SW1

SW1

the voice of chelsea creatives°

issue no. 01

summer 2020

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Editor's Note Welcome to the first ever issue of SW1, a magazine commending art and design for a purpose.

This magazine features various art forms all created by students or alumni of Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London) using their creativity as a source to challenge the injustices of today’s world, to inspire change, and to ultimately design for a better tomorrow.

It is often said that as we evolve, we progress, but is this actually leading to a better, fairer and more just society? There is an argument that if growth is egocentric, based on a capitalist vision of the future whereby we are directed as to what we might need or want, we slowly lose capacity to think for ourselves. We have more anti-discrimination legislation and human rights protections than ever before but have the injustices of our past really been addressed and banished to the vaults of our past? The issues society faced 50 years ago, remain. But, in many ways we are in danger of adopting the path of minimum resistance and becoming nonchalant, or even worse are we accepting inequality as a natural consequence of evolution?

However, this is our time fight back, it’s our future after all! SW1 celebrates artists and designers who ask the uncomfortable problems, who broadcast taboo topics and who uncover hidden injustices; artists and designers who promote a better tomorrow by resolving todays obstacles.

I believe that there is an unsaid responsibility within the art and design industry in which creatives should use their skills and status to problem solve the issues of the world and to communicate in a way with society that encourages a change. SW1 aims to revolutionise the industry and inspire people through this method of creativity.

SW1- the voice of chelsea creatives.

Robyn Stevens, Editor °

Previous page: Bond, L. (2020) YCN Shelter [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Editor-in-Chief: Robyn Stevens / Senior Editor: Robyn Stevens / Creative Direction: Robyn Stevens Fashion / Director: Robyn Stevens / Fashion Editor: Robyn Stevens / Casting Director: Robyn Stevens / Art Director: Robyn Stevens Group Head of Content: Robyn Stevens / Digital Editorial Design: Robyn Stevens / Fashion Editor: Robyn Stevens / Managing 6 ° SW1

Editor: Robyn Stevens Digital Content Writer: Robyn Stevens Advertising Coordinator: Robyn Stevens / Marketing Coordinator: Robyn Stevens Production Director: Robyn Stevens / Operations / Manager: Robyn Stevens / Designer: Robyn Stevens °

Left: Bannister, E., Bayley, G., Chen, S., Joulin. N., Seo, A., Stepanyan, G., Vrahimi, S. (2020) Tones Of London [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artists.

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Chelsea Students p. 08- 15: LGBTQ+ Lydia Clarke

p. 42- 47: Female Empowerment Daisy Peters

p. 16- 17: Knitted Lace Punk Garment Sophie Small

p. 48- 55: Voluntary Myopia?

Robyn Stevens

p. 18- 25: YCN- Shelter Lola Bond

p. 56- 63: Tones of London Elizabeth Bannister, Georgia Bayley, Sean Chen, Noa Joulin, Andy Seo, Greta Stepanyan and Sophia Vrahimi

p. 26- 31: Ceramics Puiyee Wong p. 32- 37: Untitled Adriana Marzec p. 38- 41: Imaginations in Isolation Celina Loh

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Lydia Clarke interview by robyn stevens / self portrait by lydia clarke

Lydia Clarke is a second-year student currently studying Graphic Design Communication and has been living in London since 2017. From a young age, Lydia has found herself immersed within the art industry, with a special love for fine art, however following the completion of her foundation ‘Illustration and Printmaking’ (Central Saint Martins) her specialism leaned more towards Graphic Design. To Lydia, Graphic Design seemed like a natural next step- it encompassed what she has discovered in her foundation but also gave her the creative freedom to explore the communication aspect to the industry.

Lydia’s love of colour shines through her illustrations, something that has continued to develop, alongside a new passion she has discovered for photography.

(Clarke, 2020)

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RS: Hi Lydia, how are you today?

LC: Hi Robyn!! I’m good thank you, keeping busy at the mo!

RS: Creating a triptych to celebrate and raise awareness of the LGBTQ+ community is extremely commendable. What made you want to delve into this culture?

LC: Thank you. Well I think that the journey of the LGBTQ+ community is a very inspiring one, and I was initially inspired by the Stonewall exhibition at the Museum of the city of New York. The photos and the stories of the people really blew me away, so I wanted to make something to celebrate this. I also made a visit to the Brooklyn museum which had an exhibition about the rights of LQBTQ+ people, and it was very moving. Although I think that there has been great progress in the equality of LGBTQ+ people, there is still a long way to go – which is something I wanted to draw attention to.

RS: What does the LGBTQ+ community mean to you?

LC: I think that the LGBTQ+ community means a place where equality and acceptance is the most important thing – and it is very uplifting to see a community of people where being yourself is the most essential thing. It is important to me that the world takes people as they are – and this community is a shining example of this.

RS: Talk to me about the decision behind the different mediums, why was it important to you to include both photography and illustration?

LC: Illustration and photography are two massive passions of mine, so I wanted to use these as I think that by combining my design passions with my passion for equality, I was able to create something that really had meaning.

RS: How did you adopt colour within your project as both an aesthetic element as a spring- board to offer a deeper meaning?

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LC: The symbol for the LGBTQ+ community is a rainbow, so this became the main source of inspiration for my colour choices. The rainbow is built up of different colours which have their individual meanings, for example, red means life.

When all of the colours are put together, they represent a diverse community. Because of this, I wanted to use colours as a way to represent and respect the meaning behind the rainbow flag design.

RS: Nowadays the LGBTQ+ community is more accepted/ recognised than ever, why do you think this is?

LC: Even though there is a way to go with the acceptance of the LQBTQ+ community, I think that there has been progress since the Stonewall riots because as a human race, we are beginning to recognise the need for understanding identity and equality, and the oppression of minorities is no longer welcome. The acceptance we see today has only been possible because of the sacrifices of many people before us. We have to be able to look back and consider what has been done, so that people are able to accept, develop and grow.

RS: This being said, the communities' fight for equality still has a long way to go, what do you think is a designer’s role in order to bring about this social change?

LC: Being a designer is a very privileged job if you use that privilege for the right reasons. If you are able to communicate and send a message, it is your duty to draw attention to the right causes. A minority group such as the LGBTQ+ community needs designers to help them find a voice, so their message of acceptance is heard, and the oppression that they face is ameliorated.

RS: Did you find that working in a purposeful manner towards a cause gave you the feeling of fulfilment?

LC: Yes – I think that any project which has a meaning which is bigger than yourself brings a sense of fulfilment. Using my skills as a way to help other people is something that I have always tried to do with my work, and would encourage other designers to do so too.

RS: Design as pure aesthetic vs. design driven by purpose is a big debate within creatives, what do you think is important? What motivates you to do a project?

LC: One of the most important things in design is to consider what you are communicating to the people who will see your work, as well as how it will impact others. Aesthetic is obviously a big consideration in design, but the purpose has to be the key thing. Without a purpose, the rest of the design becomes redundant. One of my biggest motivations in a project is creating something I am passionate about, so I try to keep projects that I do in line with my beliefs and passions.

RS: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

LC: At the moment I am working on creating a fashion blog as I have always loved clothes and fashion – and want to bring some positivity to the negative space of social media, while inspiring others to find ways to express themselves and be themselves. You can find it on my blog https:// lydiamakestuff.wixsite.com/blog on Instagram @lydiawearstuff.As for the future, I’d say watch this space as well as my other Instagram account @lydiamakestuff– I am excited to see where my career will take me, I hope it is one that I will be proud of. °

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'WITHOUT.

A.

PURPOSE. The rest of the design becomes redundant.'

Left /previous p: Clarke, L. (2019) LGBTQ+ [Poster]. Exhibited at Fashion Institute of Technology, 6 December 2019. Courtesy of the artist.

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STUDENT Left and Right: Tumbrok, B. (2020) Knitted Lace Punk Garment. [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

Sophie Small is a 21 year-old female from Wiltshire, now living in London. Currently, Sophie is studying Textile Design at Chelsea and specialises within the knitwear department, which allows her to practise the complex skill and explore the beauty within. Her skills within the use of domestic and industrial knitting machines gives her the option to work with different mediums ranging from fashion to interiors. This suggestively lead to her recent work for designer Julien Macdonald where she assisted in knitted garments for the 2019 JULIEN X GABRIELA SHOW. Presently, Sophie is working on being more sustainable within her work and would encourage any creative to do that too!

(Small, 2020)

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Sophie Small

Within my most recent project, I am focusing on how can adapt my work to a much more sustainably conscious objective. I am forming a platform that revolves around re-using old stock yarns, resulting in new knitwear pieces. I have been approaching the style of punk within my work, replicating a link between the aesthetic punk brought with rebellion in comparison to the current environmental movement group, ‘extinction rebellion’. I think being sustainable within your practice and environmentally conscious of what you produce within your work is a major factor all creatives within the arts should be doing, and that’s why I am following it through within this project, with the idea of making something new from something old.

The garment within the project I am sharing with you is made from four old reels of electric blue over-locker thread, which I have found is a superior alternative to yarn, creating a much more delicate texture and drape. The style of the knitting, within this garment, is a combination of lacing and laddering. The garment is made from four large panels, including the sleeve, which were shaped statement by sophie small

and constructed on my domestic knitting machine. I found making this garment quite testing at times, as due to the Covid-19 situation, I had to fit and construct the piece to my own body, because I have no fit model or mannequin.

I am having to work from home and have no access to studios, and I am making pieces by hand or on my own domestic knitting machine.

Photos of the garment include myself, as it was made by using my own measurements; and with the help of my flatmate, was shot in our living room using my camera and a fish-eye lens. °

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Lola Bond

interview by robyn stevens / self portrait by lola bond

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Lola Bond is a Graphic Design Communication student at Chelsea currently in her second year. Whilst Lola has always had a creative side to her, her choice of study was a random decision used to replace her current place doing English Literature.

Since then, she has developed into an amazing designer, that has a special love for photography, fashion and travelling (as well as partying!). Lola finds inspiration from what’s around her and if stuck for ideas often finds herself exploring new places or going on walks. In Covid-19 situation, you will either find her on instagram (@_lolabnd) documenting her life and socialising with others, or eating cheese and drinking wine.

(Bond, 2020)

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Above: Bond, L. (2020) YCN Shelter [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

RS: Hi Lola, how are you today?

LB: Hey! I'm great thanks, I’ve got that Friday feeeelin RS: Your recent live brief with Shelter attempts combat discrimination people may face with their living arrangements and challenge society’s mindset. What made you want to explore this topic?

LB: I think I was drawn to this topic because I love focusing my work on real life and I thought the message behind the brief was important and the social housing situation was also something I didn’t know much about myself so I saw it as an opportunity to learn and understand more about it, as well as an opportunity to educate others.

RS: Why do you think that there is this negative stereotype on social housing?

LB: Personally I think it’s due to a lack of public knowledge, people may have a heard a couple of negative stories associated with it and then generalised them with social housing as a whole.

We aren’t taught about all the possible living options and I think that’s a real shame as social housing is a brilliant option which helps so many people, it’s far more of a positive situation than negative.

RS: What does ‘home’ mean to you?

LB: To me I think home is comfort and that feeling of belonging.

RS: Why did you choose to visit Hammersmith’s social housing elderly community? How did this help to shape your project?

LB: Initially I was stuck with my project so I emailed different social housing communities to try and gain more insight on the situation.

The lovely ladies who were part of an elderly community on Hammersmith estate got back to me and invited me along to their coffee and cake morning for a chat and it was the perfect opportunity! I visited them a few times and when I was there I was taken back by how much of a tight knit community they were. I loved listening SW1 ° 21

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'I LOVE FOCUSIN WORK RK ON R

THE MESSAGE BEHIND BRIEF WA 22 ° SW1

NG MY REAL LIFE AND I THOUGHT

D THE WAS IMPORTANT' SW1 ° 23

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Above: Bond, L. (2020) YCN Shelter [Photograph]. 11.69 x 16.53 in. Courtesy of the artist.

to all their memories from growing up on the estate and that’s what I ended up basing my project on, I felt that real life perspectives on the situation were the most important thing to communicate through my work as it shows the reality in a positive light.

RS: What was your perspective on social housing going into the project? And did this alter throughout?

LB: To be honest I didn’t really have much of a clue about what it was! I had basic knowledge but had no idea of the benefits it could bring.

My perspective defi nitely changed throughout, I spoke to so many people who had benefited from social housing, and now I really can’t see why the government aren’t investing in it more!

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RS: Did you fi nd that your work ethic differed creating a project where purpose took priority?

LB: For sure, I spent much more time researching and gathering information and different insights, I thought it was so important to focus on capturing that sense of reality to communicate a message instead of basing it on facts. I felt getting the message across through people’s experiences instead of relying on visuals was important.

RS: Why do you think it is important for designers to use their creativity to tackle societal issues?

LB: Because the public love anything that looks

great, the majority of people won’t want to read pages and pages of information on topics such as societal issues therefore we should use this to our advantage! It’s kind of like a super power, If we can design a piece of work that looks great and educates/informs people then that’s a win win situation, the people are going to listen and want to engage and get involved with whatever it is.

RS: As someone studying Graphic Design Communication, what would you say is the ratio of importance between design and communication? Do you think you can have one without the other?

engagement, and design without communication may look nice but doesn’t really serve a purpose.

As a designer I feel the whole point is to design for a purpose – whatever that may be, and that defi nitely involves equal amounts of design and communication.

RS: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

LB: To carry on learning and trying to develop as a designer! Hopefully some internships and work experience too, but I guess it all depends on when life goes back to normal again! °

LB: I would say that the two are pretty important to each other. Communication without design will probably lack public SW1 ° 25

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Puiyee Wong Puiyee Wong is a third year student currently studying Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts. She is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice ranges from photography, video, writing, performance and sculpture. During her studies she began exploring the questions and challenges between being both a first generation British born Chinese and an artist within an art institution in London. She does not look to find a concrete answer to these questions, but rather to use this as a way to open up more questions that might otherwise be overlooked.

(Wong, 2020)

statement / self portrait by puiyee wong

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Above/ previous page: Wong. P (2017) Untitled [Ceramic] Courtesy of the artist.

'Untitled - During my foundation course I started to question the idea of 'home'. Rather than referring to a physical home, but to somewhere one feels they belong. This project stemmed from a question I was asked- if I felt I has assimilated.

As a first generation British born Chinese who had grown up in Greater London, the question baffled me at first. When I spoke about retaining aspects of my Chinese culture alongside British culture, it was assumed by some that meant I hadn't assimilated. As though I had to be either or. In making the ceramic pieces, the physical forms were not based off anything particular, the form was made spontaneously. But before I started shaping the pieces from clay, I had asked people on my course, and people outside my course to write one sentence on what they defined as 'home'. I then slightly charred each note, leaving behind words that no longer linked together. Taking these notes, I placed some inside the clay, so when placed into the kiln, it would be permanently fixed inside once fired, unless deliberately broken, even so, the words on the notes would only exist as ash. Is a place considered home simply because one's ethnicity and or nationality has tied them to it?' ° (Wong, 2020)

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self portrait adriana marzec

Adriana is a third year Fine Art student studying at Chelsea College of Arts. Through her 3 years of study, she has experimented with various mediums to create conceptual work and loves Fine Art because of this freedom and ability to create it has given her.

Since moving from Poland to London at the age of 7, Adriana has drawn on real life experiences to create work that is not only personal and tells her story but also work that has deeper meaning. Whilst she is attracted to typography, her interests also lie within editorial photography, beauty and fashion. In the future she can see herself working in a creative environment, perhaps at a gallery or museum, in which she is surrounded with other creatives and able to explore different environments and spaces to truly express herself through her art.

(Marzec, 2020)

Adriana Marzec

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statement by adriana marzec

In this project I looked at combing text and textiles together. The text was a combination of positive and negative memories about my dad and his death. I like to put manual labour into my work, especially when working with textiles and text. The labour that goes into producing my work often reflects and highlights the importance of the text I use. For this project I used a letter stencil and drew every letter out by hand. I think this process is important for me as it gives me time to process my thoughts and emotions to the text that are often traumatic. It’s a way to ‘get things out’ and there’s something therapeutic about the repetitive process.

Enough though I choose to use text that is extremely personal I’m not 100% comfortable with displaying it to an audience. Using the pronoun “he” to describe my dad gave me the privacy I needed to produce this work.

In some sense “he” could have been an imaginary character to the people that saw these pieces and it was my choice if I wanted to reveal who “he” was or not. Not revealing the identity of this person created space for the audience to create their own version of the character described in the text. For the third text piece in this project I wanted to do something repetitive to reflect my emotions to do with the process of grieving and death. This time I repeated the words “he drowned” on a roll of paper, still using

the letter stencil. I worked on this piece for about a week, just kept repeating the same words.

During this time a deadline was approaching for an end of term show in my second year. I had to think about how and where I want to display my work for the show.

However, as I mentioned before I was not 100% comfortable with displaying this personal text to an audience. One day before the show I spoke to my tutor about different ways of displaying the text pieces. We came up with the idea of splitting the text into individual sentences and make them into labels for the alcohol that was going to be given out during the show from our bar.

Handing out the text wrapped around the cans and bottles of alcohol was also very significant to the text and my dad’s death as it involved alcohol.

The labels were wrapped individually as the bar workers handed them to whoever asked for a beer in a glass bottle and the paper labels with repeated text were wrapped around the cans of beer. The audience now had a choice if they wanted to keep the labels or throw them anyway.

No instructions were given to the audience.

In this show I chose to exhibit an embroidery piece too. This has the words “under the influence of alcohol” embroidered on to a piece of fabric. It served as like a matt for the bar. However, during the night someone used it as a mop to wipe alcohol off the floor and it was soaking wet. That was interesting. °

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Above and all other instances of this article: Marzec, A. (2018) Untitled [Canvas]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Celina Loh Celina Loh is a postgraduate student currently pursuing MA Curating and Collections at Chelsea, and has been curating exhibitions across the UK and in Malaysia. Her main curatorial interests lie in improving viewers’ engagement through various pedagogies and curatorial frameworks, as well as, promoting artists who are underrepresented or marginalised. She is highly concerned with the subject of publics in the art context, and is writing her research paper on the discrepancy between claims made around addressing broader publics and the realities of target audiences in curatorial practice.

(Loh, 2020)

Previous Page: Loh, C. (2020) Imaginations In Isolation [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Above: Loh, C. (2020) Imaginations In Isolation [Poster]. Courtesy of the artist.

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statement by celina loh

'Imaginations in Isolation focuses on developing a conversation of issues regarding the public sphere. The exhibition features work that derives from the theme of imagination, submitted from people from all walks of life, not solely artists. It takes the form of an online and analogue exhibition when cultural institutions are forced to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, many people from various backgrounds have taken up art projects whether for work, boredom or for fun. With this, art seems to be a catalyst for everyone to unite despite the distance among us. Through the combination of the online and analogue, it aims to raise questions about the future and accessibility - what we have now and what is neglected. Simultaneously, it endeavours to bring exhibitions out of the institutional context and into domestic spaces, where the home transforms itself to a gallery space and back again.

Imaginations in Isolation is an exhibition which was curated during the lock-down, focusing on developing a conversation of issues regarding the public sphere. As a curator who pursues to improving viewers’ engagement, I quickly realised how art accessibility has been compromised due to the health crisis and lockdown measures imposed; from disabled people being deprived of the accessibilities offered at cultural institutions, to some communities having difficulties being present at the various events on the digital platform - even if we tell ourselves that it is convenient and easily attainable. Simultaneously however, I was witnessing people - even those who don’t normally engage with art - starting art projects at home and wanted to explore if art could be a catalyst to unite us all when it seemed to be doing so.

One afternoon when I was chatting to my boyfriend, Scott, we ended up discussing about how we all use our imaginations but never really thought of it as a tangible thing.

And if it was, how would it look like? Would it be our personalities, how we view imagination to be...? From this, I then thought about the prospects of it becoming an exhibition, but I didn’t want to merely display work online.

I wanted it to raise questions about what and who are neglected, as well as, how different we

have to experience art today.

In 2017, I co-curated a home exhibition ‘Home is Where the Art is pt.2’ as part of Up North Arts collective, which focused on the condition of space and ownership. The home transforms itself from a living room, to gallery space and back again, settling in a midpoint where artworks and architecture collide.

Ideas of homeliness are challenged by the art object, following the conventions of contemporary craft. It featured experimental works that are nestled in between objects of our daily lives, highlighting how we experience artwork differently in a domestic context. That project made me realise that we can create a museum or gallery every day - after all, cultural institutions are a daily of intervention.

At the start of lock-down, this seemed fitting because existing curatorial methods had to be reconfigured. Inspired by mail art and Seth Siegelaub’s Xerox Book, where he dematerialised the art form as an exhibition space, I settled on the concept of the analogue mail exhibition as a distribution method. From this and the conversation with Scott, I then initiated an open call, seeking for submissions from everyone related to the theme of imagination. I received artworks from engineers, mums and artists among other occupations. With these, I formulated my online exhibition and analogue version. The latter is limited to 50 copies, handmade by me with basic materials found at home including additional costs, and are sold for £10 each with all proceeds to Brixton Soup Kitchen. The combination of online-analogue, the process of producing them, alongside where the art came from and where it then contributed eventually, are all significant in the objective to develop a conversation of concerns regarding the public sphere.

It is cyclical, if you think about it.

Getting art from the people, collating then bringing it to people’s home and contributing it back to the marginalised community at times of trouble. Is art the catalyst for us to unite at this precarious phase? I’m not sure but to me so far, art is definitely a stimulus able to spark conversations, steadily remodelling the system that could hopefully unite us all one day.' °

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Daisy Peters self portrait by daisy peters

Daisy is a 23 year-old, living in London and is currently studying Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea. She loves print, typography and basically anything pink.

Daisy’s is an advocate for women’s’ rights and throughout her work, she often uses typographic pieces, print- work and illustration to promote the importance of sex education and self-love.

(Peters, 2020)

Next Page- Top Left: Peters, D. (2020) Masturbating Woman Letter M [Typography] Courtesy of the artist., Bottom Left: Peters, D. (2020) Orange Vulva [Illustration] Courtesy of the artist., Right: Peters, D. (2020) Vulva Print [Print] Courtesy of the artist.

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statement by daisy petetrs

'Through my design I address the taboos that have silenced women and diminished their experiences.

I aim to raise awareness of the injustice, the mutilation, and the mistreating of women.

For me, sex education in school consisted of periods and preventing pregnancy. I learnt more about boys’ erections & wet dreams than I did about my own anatomy. Not only was I never taught all the correct names for my own anatomy, but I wasn’t told that girls can and should experience pleasure too.

Vaginas are incredible, not only are they capable of birthing whole new people, but women also have the equivalent of wet dreams and erections. Sure, each girl and woman have different and deeply personal relationship with her vulva. However, what is common is that she exists in a society that discourages her from talking about it and accessing the correct information, she exists in a society where misinformation about the vulva is rife, where womens sexuality is discouraged and shamed. A lot of importance is put on procreation; thus a lot of sex education is about penis-in-vagina sex, treating the vagina as a sort of receptacle. This focus on the male orgasm makes us grow-up believing that male sexuality is more important, more powerful and considerably more dominant than female sexuality. There is little talk of masturbation, THE FEMALE ORGASM, fertility, miscarriages, menopause, sexuality, or LGBTQ+ relationships in school.

I want to help normalise the conversation about sexual health, I want to encourage women to talk more openly about sex, their pleasure and their pain. After all, at the core of feminism is educating women about their bodies.' °

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Left: Peters. D (2020) Work Hard Play Hard [Typography] Courtesy of the artist.

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Left: Peters, D. (2020) Pink Abstract Vulva [Painting] Courtesy of the artist.

Above: Peters, D. (2020) Our bodies Our choice [Print] Courtesy of the artist.

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Anyone can design. But not everyone can be a designer. The role and responsibility of a designer highlights social injustices bringing the issues of the world to the forefront of public debate; ‘an artist must be an activist’, Lewis (2020). However, I commence with a question: is the damage from corporate giants, intended or unintended, truly invisible from us as a society, or do we just choose to ignore it? Are we genuinely ignorant to the harm from modern capitalist social injustices, or are we too comfortable to ask the difficult questions? If you don’t ask or look too closely you don’t know, thus occupying a position of ‘voluntary myopia’? What is the role of design in this?

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article by robyn stevens

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This essay examines the role that design, and designers can have in both material and visual culture. In the same way an optometrist seeks to eliminate impaired vision through a combination of corrective lenses to enable 20:20 vision, so too can designers. By using their knowledge and expertise, they are able to bring into focus the hidden consequences of unscrupulous corporate actions. Essentially adopting and redressing a voluntarily myopia.

I propose to explore this topic through previous editorial project based on the Yes Men. Through design the Yes Men attempt to redress social injustices in a fun but serious manner, a tactic that arguably leads to success (DeLaure and Fink, 2017, p. 419). ‘Make someone who disagrees with you laugh then you have a hook inside their brain and once you’re in there you might just be able to make them change their mind’, Guerrilla Girls (no date, 03:10). This is an approach I wanted to mirror in creative decisions in this project, such as depicting women as the Yes Men. By approaching the editorial with curiosity, I became aware of arising key themes and developed them, consequently expanding my thinking. Furthermore, I have educated myself on the skilfulness designers have in combating voluntarily myopia. I became so obsessed with the problems surrounding big companies, their power and disregard for their negative impact on society. Researching designer’s responsibilities, I discovered the concepts of cultural jamming, subvertising and activist design, which I will critically analyse. These words can be used interchangeably due to the similarities of the phenomena, however each example explored here uses different strategies and methods of intervention to break this voluntarily myopia.

Thus, for clarity in this essay the terms are defined separately.

Culture Jamming is a term established in 1984

by Naomi Klein (2010, p. 281). It provokes critical reflection on society, raising awareness of issues surrounding consumerism. Disregarding copyright and ownership laws, jammers experiment with art forms to be unambiguously confrontational (DeLaure and Fink, 2017, p. xv).

Culture Jammers’ nonchalant outlook on copyright laws is manifested in the Yes Men’s 50 ° SW1

identity correction ploy. Founded by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, the Yes Men is an evolving group of culture jammers formed following the global shift in politics after 9/11 (DeLaure and Fink, 2017, p. 418). The group reflects similar morals to Robin Hood, that power should not co-exist with privilege.

However, rather than stealing from the rich to give to the poor, they instead tackle social injustice, targeting companies that appear overly mercenary (The Yes Men, no date).

Consequently, they adopt pseudonyms as part of their ‘identity correction’ scheme (Bierut, 2007, p. 85), and illegally mimic the persona of big corporations.

The Dow Chemical Corporation (DCC) hoax could be considered their most recognisable cultural jamming (DeLaure and Fink, (2017, p. 420). 20 years after the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, DCC still emphatically denied any responsibility, refused to help clean up the city and offered little compensation for the 28,500 killed or affected (Bierut, 2007, p. 84). Prior to the 20th anniversary of Bhopal, the Yes Men created a mirror DCC website and adopted false identities as current employees. The copy was so realistic, resulting in an interview invitation from the BBC, where they spoke about DCC’s desire to rectify the injustice and apologised for the delay to admit to their misconduct (Resource Based Economy, 2013). Through fooling the media, it could be argued the Yes Men provided the opportunity to readdress the truth hidden behind the corporate greed. This led to extensive publicity and forced DCC to respond. Arguably,

by DCC by ignoring their responsibility, it put a strain on their trustworthiness, resulting in greater losses. Within 22 minutes of the interview, DCC consequently saw a $2 million decrease in their stock prices (Resource Based Economy, 2013). This serves as warning to others and could shock start other companies into working towards a better world rather than a better bank account. In the modern capitalistic society, we live in, we are willingly handing over power and control to corporations (Hardt and Negri, 2000, pp. 328- 329) hence allowing their desired expansion. Until we recognise and alter our actions, the Yes Men’s endeavours will continue to be necessary to break through voluntarily myopia. Here the Yes Men’s

cultural jamming publicises a hidden problem, a technique that compels our community to be less naïve and ask the awkward questions.

The Guerrilla Girls are another group of culture jammer’s that are equally important in breaking our voluntary myopia. They tackle injustices, ignore ownership laws, and prompt self-reflection on our society. With an artistic background and a strong feminist stance, the Guerrilla Girls created their own unique visual language (Guerrilla Girls, 2020). Through this, they symbiotically weld problems within the art world with global troubles through ‘more creative complaining!! More interventions!!

More resistance!!... reinventing the ‘F’ word: feminism’, Guerrilla Girls (2020). It could be argued the fame and notoriety they receive is a consequence of the anonymity from the gorilla masks they wear (The Late Show with Stephan Colbert, 2016, 03:05). By keeping their identities unknown, a sense of mystery is formed; a distinctive and compelling aspect that grabs people’s attention. This in itself opens up an opportunity to speculate on who they are and opens an opportunity to get involved with culture jamming, without incriminating themselves.

Therefore, the Guerrilla Girls ‘positively call a community, or a network of collaborators, into being’, DeLaure and Fink (2017 p. 17).

Furthermore, this is achieved without diverting from their confrontational actions and focuses on the issue rather than the individual. As a Graphic Design Communication student, we are constantly told about the significance of curating and developing our identity in order for our work to be recognised and to be successful, a phrase that ultimately contradicts the tactics of the Guerrilla Girls. Thus, if I continue working towards my identity in an egocentric manner, is there a risk of adopting a voluntarily myopia myself?

2015 marked the 30th anniversary of the Guerrilla Girls, a celebratory moment yet a lack of progress. Their interventions needed to continue. In collaboration with Illuminator Art Collective, they gallery hopped throughout New York in attempts to highlight money issues throughout the art world. Without authorisation they projected on external walls ‘Dear art collector, we completely get collecting art is so expensive, we totally understand why you

can’t afford to pay all your employees a living wage #illuminator99’ (Guerrilla Girls, 2015, 02:34). The effectiveness of this approach creates an immediate emotional connection with art lovers. By accentuating the truth behind art consumerism, the Guerrilla Girls eliminate a potential of denialism and voluntarily myopia; you can’t ignore the truth when its right there in front of you. By highlighting the obscene cost of artwork, they make a political statement regarding how the art world is predominately run by the wealthy and powerful. Additionally, they reiterate how this results in the inability to pay all their staff the living wage. Through the inequality of women in the art world, it could be assumed the majority of these underpaid roles are filled by women. Therefore, rather than treating the injustice of wealth and feminism separately, both are cleverly intertwined and tackled as one. However, to what extent can the Guerrilla Girls call this a success if the message only communicates to one category of people?

Whilst the need to connect with art lovers is vital, there is no guarantee the people viewing the projection are on the board of said galleries. The limitation of this approach means that whilst the Guerrilla Girls effectively begin to uncover the problematic world we live in, the people who are becoming aware are not necessarily the people who are in any position to repair the system.

After 30 years of culture jamming the Guerrilla Girls continue to raise the same issues with the same tactics. Could this be the reason as to why the success is minimal? Or is it because gallery boards are just another corporation where greed takes priority? ‘You might not see things yet on the surface, but underground, it’s already on fire’, Klein (2010, no page number).

Culture jammers creation of a new visual language is however not synonymous with fixing our voluntarily myopia. Subvertising is a tool of cultural jamming that focuses primarily on the combination of advertising with subversion, a technique that plays on a known and familiar existing language. Through interference subverts cunningly alter and deface advertisements to amend the message. Whilst subvertising is unbounded, like culture jamming, there is strong focus on advertising messages that stimulate negative behaviour revolving around corporate SW1 ° 51

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greed and technological control (Klein, 2010, pp.

284- 285).

Adbusters is a magazine extensively acknowledged and applauded for their humorous and thought-provoking subvertising through the use of the aforementioned techniques. They challenge corporations and individuals who use power as a means to exploit the vulnerable and desires 'to change the way we think about advertising’, Bennett, Pickerel and Jorgensen (2002, no page number). Established and launched by Kalle Lasn, Adbusters ‘tearing a hole in the detached professional façade of the ad industry’, Armstrong (2009, p. 97) has successfully provided an editorial forum that experiments with language within advertising.

In endeavours to raise awareness and break free from voluntary myopia Adbusters provide ‘an “environmental column, advertising satire, and articles with provocative titles”’, Bennett, Pickerel and Jorgensen (2002, no page number).

Whilst Adbusters is widely recognised for their approach to subvertising, there doesn’t appear to be a singular example they are notorious with. Indeed, the fulcrum of their work is situated around the deceit, problems and selfishness of consumerism. Their composition ‘Corporate America Flag’ not only publicly shames America’s corporations for their greed, desire and successes in taking over the country, but also indignities American citizens for allowing, nay giving these companies the power in which to do so. In the same way adverts seek to create an ideology, so too does the American Flag which becomes a symbol and a de-facto ‘advert’ for America. Whilst the original stars of the flag are used to represent the 50 American States and their independence, Adbusters replacement with 30 logos of big corporations, challenges America’s thinking (Campbell, 2001). Can we truly be independent if we are all dominated by the same 30 companies?

Adbusters confronts the relationship America has between big businesses, the government and the American Dream within this form of subvertising. ‘Dreams by definition are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream... what does it mean when a whole culture dreams the same dream?’, May (2003). Through altering and

defacing the flag, Adbusters subvert an entity that is substantial to America’s history, present and future. Arguably, it is representational to America’s identity and therefore suggestively creates a personal attack on the very essence of what it means to be American. The progression of such an emotional ambush would undoubtably cause an uproar within the culture leading to a succession of exposure, hence reaching an immense audience.

However, in trying to champion modern relevance in society and continue to expand its audience, Adbusters are currently attempting to get airtime under the Canadian Broadcasting Act (Ewert, 2008). The rise of technology in today’s culture means people are increasingly entuned to digital advertising and marketing.

Despondently, resulting in a negative correlation on the magazine industry ( Johnson, 2019). The underlying problems with these statistics could suggest that more people are inclined to buy into these false pretences from advertising; ‘we think we need those things because we’ve been told we need those things, we’ve been told we need those things by our society’, Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things (2016, 66:06). Adbusters attempt for airtime will mean that within the 3,000 commercial messages people receive daily (May, 2003), 1 of those will subvert and ‘clean up the toxic areas of our mental environment’, Adbusters (2020). Whilst society remains in a voluntarily myopia, the world is unaware of the capitalist ravenousness and technological advancements constantly evolving. Meaning companies such as Adbusters are put in difficult positions; whether to stick to their ethics or their lower standards thus becoming part of the technology-based world they once scorned. Whilst their subverts continue to ridicule and mock, the platform in which they aim to do so goes against the company’s principles. How can they promote an alternative reality where we disallow corporations, technology, and wealth to control us when paradoxically, yet employ the capitalist machine to communicate their ideals? Through Adbusters attempts to place hidden injustices to the centre stage of the public, there is a danger of contradicting themselves and becoming another segment within our voluntarily myopic world.

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Whilst subvertising is considered a component of culture jamming, they both knit together alongside various other forms to create a design activist movement. Activist designing is someone who uses their creativity to deliver their activism; highlighting disputes, encouraging change and promoting a better world (Fox et al., 2020, p. 9).

‘Banksy’s art dares to answer back’, DeLaure and Fink (2017, p. 219). As previously mentioned, an activist designer essentially uses their societal position for the common good. Banksy’s diverse talents opens up a variety of different mediums which are available to deliver his activism, however his stencil and graffiti compositions could be considered as his artistic identity.

Through the creation of purposeful work, Banksy urges self-reflection on themselves, society and the consequences that follow by addressing obvious injustices and issues that people choose to ignore. Fundamentally, Banksy uses his initiative to critically call for a change and his disregard to laws and opinions, he encourages others to get creative and do the same (DeLaure and Fink, 2017, pp. 219, 223). ‘Think from 54 ° SW1

outside the box, collapse the box and take a fucking sharp knife to it’, Banksy (2006, p. 237).

‘Girl with Balloon’, 2002, is not only representational to Banksy himself, but is famously symbolic of political protests all over the world. Examples of this include the 2014 Syrian Civil War and the building of the Israel-Palestine segregation barrier (DW, 2019).

Originally, this piece was curated in Waterloo London as a form of spray- painted graffiti, until the print version in 2004. The print of the little girl reaching out for the red heart balloon that has been blown by the wind and is consequently out of reach (My Art Broker, no date) suggestively indicates loss and provokes the feeling of sadness.

Subsequently, Banksy embraces and forms a language that is relative, personal and has an emotional connection to everyone. The red heart visual of a balloon metamorphosises into something different for depending on the personthe loss of love, hope, happiness ect. However, when looking closely and analysing, subtle differences begin to appear. Adjacent to the original was the quotation ‘there is always hope’, My Art Broker (no date), something which was

Above and all other instances in this article: Stevens, R. (2020) Just Say Yes [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

not included in the print version; a small phrase that ultimately changes the whole meaning of the work. It could be suggested that even though Banksy’s initial piece demonstrates the feeling of loss and sadness, on critical reflection he instead inadvertently encourages deliberation on the reasons behind the loss and what caused such sadness. Banksy could be signifying that if the girl’s actions were different, if she held the balloon tighter or tied it around her wrist then there could have been a different outcome, one where hope was not lost. A metaphor of how we choose to think and act as a society. Thus, turning hindsight into foresight. Interestingly, the absence of the phrase in the print version could signify that the hope for change and a better future he once promoted, also served as a warning which as a society we choose to ignore thus rendering hope as a fading phenomenon.

Girl with Balloon went to auction in 2018 at Sotheby’s, following its first-place position in the 2017 UK Art Poll. Moments after it was sold for £860,000, the piece started to fall from the frame and shred. However, this was no accident and in fact was mechanised into the framework by Banksy with the intention of shredding the whole composition after the purchase was complete, an act which unfortunately didn’t quite go to plan (Banksy, 2019, no page number). Even though the piece didn’t completely shred and still allowed for the sale to go ahead, the intention behind could arguably be seen as Banksy’s destroyed the final remanence he had for hope on society; all hope is gone. This subtle activism could be a statement representing society’s acknowledgement of our unjust world and the laissez- faire attitude we have wrongly adopted. Banksy doesn’t need to scream his activism from the roof, because deep down society has allowed for such injustices and are very aware of the power they voluntarily concede. From this it becomes clear that society has and will undeniably remain afflicted by voluntarily myopia.

or whether the focus should lie within the issues we are unaware of. However, I have come to understand there is no single way of design, it is more complex. Whilst my original editorial exclusively focused on the Yes Men, I soon acknowledged they are but one part of an art activist movement incorporating culture jamming and subvertising. Each may have differences, however, they can all be intertwined together for a common aim; to challenge our society. All three concepts focus on creativity and the power this holds by tapping into people’s imagination in a way that is not only clever but also seeks to provoke an emotion and encourage a different mindset.

Whilst discovering this huge movement of design, I re- examined my visuals within my editorial. My layout decision mirrors a case study to act as a warning to Vale S.A for their recent Brazil Dam Disaster, which is a form of cultural jamming. Also, the photographic decision where two women are presented as powerful individuals to represent the Yes Men explores feminism, women in a man’s world, a problem the Guerrilla Girls pursue. Therefore, unknowingly I took on this duty, using my design skills and knowledge to intuitively turn an essay that focuses on one thing, as a springboard to uncover other injustices. All forms of the movement endeavour a change, and if we choose to ignore the messages given to us by a designer and continue to live our lives in the same manner, then we will always be haunted by a voluntary myopia. > p. 114

In conclusion, this assignment set out to explore the role designers have in illuminating injustices and challenging the status quo. This assignment sought to discover the ‘correct’ way in which to design; whether there should be a focus on societal problems that we choose to overlook SW1 ° 55

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Tones Of London Tones Of London is a collaborative short film by Elizabeth Bannister, Georgia Bayley, Sean Chen, Noa Joulin, Andy Seo, Greta Stepanyan and Sophia Vrahimi.

Noise is a part of London. London's sound is succinct and belongs to the city.

But what if you can't hear that unique sound? How different would London feel?

We have spent time with Madeline and Vidhu, two deaf students in London..

After becoming aware of how overwhelming and tiring their everyday experiences are, we aim to create a film that reflects the heightened sense they rely upon as well as the emotions they experience. We also hope to capture the joy and reward in their day, of finding solitude with those who love and understand them.

Watch the film via vimeo: vimeo.com/377024122 (Tones of London, 2019)

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interview by robyn stevens

RS: Hi everyone, how are you all today?

Therefore, does the buzz of London translates without the ability to hear?

All: Good RS: In your overview you speak about London’s noise, a noise that belongs to the city. How would you describe the London noise?

EB: Yes. I can just imagine say you’re in Brick Lane and are sat there covering your ears from the noise you can still see how amazing it all is.

It all just kind of flows. Likewise, if you close your eyes and you hear it all you would know you were in London.

NJ: Constant EB: Chaotic GS: Always in the background, it’s always there NJ: Its own silence, you know what I mean? It’s so present we don’t even know it is here anymore because we are too used to it RS: What made you want to explore this topic of being deaf?

SC: We originally had three ideas actually, but I think we all agreed that this might be the most interesting one. We were able to have immediate access to Madeline and Vidhu so we could contact them straight away. I originally met these two girls in my hockey training, and they were down to collaborate with us on this project and allowed us to interview and record them which made things quite easy.

GS: How it started was we wanted to explore London through the centres because it wasn’t something that was done a lot and we thought doing it through central experiences would allow us to really exaggerate stuff really show the emotional relations to those experiences and then Sean mentioned that he knew two deaf girls on his hockey team.

SC: They stood out to me because they were able to play hockey without pretty much being able to hear and they fully just relied on their vision and because of that even though they didn’t play much hockey they were so much better awareness wise compared to normal players who could hear fine. So, I found that quite interesting.

RS: Do you think the noise of London is associated to the buzz of London?

SC: I remember Madeline and Vidhu saying how sometimes when they have their hearing aids turned on if it gets too much they just turn it off and they just hear complete silence and they thought that was quite special about being deaf.

RS: What made you decide to stick to a neutral colour pallet? Did you find this was based predominately on aesthetics or purpose?

SV: We wanted to show a sense of vulnerability on their behalf and kind of purity, so we wanted them to look quite muted. We didn’t want it to seem too colourful because I guess their experience of London isn’t bad, but it wasn’t exactly ecstatic it was a tiring situation. So, in a sense those colours can reflect the fact that they felt almost quite drained by their days having to constantly be alert in their different senses and even when they’re on the trains they couldn’t rely on the sound of the train or the alert saying they were at certain stations, they constantly have to be awake and so they got very tired and we translated that through the muted colour palate.

NJ: I think also we were presenting them in their home, and it was like a window to a very personal moment and almost like an insight on how they felt. Something they don’t usually share, and I think the naked palate kind of like reflects almost being naked in front of someone this sense of vulnerability a bit like Sophia said.

I think it’s both of what you said it was choice but it kind of came along and we decided to follow it and really work with it.

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that was a really good style to adapt for our film.

Like Noa said it helped the sense of being naked a kind of increased sensitivity. We wanted to show how sensitive they were to sound and a way to communicate that was through the tones and the palette and also, we also didn’t want it to be like a documentary GS: Yeah, we wanted that kind of art directed style NJ: It also focussed it on the message, what’s happening on the screen rather than the props.

It was more suggestive. It wasn’t too colourful that took away from what we were trying to show.

RS: In both the production phase and the final film, how did you manage to strike the perfect balance between being curious and intrigued but also being quite sensitive?

GS: We started with interviewing Madeline and Vidhu and that helped a lot to kind of understand the tone that we should go for in the film and Elizabeth which really helped.

At points had to be really careful with the questions asked because we didn’t want to come across as if we were being ignorant or we’re using them as a topic for the sake of it. We were genuinely interested in expressing their story.

NJ: One thing also in the second part of the movie when you go back in the room there’s subtitles where they speak but there’s no hand movements. That’s because in their interview they said that people that aren’t deaf but act the sign language is offensive to them. So, things like that impacted on how we did the movie. I think that a lot of it as Greta said came from their interview but also, I think it was a bit of a personal thing as well I don’t know about you guys. I think it was also a lot of imagination of how it would turn out. It’s really hard to do something when you’ve never experienced it so, you listen and then you try your best and you really hope it works.

EB: Yeah so, I think a lot of what my sister has said to me in the past helped so that when we 58 ° SW1

were making the film, I know I said a few times oh maybe we should do this. I think it was very much if one of us felt maybe that’s not right we would say something because we had to think about everything we did really.

SV: Elizabeth said at one point I think we were trying to edit, or we were putting together you don’t want to make it look too clinical or give the impression that they’re ill because they’re not. From the perspective of someone who doesn’t know somebody personally that is deaf it was really good to have Elizabeth who could help from her personal experiences. Effectively what Noah said we interviewed them, and the entire story line was based on what they said. They supported each other and when one of them felt a certain way, the other one comforted them.

But for us making a film about them being there for one another you’re not really knowing if you’re doing it right so it’s nice to know that you’ve got someone who’s able and confident enough to put that point forward. I think we were in a group that’s quite confident in expressing their thoughts about different things so that definitely helped as well. It helped push forward, we communicated. I think that was what helped, no one was trying to stylise it or make it too much like a documentary there was a balance between what we trying to get at.

RS: As you are all Graphic Design Communication students, did you find the communication aspect to be more difficult or challenging when collaborating with two deaf people?

NJ: I think, I don’t know about you guys, my brother and I worked on the music and that was extremely hard to try to have something you hear when it’s about someone who doesn’t.

So I think that personally this was extremely challenging because without the music you know there’s like a dancing session and stuff like that for the viewer it wouldn’t have been as impactful and that what it’s about. It’s was like shall we put in music, is it right? I think that was the most challenging part.

GB: It was kind of hard to understand where the line would be for that definitely.

Left and all instances in this artcile: Bannister, E., Bayley, G., Chen, S., Joulin. N., Seo, A., Stepanyan, G., and Vrahimi, S. (2020) Tones Of London [Photograph]. Courtesy of the artists.

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EB: Yeah I think also when we actually interviewing them I remember it being like Greta said, it was really weird, and sometimes hard talking to them because we didn’t want to say the wrong thing or we kind of had to keep things simple because we knew that they were lip-reading us.

EB: I think they are really intertwined personally because we had to communicate so much in two minutes, we had to also make it look good and be aware of it being on a big screen.

I think it was probably the most intertwined project of design and communication I’ve done yet.

SC: Originally, we were going to use text messaging, but it was way too slow for an interview process. There was too much delay between questions and answers. So, we managed to find a decently quiet space in Central Saint Martins, and yeah in the end we didn’t need to use our phones and they were able to hear us and understand us fairly well. Greta and Elizabeth did a super good job of opening them up and making them real comfortable because they were quite shy at first they didn’t say too much but as the interview went on they opened up a lot to the point where I asked them something simple and they could expand on it quite a lot and keep talking which made it quite easy for us.

RS: Do you think that as designers we should use our creativity for a purpose, to question our society and to promote a better tomorrow?

NJ: I think collaboration and the interviews is what made it right in some ways. Using real life communication made it possible.

GS: At one point we showed them our mood board and some stills from our story board and Madeline was looking at it and saying oh yeah. I think one of the stills was of a hand reaching out to her shoulder, to another girls shoulder, like in the film. She was like yeah this looks like when we take out our earpieces and we try to make contact with each other and we try to do it in as calm a way as possible so we don’t react and get scared and I thought that was a really nice way of putting it.

NJ: At one point in the dance part she kind of like danced her movements which was a reflection of the actual sentence that you can do with the hands and they made a video to teach the dancer the actual movements.

RS: How did you find the design and the communication side intertwine together?

Do you find that they influence each other?

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SV: 100% NJ: I think it’s a way for people to listen a bit more, it’s a way to catch their attention a bit more easily than if you had someone writing a book about it. I think it’s a way, I’m not sure how to explain it but people don’t necessarily want to always question everything but if you put it in a form that will catch their eye and is right in front of them, then they will be responsive to it and will listen more than if it is something they have to reach for themselves. So if it’s something that catches your eye, anything you can put a point across more effectively. °

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Chelsea Alumni p. 66- 75: Positive Illustrations Jacqueline Colley

p. 102- 109: Balancing different aspects of Design Lisa Rahman

p. 76- 79: Small Things Make Big Changes Harrison Dew

p. 110- 113: Pink On Green Charlie Oscar Patterson

p. 80- 85: Collages George Selwyn- Brace p. 86- 91: F I F T Y Saori Madura p. 92- 97: Amanda Svart Gabriela Sprunt p. 98- 101: G. F Smith Vanessa Fletcher

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Jacqueline Colley

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interview by robyn stevens / self portrait by jacqueline colley

Jacqueline is a freelance illustrator and print designer based in Hackney. After studying Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea, she worked as a printed textile designer for 6 years. However, her love for silk screen, risograph and drawing and her attitude of ‘ignoring all those rules’, led to the decision to become a freelance designer. Since then, Jacqueline has constantly challenged herself and resultingly has been able to take her illustrations in ways she would have never thought about.

(Colley, 2020)

RS: Hi Jaqueline, how are you today?

JC: I’m what 2 months into lockdown and things are beginning to ease so I’m probably in a strange place of still not fully understanding how our lives have fundamentally changed and also processing and adapting to the new normals!

RS: A lot of your work consists of very important and positive messages, what inspired you to get involved and create work with these intentions?

JC: I think it’s partly my way of processing what is happening. I’m glad the work comes across as positive as it’s perhaps coming from a place of acknowledging the negatives and imbalances in our society. My stay home (stop the spread) message I put out before lockdown was announced in the UK I was frustrated with British politicians treating a very serious virus as something of seemingly little importance, for example continuing to shake hands. The Phone a friend message also came from a place of worry.

People who are depressed aren’t good at reaching out so I wanted to encourage people to check in

on friends especially those who are more likely to be struggling.

RS: Have you got a favourite project that you’ve created? If so, which one and why?

JC: I loved creating the ‘Thank you’ message poster for our incredible NHS workers. It was commissioned by Great Ormond Street hospital to coincide with the second week of ‘clap for our carers’ and it was nice to visualise our gratitude for them.

RS: How do you decide the issues or the topics you want to explore and highlight within your work? Are they usually centred around personal feelings or experiences?

JC: I don’t think about it that much. It’s normally that if I’m feeling strongly about something which may be a cause or could be a beautiful object, then I want to draw it/ capture it in some way. Sometimes it’s a phrase that captures my imagination. I took part in Brixton Design trail in 2017 and their theme was ‘Love is Power’ that SW1 ° 67

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Above: Colley, J. (2020) Phone a Freind [Illustration]. Courtesy of the artist.

'FOLLOW AND LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS.... .... as well as broadening your visual knowledge'

was such an incredible and universal message so I had to turn that into a print which then became a series which whilst being aesthetically pleasing is about standing up to injustices in our society and believing we can do better; ‘Hope is Fearless’ & ‘Courage is Within’.

RS: Your work varies from designing to encourage change or action, to raise awareness of issues and to inspire people to live a happier and better life, how do you find a balance between these?

JC: I think those things are actually the same thing I think living a happier and better life is tied up with being involved in your community, consuming consciously, caring for the environment and supporting causes you believe in. Small changes have a big effect when everyone decides to make them.

RS: What made you want to communicate in the form of typography and illustration? Do you find people respond to this form of design?

JC: Illustration has always been my love; playing with line and colour but I think when you have an explicit message nothing can say that more clearly than tying image together with text.

I’m now also in love with the power of typography and often build pieces around the words as Type can so clearly convey a message.

RS: What impact do you want your work to have on people?

JC: I hope that the work breeds optimism and the energy to keep on building a better world, ultimately all of society benefits from standing up for what we believe in.

RS: What advice would you give to creatives at the start of their journey?

JC: To follow and listen to your instincts as well as broadening your visual knowledge.

Understand your source material that you are inspired by; who inspired that work and who inspired that work, what is the stem and what is the root?

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Above: Colley, J. (2020) Stay At Home [Illustration]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Above and next page: Colley, J. (2020) Thank You [Illustration]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Above: Colley, J. (2020) Courage is Within. [Illustration/ Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

Next page left: Colley, J. (2020) Love is Power. [Illustration/ Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

Next page right: Colley, J. (2020) Hope is Fearless. [Illustration/ Photograph]. Courtesy of the artist.

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RS: Do you think it is important to design in a purposeful manner for the good of our society? Why? JC: Of course. the purpose of design is to make life / society / better + more functional so reflecting back on society is important. Whether that’s as a black mirror or as an aspirational ideal if it helps instigate thought or action that is the purpose. Design should move humanity forward.

RS: What are your plans for 2020 and beyond?

JC: Plans are probably a little on hold! I’m still in reaction mode at the moment; figuring out how me and my business continue on and stay relevant in a Covid and post Covid world. The plan is to continue on making work that makes me smile and feeds my soul. °

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article by harrison dew

It is important to preface this short essay with the current climate of the world. A world that is struggling to deal with a global pandemic that has taken the lives of nearly four hundred thousand people [*1] and more recently, the visceral display of police brutality in America that has sparked a wider outrage at racism and prejudice towards black and minority communities across the world. With this in mind, the question at hand is what can I, as a creative, do to help? The short answer, your voice is louder than others, use it.

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The spread of a newly discovered viral infection—a coronavirus named Covid-19 [*2]—across the world in early 2020 saw entire continents completely shut down. Nations imposed strict lockdowns of severities that had not been seen in peacetime [*3] and this in turn completely shifted the table on the perception of ‘unskilled labor’ in society. The people who dispose of rubbish, the people who deliver the post, the people who care for the elderly became our nation's key workers [*4]. Their integral importance to our society recognised as the people who do the jobs that keep the world moving. The majority of other businesses shut down, furloughed staff, and quarantined at home [*5]. The creative industries are not key workers, whilst some parts could keep working remotely as long as their clients were doing the same, most freelancers and creative businesses were forced to stop work entirely for months. The insecurities naturally built within us asking Is my job completely pointless? No. It is not.

Second to this, not in importance, but merely chronologically, was when video footage surfaced of a white police officer in Minneapolis kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds until he died [*6]. This shocking act of police brutality sparked weeks of protests across all 50 states in America [*7] and spread to many other cities across the world [*8] who’s people came out in support of Black Americans and the injustices they have faced, and continue to face, with the wider issue of socially accepted white supremacy in society. Once again, the creative industries, many of which are dominated by white middle-class males, looking in upon itself with the question of can I do anything to help?

Yes. You can.

Firstly then, why are the creative industries not completely pointless? Because we have a voice, a loud voice that often has a much bigger reach than that of most others. Our work is seen by hundreds and thousands of people, it is visible, most people's daily outputs rarely ever get that sort of traction. We create visual and verbal content that is consumed by many, and if we do our jobs well, this content becomes memorable.

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stories. This is why we are not pointless.

The big question then becomes how can I help? Whilst none of us can make a vaccine to a deadly virus overnight nor abolish the inequalities black and minority groups face around the world in one day, we can look at the small things that help to make the big changes.

The first of these include any creative working in a strictly commercial aspect. In this regard, we are providing a service for someone else, generally speaking, that means someone else will pay us to form and present their story to the world. We may not have much of a say in what their story is, but we do have a say in how it is presented. This opportunity is a prime example of one of the small things we can do to better the world. An example, again from my perspective of a Graphic Designer, includes promoting the use of black photographers and illustrators

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within the brands that I create, or making sure that minority groups are truly represented in photography that I present to clients—it may be no surprise that stock photography websites are full of white people. Remember that these acts may seem small and inconsequential, but these moments reach a lot of people. Big brands come with big influence and that single small change can go a very long way.

The second includes that of personal work. This includes any work defined as Pro bono; work that is done with minimal to no cost and of which is in the public interest [*9].

In these situations where we are often not constrained by the needs of our commercial clients, we have a bigger say. We can create stories and tell them to the world to further the causes that most need our help. These are small things because they don’t have the reach that commercial projects usually achieve; your photography project that documents the experiences of black people in your local community might not be seen by the same amount of people as the photograph you took for a global ad campaign. They might be small, but the stories are just as powerful. Once again speaking from the perspective of the design industry, we can use platforms such as Designers for Justice, who call themselves ‘A call to action for creatives to provide their world-class talent for free to non-profit community organisations and causes fighting for systemic change’ [*10] (they can be found at gooddesignforgoodcauses. com or on Instagram at @designforjustice). We can use our skills as storytellers to help these smaller messages reach more people because we are very good at it, and in turn, these will make the big changes.

In summary, it is important to remember our unique position in society. Whilst our output isn’t directly saving people's lives or lobbying for political reform, we have the responsibility to champion those stories of those that do. Firstly challenge what we know, identify the areas of opportunity, and apply them as best as we can to further positive change in the world. > p. 114

'This space is dedicated to non-white creatives.

Go and find them, promote them, and share their stories with the world.'

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George Selwyn- Brace George is a London based Graphic Designer that graduated from Chelsea in 2015, after a year’s study of Philosophy. Through his time at Chelsea, he developed his practise into something which was both outward looking and self- reflective. After being a creative at It’s Nice That, working on concepts and editorial ideas, George then went on to be an editorial designer at Hole& Corner magazine. Currently, he is working for Bureau for Visual Affairs, within the digital design and branding aspect of the company, yet also makes time to create personal creative content. A key factor that helps drive his practise and inspiration, was the experience of studying two completely different subjects.

‘What I liked about both subjects is the chance to explore culture, conceptual thinking, interpreting meaning, creating structure and organising ideas. These type collages feel very connected to that for me’. Intertwining these two subjects is so unusual and almost novel- like, allowing him to portray deeper meaning within his work. The second part of the collage name is the word class as it would appear in their dictionary entry, which hints at the reason why these specific words were chosen. 'The functional qualities they have connecting, structuring or labelling the meanings in language. I think that this is related to the visual presentation which shows paper, tape, tears and crop marks as the main content, and it also gives them a kind of unifying structure as a set'. ° (Selwyn- Brace, 2020)

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Left: Selwyn- Brace, G. (2020) An, Determiner [Collage]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Above: Selwyn- Brace, G. (2020) If, Conjunction [Collage]. Courtesy of the artist.

Previous page: Selwyn- Brace, G. (2020) Or, Conjunction [Collage]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Left: Selwyn- Brace, G. (2020) By, Preposition [Collage]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Left: Selwyn- Brace, G. (2020) By, Preposition [Collage]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Saori Masuda Saori is Graphic Design Communication, 2014 Chelsea graduate, who was born in Japan, but grew up in Japan, Germany and the U.K. From a young age she developed a love for art and illustration, and feels that her limited time living in Japan intrigued her to dig deeper into the countries artistic side of the culture, ‘this is what made me want to study design!’. Since 2017, Saori has been working for Google Creative Lab, where she is able to work on projects that intertwine design with tech, experimental and spatial, ‘no two days are the same, so I love the variety of projects’.

(Masuda, 2020)

interview by robyn stevens / self portrait by saori masuda

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RS: Hi Saori, how are you today?

SM: I’m good thanks! Hanging in there during these strange times.

RS: Your Final Major project ‘F I F T Y’ offers help on how to tackle criticism in the design industry, is this something that you have experienced within your career?

SM: It’s an interesting one - it’s definitely something I have experienced in my career, and I’m sure I will continue to! I feel like it’s sometimes not spoken about enough but through experience something we all should embrace.

RS: Why was the project important for you to produce?

SM: It was important for me to produce this as at the time I was seeing many of my peers be disappointed due to the criticism they were receiving on their work. I still feel that it holds true now as it’s something I tackle everyday and try to learn from.

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RS: What is your main strategy for dealing with criticism or feedback that you may not agree with?

SM: I’m not sure I’d necessarily say it's a strategy but I always try to see the criticism or feedback in a positive way, and remembering to never take it to heart. Even if I may not agree with it, I try to distill it to see which bits I can pull out to push my work further on, focusing it on the work.

RS: I think it’s so important to normalise criticism- it’s such an important stage in the process and often can show someone’s interest on your project so much so that they want to be involved, why do you think people see criticism as a negative?

SM: As creatives, I find that you always put a lot into the work you produce and this means that sometimes it can be hard to not take things personally. I think this is why people can see criticism as negative. I’ve found that delivering the criticism in an appropriate way is equally important, making sure that it is constructive.

This is something I have learnt the longer I have

been working and now that I manage others, how to deliver and receive constructive criticism.

RS: Within your opening card, you use the phrase ‘you are not alone’ does this come from personal experiences? Have you ever had criticism that has made you feel this way?

SM: I definitely feel that working with great individuals in my career and hearing more about their experiences has shown me that we really are not ‘alone’. I always try to remember this and lean on other creatives if I ever feel this way.

RS: Your project essentially encourages designers to have a different approach when dealing with criticism, how do you think this will help designers? Do you think this perspective will make designers feel more comfortable about their work, more open for suggestions or just give them the understanding that everyone gets criticism?

SM: I feel it’s a bit of a mix of all of those things.

It’s important to know that everyone gets constructive criticism and tackles it in different ways. Also speaking with peers can help you see feedback and difficult situations in a new light. Being confident in the work you present is important and having the confidence to push back and voice your own opinion when you don’t agree is also something valuable. It can be daunting to do this but definitely something you get better at the more you do.

RS: Do you think that communicating with and supporting young/other creatives is important?

SM: Yes definitely, both are important. I’ve found that being able to advise younger creatives has been great and valuable for me, it reminds me to keep my ideas wide and open. I also often communicate and get opinions from other creatives on projects or designs I’m creating. This is something I find super valuable to push my work forward.

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purposeful work that has good societal intentions?

SM: Yes definitely. Design is such an important element in everyday life that everyone interacts with.

Everything around us is designed. Therefore as creatives and designers we should keep this on the forefront of our minds and create purposeful work that intrigues and challenges people.

RS: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

SM: As 2020 is not what we all expected it to be… It’s difficult to say what the rest of the year holds.

Luckily my work has been great at supporting working from home and we are launching some big projects soon. I am also hoping to spend more time working on my personal projects and creative outlets: painting, terrazzo and cooking! ° 90 ° SW1

Above and all other instances in this article: Masuda, S. (2020) F I F T Y [Photograph/ Design]. Courtesy of the artist.

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Gabriela Sprunt Gabriela studied Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea College Of Arts, after being recommended the course from her College tutor of Fine Arts. During her time at Chelsea, Gabriela participated in several live briefs from the industry and was awarded both a DANDAD award and a YCN award. Nowadays she works at Wallpaper* magazine as a digital designer.

(Sprunt, 2019)

interview by robyn stevens

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Left and all other instances in this article: Sprunt, G. and Edwards, A. (2020) Amanda Svart [Art Director/Graphic Identity]. Courtesy of the artist.

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RS: Hi Gabriela, how are you today?

GS: Good thanks!

RS: How did you use your role as Art Director/ Graphic Identity, within the project for fashion brand ‘Amanda Svart’, to push the boundaries of a general clothing designer’s identity and create a unique and contemporary visual language?

GS: I wanted to use the influences Amanda had sent to me as a starting point for the project but they became quite integral to the final piece, she was very interested in both sculpture, and the use of unique materials and textures, we wanted to try something experimental that could turn the clothes almost into pieces of sculpture working with the light and heavy materials.

RS: The final photographs play with light and shade, was this done through technique or a beautiful accident?

GS: I worked with Alexander Edwards the most fantastic photographer and friend on this project I was really keen to create a sense of drama through lighting and he was incredible at taking these references and using his skill to use light and shadow in a unique way, we were completely on the same page and really enjoyed experimenting with ideas and techniques being quite experimental on the day.

RS: Why did you decide to make the majority of the photographs black and white?

GS: Amanda’s collection was completely monochrome so we decided to go with this for the product shoot, the few photographs shot on the model used colour so that there was a contrast between the more surreal and close up shots and the clothing on a model.

photographs needed very strong lighting to be bring attention to the shapes and physical qualities of the pieces and black and white really lent itself to this.

RS: Whilst the photography offers a sculptural aesthetic, the look-book is more simplistic, what was the reasoning for this? Do you think they therefore balance and complement each other?

GS: I think a clean and simple layout often gives the space for the work to stand out and speak for itself, a lot of my favourite publications across design and art offer a very simple but effective look and this was the kind of feel that i wanted to have the look book to have, having tried to find this fine art feel in the photography.

RS: Your outcomes draw influence from Chillida and Barbara Hepworth, how do you envision their work whilst creating your own visual identity?

GS: When I started talking with Amanda about this project I really interrogate her own influences for Amanda for collection heavily referenced Chiilida and Hepworth this isn’t necessarily evident in her final work but was a huge part of the development so i thought it would be interesting to bring this in to the visual identity. I looked through loads of books and sketched out lots of visual ideas to combine the two. It was really helpful to have this as a starting point probably also influencing the final decision to go with black and white as well as idea of putting some of the pieces on a shelf as if sitting in a gallery/on a plinth.

RS: What is the most important part of the design process for you?

RS: Do you think the message would alter if they were in colour?

GS: I really enjoy research and getting lost in the chaos of ideas but i think the most important part for my own process and maybe the hardest is then to try and filter this down and find a sort of simplicity from the “mess”

GS; I think colour could have been a really interesting direction but with a very limited palette to not distract too much, I felt the

RS: Why do you think it is important to draw inspiration from other artists and continue to celebrate them years later?

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GS: I’m always worried about falling too deeply into current trends. I think to add something more it’s interesting to look into different decades and work from different kinds of practices but it could be from anywhere and anything. This is also important in the time of Instagram where it’s so easy to become subconsciously very influenced by everything current which can become a bit vacuous if that's all you’re looking at. The main influence for the floating image for this project actually came from a very random book about dance and a photograph of an incredible costume with the dancer captured very early in motion, I have no idea if I'll be able to find this image again but the visual stuck in my mind and changed the direction of the piece taking something very old and trying to bring it to a contemporary project.

RS: Photography in itself can provoke very emotional responses, why do you think this is important? What responses do you want people to have from your work?

GS: I’m not sure how emotive my work is but I would always want to spark curiosity and not be too boring.

RS: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

GS: Hopefully to come out of the pandemic for starters, I think it's going to be a challenging year for design but also great ideas can come out of it. I’d also really like to work on some personal passion projects this year. …This time in lockdown has made me reflect on the kind of work I would love to produce and question things. °

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Vanessa Fletcher

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Left: Fletcher, V. (2020) G. F Smith Extract Swatch [Photograph]. Courtesy of Vanessa. p. 100: Fletcher, V. (2020) G. F Smith Collection Book [Photograph], Courtesy of Vanessa.

Vanessa is a Graphic Design Communication, Chelsea graduate, who lives in Kingston Upon Times. When at school, Vanessa was set on being a fashion designer and spent her foundation year at Chelsea, building up her portfolio in which to do so.

However, in the process of this, she started to develop a passion for typography, layout and editorial design, which ultimately changed her focus from fashion to visual communications. During her time studying Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea, she loved the making side of the course and focused her energy on materiality and publications, ‘I never regretted leaving my aspirations of fashion behind’. Vanessa’s design interests vary from interiors and architecture, to typography and packaging, however her love and appreciation of design isn’t necessarily for her to design personally, making her role at G. F Smith the perfect job. When graduating from Chelsea, Vanessa worked for a year as a freelance screen printer and letterpress printer. However, wanted to take her career into a more design consultancy route, which resulted her to ask G. F Smith whether they had any roles going. During her BA, she had gotten to know a couple of the graphic arts consultants, and she was offered a maternity cover position and 9 years later, Vanessa still works there, however had progressed to a consultant role, and also has a second job title as student specialist.

(Fletcher, 2020)

‘As a consultant, I help and assist designers/creatives in London that want to use our papers. I could be assisting small projects all the way through to big global rebrand projects. It’s an incredibly varied role. As student specialist, my job is to work directly with the G . F Smith brand team to create content relevant for students and graduates, I am also responsible for collaborations with institutions that support students such as D&AD and Lecture In Progress. Alongside this I visit universities up and down the country to work with local paper consultants to be as helpful to students as possible.

I owe my career to the support G . F Smith gave me when I was a student, so this is something I am hugely passionate about. I am lucky enough to work in London and look after the creative teams in the majority of the museums and galleries, so I spend a lot of time in the V&A and The Design Museum. G . F Smith support several publications, which we get copies of so I’m always able to read and look at beautiful design too.'

When asking Vanessa why she wanted to work at G. F Smith, she explained that 'G . F Smith is a very unique business. It is built around the people who work for them, and it resonates throughout our company. The passion and dedication that is felt throughout the company is such an incredible thing. The papers and products that G . F Smith offer is really only a small part of the business, it’s the knowledge, history and pride that G . F Smith as a brand and as a business has that made them such an attractive company to work for.

Of course the papers are the most beautiful in the world too!'

During this interview, we also touched upon the G. F Smith recycled paper and enviromentally friendly collection. 'As human beings we have a responsibility to fix the bad design of past generations that has had such a harmful impact on a global scale. By creating sustainable solutions, not only can we provide a material that is ecologically and morally impactful, we can also make a ripple in a very large pond. If choosing a sustainable paper opens a gateway to changing bad habits and unsustainable behaviours elsewhere then we have achieved a lot more than what’s on the surface. The paper industry is one of the most sustainable and regulated industries in the world, but there here huge misconceptions and myths surrounding it. A large part of my job is to educate creatives about this.' ° SW1 ° 99

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Lisa Rahman Lisa is a Chelsea Alumni, who graduated with a BA(Hons) First in Graphic Design Communication in 2008. She’s British born and raised in South London with Bengali heritage, and sites this fusion of cultures as essential influences to her approaches to the Creative industry. With over 12 years’ industry experience, her list of awards include 3 DANDAD Pencil Awards, SPD Silver Medal, 2 SPD Merit Awards, BSME RISING STAR: Best Print Designer, PPA Cover of the Year Shortlist. She invests a lot of time in helping nurture the next generation of designers and was recently on the 2020 DANDAD New Blood: Crafts for Illustration judging panel. This is the same category in which she won her first Pencil Award, in her 2nd year of Chelsea. She has worked as Creative Director at Glamour (Condé Nast) and Art Director of ELLE and ELLE Collections (Hearst Magazines UK). She currently works as a multidisciplinary freelancer specialising in Brand Consulting, Art Direction, Publishing and Event Design working with a broad range of clients from Ogilvy to Hardie Grant Books.

(Rahman, 2020)

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interview by robyn stevens / self portrait by lisa rahman

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1. [EXHIBIT L] DIOR: ‘I’m attracted to the urban world’ said Raf Simons. The result was couture corsetry via trainer laces.

Every case is the sum of its details (Cashmere coat, Dior). Photography Kin by Kin for ELLE Collections, Hearst Magazines UK

STUDENT

[EXHIBIT M] ARMANI: The collection was called Fade To Grey. The pieces have been catalogued tonally, from softest dove to deepest charcoal - a grey scale exhibited in 56 shades. Photography Neil Watson for ELLE Collections, Hearst Magazines UK

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Page layouts from ELLE Collections, Hearst Magazines UK. Illustration: Vincent Gapaillard. Photography: Nicky De Silva.

RS: Hi Lisa, how are you today?

LR: … An old friend said hello on instagram today, we get to see each other probably every 1-2 years as he’s based in Finland now, he asked how I was and if I had “any news?” This was my response: “Hmm… genuinely struggling to think of a traditional “personal news” type of response… I guess my news is about what’s going on globally not personally, so, I guess global news is my news”.

I feel like I can’t really sum up how I’m doing better than that at the moment. 2020, is definitely compounded with bigger picture thinking, introspection whilst highlighting so many environmental, political and societal issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, we’re facing a huge humanitarian fight to speak up against racial injustice amongst the black community and am doing what I can to help friends design graphics whilst sharing any vital resources to be a part of the fight to create lasting change.

RS: In January you launched a side project- openhearts.club, what exactly does this project entail? What do you want people to take away from it?

LR: @openhearts.club is a real labour of love, it’s something I’ve been quietly building for a year, and is about focussing on art and design projects for social good. An example of some of the workshops I’ve run in the last year: mindful origami classes with the eldery, mixed-media portraits with local community residents, a zine-making workshop with UAL students encouraging a collective ownership of artwork rather than a personal one… showing the advantages of working together to build unexpected new outcomes.

I hosted my dream soft-launch in January, it was dinner and art combined with many people who hadn’t met each other before,

we ended the evening with a letter writing workshop to your future self which I will be posting out to people in July. The idea being to get people to open up about feelings but to use art and community as a vehicle to do so.

RS: Since then, the openhearts.club instagram account seems to have become very popular, have you got any plans to expand this in the future?

LR: I think it would be a balance of finding projects that I’m a part of because it feels good to do so and may not necessarily need documenting, and ones to specifically share on social. Last year I set some core values I wanted from my social-media presence so it was a fun space for me to exist in, I never want it to feel like online performance, I just think that’s too exhausting to maintain on top of a job. I’m not an influencer, I just like making, and sharing that process, so my personal account @lisrah, is an online sketchbook but I think for @openhearts. club it’s the opposite, I want it to have a similar narration to one you would find in a magazine, less about reactive content, more about curated ideas, perhaps monthly themes. I would love to use it as a space to showcase creative talent whilst pushing the boundaries of how you can use the format in new ways.

RS: How do you find your previous employment in magazines, such as ELLE and GLAMOUR, inspires you with your current role as a Creative Director/ Brand Consultant?

LR: Ahh, yes, I divide my time throughout the year with commercial and community projects, whilst taking time to develop my visual arts practise. There isn’t a set time to how I do this throughout the year, I look at what commercial client work I have, and balance out the rest around that. I want the role that I play in design

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RS: Can you summarise your design approach in the selection of images you’ve chosen?

LR: For me the joy of being a creative is driven with the goal to keep pushing design boundaries, in the pages of ELLE Collections (pictured) I liked the challenge of working with luxury fashion but communicating that in a way that felt accessible to the reader. I reflected that by being playful in my approach to design and encouraging that in the team. Sometimes that was introducing mixed-media and fine art influences to the work but always upholding a core-value to the physicality of making, sometimes removing yourself away from a solely digital process acts to help stay connected to the process and love for the actually making.

RS: What kind of impact do you wish your work to have on people?

LR: I'm a details obsessive, I like thinking about all parts of the user experience across platforms: digital, print and events to create a unique feeling. In digital that could translate to the subtlety of the way something moves when reacting to another object, in print it could be including little fun but clever design details in the layouts, in events it’s maybe something physical to walk away with - always making sure the audience leaves with this special feeling that makes their association with that experience special.

RS: Is there one project in particular which you are most proud of, either for commercial benefits or societal?

LR: I’m proud of the redesign of GLAMOUR Beauty Book, it was about looking back at the brand’s amazing history and dissecting what it is to be a magazine publication in the digital age.

The end product felt luxury, bold, playful and like a statement for the brand refresh.

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RS: To me a designer’s responsibility is to create work for the common good and with the purpose of bettering our society, do you think this is possible in modern day?

LR: Definitely, I think now more than ever, many of us are reflecting on our internal structures across the board and wanting to be a part of a wave of how things could be done differently. I’m really passionate about helping the next generation of design talent thrive and have benefited from amazing guidance or sounding boards in my career. I think particularly when starting out it was invaluable to help me build in confidence and further my career progression.

The lack of diversity in our industry is something that needs to be addressed, so it's been important to me that I'm a part of many different Creative streams. I am a mentor with Creative Mentor Network, an organisation helping to navigate greater diversity and inclusion in the creative industries through mentorship. I’ve been a guest lecturer at UAL, reviewed student work as part of "portfolio surgeries" event for Ladies Wine and Design (London) and DANDAD New Blood as well as speaking at panel talks, most recently discussing topics around money as a freelancer to call for greater transparency on the topic.

RS: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

LR: I hope to stay curious, I attend two talks a week this could be from "How to discuss race at work" (HustleCrew) to "Nurturing the Creative Self"(Adobe99U) both of which I would highly recommend and are now available online. I also attend online workshops if possible, I’ve recently finished a course by Slow Factory on Sustainability Literacy 101 to learn more about being environmentally conscious. There’s a lot to question right now about broken systems, so I have periods of introspection but feel progress beginning when I have these discussions with friends, family and colleagues. This year I hope to continue being engaged to be a part of a changing world for the better. °

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Charlie Oscar Patterson Artist Charlie Oscar Patterson studied Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea and graduated in 2013. Whilst Charlie now considers himself an artist, he argues that Graphic Design truly introduced him into the creative world and led him to job roles within Studio Moross and Studio Opposite. His current work combines painting and sculptural aspects, enabling him to experiment with lines and spatial boundaries, drawing inspiration from the Minimalism art movement as well as his emotional responses to music. The arrangement of colour and shapes translates the feeling of energy and dance giving his work more depth, however the colour he uses change throughout his process. Rather than these colours being used as a means to elicit certain purposes, Charlie instead will often use colour to reflect his personal feelings, and he wants people to take respond to his work in their own way. However, whilst aesthetics is key in Charlie’s work, he finds that process, how things are made and the background behind them to be more inspirational. When asking Charlie whether he thinks the impact of his work corresponds to his colour pallet, he mentioned about a black and white series he is presently working on, ‘you tell me do they have the same impact?’.

Currently Charlie is working and selling his prints via Look Ups prints, a company which regularly donates to charities and since the Covid virus, the company decided 20% profit of all sales will be donated to Shelter. Charlie feels that people should always help others out when they can therefore, he regularly takes on gigs that help give money or awareness to charity. ‘Without peoples support many platforms wouldn’t have the finance to be run effectively’. ° Patterson, 2020)

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self portrait by charlie oscar patterson

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Above and next page: Patterson, C. (2020) Pink On Green [Print]. Courtesy of the artist.

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< p.42 Essay References: Adbusters (2020) Fuckitall Manifesto. Available at: https://www.adbusters.org/manifesto (Accessed: 28 February).

Armstrong, H. (2009) Graphic Design Theory: Readings From The Field. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Banksy. (2019) You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat and if You Were Not You Would Know About It. England: Carpet Bombing Culture. 2nd Edn Banksy. (2006) Wall And Piece. United Kindgom: Century, The Random House Group Limited. 2nd Edn. Bennett, L., Pickerel, W. and Jorgensen, H. (2002) Culture Jams and Meme Warfare. Available at: http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/assets/documents/pdf/culturejamsandmemewarfare.pdf (Accessed: 15 February).

Bierut, M. (2007) Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Campbell, D. (2001) Flag protest aims to get US thinking. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jun/27/usnews.globalisation (Accessed: 29 March).

DeLaure, M. and Fink, M. (2017) Culture Jamming. New York: New York University Press.

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The Yes Men (no date) About Us. Available at: https://theyesmen.org/about (Accessed: 20 March). < p. 76 Article Reference *1 [source https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html as of 6/6/20] *2 [source https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus as of 6/6/20] *3 [source https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/23/the-guardian-view-on-lockdown-for-britain-true-leadership-is-required as of 6/6/20] *4 [source https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision#critical-workers as of 6/6/20] *5 [source https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/furloughingofworkersacrossukbusinesses/23march2020to5april2020 as of 6/6/20] *6 [source https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html as of 6/6/20] *7 [source https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/map-protests-rallies-george-floyd-spread-across-country-n1220976 as of 6/6/20] *8 [source https://www.businessinsider.com/all-the-protests-around-the-world-right-now?r=US&IR=T#in-brazil-residents-have-turned-out-toprotest-police-brutality-and-to-weigh-in-on-ongoing-investigations-against-the-countrys-president-6 as of 6/6/20] *9 [source https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/practice-management/pro-bono/introduction-to-pro-bono/# as of 6/6/20] *10 [source https://www.gooddesignforgoodcauses.com/ as of 6/6/20] < p. 1 Front Page Marzec, A. (2018) Untitled [Canvas]. Courtesy of the artist. < p. 3 Inside Page Masuda, S. (2020) Fail Harder [Poster]. Courtesy of the artist. > p. 116 Back Page Bedow, K. (2020) Pressed Flowers [Poster]. Courtesy of the artist.

G. F Smith Paper 150GSM

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Graphic 116 ° SW1Design Communication

Katie Bedow