Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Holland, and I am going to be teaching you today.

And today we're gonna be, Finding our own Design Style, and that's part of our unit about Finding our artistic voices: an introduction to the creative process.

By the end of today, you're gonna be able to use traditional and digital approaches and remixing your work to be able to develop your own design style.

Our keywords are emulate.

This means studying and copying the style of another designer to learn their techniques.

Remix, which means taking existing styles, images, ideas, or influences, and changing them by adding your own twist to create something new and unique.

And blend, which means smoothly combining colours, shapes, textures, or images to create a seamless and visually harmonious effect.

And we're gonna be doing all three of these things today in practise, so you'll be able to explore what these words mean more fully.

Our lesson is of two parts today.

So we're gonna first of all start exploring and looking at what traditional and digital techniques are and how we can use them and how other artists and designers have use them.

And then we're gonna be looking at remixing and blending to find our own style.

So we're gonna be creating our own piece of design work, which is very exciting.

So let's start with traditional and digital techniques.

And here we have Alex and Alex's graphic design style is shaped by a mixture of many things, and this includes his personal experiences, so what's he's experience in life, and perhaps what's going on around him in the world.

And that's combined with his reflective practise, which we'll discuss a little more.

Then it's about the purpose of the design he's making.

So what's the purpose of it? What's the point of it? And very closely linked to this is the target audience or client that he's making it for.

And lastly is how he then uses the design elements in his work.

So thinking about that reflective practise, part of that is experimenting with techniques and testing out new materials, styles or tools.

So here we have Aisha, Sam, and Alex working around the table with their sketchbooks, pencils, pens, scissors.

And we have Laura working on a tablet.

They're all taking part in this reflective practise.

Thinking about reflective practise and specifically graphic design.

Which of these students, Aisha, Sam, and Alex or Laura, or maybe both are experimenting with graphic design techniques as part of this reflective practise? What do you think? Yeah, you're completely right.

They are using different tools, so a tablet or their sketchbooks and pens and pencils, but all of them are experimenting with graphic design techniques.

So they're all taking part of this reflective practise in graphic design because experimentation is about the process and reflection, not which tool you use.

And graphic designers might use a combination of traditional approaches such as the first picture, traditional calligraphy and digital approaches such as the second photograph here, digital typography to develop their ideas and make their graphic design work.

Can you think of any other examples of traditional and digital approaches to graphic design? I'm sure you can think of a lot.

I wonder what you've come up with.

Well, here are a couple.

So traditional approaches might be handmade, so they could include hand-drawn typography.

We just saw the calligraphy.

Collage, poster making and printmaking, lots and lots of other possibilities, but that's a few.

Whereas digital approaches might use software and can include things like factor illustration, digital collage, photo manipulation, and computer generated typography.

Xu Bing is a Chinese artist and graphic designer known for his experimental approach to language typography and printmaking.

So his work challenges the way we understand written communication because he blends traditional calligraphy with modern graphic design and conceptual art.

So three really large areas of ideas he blends together.

So he brings them seamlessly and harmoniously together.

And his work demonstrates how typography is not just about legibility or readability.

So it's not just about how easy is this and how quick is this to read, but it's also about fiction, visual structure, rhythm, cultural identity and expression.

A check for understanding.

So which of these are examples of traditional approaches to graphic design? And we have digital collage, hand-drawn typography or computer generated typography.

Well done.

I'm sure you ordered brilliantly at this.

Of course, hand-drawn typography is a traditional approach to graphic design.

Digital collage and computer generated typography are both digital approaches.

Traditional approaches to graphic design existed before digital tools and are still widely used today.

And they can be used on their own or in combination with digital techniques because whilst digital techniques may allow for increased precision, efficiency and experimentation, they never will replace the designer's role in making intentional and meaningful design choices.

We know that the designer's unique voice and style is still vital and is communicated through those techniques.

Luba Lukova is a graphic designer and illustrator known for creating bold thought-provoking posters.

She was born in Bulgaria and later moved to the United States, and she's famous for using simple but powerful images to communicate big social issues like equality, like freedom, like justice.

Lukova's work is striking because she blends, so she brings together seamlessly and harmoniously traditional design methods with modern techniques.

And how she does this is she sketches her ideas by hand first.

So she uses pencil and ink and that helps her develop strong, simple shapes.

And then she turns them into digital design.

And she actually often mixes hand-drawn text with digital fonts that keep her posters looking unique and showing how traditional methods like printmaking and drawing can still work in graphic design.

A check for understanding.

True or false? Traditional approaches to graphic design are no longer used today.

Well done.

Yes, of course it's false.

But I would like you to think of the sentence now to explain why that's false? Did you manage to come up with one? I'm sure you did, and I wonder if it's similar to mine.

So I've said traditional approaches to graphic design existed before digital tools, but are still widely used today.

Our first task, and what I'd like you to do is pick a word or a short phrase, so a short collection of words, link to chosen theme and create a version blending together.

So bringing harmoniously and seamlessly together traditional and digital techniques.

So you can think back to those artists we've looked at for inspiration.

You can carry on exploring and researching, but what I'd like you to do is take that short phrase or word and then blend traditional and digital techniques to create a design.

Off you go.

Well, I wonder what you've come up with.

I imagine you've come up with some brilliant designs and I only wish I could see them all, but let's have a look at what our pupil did.

So there are loads and lots and lots of possible outcomes for this, but you might have photographed the original drawing.

So this pupil drew using pencil and sketching their phrase, work hard, dream big, which is a very good phrase by pencil.

And then they photographed it on the tablet.

And then they used digital tools to develop the design.

You might have experimented with different colours, different layouts.

I wonder which one of these colours you like the best.

Does it look similar to the design you've done? Have a think and reflect.

Now seeing these, would you change anything about your design? Well, well done.

So you've successfully blended, traditional and digital techniques to start developing your own design style.

Now we move on to the second learning cycle.

So this is where we're gonna learn about remixing and blending to find your own style.

So graphic designers, whether working traditionally or digitally, use the design elements to help them design.

By experimenting with ways of working and the design elements, they can keep rediscovering and refining their voice and graphic design style.

And this is really important.

We don't just develop a style and then that stays stagnant.

That's it for life.

It is continually developing.

Often as we grow up, as we grow older, as different things are happening in the world around us, as we have different influences, as we learn more about different artists and designers, our style will evolve and develop too.

And that's really important because of course design style is about an expression of us.

And if we change or evolve, we want our design style to reflect that.

True or false? Check for understanding.

By sticking to fixed ways of working.

So just one or two ways of working and ignoring the design elements.

Designers can still keep rediscovering and refining their voice and graphic design style.

True or false? Well done.

Of course that is false and we know it.

We need to be experimenting with ways of working in the design element.

We need to keep rediscovering and refining our voice and graphic design style.

How do we do that? Well, there are many ways that designers find and develop their style.

And this is, again, a continual process.

It's all intertwined and it's continual.

We never finish as such.

We might stick to a style for a little while, but then as we change, we might want to come back and revisit it.

And this process has certain stages that you might move through.

Again, it's not fixed, but these are some that you may well move through.

And the first is explore.

So when you are looking at artists and designers you admire.

So you might go to an art gallery and you might see an artist that really piques your interest that you admire and you go and explore more.

Or you might be looking online and you might see a designer that you really inspires you and you delve deeper.

And then what you may do is emulate first.

And emulate means you copy their work, but you copy to learn.

You don't copy just for copying sake, you copy to learn about their style and their techniques.

But then you break the rules.

And following that, this is really important, you create a lot.

Personal styles only develop through practise and making.

So repeated practise and making.

And that allows us to really, really refine what our style is.

And then you might remix the trends, which we're gonna be looking at particularly now.

So you might take that inspiration from those artists and designers you admire and you've explored and that you've learned about and you've practised using their style.

But then, and this is really important, you add your own unique twist.

A common challenge of designers doing this exploring and emulating is this fear of not being original and inadvertently copying, thinking, oh my gosh, I'm copying this artist.

The reality is that nothing is 100% original.

That artist or designer you are looking at will have been influenced by something else.

So nothing can ever be 100% original.

So instead of chasing this idea of originality, what we need to do is focus on making our work authentic.

And we can do this by remixing our different influences in a unique way that expresses ourself.

David Carson does this.

David Carson is a graphic designer, best known for pioneering something called grunge typography in the 1990s.

His work remixed so remix the traditional design rules of clean layouts and legible, so readable type by embracing chaos, distortion, and expression.

So he mixed the kind of clean, legible type with this expressive design.

And before becoming a designer, he was a surfer and skateboarder.

And these subcultures are actually known for the DIY aesthetic for rebellion and this raw energy.

And that's heavily influenced his work.

Nontsikelelo Mutiti, also known as Nontsi Mutiti, is a Zimbabwe and born visual artist, educator and graphic designer.

And she blends traditional African cultural elements with modern graphic design.

Mutiti's work is connected to graphic design, but she expands its definition by remixing traditional African art forms, such as hair braiding patterns into typography, print, and digital design.

So she blends these two together.

Mutiti's work demonstrates how designers can remix cultural traditions by integrating and blending so harmoniously and seamlessly blending them into modern contexts such as typography, print, and digital design.

And it creates unique designs that honour their origins while engaging new audiences.

A quick CFU.

What might it mean to remix a trend as a graphic designer? Does it mean to take inspiration from other work and criticise it? Does it mean to copy another designer's work? Or does it mean to take inspiration from other work and places and add your own twist? Well done.

Let's have a look.

Of course, it's to take inspiration from other work and places and add your own twist.

Remember, nothing is 100% original.

Let's move on to our final task.

And this is a bit of a longer task and it's when you get to emulate, blend and remix, a piece of graphic design for yourself.

What I'd like you to first of all do is find a design piece you like.

For example, I like this graphic design expressing this graphic designer style of the love poster that we can see here.

I really like the layered lettering and the colours on sort of on rainbow colours.

I really like that.

And I love the bright yellow background.

I then want you to go and emulate that.

So to copy it, to learn from it.

So I might take lots of sketches of this love and really understand how they layer these letters so precisely.

I might look closely at the colour, I might try different backgrounds.

What happens if I change the background? Does it look as good? I'm learning from their design elements and their choices.

Then I would like you to blend it so, and remix it.

So I'd like you to blend different styles, blend different techniques, both traditional and digital, or perhaps just digital, but different digital techniques.

And I'd like you to remix it.

So I want you to put your own twist on it and put your own.

So with this love, I want to be able to express what I feel it should mean.

And you could also do this by introducing your own influences, by combining elements from different sources.

So looking at lots of different pieces of inspiration or adding a unique twist.

And you can experiment with alterations and colour layout or theme to create something fresh and personal, but whilst still retaining that inspiration from the original.

Right? I'm gonna go off and do mine.

You pause the video and do yours.

Right, well done.

I wish I could see yours.

I imagine it's amazing and I hope it's really helped develop your personal style.

Let's look at mine.

So again, there are so many possibilities, but I wanted to talk you through my journey.

So as I said, I emulated this love design and I wanted to really understand these layers of colours a little bit more.

And I wanted to change the background.

I love this range of different colours, but I wasn't sure about this really hard background, although it's really impactful.

For me, the word love has a different essence, a softer essence.

And so I worked with this different type of background and I layered the lettering in a little bit of a softer way.

And I changed the type font, the font, because I wanted it to be a little softer.

I still wanted it to have that sort of contemporary sense, so I kept some straight line.

So I played around with digital typography, but I wanted it to be a little softer.

So I wanted to kind of give an feel of a sort of blurred, blurred colours.

That was my middle design.

The problem I felt was that the yellow in the love wasn't really popping out.

It still had the essence of the initial piece, but it wasn't popping out.

So I moved on and I changed the yellow to white 'cause I felt that was much more impactful and I didn't worry too much 'cause I felt that the yellow of the first background is still there in my background.

And I wanted to add in one, to have a bit more impact and to give my, I personally always say one love.

So I wanted to express myself.

So here you can see my journey in developing my design style.

I wonder what yours look like.

Did you have to go through lots of different stages? Did you emulate a lot? How did you blend it? How did you remix it? Well, well done.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.

We've learned a lot, including graphics designers using combinations of traditional and digital approaches.

They don't have to stick with one.

Really importantly, by experimenting with ways of working and the design elements, you can develop your own graphic design style.

And that's what we want and that's what you've been doing today.

So well done.

And really important.

Again, nothing is 100% original.

Don't worry about chasing that originality.

Every artist and designer is influenced by something and designers often emulate other designers work, so they copy and learn from it before remixing it and adding their own twist.

Thank you for joining me today, and I hope to see you again very soon.