From the forming of our agency, to visiting inspiring places, and participating in the 2019 GDFS held in November this year. Here are some of our thoughts and reflections upon the activities, talks, and mentorships we undertook.
Speaking to everyone there that is where I am at is amazing, just hearing their stories and seeing what they do was eye opening.
GDFS to me was an amazing experience and I’m happy I took the time to go the full weekend. The most memorable parts of the festival were the workshops and the live brief. I chose to be in the workshop run by Kelly Anna who tasked us to design something using whatever we felt inspired us and then have them printed into t-shirts through Everpress.com. I used Japanese art and psychedelic art as inspiration for what I had created. We uploaded our designs onto Everpress.com at the end of the second day of the workshop to be sold to whoever wanted them. Working alongside Kelly Anna as a mentor for a couple days was a great experience and I would love to work with her again. This experience showed me different ways to portray my own created media and get some profit back from those that want my designs.
The live brief while stressful was amazing too. Being mentored by Thirst Craft who are based in Glasgow had shown me what working in a popular design agency can feel like with the time pressure and group conversations which generated thoughts and ideas to then create something. We were given the brief “What is Home?” which asked us to design something which we personally felt that home was. I created a travel book which is aimed at those that are stuck abroad working or students that are homesick and can’t get home. So, this book focused on where you are from. So, if you are from Scotland, you’d have the Scottish one which focused on things that make Scotland, Scotland.
Overall, the festival showed me so many ways I could go after my degree and the information from designers’ experiences told me that to keep trying and going even though it might take a long time or right after coming out of education and to just get myself out there. Speaking to everyone there that is where I am at is amazing, just hearing their stories and seeing what they do was eye opening. The talent that all of them had was unbelievable and inspiring to see. I’d love to do it all over again when I get the chance.
A lot of passing shoppers were giving me dirty looks to me as well as Casper, just because I was having a conversation with this man; which really got me thinking.
The GDFS was the most inspirational few days of my life so far. (Big statement I know!) I was only able to go to TopForm and participate in the Live Project but all the same, was incredible. TopForm was a great way to start off the festival, hearing advice, tips, work processes and background stories from some of the top designers in the world. Kelly Anna’s motivational quotes are what pushed me for the rest of the week and even now, encouraging me to be “stupidly confident” and set up my own Instagram account for my design work. It was amazing to hear from Stefan Sagmeister, someone who’s inspired me for over four years.
I participated in the Live Project with MadeBrave over a two-day period, where we had to define what ‘home’ meant in any creative way we could. I focussed on those who didn’t have a home and how their interpretation of home was different to ours. I ended up speaking to one guy, Casper, where we shared our stories and talked for nearly two hours. I noticed there was hundreds of homeless people in Glasgow but Casper was the only one I’d seen so far who was selling something to make money; art. He spent some of the money he’d get given on art supplies as well as food. I found his story so inspirational and the comparison in answers was astounding. Home to him was a base, yet to us, answers included a bed, a smell, a safe place. Yet Casper just wanted somewhere to call home. I developed a deeper understanding about the negative imagery around homeless people and just how false that is. A lot of passing shoppers were giving me dirty looks to me as well as Casper, just because I was having a conversation with this man; which really got me thinking. Home is also a place without judgement. MadeBrave were massive confidence boosters, supporting my ideas and always trying to push me that step further; they were great mentors.
Overall, the festival really pushed me out my comfort zone and allowed me to do things I wouldn’t have imagined doing. I will absolutely be doing it all over again next year.
I gained a lot of freedom from simply attending TopForm, and realising that I can do what I want to do, in as many different ways as I can think of doing it.
I was fortunate enough to participate in the whole GDFS festival, from attending TopForm on the Friday, to the fun workshops Saturday/ Sunday, and then finally attend student specific mentoring sessions on the Monday/ Tuesday.
Seeing the wealth of knowledge the designers such as Stefan Sagmeister, Kelly Anna and Eike Koenig displayed during the TopForm talks on Friday was truly inspiring. It’s freeing to realise that there really is no right way to become a designer, and that even becoming a ‘designer’ means so many different things to so many people!
The workshops on during the weekend were a whole lot of fun, I chose the sign-painting workshop with Glasgow based visual artist Ciaran Globel. Saturday consisted of getting to know how to form traditional letters using the correct mixture of oil paints and thinners, and a whole lot of practice with brush control. Far more technical that I first thought! Sunday was then on to the real thing, we planned out a short word to put on to our pre-painted boards, and went to town with designing, balancing, colour selecting and the (scary part) painting it in under 6 hours. For newbies to this specific art, this was a tough ask, but I’m proud to say I managed to complete my board with time to spare!
The third part of the week was the mentor lead design challenge and I opted to work with Edinburgh based design agency Whitespace. The brief set by then festival was ‘What is home”, with the intent to interpret the brief in whatever way the student desired. I chose to do something a little out of my comfort zone and conceptualised a 3D space that could be placed in any town in need of regeneration. As my home town is in dire need of such a space to show locals what could be done with their town, and to bring back childhood memories of busy high streets, bustling local cinemas, and crowded markets where their parents would but the weekly shop, and a wee treat for the kids. The space was intended to be fully interactive, customised to the building or area that required attention i.e. our local cinema is crying out for plans to revitalise the abandoned building. One would enter a large pop-up shop situated in front of the building, and be met with smells (cinema popcorn), sights (projected films and old school cinema chairs), sounds (ambient popcorn crunching and projector reels), touch (carpeted floors and cinema chairs that could be sat in) and tastes (old school cinema sweets and drinks) specifically related to that cinema. To encourage and enhance interest in revitalising a once great place.
The full festival, whilst overwhelming at times, was a brilliant event and one I’d encourage any designer at any point of their career to partake in. I gained a lot of freedom from simply attending TopForm, and realising that I can do what I want to do, in as many different ways as I can think of doing it. The sense of openness and freedom is liberating, and the only thing holding me back will be myself, which I do not intend to do!
