Hamish Muir

"Design is all about content, but sometimes it's nice to work on something that has no content at all."

Continuing our lecture series Hamish Muir came in to talk to us yesterday, giving us an overview of his design career. Hamish was very detailed in his explanation about his career and it was good to hear about the process he went through when starting out. As one of the founders of '8vo' Hamish talked about the work they did there and the processes they had to go through, working with type and type based design. The 8vo studio was classed as a workshop and not an office because it was the place where all the work was created. The team (Hamish, Mark Holt and Simon Johnston) all worked together, no single one of them had an idea it was about them talking and discussing their ideas and development that made their work successful.

It was really interesting to see how design work was produced before 'Macs,' as they worked at full scale with real hand set type and collages and had to photograph each stage of the design to record developments and ideas as there was no way to 'save' it like we do nowadays. I think it was the hand rendered process of the work at 8vo what really made them successful as they were involved in every little change in the design as they had to physically do it themselves and couldn't just go to the computer - as Hamish said "the computer is in control of us, rather than us in control of the computer." - it allows you to do anything you want which isn't always a good thing. I totally agree with this as sometimes the quality of a hand rendered piece of work cannot be reached by a computer and it is that attention to detail of working the piece yourself that can really make it. One piece of 8vo work that really stood out to me was a cd cover (top left on the image below) which was built up in layers, using glass to carefully and precisely place each element and see through all the layers. I thought this was a great process and sort of takes photoshop into the real world with the idea of working with different layers of materials.

I personally liked the initial work produced by 8vo much more and although the whole range of work was very inspiring I felt the later work produced on the computer took away some of the detail that hand rendered work produces.

Below are some posters produced for The Hacienda nightclub. It was great to hear about the printing processes involved and the clever attention to detail such as making the poster below glow in the dark as it was for a nightclub.

Octavo: International Journal of Typography

A journal existing of 7 issues first printed in 1986, with the content of each dictating the layout. Print designs are something that really stand out to me and in my own work I enjoy producing layouts with typography. I liked the idea the Octavo was only 7 issues, the final issue was a cd/digital issue which can no longer be viewed because technology has advanced so much the software needed to view it no longer exists. I really like the idea of this as no one can ever view this piece now and Octavo has become 'extinct.' As Hamish said. " print exists in physical time and space, it will always be there unlike digital work which needs to be constantly updated." I really agree with this as there is something about being able to touch and feel a piece of design work rather than just look at it on screen, maybe thats the designer element in me!

I found Hamish's talk really inspiring and his earlier work at 8vo really appealed to me, and it has made me want to step back from the computer and produce more hand crafted work like I did on my foundation course. I think the LBi brief I have been working on has allowed me to do this, and printing processes such as letterpress and screen printing really do have that added quality that a computer cannot achieve.

Helen Murgatroyd - Drawing & Printmaking

"the idea itself, if not made visible is as much a work of art as the finished product itself."

Ex D&AD student Helen Murgatroyd came in to talk to us abut her time studying at university and what she's upto now at the Royal College of Art, studying Printmaking. I have heard Helen's name mentioned quite a few times throughout my time on our course so it was nice to meet her and listen about how she approached third year and see the style of work she produces. I remember seeing the mapping work she did for her degree show back in first year. Helen's work is very illustrative and experimental and I have to admit it's not really my cup of tea, but it did show how third year really is very personal to each of us and it is upto us how we approach our work and the briefs we decide to work on. Helen spoke about her time in third year experimenting 'mapping' things she did as this was something that interested her and is a subject that is still influencing the work she is doing now at the Royal college. You could tell Helen is really passionate about the work she produces and this shows in how experimental she has been working with the basis of mapping and how many final solutions can be produced. I have a very different style of working to Helen and much prefer to know where my work is going. I think the Silence project has seen me produce much more experimental work with one idea. A good piece of advice from her was that sometimes the ideas that don't make it to being a final design can be just as successful as the final piece itself.

Commissioned work: 'Cup', a tea and record shop in Manchester .

Accession for Topshop

Degree show work:

This is studio...

Looking on our year 3 blog I noticed a new post Mack had put up and there was something on there that stood out to me so I took a look at the link posted and it was for the website www.thisisstudio.co.uk - a multidisciplinary design studio based in London. There is some really nice print work on the site.

The agency say they are very ideas-led; tailoring to the needs of each individual client, art directing, designing books and record covers, creating music videos, branding, orchestrating campaigns, designing websites and exhibitions, building sets and making art. They collaborate with photographers, animators, illustrators and copywriters. This is something I am looking forward to in industry, being able to work on a brief and bringing in illustrators and photographers to work with. I do really appreciate all different styles of design work and as individuals we all have our own strengths within design so it will be good to be able to work as part of a team with each person bringing a different talent to the table.

Below are some of my favorite pieces...

Above is a website for artist Sam Winston, chronicalling ideas of his work and his use of the english language within it. The whole site was created using extracts and cut paper from his collection of sketchbooks, diaries and notes.

I think this is a really nice idea for a website and something a bit different to what you usually see. The output fits perfectly with the subject and style of work of the artist.

Identity for Camberwell College of Arts - with a theme of 'Make your on own Damn festival' they used a DIY aesthetic based on wallpaper. This is a great idea and again something different with strips of wallpaper appearing around the festival.

A limited edition series of posters in the Nike pop-up store, East London. Using the theme of sport, the imagery on the posters graphically represents the trajectory of a 2 hour game of frisbee. Hand screen printed gloss black onto black Plike paper. I love how the crisp white image stands out on the black background, really drawing you in to discover what the image is.

'& Poster'

Whilst researching creative and experimental typography for the LBi brief I am currently working on, I came across this '& Poster' designed by Conor Nolan and David Wall, designers working on print and interactive projects in Dublin, Ireland. (www.conoranddavid.com)

The image shows a typographic poster celebrating the etymology and form of the ampersand. The image is based on Helvetica Neue 75 bold, made up of 40 helium filled balloons.

This is a great example of type can be creative and experimental and doesn't just have to be a print document. This is how Kathryn and I have approached the LBi brief, trying to be more experimental and steer away from the obvious route of creating a print document, although the final piece may be print it is about the 'creativity' that has gone into making it, and ideas such as creating an installation and photographing it. There is a brief video on their website showing them making the balloon installation and how each balloon had to be precisely placed to create the overall image.

This caught my eye...

Came across these posters the other day for the new THINK! drug driving campaign. I have seen the adverts on television but I think these posters are great with the delicate type at the bottom becoming part of the image. Thought has gone into where the ads are placed to get maximum attention such as the back of the bus so the eye is looking at you. As I am looking into awareness campaigns and 'shock' advertising and marketing for my dissertation I was immediately drawn to this image, it is not a shocking image, it just shows you the truth.

12 IN 12

We had a great talk from designer Craig Oldham today who graduated 3 years ago and has since worked at The Chase and now Music in Manchester. Craig made the talk very interesting, was very honest and made it a bit of fun and also gave us a brilliant fold out document to take away with us.

"12 lessons in 12 months. 12 things you might learn in your first year as a designer."

It was simply a talk about Craig's first 12 months as a graphic designer, stuff he's learnt along the way, ideas, facts and opinions. So this was his advice....

- Understand what graphic design is to you - am I Bunch A (logical) or Bunch B (emotional) - Thinking about it I am probably more of Bunch A creating layouts and type that have a reason behind them and are quite logical, I enjoy creating the final piece more than the ideas stage.

- Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses - I think I am quite honest with myself in terms of my strengths and weaknesses as I know after trying it that I am not very good at producing digital work ie: flash as is just something I find difficult to understand and don't really enjoy working with it. I have a basic knowledge of what can be done on the digital side of things but would much rather leave that side of things to someone else! I think this is what team work and being in an agency will be all about....playing to your strengths and creating a good idea that can work in any medium.

- A portfolio is for life, not just for an interview - a portfolio is never finished, treat it like an ongoing project and update it everytime you do something new.

- Placements matter - "Get stuck in and give em' all a go." - think about contacts who you know and who they know etc etc. Getting your foot in the door is priceless!

- The design industry is small - everyone knows everyone else

- Participate with other people and share your ideas - participate with other people and share your ideas: two heads really are better than one. Discussing ideas gives you more direction and better judgement of an idea, working with others can take you down a different path - try something new. Ask people their opinion it might help!

- Graphic design is just a job, but being a designer is different - design is just a 9-5 job like any other, but you're a designer and your love for design is in every aspect of your life - do you keep stuff that others would throw away? The answer to that is yes - I have a lot of stuff (images, booklets, photos etc) I've found or seen and think "that might come in useful for something," it might not but its worth keeping anyway just in case!

- If you don't fail then you aren't trying - making mistakes is the only way that you will learn

- Life and work exist outside of London - the world is a big place!

- Designing is only about 20% of your job - the rest is spent doing this, meeting with them and answering that.

- Have a life outside of design - let your life inspire your design

and finally....

- Work hard and be nice to people!

and of course...always make tea!

A few images of Craig's work...

Lets make books...

On Friday I went to a tutorial with the lovely Lucy May Schofield and I had a very productive day in terms of defining the style of print document I want to create for silence part 2. I have attended book/print workshops in the past so knew the basics of folding and making simple books but it was good to get a reminder of the 'rules.' Lucy showed us some beautifully made books from her collection of designers and ex students work and a lot of them were quite simple book designs but it was the way they were executed that really made them. As Lucy said 'paper has a personality' and this is true because the choice of stock I have for my final piece will really contribute towards its success.

After discussing my idea for silence everyone agreed that the photos should be displayed on their own as we talked about in my review, and they should be left to speak for themselves. I have been experimenting with displaying a photo with a piece of text underneath but we felt it would be nice to just show the photo and let people devise their own narrative as to what the photo is about. We discussed a few different book styles that I am going to experiment with looking at a concertina, a simple pamphlet and then a fold out a2 document to create a sort of collage of my text and images from the house so I have started experimenting with these over the weekend.

Take a look at Lucy's website: www.lucymayschofield.co.uk