Career

For me family is an important factor and thus I feel my future setup should be closer to home. As I live in Shropshire my prospects as a designer are limited, and as I don't want to end up in some endless design job, I feel that getting a career in Manchester/Liverpool is my best option. Being in Leeds has also taught me that city life is so much more insightful with art exhibits being available at my fingertips, and therefore would like to remain living in a city, before inevitably moving to surrounding suburbs when making my own family. As cities come I do personally prefer Manchester, but would definitely consider working in Liverpool. Chester is also only a 45 minute drive away from my home, but I just don't feel as if I would be able to reach my potential living in such a small although delightful city.

Thinking about what kind of design I would like to explore within my future career is difficult, as I see myself setting new challenges and working in multiple studios. Some companies in which I would definitely like to work for are as following:

Carbon Creative (Manchester)

Carbon Creative innovates in ethical and sustainable business practices working to promote the clients and values it cares about.The company has received media and press interest for its continuing environmental campaigns, most notable was the launch of a tree planting campaign in 2006 dedicating trees to be planted in Salford and Greater Manchester for clients and for every order placed. Working with organisations such as Macmillan, Keep Britain tidy and Colgate they have a strong reputation and do not comply themselves to harmful design, something I feel passionate about within the disposable society in which we live.

Creative Spark (Manchester)

Every designer likes to think of themselves as being successful and in some ways the key to success is working for big corporate companies in which are internationally recognisable. Although this may be good for some, but harmful to the 'little man' I feel as if Creative spark is very selective surrounding which large profit organisations they work for. By working with the vegetarian society, the Lowry, Peter Kay, and Manchester United's premier cup a variant of well established brands have been associated with the design company. Whilst looking through their portfolio there is not design in which I feel is ethically wrong, a factor in which some key organisations tend to ignore. As the last thing I want to be doing as a designer is encouraging consumers to invest in brands such as Nike. 

Liquid Agency (Liverpool)

Working through multiple platforms including traditional print, this design studio doesn't focus purely on C.A.D work, something in which I would definitely like to explore within my career.  Working with Levi's, Warburtons and Thorntons, the design practice  focuses strongly on branding and packaging. Two design areas in which I specifically enjoy, and have strived in during past A level projects.

Halloween face painting venture

As a graphics student I feel that a vast majority of my work is correlated through the medium of computers which doesn't allow me room to display my craft skills. Thus for this reason I have decided to do a few craft projects each season and document them. To begin this enever, I have produced some craft surrounding Halloween.

As me and a friend visited one of Leeds iconic burlesque shows last week, I felt it a great opportunity to create some Halloween inspired make up. Using primarily glitter, make up and lots of hair spray I began this process.  During the burlesque show multiple people came up to us and discussed the makeup, something that I found was a great way to instigate a conversation.  In one discussion I found myself talking to a fellow graphic designer whom I then shared contact details with and now follow on Instagram. I found this experience highly insightful as I haven't previously 'networked'.

Grid system

To create consistancy within my design work I developed a six columm grid for imagery alongside a three columm grid overlay. I decided upon this grid system as I felt that it wouldnt be restricting, allowing for creative space yet structural balance.

Palatino was my chosen typeface, as I wanted to use a serif in order for the general body copy to be easily readable. I also personally liked how the typeface flows much smoother than others due to the curvature present within its structure. 12pt was chosen as the generic text size to allow for a legible approach, that allows each sentence to flow. I also felt it important to present my name, module code and page number upon the grid. I did this to allow for a proffesional structured approach.