We were lucky enough to have a talk from Paul Felton today from Common Curiosity. I found the talk was really useful in how to tell a story visually and how it’s important that there is meaning behind it. As a studio they have been working remotely for year with Paul being based in Birmingham and his colleague Alex in London, this was interesting to learn because it shows that there is opportunities to make working in a separate city to the main studio work.
Also I really enjoyed seeing both the refined final work but also the development boards of the studio because this showed me again how much work goes into branding and development projects. Below are a few of the main points that I will take away from this talk;
- Give it meaning. No matter what project your working on try and give meaning behind it, being able to tell a story particular with branding projects makes them more authentic.
- Substance over style.
- Always come back to the why in the project – why and what is the idea at the heart of the project.
- Looking for a unique point about the company is key not just the USP of the product that the company sell.
- Explain yourself – having the ability to clearly explain ideas and reasoning behind the design decisions is important. Whether that explain to tutor or client or creative director being able to explain is key.
- Be Curious – the name of the studio common curiosity fuels this idea about design but being able to be curious about things will help with design and inspiration.
- Absorb everything – not being just curious about design but other aspects of life nature, sport etc.
- Curiosity can help when looking for work opportunities – for example knowing about a studio or particular designer can aid you when applying for a job.
- Brain is mighty than the Apple – don’t always jump straight onto the computer using paper pens and sketchbooks to get ideas out on paper.
- Be careful with certain places where you might find inspiration – you want to be setting trends rather than following them
- Question everything – think about if what a client has asked for is what they actually need.
- Challenge conventions
- Working with words is important it’s not only about visuals.
Another part of this talk that I found interesting was that they have worked on stamp design for Royal Mail. Before hearing Paul speak I didn’t realise how much work went into design stamps to be printed the process of the development and refinement is massive it can take months to just perfect one stamp and the concept of the stamp.
I found that this talk has inspired me to think about my FMP further particular since I’m telling the story of rhythmic gymnastics and what that is and what it means to people. I think that the points covered in the talk can relate well to my project and help me to develop the why and meaning behind what I am trying to say.
Abbie Louise Williams 