Lauren Sellick

A journey of self reflection through a graphic design degree

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High impact and exciting movie posters. Spanning over 2 decades yet they all have the unmistakable feel of a Tarantino movie. 

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Week 7

What does sustainbility mean in the context of Graphic Design? Review the site 'Design Can Change - AIGA' and answer the following questions: What is 'cradle to cradle' design and how can you see this applied in the Graphic Design industry? In the 'Creative Gallery on Sustainable Communications '- what ad has the most impact for you and why? List five things that a Graphic Designer can do in their practice to decrease their impact on the environment.

Cradle to Cradle

The Cradle to Cradle model focuses on the idea of switching thinking from a cradle to grave life span, to cradle to cradle life cycle. The idea that the way things are made and the materials used don't harm the environment or can be reused over and over without losing quality. An organisation that uses the Cradle to Cradle model is environmentally responsible in all aspects of what they produce, using technical and biological materials that don't have any negative impact on the environment. Technical Nutrients are man made and within the Cradle to Cradle model, musn't be toxic or in anyway harmful to the environment and while these synthetic materials may not break down, but a method of continual re-use would be in place and they would not become a lesser material in the process Biological Nutrients are natural and organic materials that break down into soil naturally with beneficial impact. Each classification of nutrients in the Cradle to Cradle model has it's own regenerating lifecycle which is what makes them environmentally ethical generationally.

This Ad

After checking out the Creative Gallery on Sustainable Communications, I found several print ads that I thought had quite an impact. A lot of them were tackling rather heavy and intense issues and so the imagery was quite fitting. I also saw a number of ads that used graphic images or text to put an emphasis on a situation that may be generally forgotten and overlooked or one that people don't quite understand the gravity of. I suppose after looking through so many of these kinds of ads, all quite deep and all pretty heavy, my attention started to get drawn to the brighter and lighter side of things. One in particular was a print advertisment titled 'Hot' that was raising awareness for an alternative to heating in a funny way. The tagline for the ad is 'Jumpers on'. Pretty straight forward. Photographer Dean Chalkley hoped to encourage people to don an extra layer isntead of cranking up the heating next time they feel chilly. I really like the fact that it is light hearted and funny, it looks modern and is tackling a modern issue with a modern medium. People from countless demographics could see it and relate in some way while getting a kick out of a guy dressed in a goofy looking jumper. Win, win if you ask me. Building an interest for change out of positive feelings is a nice change to some of the other content found.

"In the seven years since we launched Do The Green Thing, our posters, films, podcasts and products have reached over 21m people in 209 countries/territories around the world. Research conducted by Hall & Partners tells us that we’ve inspired our subscribers to save 2.5 times more CO2 than they otherwise would have.

These 5 Things

1. Print as little as possible. This would not only use less paper, but would use less ink and energy to print. Send clients digital drafts instead of printing extensive documents. 2. Think recycling. Produce designs in a way that ensures the product has the best chance of being recycled and low impact to the environment after they are no longer needed or have been used. This could mean using alternatives to laminating or binding and more! 3. Source sustainable materials. Things like using water based ink for printing, water based glues for packaging as well as designing with the use of sustainable material in mind. For example, how would my design look printed on recycled paper made from bamboo fibres? It has a different colour and texture to standard paper. 4. Shutting down computers at the end of the day, no sleep! Also by shutting computers off at the wall you can reduce energy consumption a little further. It's easy enough to let computers just go to sleep when they aren't being used, but a little change in your habit is a good start to have a smaller impact on the environment as a designer. 5. Making effective use of space in designs where possible. If text or imagery can be displayed in compact ways then less materials may be used in production, which will be efficient for the client and the earth!

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Calvin and Hobbes comics on the expense of energy

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Intellectual property rights are often confusing and sometimes the topic of heated debates. There are those who question the worth of creative products and projects, claiming design and art are something anyone can do, regardless of training, experience, or any inherent ability.

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The dark side of Enlighten: artists not paid

Can you imagine Enlighten without the lights? Of course not, it's absurd. People don't come out in their hundreds of thousands just to queue for noodles and swear at the parking.

An interesting article on the payment (or lack) for the artists who produce incredible works of art for the Enlighten Festival held annually in Canberra.  

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Week 6

Design and Ethics - what does "ethics" mean to you? Read the "AGDA code of Ethics," "Starving for ethics - Ethics for Graphic Designers" and "Protect your Creative" and respond to the following questions on your blog: What is "free pitching" and how does it effect the industry as a whole? Why is it important to have a code of ethics in the Graphic Design industry? What is the difference between a copyright and a trademark or patent? What measures do you need to take as a freelance designer to protect your creative output?

Free Pitching

Free pitching is essentially getting designers to do unpaid work. Getting two or more designers to competitively showcase their concepts and ideas as a way to win the actual job. This has no security for you as a designer as there is no guarantee that they wouldn't take you ideas somewhere else to build on and produce. For example: a company puts on a competition to design their new logo. Another downside is that there is virtually no client/designer relationship here. Any designer would be able to tell you how vital this communication is in creating a sound design solution that meets the clients needs. Free Pitching is a kick in the gut to the industry. Cheapens the value of what we as designers strive to create. If people are willing to give creative content out for free where does that leave those of us who need to make a living from it?

Code of Ethics

A code of ethics is important to have in an industry like this as there is no specific union to speak of for all Graphic Designers that can get everyone on the same page and fighting for worker rights. Ethics for the Starving Designer page features 21 points with which designers should strive for everyday and it is almost 700 signatories fromall over the world. This code of ethics gets designers to look out for themselves, each other and the environment as well as being morally responsibly in the jobs they take and their treatment of the work in this amazing industry. It also suggests you mould your own way and keep pushing yourself. This combination is something, I feel, that every designer could use in their work lives. The AGDA Code of Ethics goes into more detail about do's, don't's and no flipping way's which I think is good especially for newbie graphic designers like myself. Establishing a standard industry wide is vital for maintaining quality of work and fair treatment of each other and of design work.

Copyright V Trademark

Copyrighting your work is automatic and free in Australia and is applied to content like photographs, images and websites as well as a whole host of other creative content. It applies throughout the life of the creater plus 70 years. Copyright does not protect your ideas, just the visual creations. Trade marks can be a logo, word, number, shape etc and is used to distinguish different traders. They don't necessarily need to be registered, though going without may leave the trade mark vulnerable to copying, and as businesses get more successful the trade mark becomes more valuable. Registered trade marks last 10 years and will last as long as renewal fees are paid every subsequent decade.

Protecting My Creative

By becoming familiar with the different types of intellectual property protection that is available out there and how they apply to me in Australia, I will be well equipped with the knowledge of how to protect it as I create more throughout my career. Copyrights for illustrations, photos and progroms. Trademarks for logos and brands. Design registrations for a products design. Patents for innovations. Being informed about the different kinds of protection as well as knowing where to look for support is the best way to protect my creative as a new and emerging designer.

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Week 5

What is your worth? Work out how much you should be paid (based on your skill and experience) per hour as a freelance designer using online resources. Using the "forms for graphic designers" as a guide create a self-branded timesheet and post as a jpg. image on your blog.

My Worth as a Designer

I went to a few websites to find out with the going rate of a graphic designer was these days and found some good information for the following sources; http://www.payscale.com/, http://www.seek.com.au/ and http://www.mygraphicdesign.com.au/ I found that a graphic designer's salary ranges from approximately $35k - $65k. A big range, I know. But certain things like experience and expertise would be taken into account to land on the suitable salary. I also found that government positions seemed to be at the higher end of the spectrum. Some designers also have varying rates based on what the type of work being completed is, for example a poster design would cost x per hour, but web development would cost y.

A Timesheet

For my self branded time sheet, I chose to sit at the lower end of the salary scale for Graphic Designers, as I am still a newbie! I also opted to have different rates for my time based on the level of skill needed to complete a task. For example; research costs less than actual design because it does not require the same amount of technical knowledge.

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Digital illustrations I dig.

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Week 4

Managing yourself and Managing Others - dealing with clients, colleagues,your boss and yourself! In any design practice you will have to deal with a boss, colleagues clients and manage their expectations. Using the Johari Window tool work out how you see yourself and how others see you. Write down the attributes (the similarities and differences if any) on your blog and read the "AIGA clients guide to Graphic Design" and answer the following: What attributes described in Johari Window exercise do you see as key to dealing with clients? What attributes are key to dealing with your colleagues? What attributes are key to dealing with yourself? What attributes are key to dealing with your boss? How does your version of the Johari Window differ from your friends/close contacts? How does this exercise make you think about your position in the workplace?

The Johari Window

The concept was simple; you pick a number of attributes you feel you display, then you get your colleagues to pick attributes that they feel you display. Easy. It was an interesting way to compare how you see yourself with how others see you.

My Johari Window only had 8 other participants, but I still found the excersise helpful. All attributes that I picked for myself were also picked by others (making up my arena [known to self, known to others]), which made me feel as though I have a good and realistic grip on myself and my temperament. What I didn't have a good grip of was how most of the particpants picked silly as an attribute for me! It was interesting to see which people were aware of my goofy streak. (Silly and well as a number of other attributes pick by others but not me made up my Blindspot [known to others, not known to self]). My Blindspot was filled with more than double what I had put in, even though each person only picks around 5 things. It would be really interesting to see how my Johari Window would develop if I were to keep getting more people that know me from different places and environments, to add to it.

Johari Me V Workplace

Me: Independent, Patient - Being able to rely on myself and my skills and being patient with myself is really important to my process. Inspiration doesn't always come straight away, so have some patience is important for me. Clients: Observant, responsive, adaptable - Being able to see, understand and respond to a clients brief as well as evolve throughout the process as necessary is vital to working with clients. This combination of attributes could help me to work with a varying clients on different jobs as I would be well equipped to take on challenges. Colleagues: Trustworthy, relaxed, responsive - Team work is an important part of the industry. Being a good, supportive listener that's going to be straight up with you is something I'd want to provide my team! Boss: Trustworthy, dependable - if my boss saw me as having these two things I'd be over the moon. I feel as though it's a good combination to move up the ladder so to speak. I am consistent and reliable with my work then I may get opportunities to take on more responsibility within a work place.

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Week 3

Pretend that you are a media "brand" and follow the steps 1-3 in the LogoTournament "Create a Logo Design Contest" set-up sheet. Write down all of your responses on your blog up to step 3. Based on your results create a logo that suits your style and professional objectives for upload on your blog. Once you have created your logo - make a Template for a CV using the 'Designing a Resume - with Steve Harris' video and place a jpg image of your template on your blog.

The Logo Contest

1. Name a. Organisation or business name: Lauren Sellick b. Slogan: Drawing, not boring c. Please describe what your organisation or business does in one sentence: All kind of graphic design delivered to you based on yours or your projects needs

2. Audience a. Select an industry: Technology b. Please describe the target audience for your logo: Men and women of all ages, living in Canberra Australia. Small business owners/managers, professionals, web designers, new business owners. c. What are the top three things that your logo should communicate to the audience? my field of expertise finding a design with an edge can be made simple modern and fun and flexible design

3. Ideas a. Select logo styles that you would like to see for your logo: Pictorial or Letterform Mark b. b. Style sliders c. Please describe the colours you would like to see in your logo: Blue, green, purple. Mixed colours at least 2 used. d. Please provide any ideas or concepts that you have for your logo: The logo should be simple and clean with a hint of quirk. Must be able to be used as a watermark. e. Do you have any documents or images that would be helpful for the contest? n/a f. Where will the logo be used? Mobile Desktop Social Print eg. Business cards

Lauren's Logo

Getting a logo for my personal design work and branding after completing the first few steps of the Logo Contest, was not too tricky. I already had an idea in my head of what I wanted and the questions answered for the contest gave me a chance to see how I would need to refine my concept. The lines of the diamond make out my initials "L", "C", and "S".

Making a CV

After watching the Lynda tutorial by Steve Harris about designing resumes, I was pretty ready to get into putting together the document for myself. I really liked the idea of a simple and streamline looking CV that was easy to read and had a lot of negative space. This would fit in with the idea of what I was thinking of after the logo contest nicely. After finishing this draft, I couldn't help but think it looked somewhat plain. I suppose my CV will remain a working document while I discover my strengths a bit more and focus in on my personal style to showcase.

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8 Strategies For Successful Relations With Clients – Smashing Magazine

Let’s face it. Some days, you want to just fire your clients. You go through one too many comps, iterations or edits and you’ve had enough. It has happened to everyone at least once and I’d be lying if I said it won’t happen again; you get to the end of a project and realize that you would have made more per hour flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Thankfully, as with most common problems, there are a few simple guidelines that you can follow to help make sure that you’re never working for below minimum wage. Remember that the client will always know more about their product or service than you do. They are the expert at what they do; their problem is usually that they don’t know how to explain it well. That is where you, as the designer, step in to help. You are a graphical communications ninja, but to effectively make your, and ultimately your client’s, point you must fully understand what needs to be said.

Good read on client real talk

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Designer personal branding inspiration

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Week 2

Personality and the professional environment - working out how you work. Myers Briggs/Jung HumanMetrics Personality test - take the online test to see what personality type you are. Discuss your personality type on your blog answering the following questions: What personality type are you? Who else share this personality type with you? Did the results of this test suprise you? Do you agree with your personality assessment? How do you think your personality would fit into the workplace?

The Results

My Type Preferences Introvert(25%) iNtuitive(16%) Feeling(9%) Perceiving(30%) This basically means that I have slight to moderate preferences to the I, N, F, and P traits over the E, S, T, and J traits. Explained more a below:

"The first criterion, Extraversion – Introversion, signifies the source and direction of a person’s energy expression. An extravert’s source and direction of energy expression is mainly in the external world, while an introvert has a source of energy mainly in their own internal world.

The second criterion, Sensing – Intuition, represents the method by which someone perceives information. Sensing means that a person mainly believes information he or she receives directly from the external world. Intuition means that a person believes mainly information he or she receives from the internal or imaginative world.

The third criterion, Thinking – Feeling, represents how a person processes information. Thinking means that a person makes a decision mainly through logic. Feeling means that, as a rule, he or she makes a decision based on emotion, i.e. based on what they feel they should do.

The fourth criterion, Judging – Perceiving, reflects how a person implements the information he or she has processed. Judging means that a person organizes all of his life events and, as a rule, sticks to his plans. Perceiving means that he or she is inclined to improvise and explore alternative options." - http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/type

After completing the test and learning my results, I was not particularly surprised of my preferences. Slightly introverted, check. Often ruled by Feeling, check. Perceiving and Intuation; not something I've given too much thought to in the past but sure, it sounds about right when you see it all together like that.

Some famous INFPs include: Mary, mother of Jesus, William Shakespeare, A. A. Milne who created Winnie the Pooh, Helen Keller, Dick Clark from American Bandstand, Neil Diamond, Julia Roberts, Scott Bakula, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Lisa Kudrow. The site also listed a number of fictional INFPs which I thought was pretty interesting. The list included Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes, Bastian from the Neverending Story (nostalgia trip right there), Tommy from Rugrats and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. Interesting!

INFPing it up in the Workplace

The website also shows you a list of careers that are typically suited to your personality type which was cool and it seemded my prospective careers were mainly in the fields of social services, arts and humanities, and health care. Graphic Design was one of them (Phew! Picked right!).

INFPs are able to grasp new things and wrap their heads around new information easily and with depth in their own. This could make for easier dealings with new clients and new design challenges because of the INFPs ability to see things from anothers view. Understanding a clients motives, concerns and desires for what they want out of the design process is a key in being able to deliver a quality result. INFPs are also able to easily communicate with other personality types in a way that relates to them. They are adaptable in their communication style. INFPs can come across as distant, so it would be important to find away to minimise that in the work place, so not to alienate a prospective employer, colleague or client. If viewed this way, communication may not be so easy. INFPs also tend to have a lot of business contacts and frequently engage with these contacts and peers in meaningful ways. They tend to communicate better with people of similar mindsets

Thinking about myself as an INFP type in the kind of work place I see myself in as a Graphic Designer; I recognise the ability outlined on the Human Metrics website, of being able to communicate with many people in their own kind of 'language' and I feel as though it is a trait I certainly have. Being able to talk peers with meaningful exchanges will help me succeed in a somewhat foreign environment.

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Designer resumes that I think are cool!

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Week 1

Find one object that defines or inspires you as a designer. What is special about this object and how have you incorporated elements of this into your design work/creative practice? What does this object say about your personality and personal style? Post a photo of your object and your statement on your blog as your first blog post.

Studio Ghibli

This was a tricky subject, and I could not pick one object. Instead opted for a presence that has been with me for over a decade and has always inspired creativity in me. Studio Ghibli was established by Hayao Miyazaki in 1985. The studio creates and produces animated films and has 19 feature films spanning over 3 decades, many of which are critically acclaimed and are to this day, considered some of the best animated films world wide. While I enjoy many of the Studio Ghibli, a few stand out as especcially memorable to me, particularly Spirited Away. The film tells the story of a young girl who accidentally ventures into a retreat world for spirits. She is sent on a journey through this world and comes across countless creatures. Some are scary, some are creepy, and some are cute! The movie is a whimsical story with beautiful and lovely imagery. It is not just a fantastic movie but is also visually stunning, and many of the characters intrigued me. I loved trying to draw these creatures and invent my own and many other Studio Ghibli creations have had that continued affect on me. Transporting me to another world each time I press play and giving me a glimpse of the power of creativity and design.