Practitioners
The two practitioners I will be talking about within this text are Grant Gilbert, a freelance designer who operates under the alias Double G Studios (http://doublegstudios.com/), and Truth Design a larger graphic design company that have only been around for two and half years
(http://www.truth-design.co.uk/). To start with I would like to state what the differences are between a freelance designer and a design company or a designer that works within a company. A freelance Graphic Designer is there own boss there is usually only 1 person designing and usually under an alias as a company, and will probably have to work all hours and have to take work home to make deadlines. Or will get drafted in by another company at busy periods with high workloads. Where as if you are a Graphic Designer working for a company will usually be expected to put in a 9 to 5 day, this being a lot more like an office job, that’s not to say that it will incorporate any sort of weaker design or less imaginative work. In the first year of this course I definitely presumed that I wanted to become a freelance Graphic Designer but as I have learnt more about the area I wish to work in I believe it would be a lot more profitable to work in a company for a number of years while I continue to learn this trade to an excellent level and understanding before parting ways and setting up a smaller company.
The Truth lecture was one that I particularly enjoyed this is because they did not come just to show us there work and leave, they spoke to us about general tips and things to remember within our own work and the advantages and disadvantages of starting up your own company and how it is a very difficult thing to do especially if you have just graduated and do not have any experience in industry work. Other great pieces of advice and things to remember are ‘less is more’ this is something I always try to incorporate with my designs as I often believe the best designs are the simplest such as the 3CV logo the chase designed and also there logo for Leaf Street. These logos are so memorable because they are so simple and yet clever this is exactly what Darren Scott was saying. Another great thing he said was that Design is a process you rarely find that right answer straight away and that should try and make the client understand the process by rationalising and justifying your design so the client picks the best design.
The work that was shown to us by Truth (Fig.1) (Fig.2) was very enjoyable and interesting, I particularly liked the Fat Hog work they were recently doing, There original brief was to create a completely new brand for the trade decorating market and then to design the packaging for a line of brushes, rollers, sandpapers etc. I believe that the final pieces of design were really clever they played on the heritage of traditional high-performance hog’s hair used in paintbrushes, there designs were really striking and very different to any existing designs for decorating products which must have for filled the original brief given to them.
The lecture by Grant Gilbert was also fascinating he told us of his story from college to modern day. After completing an ND at Stockport Gilbert went on to do his Degree at Birmingham University then worked at Planet 24 in London where he cracked a joke about making lots of tea for three years. Gilbert then worked at Channel 4 for three years and was involved in the re branding of the channel and the title sequences as well. After this Gilbert became a freelance designer and started Double G Studios to make him seem like a bigger company, his work is a lot more multi media based than truth’s designs and indeed my own but I decided to write about him as he is a very successful freelancer as he used the contacts he made working at channel 4 to get some great clients such as more 4 and channel 5. He seems like the man in channel branding world to me. Gilbert worked with Spin, a graphic design company in London, to create the identity fro more 4 and the animation of the television commercials advertising the channel. Gilbert has recently completed the new re-brand of channel 5 as well. I do not thing this is as good as the more 4 identity as once again the more 4 work is a lot simpler and clean cut (Fig.3) I believe that the new channel 5 identity looks a lot like the EA games logo.
Gilbert also gave some good advice in his lecture, he told us to experiment in college, as there are more restraints in real world work also that simple ideas always work better. These are pieces of advice I have heard of a number of designers, so I do not doubt for a second that they are true, I plan to experiment in my final project and come up with a simple and effective outcome for what ever I design.
