which was delivered folded like a paper hat. Content-wise was writing and images from friends who do that, I could actually get around to it…
Some forms of bicorne were designed to be folded flat, so that they could be conveniently tucked underneath the arm when not being worn. A bicorne of this style is also known as a chapeau-bras or chapeau-de-bras (literally “arm-hat”)
132 5. by Issey Miyake
8: Hors Catégorie
Posters detailing mountain stages of the Tour de France – focussing on the gradient or Category. Each would contain a small number of facts: when was Mont Ventoux first in there, rider with most stage wins on the Tourmalet, etc.
Screen printed?
9: Trump’s biggest Tantrum’s
A collection of the worst (best) Donald Trump stroppy Tweets as statements produced as a cartoon strip.
10: ‘Imagineer’
A collection of meaningless marketing phrases and their supposed definitions…
Reflection
An interesting approach to this week, 10 super-quick-thought ideas for a future project or possible business venture. Sounds a bit suspicious… roll on next week ????
I wouldn’t say these 10 were the first things to popped into my head but they weren’t far off. Writing the small description to go with the titles was a task in itself – trying to explain what each of them is to myself, so I can then explain to them.
Drumroll…
(Research-wise, the Julian House interview above it worth a listen. The music is great, I’d no idea it would be like that from how he is in our lectures)
