OUGD602 - Website design

Towards the back end of 2017 we were tasked with creating our own website to form the backbone of our personal identity. Having a website today is the first impression many of the times so I approached this task seriously as I literally wanted the site to be the backbone of my identity, with me designing the site long before I would consider any of my personal identity. For the task we were informed of the many hosting sites available, and after experimenting with a few and budgeting the cost of each I decided to use Cargo Collective to host my site. I chose it as I felt it was fairly easy to use after some messing around with, but also the site gave me the chance to create a blank template for my site. This was important for me as I didn't want to use a stock template and look like thousands of other creatives out there. Being able to put my own touch on the site was crucial, and through Cargo Collective I was able to reflect my own style through the site design.

From the off I had an idea of what I wanted my site to look like, simple, functional, characterised through type and use of symbols if possible. However, I knew the work come first as I didn't want to overshadow my work with elaborate design. I looked at some of my favourite studios and designers sites for inspiration but in truth, my site naturally developed once I spent a few hours or so on Cargo. I messed around with numerous layouts but felt the simplest compositions worked best. Another beneficial aspect of Cargo was also it having many web fonts already installed. This saved me to hassle of buying web fonts and coding them through CSS. And luckily Space Mono, my favourite typeface was installed so I felt it was necessary to use this, as it represents me but also helps the simplistic layout of the site stand out.

EXAMPLES OF SITE ARE MOST UPDATED VERSION/ DIFFERS TO ORIGINAL

https://tomdixondesign.com/

Homepage
I wanted all my work on the homepage so its allows the viewer to jump straight into my work. On the masthead it includes my logotype, about and contact. Once you scroll down you can access all the work, with a thumbnail image left aligned with the project name, category and learn more all situated below the thumbnail. You can access the full project through either clicking the image of 'Learn more'. At the bottom of the page you'll find a footer with my email address and number which gives the viewer a quicker way to reach me. The white space on the site really gives it a structured feel I believe, it also helps the left aligned thumbnails stand out within the site.

About page
The about page again is simple and uses white space to create a structured feel. The page is stylised by a duotone image of myself (Temporary) and all my relevant details and how to contact me. It includes a basic bio (Needs developed) and other little touches such as giving links to my Spotify and Instagram which makes the experience a lot more personal but also gives the viewer a broader image and perception of me as a person and a designer.

Project pages
The project pages are high impact with the work covering the entire page at once. Once choosing a project the viewer is shown a introduction of the project which cover what?, how? and why? then from here they are able to scroll through the work which is all in landscape image form. At the bottom of the page is a navigation which can either link the viewer back to the homepage or to the next project.

 

One necessity of the site was that it was responsive with both desktop and phone devices. From constant tweaking here and there Ive been able to create a cohesive site that is functional on all devices.

OUGD602 - 27 Club submission & event

I recently submitted to the 27 Club, an exhibition celebrating the myth of popular musicians, artists, or actors who died at age twenty-seven. My responses for exhibition focused on a legendary German nightclub which is named after the infamous dapper-dressed bluesman, Robert Johnson. Whose hedonistic ways and satanic pact made him the father of rock 'n' roll's long relationship with the dark side, Robert Johnson the club has plenty of that self-same ribald attitude. Each of my responses explore the visual culture of Robert Johnson, whether that be through black letter typography, location or the unique lemon shaped drink tokens which you can find in the club. I was lucky enough to selected for the event but even more luckier to have all four of my submissions exhibited, much to my surprise. The exhibition itself was great with plenty of amazing work on show, but even more impressive was the event organisation and curation by two second year graphics students.

OUGD602 - Open House Featuring DR.ME & Nanna Guldbæk

I attended an Open House event featuring DR.ME & Nanna Guldbæk at Northern Monk Brewery. The talks were concerned with whether or not you can cash in and not sell out.

The event was hosted by Thompson partners who I was unaware of before the talk so it was good to see a new event in Leeds. After the event I looked more into Thompson partners are they are headed up by people who have the kind of passion and experience that inspires confidence to entrust them with their most valuable business possession - their brand. Although the event was about whether or not you can cash in and not sell out, it did also have an attention on beer. Not only because it was hosted at Northern Monk Brewery but also because the set of speakers both work with breweries. Hearing about the process of beer packaging is always something I'm interested in so this made the talks more approachable for me.

First speaker of the night was Nanna Guldbæk from Norwegian brewery Lervig. Nanna who is Danish is Lervig's graphic designer but she's also still a student studying industrial design. She introduced us to Lervig as a brewery and how she arrived there as a graphic designer, then she talked through the processes she undertakes when designing labels for the brewery. The most interesting aspect of the talk was when Nanna spoke about the backlash surrounding one of her designs, for the beer named Sex Robot. The design can be conceived as insensitive by some people but Nanna related this to the theme of night but telling us that she has to align her morales and beliefs to the ones of the brewery. She is representative of the brewery on a whole and not just responsible for the beer labels she's designed but the ones before her time at Lervig. This isn't selling out but she insisted that she has to focus on her own things too such as studies, to make sure she doesn't sell out.

The second talk of the night was from DR.ME who related the theme of the night to doing self initiated work and their experience of graduating from university and not wanting a 9-5 job straight away. They believe getting used to money can stifle creativity and the drive to create work you want to create. This look on it is interesting and luckily for DR.ME they are able to create work they want to such as collage for a ranged list of clients.

OUGD602 - Website & portfolio feedback from Michael C Place

A few months back when I was conducting research for my dissertation I decided it'd be relevant to contact Studio Build to ask Michael Place some questions regarding my dissertation. I believed Michael would prove a piece of invaluable research as he has worked with music labels and artists for the vast majority of his career, so it related heavily with my dissertation which looked at the role of graphic design in the electronic music industry. However, to cut a long story short Elena the studio manager who I contacted was more than happy to help but informed me that the studio was incredibly busy so it may take some time Michael to help. Sadly Michael was unable to help me before the deadline but through continued correspondence with Elena I managed to get a website and portfolio review from Michael.

To receive feedback from Michael was very encouraging and motivational as he seemed impressed with both my website and work. The issues that he mentioned are ones I was fully aware of and in the process of changing so the negatives were also encouraging I suppose. From the feedback I'm defiantly going to take everything on board and make changed accordingly. Finally, it was also very encouraging for Elena to ask me to keep them updated with my portfolio in the future.

OUGD602 - Founded internship

To reflect on my two weeks at Founded which were two very valuable and insightful weeks, which in turn have given me an itch for the industry I want pursue a career in. The small team of five welcomed me in and I felt I was well suited within the first couple of days, with me being introduced to live briefs from the off. In total I worked across five briefs with clients including Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The National Trust, with me being trusted to apply myself to anything which I appreciated massively.

From my time at Founded I can take away a number of things both positive and negative but ones that stood out to me, I made sure to make a note of. Therefore, the list below documents my learnings while at Founded.

• During second year we were encouraged to think more about product, range and distribution but it wasn't until my time at Founded that made me realise about how important the range of an idea is. Anthony the creative director was tirelessly giving feedback and insight regarding this, and made it clear that a client only sees what is presented to them. Its the designers job to make them look past this, and extend the idea past say a poster and make it into merchandise. This not only benefits the project by extending it but also gives the studio more to work with in terms of outcome and budget.
• When receiving feedback on a small brief I did for The Spanish Gallery which is the largest collection of Spanish art outside of Spain. The team made me think through the clients eye, and that clients cant relate to the same styles and tastes as you. Therefore, its key to present the idea first rather than the style. Clients can easily reject a style but struggle to reject an idea as they can relate the to core of an idea rather than a style.
• Being in the working environment I got to experience the politics of the design industry and the competitiveness of it. For example, the studio manager explained to me one of the reasons the studio decides to keep a low profile. Although they intend to update the site with work as it been a while since they have. They are reluctant to do so though, as in the past they've found other studios approaching Founded's clients due to the new work being considered 'good'. I was surprised by this as I think if the work is considered 'good' by the client and Founded, then other studios approaching the client shouldn't stand a chance. However, the studio manager made it clear it happens too often and instead Founded prefer to keep work under wraps.
• Other little things regarding the politics of the design industry were offering brand guidelines to clients as a mechanism to ward other studios and agencies away from the client. The guidelines act as a authorship for studios and give trust between the two parties involved.

I can document plenty more things I learnt but I feel putting the new ways of thinking and doing into action would be more beneficiary to PPP. But to conclude on my time at Founded with talking about the one project I enjoyed the most which was an identity for YSP's new restaurant opening in June. To briefly sum what YSP were after was a sub brand to distinguish the new and more classier restaurant to the other food and drink options at the park. The restaurant will be located in a new gallery which is on site of a former sandstone quarry and YSP plan to have a Nordic and natural aesthetic throughout the restaurant. Therefore, it was my job to create a sub brand that aligned with YSP yet had its own identity and meaning. My responses look into the sandstone quarry, the topography of the area and Nordic colour palettes. I was told to get the raw idea down then apply it to as many outcomes to test the strength and range of the idea, and from this testing the idea impressed the team enough for them to package my idea and set it off to YSP for feedback. Some of the research and outcomes can be seen below.

The guys at Founded felt I did well in my two weeks and ticked the biggest box of simply fitting in well with the team. They encouraged me to stay in touch and if I ever need any help/guidance/feedback than they are more than happy to help. We also discussed my future and where I see myself upon graduating, they informed me that at this moment in time if they were to hire then it'd be a senior designer but that if a junior role ever came up then i'd be up for consideration. They also encouraged me to maybe stay in Leeds after graduation as more opportunities are arising in Leeds to say Newcastle. 

OUGD602 - Career track Tuesdays - Networking

I recently attended a career track Tuesday event focused on Networking. The main reason I chose to attend this particular session is because I go to events whenever I can but always struggle to find a way of breaking into a clique of people. This is one of the biggest problems for me, as a vast majority of the time familiar groups stay together at events. Nevertheless, I hoped attending this session would give insight into ways of tackling this.

The session covered why networking is important, where to network, conversation topics, body langauge and following up and my notes from the session can be seen below:

• Reach out your own sector to make new connections
• Distinguishing yourself on social media
• Set goals for events and do research
• Make Linkedin more personal

The session was really hands on, which I preferred as we were forced into situations that'd be the norm at any other networking events. As a group we had to pretend we were attending an event and the goal was to make five connections in 15 minutes, and from the pointers the instructor gave us it made the task a lot less scary. It opened my eyes to how crucial body language can be in these situations and how it can the main issue for many people.