Personal Professional Practice

- Don't channel yourself, expand your horizons.

On your blogs:
- Write about studios, interests, anything that informs you even if it's not related to Graphic Design
- Exhibitions, talks, etc
- Be objective
- Tone of voice should reflect you as a person
- Draw from your blog posts. What do you get out of it?

- When contacting studios, make your emails reflect your personality
- 8-10 pieces in portfolio. You have to love every piece!
- If you don't like your briefs, change them. Work on stuff that you enjoy.

I absolutely loved the Barbara Kruger exhibition, especially the typographic room. It was really exciting to be able to surround yourself in Kruger's typography and actually see some of her work in real life. I think it's interesting how she doesn't associate herself with Graphic Design yet the majority of her work focuses on how typography can be impactive and how you can use it to communicate a certain message.

I think I loved that room the most literally because of the scale of the work and the fact that all the walls and the floor were covered in typography. I definitely want to attempt working at a large scale at some point within my design work. I don't think I could work at such a large scale just yet, but I am definitely interested in trying to paint or draw some typography at mural size or something - this might be something that I do when I graduate rather than during term time at uni, as I know it would take a while to do.

I've been in contact with Martin Lewis since 1st year and actually went down to visit him before in Shoreditch, but decided that I would pay him another visit this year whilst I was in the area.

Unfortunately I completely forgot to take any photos of his studio whilst I was there! But here are some pics I found online...

Although I already knew that I wasn't really looking to work in a studio that produces work like at Lewis Design, I always find visiting Martin and talking to him really inspiring and useful. He's a really honest and understanding creative and constantly offers constructive criticism and feedback on work that I'm producing. I definitely think that he's worth keeping in contact with throughout my career, as he's got 25 years of experience behind him which makes him very influential and someone to look up to!

Whilst at Martin's studio this time, I noticed that not much had changed since the last time I had visited. Martin was as keen as always to see what I had been up to and had plenty of ideas and feedback to give me in regards to my studies and professionalism.

Going back to the Lewis Design studio confirmed that I'm not very interested in working within such a commercial studio, but has definitely made me consider working in Shoreditch or somewhere similar as being in such a creative area is so inspiring and makes me feel really positive.

The reason we decided to go into Shoreditch was because of the High Fives & Good Times exhibition that we knew was going on at the time. I quite liked the fact that when we arrived, the sign hadn't been finished on the outside so I spoke to the guy who was painting the sign who actually told me he was filling in for the actual sign writer who designed the sign and gave me his contact details so that I could contact Pincel Signs for my dissertation.



www.lakwena.com
I absolutely adored this mural piece by Lakwena in Shoreditch. It was a commissioned piece for Nike for an upcoming art festival showcasing all female work and live artists etc to raise money for a charity. I love all the colours and the typography that Lakwena uses in her piece. Also, after having a look on her website too, I have fallen in love with most of her other work! Good find!


We paid a trip to YCN whilst we were in the area and had a look at everything that they had on sale. We also chatted to one of their employees about the awards and stuff which was really interesting.

I had a good time in Shoreditch - it's always such an inspirational place to visit because of all the creatives in the area and all of the murals dotted about. I also really like the fact that the murals are constantly changing and that you can go back a few months later and something you saw before will be replaced with something new, which keeps the area looking up to date and fresh. I think that Shoreditch would be a good place to work in, due to the fact that you'll be surrounded by so many creatives, even though it does feel very "hipster" when you're there.

The exhibition that we went to was interesting. I really liked the work that was on show and had a look at a few publications too for inspiration. I quite like the fact that there's always something going on in the area so you can usually just pop into an exhibition or two whilst you're in Shoreditch to keep yourself inspired.