Designer at Creative Concern and co-founder of Purple Collective.
How do you function creatively?
Having projects outside of work help me to function more creatively. Sometimes you can get stuck in the rut of doing client based work that it’s hard to be inspired outside of a set of strict brand guidelines and budget.
Doing personal projects always helps to keep things fresh, learning new techniques, experimenting, even with things which aren’t always design related (such as Purple Collective). Creativity comes in many forms which I like to explore through reading, writing, music, cinema, art and they can all inspire each other interdisciplinary.
When a client turns up with an assignment, how is it handled?
It depends on whether it’s tendered work (one we have to pitch for) or a brief set by a client. Usually when a brief comes in from the client it will go to the advocacy team (account handlers), they will read the brief and negotiate costings based on an daily rate and then any applicable print costs (or development costs if it’s a website/app).
Once it’s been costed and approved by the account manager we’ll have an initial meeting to discuss the brief, in the meeting is usually: the client, at least one designer, the account manager and if it’s digital project then a developer. We also have researchers, copywriters, strategists, PR and a video team which will get involved at different stages depending on the project.
After meetings and a concept of the project has been decided we start work on the initial designs. Usually it’s good to present a few different options to the client. I find the best way is to present three concepts: one that’s fairly safe, one that’s out there, and one that’s in the middle. Usually the client will pick either the safe/middle option, however if you’ve worked with them in the past and have a good relationship they will let you push the boat out and deliver a project which is slightly ‘out there’.
After designs have been agreed they’ll usually be a series of developments and refinements which includes some client amends (we offer a round of amends in the original costing and anything outside of this gets charged at an hourly rate). Once the client is happy with the finished design and it’s signed off it is then artworked for print and sent to the production manager. If it is a digital job such as an app or website it will get passed on to the digital team to develop and code.
If you’re struggling for inspiration how do you overcome this?
I find nowadays a lot of people fall into the trap of just looking on Pinterest for inspiration and copying something they like. While it’s okay to be inspired by design boards online I find there’s so much more inspiration in other things (on a side note my favourite blogs are It’s Nice That, Jjjjound, Convoy, Colossal and Dangerous Minds).
As a designer and creative it’s important to be inspired by all disciplines of art, design, architecture, fashion, product design etc. Even finding inspiration outside of these in things such as nature, science and music can be a refreshing change. Visiting an art exhibition, reading a book, going for a walk can all be as inspiring as trawling through pages of Pinterest. I find you learn and are inspired more by personal experiences rather than online ones.
What designers influence you / who are your design heroes?
Being from Manchester Peter Saville is an obvious choice. I was lucky enough to work with him on a small project which was pretty bonkers! I love the illustration work of Malika Favre who I recently saw talk at Manchester Design Festival last year. Stefan Sagmeister is always an inspiration and his books are great references. Modernism is still a great influence and I based my dissertation on it. Paul Rand, Jan Tschichold, David Carson, Adrian Shaughnessy, Dieter Rams, George Lois are a few names on my bookshelf.
Did you make any mistakes at university or in your career?
Yes lots of mistakes!
If so how did you overcome this?
You have to make mistakes in order to learn from them. I know it sounds very cliche, but it’s true! There have been jobs where I’ve made schoolboy errors and only realised when it’s come back from the printers. You acknowledge what you've done wrong, learn from it and try and not do it again.
Sometimes though mistakes aren’t always negative, you might be trying a new creative technique or messing around with a new bit of software with undesired results. Even though what you create wasn’t what you originally intended it might take your project in a new direction. If you look at stuff like glitch art which has exploded over the past few years. Glitches are usually something wrong or a mistake in the code, and now it’s been exploited to create artwork and interesting designs.
Did you do a lot of work experience / internships while you were studying for your degree? If so, how did this impact you?
Our course offered a ‘sandwich year’ where you could do a year industry in-between your second and third year, effectively turning it into a four year course. I opted not to do this and instead found my own placements in the holiday breaks in the summer/easter etc.
I was a design editor for the university newspaper for a year and also did two internships in the summers of the second and third year of university. The second internship eventually ended up offering me some freelance work which was a great opportunity. Although it can be stressful and hard to juggle doing placements with your uni work it is really valuable. It’s an ever-growing and competitive industry and it’s almost impossible to get a job as a designer if you don’t have any prior experience.
I’d definitely recommend doing a few internships before you graduate, and if your course offers a sandwich year I’d take that.
Did you find this influenced your style or the way you work?
It didn’t really influence my style of work, however it did help with the way I worked. The workflow when you’re in an agency is much different and you gain software knowledge you don’t even touch on in university.
One of the major things I learnt while doing placements was artwoking jobs for print and using InDesign, something which I now use everyday, however you don’t really get taught how to use it properly in university.
Have you ever had a project where you disagreed with the client’s direction and if so how did you handle it?
Yes this happens all the time, it can go a couple of different ways depending on the relationship with the client. Sometimes they just see design as a service and they want things entirely their way, you can do your best to offer your opinion but most often you have to come to a resolution and meet somewhere in the middle – after all they are paying you.
However some clients are more open to your opinion, everyone likes to think they’re an art director, but at the end of the day the client is paying you for your professional creative opinion. If you can support your decision with rational facts about why you designed something in a certain way, more often than not you can win the client over and get them to agree to do things your way.
I always like to use the analogy of a hiring a plumber. You wouldn’t question him about the way he’s fixing your boiler and tell him to do it a different way. He’s a professional and he’s qualified in fixing boilers. We’re designers and we’re qualified in creating professional looking things, we know what works and what doesn’t work. Sometimes the clients judgment is clouded by their own personal tastes. They have to realise that more often than not, the outcome isn’t for them. It’s for an audience, and we’re designing something without objectivity that the audience will connect with.
What are your hopes and plans for 2016?
I hope to learn a bit more about UX design and am looking forward to Adobe’s new software called Comet which should launch soon. I’m currently getting to grips with a new tool called Sketch which I’ll hopefully learn more of.
Outside of that I want to read more books, take more pictures, watch more films, and generally just absorb more content and learn new things! Hopefully we’ll get things moving with a bit more momentum on Purple Collective as well, and have a few collaborations in the pipeline for that.
Thanks,
Jacob
