When I first started my art and design journey, I was very much interested in fashion design and patterns. Doing fine art made my love for this grow and made me become more aware of research and inspiration. This leads me to love doing mixed media art. Artists such as Maiko Takeda who used pieces of fashion and art to create beautiful shadows. While studying Fine art, I then developed a passion for photography and typography. The art of letter was around us every day and it quickly became something I thought about and loved working with. Different ways of manipulating letters and making letters. This turned into loving print even more when I was making typographic pieces. This all was the beginning of my Graphic Design journey and I always wanted to have my personality within my work by adding the old print techniques in with the digital aspects of design. Working with lino or doing offset printing for anything that would suit it. Artists such as Barbra Kruger inspired my thoughts to look at scale and what a limited colour palate can do. Another artist Jamie Reid always struck an interest within me with his collage work along with the mixed media work. I really love his brutal honest protest art and how he translated this into his work.
I always thought I would go in the print direction but since learning more about animation and doing introductions for shows I learned that there were more ways of mixing typography with fine art and graphic design. I hadn’t really thought about graphic design in television since the project in my second year, we talked about Annie Atkins and how her work was so iconic in movies. This was my first introduction this. Since then, I have loved watching different things and seeing what graphic design I can see. I especially love watching the opening of shows to see how the designer creates the mood and tone within these and how it relates to the show. Netflix has a show about designers such as Jonathan Hoefer and his type foundry called: Abstract: The Art of Design. Which was a great insight into typography and how type faces are made. This inspired me a lot and made me realise how much goes into making one type face.
Straight after University, I would love to experience various types of design work. I would Like to investigate big and small companies and how both are like to work for, also I would like to find somewhere where I feel comfortable and able to express myself. Having some aspect of creative freedom would be a lovely thing to have. Whilst in university Animation and animating have been the hardest but most rewarding when done. This is a skill I would love to improve with and learn more and more. I Try to take an online tutorial at least once a week to try and get my skills better. In the future after at least a good few years of experience, I would love to try and see what Graphic Design jobs there is for creating the introductions on shows and also graphics in shows and movies. This would be a challenging environment in which I could learn and push myself further. Since starting University my skills and confidence have really improved. Confidence within my work and myself and with using different software and programs. My confidence still needs work and improvement as I still feel very anxious and overwhelmed, I am hoping this is just the nerves needed to help myself finish my final year and once I have finished with my work, I hope this will clear and the excitement comes back more. I still do love researching designers, topics, art, news, and anything art-related. Researching and experimenting are both my favourite parts of any project as well as seeing the final outcome. Researching and finding out new artists and designers also what is happening in the world of design and what has happened before. I love getting lost down a rabbit hole of research.