LECTURE REFLECTION
How did we get here?
I was thinking about this a lot whilst listening to the interview in the first couple minutes, & then Maziar mentioned exactly what I was thinking about:
“History is fundamental to the understanding of our practice.” – Maziar Raein.
I believe it is important to be educated on the history of where things that passionate me come from, whether it’s the origins of a specific music genre, the first scuba diving gear or how the first camera was created. This is because I believe being educated about specific subjects can really give insight & future creative thoughts on the matter. Understanding things & really being able to trace them back makes it all connect neatly in my brain, & often has me coming up with new ways of doing something.
This interview partly expanded on how an entire movement kicked things off for a new era of graphic design. Having the chance to have so much freedom & opportunities in this field today, as well as having the privilege to have all this information @ the tip of my fingertips is very humbling. I believe that having the chance to access all this information & to learn about different ways in which past generations expressed themselves through graphic design is a very eyes opening opportunity that will in the future give us the chance to come up with new ways of innovating out passion through mixing all these different ways of working to once again create something completely new & innovative. Leaving us with this question: how do we grow from this & make it even more impactful?
I just got to the part where Susanna mentions what I just talked about above: she really did open my eyes actually by mentioning that we today have all this information available to us but then we do not actually go out & talk with professionals about their experiences & knowledge on the subjects. I am very guilty of this, & have been trying to get to talk to professionals & others experienced in the field, but find it very hard as I grew up with the www being able to answer my questions faster & easier than someone I could have looked for for a long time & not find. I don’t know if that makes any sense! But this is just my take on it (:
I also find it really refreshing & validating how Susanna mentioned researching into Generation Z & actually trying to understand what it is like growing up surrounded by all this technology. We are definitely not our stereotypes, & are justing trying to adapt to all the craze that we grew up with (just like any generation really). Most of us want to change the world for the better & use technology & art to do this.
WORKSHOP CHALLENGE
During my initial research, I found it very hard to find design related studios in my town. I chatted to some locals & did some door to door investigation. I found out that most independent graphic businesses which have massively impacted design in the town today, have all pretty much moved out to outer skirts, neighbouring cities, or simply shut down. This is mainly due to the increase of rent (the closest to the high street or the train station = the most expensive), & to larger corporations taking over. Today, walking through Guildford, you will come to see big names such as Snappy Snaps. When it comes to the history of the town’s design, it does not go much further than architectural structures such as the Guildford Castle & the Guildford Cathedral. In terms of independent businesses, you will find a lot of architects & interior designers located in the town, most of them established companies that just use the town as their headquarters.
There is a serious lack in design studios around the town. The 2 I came across were Studio Tangerines (which seems to have shut down recently), & Flourish. This might be due to either London being fairly close (only a 30 minutes train ride), & businesses preferring to relocate there, or that people would rather just work from the comfort of their own home (which, seems like the case, considering that while wondering around town & walking past some houses, it seemed a number of people were actually doing some sort of graphic work in offices that looked to be in houses.)
Finally, it was very hard to find the core of the remaining businesses that still shape the town today, but I have come up with the following 3, which I have selected based on their work around the city for the community & their independence.
FINAL OUTCOME
DESIGN PRACTICES
Lytle Associates Architects – Lytle Associates is an independent architect design studio located @ the bottom of the Guildford high street. The company was established in 1987, and 33 years later, it employs 5 directors, as well as 20 staff. Their projects go from developing architectural plans for homes, to schools, to restaurants, & have worked all over Southern England as well as London. Today, they work in central London, as well are the Guildford area. They are an extremely established & renowned business in this city, & are definitely the most popular architectural business in town. On top of this, they won an award for “best professional property services” in 2019.
Guildford Signs – Guildford Signs have been designing & installing signs around the town for over 40 years, & therefore have had to adapt to the change of technology within graphic design. On their website they mention they are “experienced and well equipped with the latest material, products and machinery” showing that they are passionate & determined to give the best work to their customers.
flourish – flourish is an independent design studio specialising in branding & web design. The agency is located @ the bottom of the high street, & is the only design studio located in town. I visited the premises a couple of times, & knocked @ the door multiple times but for some reason no one seemed to be there so unfortunately I could not get as much information about them as I wanted to. I also attempted to direct message them on Instragram, but had no luck there either. Nonetheless, their website showcases their work, & gives a nice overview of what they stand for, as well as brands they partner with, & have an overall very interestingly designed website.
DESIGN BUSINESSES
Finally, for the design production businesses located in my city I selected the following:
- Spiral Studios (audio production)
- NXT Digital Solutions (web designer)
- Linnerlake Ltd (commercial printer)
OUTCOME REFLECTION
After some discussions with the employees @ both Guildford Signs & Lytle Associates, I came up with the conclusion that there is a real lack of design opportunities within my town, & the council does not seem to be very keen on funding any art related institutions, whether community center related or independent start up related.
Even just walking around the town, you can tell that there is no real display of design, apart for some statues & the occasional graffiti that gets covered back up with white paint after a couple days. There is no such thing as art installations, or interactive set ups, To sum it up, he furthest design goes in my town is in the architecture of the buildings surrounding it.
Mandy Galli 