REFLECTION |
When first given this assignment in advance, I was nervous. Nervous to contact a stranger and how to go about asking for an interview in a formal but comfortable manner. As time went by I realised I hadn’t made much progress at all, especially in terms of responses from designers. It was a struggle, as expected, to get responses from designers who were willing to take the time out and answer the questions. I first contacted the top designers on my list. I managed to get a response from three of them saying they were willing to answer my questions and to send them through. I sent the specialists the question set, which was individually written to the specific artist. Of the three that responded initially, Blake Kathryn, who was one of my ‘top’ designers, replied in a kind and enthusiastic manner. I was super excited when I got her first response agreeing to do the interview, that I replied immediately. As days went by, I still had not received the answers from Kathryn, which resulted in utter panic to say the least. I then began thinking of other ways I could present my piece, as the cigarette package was only really suited to Kathryn’s style. I began planning initial ways of presenting a zine, which was something I could do at home. I waited a few days and then decided to contact another two artists (that weren’t in my ‘top 5′), and kind of went on a panic spree, until a week later when Kathryn replied! She was lovely and apologised for the delay and had answered the questions in more depth than I expected.
Presentation wise, I am glad I had a go at doing something different this time. In the past I have loved making tacky D.I.Y presents for family and friends, and I really felt this was a fun approach to a broad and limitless project. It was a struggle to make the package itself, especially in such a large scale, and while trying to minimise any damage, marks and faults. Yet, although this was difficult and extremely fiddly to say the least, I am happy I pushed through the hours of cutting and measuring to get a somewhat neat design. It definitely has its many, many imperfections (where do I even begin), but for the amount of time I had to pull it together due to the delayed response, I am pleased, as it is headed in the direction I had originally planned.
If I could magically craft a time machine and go back in time Marty Mcfly style, I would contact my artists the second I receive the brief! This could have been a massive game changer for me and I may now be more pleased with my result had I given myself more time and room for error. I also regret not having included more background to Kathryn’s work and more incorporation's of her work. I feel I could have dealt with the contents of my ‘package’ to a far greater extent and included more information done out of my own research.
Overall, this was a super fun (and kind of hecticly unpredictable) project. My favourite thus far. I really loved being given the opportunity to contact an accomplished artist/designer and actually be given insight into their world and creative mind, through questions that we had generated on our own. It was an extremely helpful source of motivation for myself also, to read the responses of one of my favourite designers and research about her work more in my progress and development of the questions. Knowing how Kathryn began has not only given me insight but also served as a source for my own inspiration and encouragement, as I have always wanted to learn how to create digital visuals like such, but have never had the courage to try so on my own. Now aware that she too is self-taught in this area, it is really motivating for me to know that anyone with a fun idea and motivation to create can do so too!
