OUGD502 - Glug event

"Fuck London", "It's not all about London" These were the frequent outcries from the recent Glug Leeds event I attended which was all about championing Leeds and the norths creative talent. Each talk resounded each other by stating that London is great but the real creativity and passion is 'Up Norfff '. The night started off with a talk by Studio Builds creative director Michael C Place,  for me this was the main attraction of attending the talk as I find Builds work inspiring and very much so a studio I'd love to see myself being a part of, so it was interesting to see where Michael started from and how he got where he is today.

The introductory slides, which for starters I found inspiring already as he started his presentation with a quick dash video of all the work Build produce, I noted this down as a possible way to present my work for the end of year presentation as it cuts out many slides and gives a brief insight into work without giving too much dense information. He used acronyms and a slick contemporary typeface for the titling of the presentation which gave the presentation itself a strong visual identity which helped engage the audience beyond norm, well for me it did. He then went onto to talk about what first got him interested in graphic design at a young age, early recognition were pieces of Iron Maiden album artwork as he found the type fascinating and still does as he believes it holds a contemporary stature thats stood the test of time. Even though he found the Iron Maiden artwork fascinating he still didn't understand what made him intrigued by the type until one day his school friend introduced him to a Letraset catalogue, and this is where the love for graphic design started.

As he got older other influences included Neville Brody, Rod Clark and Music and this happens to be what he went into after graduating from Newcastle College where I studied for two years. At the time designing music sleeves was a big industry and one that paid well he stated but after a number of years in London and 9 years at the Designers Republic in Sheffield designing album artwork the work become tedious and the demand was decreasing which I assume was down to the emergence of the internet which effected the music industry massively. Michael decided take a break and travel the world for year then returning to London in 2001 to set up Studio Build, Build has went onto becoming a famous and acclaimed studio which recently moved to Leeds as Michael said himself at the Glug talk 'that everything we need is here and Leeds is great'. His talk was inspiring as his love for music echoed my love for music and it was insightful to see how he has incorporated music into his work throughout his career, he then finished the talk with the message 'Have a wide spectrum of work'.

Other talks during the night were from Studio12, She does digital, Alec Dudson from Intern and Only studio. I enjoyed the she does digital talk as they touched upon the booming digital demand in Leeds which is relevant to the current OUGD504 brief. According to reports, 3,500 digital businesses are in Leeds and employing over 72,000 employees which is encouraging for digital design and graduates in Leeds. Overall I really enjoyed the Glug event as it gave me a chance to get an insight into a studio I pay close attention but also to see other creative work across other spectrums like the Studio12 which was about filmmaking and app design.