Annotated/updated Statement of Intent

Original SOI with annotation after each section in italics. Enjoy.

DESIGN PRACTICE / RATIONALE

Within the Final Major Project I aim to work as professionally as possible. To me this means: quick turn around of work, consideration of audience and context, appropriateness and legibility of fonts and imagery and environmental and social accountability.

I want to create work that is ‘real’ – work that is useful in its own right or answers some kind of need as opposed to work that main purpose is to develop my design skills. However, while I want my outcomes to be ‘real’ and ‘professional’, this may be the last chance I have to experiment relatively risk free, and I intend to capitalise on this opportunity.

I also want to try and get an idea of where exactly I fit in within the graphic design industry. Although I intend on getting a job in a design studio as soon as possible after I graduate, I fully intend to set up my own practise a couple of years down the line. My Final Major Project could be a good chance to get in touch with other designers to inform my practise (but also as an excuse to show people my work).

I wouldn't say that my rationale has changed very much. I would possibly add, however, that working as professionally as possible, I have realised, also means being versatile/adaptable. When working at UHC, I found that working with a low budget meant that you couldn't afford to be shy when it came to trying new skills––eg. if the client wants moving image you have to do it because costs more money to pay someone else to. 


CONTEXTUAL REFERENCES / INFLUENCES

I have just ordered a subscription to Creative Review, making it easier to follow the creative industries – as I often find it difficult to keep up with what’s happening. As well as this I need to make sure I check design blogs/websites.

Design wise, I would say my biggest influence would be Vince Frost. I can relate to, and look up to his intelligent and playful typographic approach to design, and see his work as something to strive towards. In terms of clients and design ‘ethos’, however, I would say that companies like The Ultimate Holding Company and The Ethical Graphic Design Company, who focus on pro bono and charity work.

I would say that UHC is now my biggest influence since doing an internship there. It has really influenced me but has shown how difficult it is to work within 'ethical' graphic design.

SUBJECT

I wish to do educational design that addresses the issues of asylum and immigration. I don’t intend for this to turn into promotion of one point of view, I just wish to show that these issues need to be addressed from an objective and educated point of view.

Alongside this I now wish to show how there is a series of issues that are all tied together––asylum/immigration/war/poverty/world-trade/etc––that are often considered 'not my problem', when they are often perpetuated by the over-consumption and general ignorance of the British public.

RESEARCH AREAS / RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

I wish to speak to other designers (possibly Frost) to ask how they went about certain briefs, print processes, etc. as well as speaking designers who have dealt with similar briefs to mine to ask advice.

Read design magazines and books, as well as current affairs ones – such as Adbusters, The Guardian, New Statesman, etc.

I aim to check design websites and blogs regularly – such as Type Neu, The Serif, Design Activism, Another Limited Rebellion, etc. As well as non-design websites such as the Guardian, Wikipedia, BBC News, etc.

To research asylum and immigration I will need to look at the limited informational material available, talk to organisations such as No Borders, Home Office, Refugee Council, Refugee Action, etc., as well as research the oppositional organisations such as the BNP. I will also need to find out how much the general public knows about the issue.

I have done an internship (which I have already mentioned twice), conducted some interviews with designers, and done some work for the Refugee Council. I am also in the process of quizzing the general public about their general knowledge of the issues I will be dealing with––I need to ensure that I do this without offending/isolating people.

DESIGN PRACTICE

I imagine my outcomes to be a combination of information design and advertising design. The design will have to be completely focused around the audience.

I have emailed the Head of Media at the Refugee Council to see if there is any way that my work can be developed for the Refugee Council in the hope that the work I produce at college will be used in the ‘real world’. I am awaiting a reply.

I am working / have worked 5 briefs: a blog design for the Refugee Council allotment scheme, branding/stationary for Salvedge, End of Year Show competition; and two briefs I am just starting––working with Sally McGee from the Refugee Council to design an information booklet  for young people about Asylum Seekers, hopefully to be distrobuted in Refugee Week; and a cross-platform campaign to educate people about, and encourage people to question, the role that Britain plays internationally.

DESIGN CONTEXT

Obviously I will research the facts of immigration and asylum in the UK (such as laws, reasons for claiming asylum, what countries people come from, etc), but I will also need to find out what people already know or think they know.

I will need look at ways that issues like this can be addressed through design. How you can avoid isolating people, annoying them etc, and address them on their level.

Theories such as the Marxist/Post-Marxist ideas of ‘Othering’ and Carol. J Adams theory of the ‘absent-referent’ are important in explaining why people may be confrontational or stubborn when present with issues like the ones I intend on exploring.

I have emailed the Ultimate Holding Company asking if I can visit them to get advice, etc., and I have emailed the Ethical Design Company.

I completely misunderstood 'Design Context' when I first wrote this.

The outcome of my Design Context will be a book based around a fairly in-depth case study of UHC and a series of other smaller case-studies/interviews with designers or people involved in the promotion of charities. This will be broken up with second-hand interviews I have found in books, as well as design work and quotes.


PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Hopefully, I will be back at Thompson in Easter, but as this is the only place I have any experience of working, I would like to do another work placement. If The Ultimate Holding Company agree to meet with me I may ask them about a placement.

I also intend on entering my work into the ISTD competition and entering the College’s End of Year Show competition again.

I decided not to do another placement at Thompson, as I didn't feel I could take a week out of my FMP. I missed the ISTD deadline––kind of on purpose––as it would have been a lot of hassle  finishing my work and entering it, and I have decided that I would rather have less stress in my life than 'ISTD' after my name. I may regret that.

I have done two briefs (one for the Refugee Council, and one for Salvedge), and I intend for my booklet brief to go live, which means I need to research funding.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frost – Sorry Trees
The Advertising Concept Book – Pete Barry
Guerrilla Advertising – Lucas and Dorraine
Good – Lucienne Roberts
Conscientious Objectives – Cranmer and Zapaterra
100 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers – Plazm
Print and Finish - Ambrose and Harris
Special Effects – Allrightsreserved
Citizen Designer – Steven Heller
The Layout Book – Ambrose and Harris

Selling Olga – Luisa Waugh

The Immigration Invasion – Arthur Kemp

Irrationality – Stuart Sutherland

Britain – Marl Leonard

The No Nonsense Guide to Globalization – New Internationalist

Dark Heart – Nick Davies

JOURNALS

Creative Review
Adbusters
Computer Arts
IDN
Guardian
New Statesman

WEBSITES

Typeneu.com
Theserif.net
Worldstudio.org
Frostdesign.com.au
Designactivism.net
ALRdesign.com

ffffound.com

knowmore.org

socialchangewebsites.com

socialchange.org.uk

ctrlaltshift.co.uk

labourbehindthelabel.com

planetoftheyates.com