Inspiration

"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

- Charles Caleb Colton

Today we were looking at what inspires us and how inspiration is the key to good graphic design.
Copying work that we find interesting is not always a bad thing as long as it is done in a tasteful way. Apple took their design inspiration from some early braun products, however the designer from braun is not bitter about this. Instead he is flattered and enthusiastic about how apple developed from his designs.

Our task was to think about what inspires us, here are my answers

 1. Designer
Herbert Bayer

2. Artist
Melinda Tidwell

3. Painting 
Gretchen Hancock's white cups and blue tea pot


4. sculpture
Kendall Buster

5. Song
Northern wind - City & Colour

6. Recording Artist 
City & Colour

7. Book
Britains lost railways

8. Poet
Sylvia Plath

9. Building 
ibex building, London

10. Misc
The names of paint colours

Radim Malinic

Quotes and interesting information from Radim's talk.

- everything is a work in progress

3 Elements:

1. inspiration: colour, for a reason

2. influence: experience

3. information: science 

Process 101

> search, asking questions and looking for reason. Just because a client wants a certain thing, doesn't mean they won't be open to something better

> direction, difference between good, great and amazing think of the opposite of your first idea

> London 2012 not cliche, don't follow 1st idea. Be brave

> No such thing as an overnight success, stay true to yourself

> skills and knowledge 

> what extra skill do you have that makes you different

> designs not finished until somebody is using it

> develop an understanding of multiple skills, don't have to master them

> if you don't understand who you're creating work for, you're only designing for yourself

> meaning, creative work made for the right reason 

> create fewer pieces with more meaning 

> don't just create things to show on social media

> making ideas happen

> phones always on hand to help you, use design tools on it

NDEGE music video

>if you want to be a designer, be a designer

>face a fear everyday 

>nothing is impossible

Q&A

Dealing with negative feedback?

>get to the position where you don't care

>it's easy to tell people something is rubbish but it's hard for them the answer why they think that

>this is me, it's how I do it

>is the person giving negative feedback someone you respect? someone who's opinion you care for?

>unless you can make it better don't criticise 

Biggest challenge when starting out?

>what makes your design flourish are the things around your screen not what's on it

>not understanding clients needs

>just because you're qualified doesn't mean you know everything

>have to go through years of mud to get on dry land

>earning your stripes 

Questions

5 reasons why I chose LCA?

>  It's close to home
> I did foundation here so know that LCA has lots of good facilities that I'll be able to use
> I love Leeds as a city and know that I won't be bored here as there's always something going on
> The accommodation is pretty cheap in comparison to other uni's I looked at
> I really like how bright and open the studio is

5 skills that are strengths now?

> Photography
> Time management/ being organised
> Punctuality and attendance
> Basic photoshop/ illustrator skills which get me by but could be improved
> Being able to select appropriate colours

5 things that I want to learn?

> How to develop my own photos. I did it on foundation and really enjoyed it but I have forgotten the process so wish to do it again
>  How to introduce baking into my design work
>  How to screen print
>  How to choose a good typeface
>  To appreciate that less is sometimes more

5 things that I want to improve on as a designer?

> Being more confident in my ideas
> Collaborating with other people not just graphic designers
> Making connections whither designers that I admire and who influence me
> Doing more primary research and doing projects based on places I can visit/ interact with
> Stepping out of my comfort zone more and pushing myself 

5 methods I can use to evaluate/ document progress?

> My  blog
> Instagram
> Facebook
> Twitter
> Photographs

5 things that really inspire me?

> Looking in recipe books at intricate cake designs
> Interior design
> Dogs
> Names of paint colours
> Visiting new places

10 examples of design

Self Branding Initial Task

For this task we had to think of what makes us individual and stand out as a graphic designer. I found this quite hard as it's difficult to think of things when put on the spot. However talking with Penny really helped as she remembered my portfolio from my interview and mentioned the photography I had in it. I thought about my photography a lot that day because it used to be a big part of my work however it isn't so much anymore. I then went on to make a new Instagram account just for photography and my graphic design work to encourage me to start taking more photos when I'm out because I will have somewhere to post them and keep a record of them. 

I am most definitely a home bird and love being surrounded by my family (and my dogs). I like having people to cook for and to bake for otherwise I would end up eating everything myself. I love looking for new recipes especially complicated ones that require lots of different timings and require lots of organisation. I sometimes like the feeling of pressure that comes with only having a certain amount of time to bake something and how everything should be done a certain times. I love to be busy and being surrounded by busy environments especially when I have a lot that needs to be done, I find it encouraging. Where as on the other hand I am equally as relaxed in quiet environments. Creatively I enjoy taking photographs in particularly shapes and textures. I love minimalistic architecture which most people would find boring but I think if you capture it at the right angle you can make it look very interesting. I enjoy exploring new places as I think when surrounded by unfamiliar settings you are more observant of the architecture and unique things the place has to offer. As for colour I like to keep things minimalistic and almost always wear black unless it's summer, I prefer black and white photography and also mainly used black and white in my graphic design work only featuring a hint of colour. 

Nest Submission

FOCUS

Definitions:
> The centre of interest/ activity
> The state/ quality of having/ producing clear visual definition
> The act of concentrating interest/ activity on something

Synonyms:
Emphasis, accent, priority, attention, concentration, focal point, centre.




Over lapping the letters from the word focus and playing around with the opacity to make it illegible, the opposite of focus.


Moving the letters so they all fit in line with the F


Adding an eye, something we use to focus.


Adding two eyes making it a pair of eyes.

Putting the eyes together and reducing opacity.

Putting them on top of the F so that it looks like a little character

Time Management Part 2

After giving myself allocated time to think of the things I WANT to do here is the list I came up with:


- Go to New York again
- Become better at parking my car
- Be more active
- Bake more and be able to commit recipes to memory
- Do more things that I've never done before such as ice skating
- Start making plans for summer so I have something to look forward to after uni finishes
- Cook more in the flat rather than living off of ready meals
- Do some voluntary work
- Try arrange things and see my friends more


Also in reflection of last weeks session I have acted on my want list. I have decided that every weekend I am going to allocate some time for baking and get better at it as I find it a nice way to relax. It has recently been my boyfriends birthday so the first thing I made was his birthday cake and I am very pleased with the outcome.

Time Management

We started todays task off by being asked to create a list of things we 'have to do' and things we 'want to do'. The list of things we have to do consisted of the things we must do in a day or through the week in order to survive or function, not particularly what we would chose to do but things that we MUST do.  The list of things we have to do on the other hand consisted of things we would like to do in the near future or at least complete in our lives.

My list of HAVE TO'S:

- eat
- sleep
- go to college
- check food supply
- go shopping
- text my mum daily/ every couple of days
- catch up with friends/ family and arrange to see them
- relax
- blog
- keep clean and wash my hair


My list of WANT TO'S:

- go to New York again
- become better at parking my car
- be more active
- bake more and be able to commit recipes to memory
- do more things that I've never done before such as ice skating

I found the lists quite hard to write because most of the things I 'have to do' come quite naturally and I don't realise I am doing them. Where as the list of 'want to do's' was hard because there are many things I say I really want to do but I always forget what they are and this task made me realise that. In future when I think of something I really WANT to do I am going to make a note of it so when I have some free time I can focus on doing it and completing some things off of my list.


After this we made a weekly plan which broke down every day from Monday to Sunday into hourly blocks, we then had to fill in each block with what we plan on doing with that time next week. I added the things I HAVE to do such as eat, sleep, go to college first and then filled in the blanks with things I want to do/ time to myself. We then had to allow ourselves 3 hours through the week where we would focus on completing our 'WANT TO LIST', I marked this with a white sticker on my timetable so that they stand out more and I'd be less likely to forget to do them.




I displayed the timetable above my bed because it is the most visible area of my room therefore I'm going to be more likely to stick to it and remember I need to follow it. I found this task useful because I hadn't realised, until I had planned each day out, how much free time I actually have. I might start making a similar plan of my time in future so that I know I do have time to watch tv for an hour or so without feeling guilty, I also think it will help me get more done in a day.