Creative Convos - Tom Finn And Kristopher Soelling

Regular Practice

On Industry
1. Developing methodologies as a student
2. How does that feed into commercial practice
3. Prepping for industry (some thoughts)

Developing methodologies as a student

The both did Masters at Royal College of Art in London.

They developed a methodology where they both collaborate together straight off the bat.

This started with a collaboration for a poster at College, where they cut up letters out of acetate and arranged a typographic poster together for an event called 'Typographic Singularity'.

During their masters, they did work for anyone and anything they could get their hands on, simply for experimentation/practice and to exercise their style.

After Graduation, they went straight from College into a studio space, which they felt they needed straight away to be able to motivate themselves and take opening their studio seriously.
They emailed studios/clients informing them that they have opened a new studios, and saying that they are looking for work opportunities.

How that feeds into commercial practice

One of the jobs they got were from a client which came to their Graduation show, then saw some press about them online, and decided to contact them about a job. This was one of the most direct ways they got work. The publication was called 'Informa'.
They used a process where they physically had to add paint into a printer, and the paint gradually mixed together as they printed 1000 copies. The printer they used was in Lithuania. This process in a way became an identity for the project, and they will soon be doing another publication using the same process.

Another way they got a job was through a guy that they had both previously done creative writing for. After opening their studio, and sending out emails to loads of people, that guy got back to them about some work. This was a more of a 'who you know'/networking/connections way to get work.

One more client they got was through their Jazz posters they had done during college. Someone who had seen them in the student café, contacted them after finding out they had opened a studio and asked to do an illustration piece for the British Council.
They had to do a collaboration with an illustrator, however she was a really busy person. So the way they collaborated was that Tom & Kris designed a layout for the poster, handed it over to her, and showed which areas were free for her to draw on. She drew 4 variations of the posters in real life, and they used that imagery for the branding.

Another way they got work was from a tutor they had at College, who worked with a studio but also worked with the Serpentine gallery. When they became RP, and she was asked if she knew any graphic designer, she got them involved to pitch an idea. They did the 'Work Marathon' publication.

One more client was very direct, it was their Royal College of Art in London. They asked their recent graduates to design the branding for their end of year show, and won that in competition with their peers/previous class mates.

Another work they got work was also through one of their old tutors, the one they worked on their very first collaborative 'Typographic Singularity' poster. They went back to do a re-brand of the event. And also from that the tutor then got them onto another project after that. This is also a networking/connections method to getting work.

During their 'pitches', they do not present any work, they just present their idea/concept. They do not design anything until they are on board and to be paid.

Prepping for industry (some thoughts)

Nothing can replace good work. There are no shortcuts.
Don't make a website in a night. Focus on documentation & a strong PDF portfolio first.
Utilise your time in education to make interesting work. Push practice whilst you still can.
Strategize & customise your approach to people. Don't BCC & definitely don't do mass emails.
Go to Stuff! Show you're interested in the field (if you are), meet people & ask questions.

Creative Convos - Bafic

He studied graphic design, but he wouldn't say he practices graphic design now.
However, he feels that graphic design taught him the core of everything he does now. He continues to apply what he learnt at university to his professional work.

'Bafic' is the name he makes his work under. It is his date of birth, in letters. It's interesting because in a way he was 'bafic' since the day he was born, he just had to find it.

creative industries - 'the roles and opportunities that lie ahead are not always easily defined'
What you do is definitely not defined, you can make stuff and put it online, and you will find people you connect with.

What he does: videos + images + other stuff
'Lie depending on what room you're in' - adapt yourself when someone asks you 'what do you do?'.

You have to do your research in-depth. Whoever that business or person is, you need to know them in and out. You need to figure out who they are, and then  show them who they are. And this can only be done through research.

'Your future clients are the people around you' - the industry.
'The Industry' is not a real thing, it is a concept of a group of people/ a community.

'The designer's general visual awareness is unquestionably helpful - this plus the kind of understanding the have about the particular problem they are dealing with from a content point of view. But the qualities that makes a graphic designer a good filmmaker really haven't got to go with the specific aesthetic of design. They have more to do with their sense of story, their inventiveness and their visual/aural sensitivity.' - Saul Bass

Book - 'Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell

Panes - Choice Errors (Bafic)
His first project after university. He explored in a very abstract way the difference/balance between human choice and computer error.

Nike Roundell x TFL
Wanted to combine the aesthetic of garage/grime and the culture of London with the underground and what it means to the audience of Nike.

Straight Like That Reference
A research reference video he did spontaneously and filmed on the spot in the car as he was with his client. This then lead to inspire the final music video. It was a rough draft/sketch.

Ask Around Video
The clients changed the song which they wanted a video for in the last minute, so he just did the same concept for the different song. This will happen sometimes, things will change and clients will make unexpected decisions. The concept was driving around in the car and listening to the song.

Creative Convos - Eva Cremers

Internship currently at MVMS (Man vs Machine).

She did International Business after college, but soon realised she was always creative and wanted to do something with it.

She went to the Art Academy Minerva at Groningen.

In her last year, she had to do half a year internship. She choose to do it at SNASK.

She found out that every time they get a new client, they send them a video showing how much they are celebrating/happy with it. So what she decided to do was send them a box full of pink party stuff and a letter saying how she is looking forward to seeing them celebrate her being their new intern. 

It was a very bold move, but payed off as she received an email a few weeks later asking her when she wants to go and join them. 

Her process:

Setting goals

Sketching

Testing

Improving

Testing

Ask yourself what the hell am I doing

Making

For her graduation project she challenged herself and made the project 'in news we trust'. The end result was a wall full of moving parts, which aimed to catch the attention of the viewer/reader and represented how newspapers and media have to be bold/eye-catching otherwise the audiences won't want to read it. 

'You don't need the confidence, you just need the courage. You can either feel safe and bored or challenged and scared. But you can't be safe and challenged. - Debbie Millman. 

Plan of Attack after Graduation:

- Boost Instagram

- Think of fun projects to do

- Learn new skills

- Hoping for a miracle or to find a envelope with 10,000 cash

Working on her Instagram really helped her grow.

She got a interview with The Design Kids.

Intern Magazine.

Man VS Machine offered her an internship.

New York Times.

Thing's I've learnt so far:

- Throw your work online

- Use the positive side of Instagram

- Pinterest is training

- Don't be afraid of 'big' designers

- Being insecure about your work is normal

- Not only your mom follows you on Instagram.

- It's normal to have no idea what you're doing or what your plans are.

Tips for Instagram:

Hashtags really work!

Comment on other people's work.

Follow the people from the companies/businesses you want to work for.

For Cinema 4D Tutorials: Grey Scale Gorilla on YouTube.

Workshop

How to make posters more interesting:

- different materials (tape, flags, mirrors)

- size (fill the wall, strengthen the message)

- composition (several posters, different levels)

- order (chaos, busy)

 Examples:

sound poster, makes sound when you touch it. 

gallery guide, dispensed through a paper towel box.

moving image, includes screen in the wall poster.

uses the walls/angles, the work is stretched to fit the walls.

3D, brings the elements to life.

How to make digital more interesting:

- several screens (instead of just one, have few/many)

- composition (screens do not have to be next to each other)

- interactive (something can happen as a result of your work)

Examples:

neon wall, everything is glowing and makes an image.

set design, many elements composed together.

installation of shapes, built from foam.

moving 'eyes', simple materials and a beautiful result.

Your turn:

- don't think about execution

- team up in groups of 5/6

- search for references

- go crazy

- prepare a 5 min presentation with references and ideas

- don't think about execution, let go of your graduation concept today

Our Group:

Myself (Migle Saveikyte)

Kat Soo

Ali Gray

Lily 

Georgia

Ideas:

- a maze/labyrinth

- a movie poster come to life

- an escape room style exhibition

- fun fair/carnival mirror 

- massive typography across floor/walls/ceiling

- a LCD screen wall

- enter each section through a different door

- each section flows from one into another

Different sections:

colour

light

materials

sense (touch, smell, hear. taste, see)

sustainable

moving image

print

digital

installation

obstacle course

Research

The Sections:

Sustainability - all work to do with sustainability.

Print - all print/analogue work.

Digital - all digital/online work.

Motion - all animation/moving image/film work.

Presentation:

Creative Convos - Kieran Walsh

Talk

Things I wish I knew:
Make a work Instagram.
Make a site.
Learn what css/html is.
Learn how to prioritise.
Got to the signings/parties/talks/openings.
Stay in and research the company.
Compliment the Ad's new jacket.
No more than 4 @ work drinks. Keep professional.
Learn AE.
Get a nice email address.
Spell check your CV.
Enter that thing.
Find an excuse to talk to that person.
Future-proof your skills.
Is the attached PDF CMYK wtf?

Works at Wired magazine.
The magazine focuses on how technology influences everyday life; travel, food, lifestyle etc.
He believes that in 10/15 years, Wired will become more of a popular culture magazine rather than simply a technology magazine. This is because technology will continue to slowly integrate into our daily lives up until it simply becomes a normal part, rather than a separate idea.

Workshop

Brief:
Tease the story on Instagram - Massive Attack: Unfinished Symphony
1:1 Image + type gallery/ animation/ video/ series
Instagram post (60sec max) + stories (15sec max)
(assets supplied)

Deadline: 27/02/19

Creative Convos - Christopher Moorby

Commission is a graphic design studio that specialises in branding.

We make design for companies with strong creative ambitions.

We work for brands in fashion, design, lifestyle, wellness, hospitality, and technology.

Brands they worked with:

Rimowa - stainless steel luggage/suitcases. Did the monogram, typeface, packaging.

Espelma - natural clean-burning candles. Did the identity, packaging. They used silicon on the packaging, which mimics a wax spill, and did different imagery on each box to reflect the candle ingredients.

Unfolded - German print design festival. Did the identity and invitations. The invitation was focused on paper, and had small holes stuck through the paper to create the type/design.

Franklin Till - materials and colours research agency. Did the identity, business cards. Each one was different, the agency was able to insert their choice of colours/materials.

Confession: 'I failed my degree'

He focused more on what he wanted to do, built his portfolio and sent it to studios he loved.

He got an internship at 'Grafik' magazine.

'There is no point being a good graphic designer if you cannot sell your work'

Documenting your work is one of the most important parts of any graphic design project…

…do it well and it will lead to the next project.

Digital design is transient, it is not a physical object that people will see/use again and again. That's why you must document it yourself, because no one else will document it for you.

How to do it?

Your project holds the answer.

Our Approach: Old Spike Coffee. 

Old Spike coffee trains homeless people as baristas, giving them a whole years work experience so that they can leave with something on their CV and find a job easier. 

Their first question for this project was, why does coffee have to look ordinary (brown paper bag, hand-crafted, packed simply etc)?

So their solution was to actually package premium coffee in premium packaging. The company concept was to do with rocks, and their design included very simple logo design of a rock breaking apart.

How did they document it? Their branding/project was about rocks, so they researched and looked at rocks being used within documenting work. They then got a block of cement, and placed the packaging on top of it to photograph. Very simple but effective outcomes, a focus on the product, but also and extension of the concept/branding.

Other Approaches:

Keep it Simple - Haw-Lin Services. Super clean, modern work. The way they document it is very minimal, modest and with a focus on the graphics. White/black backgrounds, sometimes photographed, sometime scanned. A little bit of shadow underneath the pages lifts the design off of the screen.

Context and Pace - OK-RM. Simple, clean documenting, with some context to lift the project. They do a mix of super minimal, and more context based documenting, so neither the context nor the minimalism is too much. It doesn't get boring. 

Nonchalant/ Raw - Veronica Ditting/ Petronio Associates. 

Veronica documents the work in a very casual, real-life atmosphere, and makes it a lot about the work. A lot of thought goes into the composition, but it appears effortless. Uses natural daylight.  

Petronio documents work in an almost 'don't give a fuck' style. The simplicity and rawness of it makes it original, and allows the design to speak to itself, rather than composing it/presenting it.

Workshop

Moodboard for how I'd want to document/present my work:

Experimenting with documenting my work (via scanning):

Creative Convos - Andrew Odong

Creative Production: From freelance to start-up.

Founder of PESA Productions.

Went to University at Leicester, there he introduced 'Battle', the first street dance competition in Leicester. This was his first exposure to being a producer, and the creative industry.

He studied Physics with Astronomy at University of Leicester.

After graduation he thought 'What did I want to be?': What did I want to do? What impact did I want to create? Who did I want to serve?
He went to many interviews, and ended up applying for a Conference Producer.

Conference Production: The curation of content and speakers for industry events; generating economic value by bringing people together who share common values, interests or challenges. A keen understanding of the market you are operating in is a prerequisite to developing a highly engaging programme. This requires research; research which gave me unprecedented access to business executives who would share with me their honest feelings regarding their challenges, concerns and ideas.

Transferable skills he got from that job: communication, research, project management, networking and business acumen.

Why set up a company? Profound desire to create something bigger than himself..

The biggest brands in the world eg. Nike, Amazon, Google, are like umbrellas, they encompass many different things, rather than being just about one person. So he wanted to create an 'umbrella' brand, and called it PESA Productions, rather than just working under his own name.

What is Pesa Productions?
It is a content-driven creative production company supported by Virgin StartUp, specialising in premium events and creative content. Our core values manifest via pragmatic and visionary approach to production, with a keen awareness of intergenerational and intercultural nuances.

He called it 'Pesa' because it is his great-grandfathers surname, who was a chief in Uganda. So this represents his strive for something greater than himself. 'Pesa' also means money in Swahili.

Different types of creative production: Events, Film, Photography and Podcast

What is a creative producer?
"'Making shit happen' is a good one. A producer has to be the enabler of creative ideas, their brain is like a giant map combining all the needs and solutions to make sure a vision is accomplished. It is the rock of a project, someone people can rely on but also, someone who manages and directs all the people involved." - Julie Vergez

What advice would you give to anyone looking to become a producer?
"The work we make and the people we make it with should reflect the world you want to live in. Whilst inclusivity in front of the camera is important, it's equally important behind the camera" - Jannis Birsner

Why we should all be producers?
- Proactive about your ideas and practical about the steps needed to bring them into reality.
- Identifying and maximising opportunities.
- Galvanising people/resources around a common vision or purpose.
- Holding yourself and others accountable.
- Being a creative problem-solver.

5 things you should know:
- Value-based networking. Start identifying what you can offer people, instead of what you can get from it yourself.
- Identify your value. This is critical to networking. You are young and influential, you need to own it.
- Customer and client experience. Always be friendly, punctual and keep your word.
- Ideas are useless without action. Don't assume your ideas will come from nothing. Ideas come from working.
- Find your advocates. Know who your ride or dies are.

Closing Thoughts.
Don't just network up, don't just look to those at the top. Look at those beside you, on your level, and find those people with which you can rise up together.
It's okay to fail, just make sure you learn your lesson. Be persistent.
Be yourself.

Contact
Email: Andrew@pesaproductions.com
Instagram: @Kingdom_Pesa/ @PesaProductions
LinkedIn: AndrewOdong
Twitter: @Ajodong1/ @PesaProductions

Creative Convos - Valentina Egoavil Medina

Suspira - Between dread and desire.

First job after university: wproject - Social Media.

She emailed a speaker she heard at university, and offered to help out. 

The job was not paid, however, it helped her gain experience and contacts. She would get paid for 3 days but work 5 days a week.

Afterwards, she decided if she was going to work for free, she might as well work for herself.

She always wanted to do publishing, so she though what was her unique viewpoint/ what she was most knowledgeable about, and how she could merge that with publishing.

Suspira - The Monster Issue

- Monsters and Classic horror (1930s - 1950s)

She spent around 6 months finalising the concept. She says it was like peeling an onion, where her ideas constantly developed and morphed. It took a lot of research, and her goal was to showcase the horror genre from the perspective of a publication. 

Biggest professional challenge to date?

How to pay my bills without selling my soul.

How important is it to have show a women's perspective in todays society?

It's very important. And not just women, but for any minority. It's necessary to provide a platform where they all can express themselves. With Suspira, we are able to bring to attention a lot of underrated films, books and etc.

The design of Suspira - The Monster Issue:

Extracting classic elements, and putting a contemporary spin on it. 

It took a while to find the right balance between horror and contemporary design. 

A lot of what happens is intuition, an idea/ a feeling that drives me. And from that she starts to build a case, and research for the publication. 

The publication also touches on mental problems, and puts a face/ a character to those problems and fears. It explores many different issues in this way, all surrounding the idea of fear/monsters. 

Did you always see Suspira as print, what about digital?

It being physical/print is part of the experience. There's textures and finishes that create the experience. And in a digital way, this would work differently and would require more of a shift. IT is something that can happen but right now, print is the way we encapsulate everything. 

With the issues being themed, how do you balance the theme of each issue subject, and still keep them cohesive?

One of the ways we do this is sticking with the same typeface, the same paper. And by doing this we were able to be more flexible with the other elements such as colour and layout. 

Suspira - The Fetish Issue

- Horror, Exploitation and Erotica (1960s - 1970s)

The second issue was not planned, it simply snowballed from the previous issue. I wanted this issue to be quite sexy, erotic and ridiculous, but at the same time make all this graphic horror into something quite beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. 

We do not have ads, so everything we use to publicise the magazine is social media. Especially Instagram. We also submitted for the Stacks awards, and even if we didn't win, it gave us a little bit of publicity. There are other ways to publicise than paid advertisements. 

What is the future of Suspira?

This is our test run, and its sold out, so there's definitely interest there. So we're going to try out events, and see what works with what Suspira is. As far as the magazine goes, we will just carry on with the print, and maybe it will extend into digital. I suppose we will just continue with it and see how it goes.

How did you gather the content?

It's a mix between reaching out to people and networking for the first issue. For the second issue there was a lot more interest and we took submissions as well.

Are there topics within horror you want to explore in the future?

I like to keep them under wraps, as I feel it's more exciting to tease the audience in that way. I definitely want to explore like sci-fi horror, and slasher. 

Do you see your team expanding?

I wouldn't mind expanding the team. But I quite like our incubation space, and taking our time. I feel like that even if it takes us 5 or 6 months, it's better. I don't think it would be any better if it was done any quicker, I feel that the ideas need to sit for a while.

'Studios of the future' Task

Task:
Present what a studio will look like 10 years in the future.
- Does not have to primarily revolve around Graphic Design
- Set in 10 years in the future.
- Groups of no more than 6.
- 5 minute presentation.
- Include name and branding of studio.
- Include your predicted trends.
- Include the way the studio meets the new needs of industry.
- Include how you price your services.
- Include a fictional case study project.

Ideas:
- Holograms/holographic design systems. 

- Logos will not die out, maybe become more simplified. 

- Computers will become less popular, more flat/tablet style. 

- Face/voice recognition.

- Voice command features.

- Snapchat, whatsapp will die out.

- Moving image/ motion graphics/ gifs. 

- Shop fronts, advertising, logos, signage will move.

- Interactive graphics, the audience will be able to engage in real life.

- Air drop/Bluetooth will advance, become more accessible.

- Sustainability will become more of a focus.

- NHS/healthcare will become more privatised.

Name and Branding:

Interactive

Interface

Kinetic

Synergy

Flow

Connected

Vital

Align

Amongst

Collective

Bilateral

Predicted industry trends:

The advertising, signage and shopping industry will become more interactive.

How your studio meets these new needs:

We will provide UX/UI design and development for:

self check-out services

bus stop/poster advertisements

shop window displays

Pricing strategy:

Starting from £10,000.

Case Study:

H&M Personal Shopping/Shopping Assistant self-check out.

H&M Bus stop poster, allowing to buy instantly/visit website.