University of Hertfordshire - Practitioner analysis (BH Graphic Design)

Practitioner Analysisis Graphic Design Professional Development RV0019 Tutor Belinda Langlands

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Paula Scher

Jessica Walsh

Stephanie Borg

Table of This eBooklet contains...

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Conteints Material about...

01 Front Cover Page 1

02 Table of Contents Page 3

03 Stephanie Borg Page 4-5

04 Jessica Walsh Page 6-7

05 Paula Scher Page 8-9

06 Bibliography Page 11

07 References Page 13

08 Back Cover Page 14 3

Stephanie’s Borg boutique & studio

e i n a h p e t S g r o B Malta

Self-taught artist, graphic and Surface Pattern Designer 25 years of professional practice

Her, Stephanie Borg is a self-taught

Maltese artist, with 25 years of experience as a graphic designer and for the last 10 years she has become one of the most famous graphic and surface pattern designer in her native Malta.

‘...Casting off the old me in search of the new...’.

Stephanie Borg, My Inspiration, 2018.

She encourages residents to support local artists, in order to keep Malta’s heritage alive, usually artists try to discover new styles and unfortunately some techniques are forgotten.

Early times, Stephanie resides in Malta 44

but also has lived in USA, Italy and the Sultanate of Oman. Her living experiences in different countries have influenced her style and encouraged her passion for colour. Her first collection of Art Cards was inspired on the traditional attire of the Omani people. This is where Stephanie shows her passion for colour for the first time.

Middle East Collection, Stephanie

lived in Oman for 6 years and it had a big impact on her carrier as it was a great source of inspiration and where she had exhibited for the first time ever. As a part of her exhibition we can observe these ink drawings depicting

Omanis, she mentioned that her decision of leaving blank faces were intentional as she was interested on their traditionally attire. This is were she started to enrich her passion for colour, pattern and texture.

“I love colour! It’s what urges me to stark new artwork, I don’t usually have an exact idea of what my finished piece will look like and the process is always dauting”.

Stephanie Borg, My Inspiration, 2018.

I feel identify with her, I usually start an artwork with an idea and in the process I modify and sometimes I end up with a different result, but that makes me feel excited as I can discover new ideas.

TEX TURE Middle East collection , Omani

Maltese

door

PATT ER N The Tile pattern, Stephanie returned

collection,

for the last 10 years she has started to build up her own brand by depicting quotidian Maltese moments on her drawings. Her second exhibition was in 2012, where she exhibited her first ink drawings of Maltese traditional doors, one of the most famous between her collections.

She started to pay attention at Maltese doors when she was renovating her home.

She always try to explore new ways where to depict her art, a canvas is not the end of this journey.

She has an extended gallery of gifts such as, mugs, wrapping paper, scarves, aprons and many more.

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The Tile Pattern by Stephanie borg

Maltese door collection by Stephanie Borg

COLO UR

to Malta in 2008 and since then she has started to build up her own brand by depicting quotidian moments and the little details of every day life in her native Malta. One of the most famous is The Tile pattern collection which she depicts a set of traditional Maltese patterns. She mentions that she wants to keep alive this dying craft in Malta, this is one of the reasons why I admire her. Our past is our identity and if we forget this, we will forget who we are.

‘In a world where women are sometimes underestimated, there is Stephanie Borg!’.

Katy Maria Bernui Arias, 2021.

FERÒ Silk Scarf, wrought iron collection

a c i s s e J h s l Wa Jessica Walsh

by Mario De Armas

Jessica Walsh is an American graphic designer, art director, educator, illustrator, and founder of the creative firm & Walsh. Walsh was born on October 30 1986 in New York but was raised in Connecticut (Robertson, 2020). At age 11, she began designing websites and coding and later on joined the Rhode Island School of Design to study graphic design. During her mid-20s, Ms. Walsh evolved her tactic, lush art style by partnering with a renowned graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister (Sagmeister & Walsh). In 2019, Walsh left Sagmeister & Walsh and formed her art studio, &Walsh (Cogley, 2019), and became one of the 36 female-led creative studios in America (Larsen, 2020).

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Her design theme comprises blended photographs, handcraft, and digital design. Primarily, Walsh works on typography, branding, art installation, and website design. Her signature style is described as being “bold, provocative and emotional, with the occasional surrealistic flourish” (Dunne, 2014).

Moreover, her artwork is said to seem quite daring at the time, and uniquely hand-made in a manner that elicits the audience’s deep-seated emotions. Yes, brands are important, but as Walsh knows, it’s the connections true, genuine personal connections that matter the most and will make all the difference in the years ahead.

At her studio, Walsh creates unique, outstanding, and timeless work that exhibits risky topics. Her creative agency also specializes in helping brands “find their weird,” which often necessitates what she refers to as “brand therapy.”

Walsh is not afraid of being political when designing her work. In the modern age, consumers are savvier and more informed than ever, regarding issues that face humanity. In her work, Walsh takes a visible stance with social and political issues, aspects which have significantly increased her brand loyalty over the years.

‘Do the work that feeds your soul, not your ego’

Plenty by Walsh

LW&D

Pet Plate by Walsh LW&D by Walsh

If Jessica possesses one quality, it is a strong sense of mission and purpose. You can see that in her work over the years, and you can see something exceptional in the initiatives she’s begun on her own. Ladies, Wine, and Design (LW&D) was founded by Walsh to empower women and nonbinary people.

Mentorship, portfolio reviews, and creative meetups are all available through the organization. Her main purpose is to work with people to help them figure out who they are.

‘At our studio we want to create unique and timeless brands, and we came up with this strategy of brand therapy to help them develop their brand and personality to ‘find their weird’’ 77

Walsh reports her dissatisfaction with the pressure that American women experience regarding the removal of body hair. To raise her voice on the issue artistically, Walsh worked on a visual commercial with a razor company named Billie, to support natural beauty, and empower women to do whatever they wanted regarding their bodies (Tselentis, 2021).

Billie Campaign by Walsh

Therefore, Walsh’s art is bold and controversial and indicates her willingness to confront political issues that do not align with her values. What I admire most about Walsh’s art is its honesty; Walsh creates genuine and meaningful art that represents what she stands for.

a l u Pa r e h c S – Paula Scher, portrait by Christian Witkin

For over 40 years Paula Scher has been leaving her mark on the world of design, most notably through her American contemporary style and innovative approach to typography. In 1995 Scher influenced typographic design all over New York with her Bring in ‘Da Noise Bring in ‘Da Funk design. The design, although hectic, is highly effective in catching a passerby’s attention and connoting the energy of the show and the public theatre. The promotion work designed by Paula influenced designers all over New York to adapt the same playful approach to typography resulting in work heavily influenced by her spreading across the city. This is just 88

one of the many ways Paula Scher has left a mark on the world of design.

Paula was born in Virginia, The United States on October 5th, 1948. Her family moved and Paula grew up in Washington and Philadelphia. Paula has always felt like illustration and creativity is a way to escape the world around her and she would sit in her room and illustrate even as a young child. Neither of Paula’s parents shared this creative passion with her and even went as far as to discourage her from pursuing a design/ illustrator career. Not letting this stop her, Scher went on to study illustration at the Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park Pennsylvania.

It was during her time here that Paula was introduced to working with typography and the world of graphic design. She has expressed feelings of doubting herself during this time, being in that environment makes it easy to start comparing oneself to others.

‘I realized that I was pretty terrible at almost everything I did in art school - there were people who drew better than me, painted better than me, sculpted better than me, everything’ – Paula Scher, Madam Architect interview, Julia Gamolina, July 27, 2020

At the age of 22 Paula moved to New York to start her career. The city has always been a huge inspiration for her, she “sees type and images in everything.

In New York, its unavoidable” – Paula Scher, Netflix, Abstract, the Art of design, season 1, episode 6, 2017.

– Paula Scher, World Trade Painting, 2010

– Paula Scher, Public Theatre

“TYPE HAS SPIRIT” – Paula Scher, Netflix, Abstract, the Art of design, season 1, episode 6, 2017.

– Paula Scher, Exterior for The Public Theatre

The workspace allows for each designer to work together but simultaneously independently.

Paula believes in finding design solutions in a playful and experimental state of mind, sitting at your desk gets you nowhere. This approach to design from start to finish is clearly expressed through her work.

Her first job was at Random House’s children’s book division as a layout artist and eventually she got herself a job at CBS Records and began her career as a graphic designer.

Scher has made history, not only through her revolutionary designs, but due to being the first woman to become a partner at the multi-disciplinary design studio Pentagram in the 1990s. A position she still holds today. She has described Pentagram as a workspace for friends and a community.

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Paula Scher’s work can be seen all over the world and along with this, her multiple award nominations evidently shows that she has left, and continues to leave a big mark on the world of design.

– Paula Scher, Bring in ‘Da Noise Bring in ‘Da Funk, Public Theatre, 1995

Bibliography 10

01 Stephanie Borg

Colours of Malta, YouTube channel (2021). [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuEGwnlUHA Lovin Malta, website (2021). [Online] https://lovinmalta.com/?s=stephanie+borg Stephanie Borg website, (2018). [Online] https://stephanieborg.com/about/ Times of Malta, online newspaper (2021). [Online] https://timesofmalta.com/ #EUropeans: Maltese colours, Council of the EU YouTube channel (2021). [Online] https://www.youtube.com/user/eucouncil

02 Jessica Walsh

Cogley, B. 2019, April 23. Jessica Walsh splits from Stefan Sagmeister to launch her creative agency &Walsh. Dezeen. https:// www.dezeen.com/2019/07/24/jessica-walsh-launches-creative-agency/ Connory, J., 2017. Plotting the Historical Pipeline of Women in Graphic Design. Design History Australia Research Network (DHARN).

Cowan, K. 2021, June 10. &Walsh’s branding for the TED countdown reminds us that time is ticking on the climate emergency.

Creative Boom. https://www.creativeboom.com/news/jessica-walsh-branding-for-ted-countdown/ Dunne, C. 2014, March 6. Sagmeister & Walsh compete in a Gameshow to re-create Adobe’s logo. Fast Company. https://www. fastcompany.com/3027274/sagmeister-walsh-compete-in-a-gameshow-to-recreate-adobes-logo

03 Paula Scher

https://creativechair.org/paula-scher/ https://www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2020/7/16/paula-scher https://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/paula-scher http://www.designishistory.com/1980/paula-scher/ https://jemmaeagleson.github.io/PAULA-SCHER/Essay.html https://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/paula-scher https://www.pentagram.com/about/paula-scher Netflix, Abstract, the art of design, Season 1, episode 6. https://publictheater.org/

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Refereince 12

01 Stephanie Borg

Stephanie’s Borg studio, Malta 2017 [Online] Available at: https://stephanieborg.com/about/ Middle East collection, Omani [Online] Available at: https://stephanieborg.com/product-category/middle-east-collection/ Maltese door collection, Malta, 2020 [Online] Available at: shorturl.at/cwLP4 FERÒ Silk Scarf, wrought iron collection, Malta, 2021 [Online] https://stephanieborg.com/product/fero-100-silk-scarf/ The Tile Pattern by Stephanie borg, Malta, 2021 [Online] https://stephanieborg.com/product-category/tile-pattern-collection/

02 Jessica Walsh

LaFrance, M., 2017. Copyright law in a nutshell. West.

Larsen, J., 2020. Finding Female Recognition.

Liu, J., 2019. An empirical study of transformative use in copyright law. Stan. Tech. L. Rev., 22, p.163

03 Paula Scher

Netflix, Abstract, the art of design, season 1, episode 6, 2017. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/8838 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/189249?artist_id=7070&page=1&sov_referrer=artist https://www.semipermanent.com/stories/interview-paula-scher https://www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2020/7/16/paula-scher

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Practitioner Analysisis is Graphic Design Professional Development RV0019 Tutor Belinda Langlands

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