Michael C Place from Build
After already seeing Michael speak at Glug previously, I was expecting a similar presentation, but there were variations making it much more appropriate for the more specific audience of students and young creatives looking for inspiration and motivation to ease the transition into industry.
He discussed...
- his early influences from music, especially metal covers like Metallica (the type fascinated him)
- Letraset was a huge opener from him, made him start to realise GD is a real industry
- Works by Neville Brody - realised the sophistication behind graphics and how you can actually forge a career path with it - mainly fascinated by the various type on record sleeves and posters, etc.
- Underground mag - Swiss punk, postmodern
- I-D mag internship
- Record sleeve design at design republic
- Very design for music orientated
Needed a break, so him and his wife quite their jobs and went travelling the world to get away from the Graphic Design they were so used to now, just wanted to see new places and get fresh inspiration from what is beyond city life - Refreshing the palette (a healthy decision for all if you get the chance)
They dreamt whilst away of starting their own agency, so then when they got back they made into their reality and started up their own agency working from their new home in London (felt this was were he needed to be at the time to help himself grow - not necessarily the case anymore) - this made him really appreciate the values of working in a much smaller, direct creative team, he admits he is a bit of a control freak!
In the present day, he can appreciate how there is no longer much money in record sleeve design alone however.
He approaches 'Build' in a sense that if they've never done something similar to the project, they'd most definitely say yes to it and push themselves in a slightly altered practise - they like collaborating with other disciplines of design to develop a concept - animation, exhibition/set design.
It was very useful hearing Michael talk about his influences and how he got to where he is today. I found this one in particularly very inspiring seeing the, what feels like never ending, roll-over GIF of all his favourite projects from start to finish. It really got the fire in my belly to get some work done!!
With regards to his presentation skills, his experience is really reflected - he was very laid back and talked at quite a slow, considered pace allowing you to take it all in. I can be inspired by this technique in my upcoming presentations, but I feel like I would use more varied emphasis throughout just to keep the audience engaged, as I am less of a respected figure to hear talk!!
I loved hearing him talk about Letraset and I would love to get my hands on some, just for experimentation. I feel like this could potentially fit into my 503 collab group's projects of tattoos - or if not it has atleast made me consider the old stick on tattoos you got when you were younger!
Dan Saul Pilgrim
Dan is a recent graduate, working freelance and also as a part-time coffee guru, also at Colours May Vary.
His largest personal project involved using the most popular crowd funding platform ‘Kickstarter’ to back his venture into publishing. His publication 'Coffee Shop North' is an art book devoted to the northern coffee industry.
Certainly in Leeds there is a specially reserved place for the love and appreciation of a nice brew, and Dan’s work is an effort to capture the essence of all that in this sacred process: sourcing and grinding, brewing and serving, drinking and socialising.
His talk addressed his struggles and trouble-shooting to actually get him into the industry, alongside his part-time jobs. It was also very interesting to hear him talk about his process when it came to Coffee Shop North and he was more than happy to discuss printing processes, finishing processes and typefaces used throughout. Also sharing some of his favourite type foundries for use in work, which I will definitely be looking into for use in my work - especially as Velvetyne is based in France with typically French typographical designers work going it it - this could fit into my COP project of rebranding the famous French car manufacturers Renault.
- Brickworks typeface (used for the cover of Coffee Shop North)
- Velvetyne Type Foundry
Ellie Nicholson from Oslo Design
https://www.oslo.agency/
- a colour 'nerd' / colour technologist
- all about colour profiling, libraries - Pantone, NCS, etc
- making sure the colour is represented in an accurate format - e.g. online shopping
- she too is a pretty recent grad and her youth was portrayed through her presentation which was very appropriate for our varied age group in the studio - made use of loads of gifs to keep us interacting and engaged
- loved the colour gifs - staring at the dot to make a b&w image appear in colour
Nicky Place from Build (Michael's wife)
- Presentation skills - "Are you guna start with a joke? ... Yeh, here's a picture of me as a kid!" Anecdotes - starting at the beginning of every story.
- Her talk ran us through her life really - studied in Liverpool, wanted to be a kids book illustrator.
- Actually started with pixel game design, the up and coming Playstation and PC.
- They went on their travelling break
- ...and came back and moved to London to start Build.
- Eventually came back up to Leeds - her role as Co-Founding Business Director, "Michael is the crazy designer and I do everything else!"
I found it very interesting to see her talk about how her and Michael's career's collided, and how their different creative backgrounds and mindsets were able to merge together collaboratively to create this tight-knit, stronghold design agency. He designed and communicated, she played more of a business direction role but was still able to be involved in the creative process and offer her input where necessary/when she felt like it! This really inspired me to value working collaboratively and how different mindset can develop stronger, considered ideas.
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