who i am as a graphic designer

Design Statement 

I identify myself as a general graphic designer as i do not have a specific specialism in graphic design, i have interests in lots of different specialisms but i do not define myself by them. I have a passion for branding, publication design, package design and design for print as well as many other general graphic design skills. As i do not have a specialism i decided to create a wide range of projects that allowed me to experiment with things that i take an interested in. 

I chose to a range of different briefs as i wanted to show the range of design skills i have developed over the years, as well as show how versatile i am when designing as i have my own style but only chose to use it when it is appropriate to the brief. 

I also chose to work on two collaborations for two of my briefs as i like working in a team as you can play to each others strengths and weaknesses to create a fully developed final outcome. My personal design style is influenced by modernism as i favour a minimal approach to my design outcomes as i like to design things that are practical with a clean and sleek aesthetic to them, which is clear in most of designs outcomes.

End of module evaluation

Through completing this model i feel that it has improved my practice as well as opening up my options for the near future. At the start of the year i intended to improve my social media presence as well as develop a successful personal brand that represented me, as well as gain confidence when speaking to professionals about their practice and my own, i feel like i have achieved all of these goals this year, and my work placement was a key part of gaining my confidence in the graphic design industry.  

A key part to my learning this year was due to study task 1, you've got mail (real mail) as it pushed me to take the leap into contacting a studio that i admire and like the work of. This was successful in my opinion as the studio responded to me via Instagram by posting in their story about my and following my, this gave me more followers and helped me gain confidence putting my work out there to be received by a larger audience.

This model has definitely improved my practice as previously i did not go to many exhibition or opening events but i have found that they are very beneficial as you get to talk to other designers and create many different contacts. At the start of the year, i was reluctant to put my work out there and talk to professionals about it. I have since made myself a website to go alongside my Instagram, Behance and LinkedIn, and have gained the confidence to keep up to date with uploading work. Although the responses are slow it has not knocked my confidence as i know that not everyone will like the work.

From my experience on this model i have found that i do not have a specific specialism in graphic design, i have interest in lots of different specialisms but i do not define myself by them. I have a passion for branding, publication design, package design and design for print as well as many other general graphic design skills. 

What i have learnt from this module is that the graphic design industry is hard but all it takes is a little hard work, and the confidence in yourself and then you can make it, but also not to be afraid of other designers most of them are very nice and not as pretentious as you think they are. 

It's Nice That - Birds doing yoga, watermelon heads and The Truman Show: highlights from April’s Nicer Tuesdays

Original Article: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/nicer-tuesdays-april-2018-review-020518

In the month of April, it saw the return of an It's Nice That Monthly event in which they host a range of genre-spanning talks from several practitioners including Natalia Stuyk, Max Siedentopf, Will Anderson and Marion Deuchars. Found all these talks really interesting reading about different practitioners points of views on various subject matters.    

It's Nice That - May diary: this month’s must-see events and exhibitions

Original Article: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/diary-may-2018-exhibitions-events-whats-on-design-art-010518

This article discusses and shows a really interesting range of current exhibitions on across the globe discussing and reviewing the exhibitions and why we should go and visit them. Although I can't currently visit these exhibitions it is still important to see what work is been displayed across the globe to understand current design themes and trends as understanding these allows me to create more current and successful pieces of work.    

It's Nice That - Designer Dominique Vine’s type-heavy visualisation of dreams

Original Article: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/dominique-vine-dreams-archive-graphic-design-270418

In this article, it discusses a publication created by Dominique Vine on the subject matter of dreams in which she was inspired by a podcast where people document there dreams the moment they wake up. In the publication, she documents her dreams and creates a narrative archive made up of 64 dreams typeset into a format that represents the dream. I believe this is a really interesting concept and publication and I think the typeset pages are really inspiring when comparing it to some of my publications.  

photos of branding

photos were taken by a Leeds beckett graphic design student, edited by myself.

looking for jobs for after university

To start the job hunting early i decided to Look for jobs in the Leeds area that would be suitable for a soon to be recent graduate graphic designer.

Types of jobs I'm looking for:
Corporate job in a small team
small design job that works in a small team
junior graphic designer 
paid internships

After looking on numerous websites at jobs there were limited jobs that suited my skill set and were available for junior designs in Leeds what don't have a driving licence, this is currently something I am working on as I was aware that it is a key skill that is wanted. The limited jobs made me opened up to search to closer to home in Wakefield too and found a job for a junior design in Horbury. The job was perfect as I knew the area, and the skill set they were wanting from someone is similar to that of my own, because of this I decided to apply. (evidence below)