J O S -H U AT A Y -L O R Y E A R 2 G R A P H I C D E S I G N

T E R M T WO P D F P O RT F O L I O

S E M E S T E ROV E RV I E W

1. Type of brief: What type of project do you feel you best respond to – is it a “tight brief ” with very clear guidelines and demands or an “open” brief where the outcomes are far more open and unspecified?

I’d say that I respond better to a brief with tighter guidelines and more of a focused idea given in the spec. However this year I have developed more on the longer more ‘open’ briefs where we have had time to chop and change our ideas a fair few times and experiment with techniques and approaches. I just feel like I need to focus my techniques so I can respond well to either and open or tight brief.

2. Integral elements: Are there integral elements that often form key elements within your work – in other words does photography play an important part in you work or is it typography or illustration or hand drawn lettering or a text and image relationship. What have you identified and how do you wish to develop this?

I find that it is often the typography that plays an important role in my work, in terms of style and content. Hopefully the image and text relationship is key too, I very much enjoy (and feel fairly comfortable with) image making and art di-rection. Seeing as we have done mostly editorial briefs this term I have a had a lot of time to work on the more techni-cal aspects of typography, as well as really experiment with legibility, meaning, style and layouts. I would like to develop these elements by experiemtning more with photoshop and illustrator, doing as much work as I can and keep work-ing with type every day and pushing myself.

3. Success: What are your strengths? Where have you been most successful? What do you think was the rea-son for that positive experience?

My strenghs seem to be in editorial design, typography and art direction. I feel like my ideas generation needs some work. The reason is probably because I spend a lot of time looking at/doing the above so I feel more comfortable and

am able to push myself more with it. We have a had a lot of time to work on these aspects this year, so it has pushed me in a certain direction I guess.

4. Problems: Where have the problems arisen; have you been able to overcome them?

I have had a lot of problems with ‘concepts’, overall ideas. I often feel like a lot of my work is style over substance, which I very much don’t want it to be. Having said that I was very pleased with the idea/exicution of my manifesto, it worked and is also obvious to the viewer. I also don’t feel particularly comfortable with logo design/branding/signage etc. We haven’t had much time to explore these av-enues this year. I want to spend time over summer working on some more branding and concept ideas, to try and give myself a more rounded base for next year.

5. Personality: What are you interested in, what are you about? Do you feel you have been able to introduce your personality and interests in your work. In what creative direction do you want to proceed?

I am interested in all aspects of visual culture, and it is one of my main passions in life along with cycling, music, fashion and food. I hate ‘nice’, (not the place in France, even though I haven’t been so it might be shit) I hate the adjective, nice. It may as well not exist, doing something that is nice in every aspect of life is pointless, I want anything I do in life to generate more than just ‘nice’, I’d take absolute passionate, kick your-self in the face hatred over nice anyday. I’d say that I am a perfectionist and I really care about attention to detail. Hopefully this shows in my work.I genuinely do not know what creative direction I’d like to proceed in, maybe a more hands on approach working on something on a large scale.

V I S UA LS U M M A RY

D&AD Pentagram

Manifesto

University of Cumbria logo

Meltdown Posters

Photography book

D & A DI N T RO D U C T I O N

1. Which brief did you choose and what opportunities and con-straints did you identify in relation to the brief? Which aspects of your initial research have influenced your design work?

I chose the Pentogram brief because of the opportunity to create a group of documents that worked as a series. I wanted to work with colour schemes and type systems to see how I could create different feel to each. I first started looking at previous editions of the magazine, and I very quickly realised this was pointless. So I was very influenced at the time by contempoary use of mono spaced slab serif fonts so I investigated that quite a lot, and also I was look-ing at a lot of 80’s record design using bright but knocked back harmonious colour schemes and gradients.

2. Explain the concept you have come up with?

I came up with an idea for a small magazine, which com-bined a bio, career timeline, and interview to give the viewer three ways to engage with the designer. I wanted it to feel intimate but also clear and clean.

3. Do you feel you have successfully met the creative demands of the brief? Indicate how you have done this or where the flawed decisions have adversely affected the design solution.

I feel like I definately met the creative demands of the brief. However I also feel that the amount of time we had to work on it, the experimentation and tweaking made it start to go a little stale. I could of done something a little different to the booklet format as well, but at the time the differnt sized inserts felt appropriate,

D & A DI N V E S T I G AT E

D & A DS H A P E

D & A DR E F I N E

D & A DA RT I C U L AT E

D & A DA RT I C U L AT E

M E LT D OW NP O S T E R S

M E LT D OW NP O S T E R S

U O CLO G O

U O CLO G O

M A N I F E S TOI N T RO D U C T I O N

1. What ideas were you trying to communicate through your written manifesto?

I was trying to comunicate my honest view of the world and how I try to approach my life. I wanted to write it in a way that would hopefully inspire the reader to feel that same. I wanted to use a glitchy analogue-meets-very-techy styleto communicate the dissatisfaction I feel about life and also use the language of health and safety signage but flip it on it’s head and use the signs to communicate a different meaning. It wasn’t easy.

2. Explain how you translated your written concept into a visual artifact? Explain how you feel you have done justice to your concept. If you haven’t, tell us what improvements you would make?

My written concept was quite angry and aggressive, and I tried to capture this energy in use of colour and typography. I used quite a tall portrait booklet format for this, which has a very formal feel in your hands, sort of like a cooperate document but it obviously doesn’t look formal. I really like this juxtaposition. I feel like because of a lot of thought about how to style it and use the signage most effectively I have done justce to the concept.

3. Having written and designed your manifesto, how do you think can: use it to inform/direct your process? to bring your own agenda to design problems? to suggest directions for future exploration?

I think having properly written down my manifesto it will be easier to let it inform my process and choices. I’d like to do more politically based work, work that people will engage with. It has also sparked an interest in how I can use language to express myself through graphic design. I’d like to explore this more.

M A N I F E S TO

!. Have a moral code, and stick to it.Everyone has bills to pay and people to take care of, but we are all ultimately in charge of our own choices. Don’t throw away your morals for a quick pound, in life people will re-spect you more if you stick to your guns and hold out. Don’t be weak and work hard, for yourself and for people who you can beleive in.

2. Stop buying shit you don’t need.

3. Stay free.The world we live in is shrinking, we are trapped in a circle of evil, greed and horror. Past generations have failed us, yet we salute them for it. Fame hungry morons rule public opin-ion. We are being lied to by almost every media outlet going. People still discriminate because of someones sex or race. Human rights vary on your place of birth. Make a change, be a caring, compassionate person. Stop giving a fuck and wake up. Through knowledge we can come together to be strong.

4.Get out of your depth.Not being able to touch the floor forces you to find other ways to stay afloat.

5. Wake up! you might be dead tomorrow.Get out of your head, and stop putting everything off. When it’s over, it’s over. only you can make things happen.

6. Have no fear.Don’t be afraid. It’s liberating, honestly. What have you got to be scared of, nothing means anything and we’re all going to die. The world always keeps spinning.

7. Support your friends.

8. Don’t back down from a challenge.Don’t back down from a challenge. Push youirself to move forward and get stronger. Motivate yourself, and make some progression.

9. Chase your dreams.You have to motivate yourself, no one else will. Have a goal, dream big then make it happen. Be single minded and fol-low your own ideas through. Fuck budget. Fuck restrictions. If you want something bad enough you can achieve it.

10. Don’t be afraid to fail.Fear stops you from progressing, in all aspects of life. Mistakes are vital in persuit of progress. Be uninhibited and fail, as it is only through this failure that you will learn. (If you learn things straight away people will hate you, no joke.)

M A N I F E S TOI N V E S T I G AT E

M A N I F E S TOS H A P E

M A N I F E S TOS H A P E

M A N I F E S TOR E F I N E

M A N I F E S TOA RT I C U L AT E

M A N I F E S TOA RT I C U L AT E

P H OTO G R A P H YB O O K

P H OTO G R A P H YB O O K

P E R S O NA LD E V E LO P M E N TP L A N

1. How will you develop and broaden your technical abilities?

I’d like to work on my general digital skills. However I’d like to specifially work on my illustrator skills. I am going to continue to work over summer, and try and sketchbook as much as I can.

2. How will you develop and broaden you knowledge of contemporary practice in relation to your own interests?

I am going to try and get a placement in a few design studios in the West Yorkshire area, around work over summer. Which should hopefully give me some more experience, knowledge and contacts, I’d like to try and do more work off my own back, and do some freelance work too. I continue to do posters for local events as well as the design for Edinburgh global music collective ‘No Globe’. I want to do more of this and try and collaborate more.

3. How will you nurture and develop you current strengths?

I need to work with photography as much as possible, and try to really broaden my skills, not just do the same again and again. This is true for digital and film. I think that this will help me keep developing my art direction skills too, trying to keep a keen attention to detail and not go off the boil.I need to keep working with typography as much as possible. Depending on work over summer, I’d like to start a new blog to keep as my professional/personal blog. To keep a record and also interact with other creatives in a more professional manner.

4. Where do you need to strengthen your game and more importantly how are you going to make this happen. What action needs to take place?

I need to work more on branding and more conceptual briefs. I also need to work more on contempoary digital processes, to keep my work up to date and fresh.I have got much better at time management but I could still improve, I need to to keep up my good work ethic and get up and try to progress every day. I don’t want a wasted summer. I need to start making a ore professional online presence and get rid of previous work that I don’t want on there. I need to also start building a more professional looking portfolio, better photography/moch ups and whatnot. I need to start networking more, making contacts and posting to blogs,

C O N TAC T

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