Lachy Richards

The futures module was a challenging but interesting learning experience. I can see that the futures model is quite far reaching and based in conceptualism. I think that it represents a vital part of what it is to be a successful designer. The task in this class was to have a conversation with a peer about their favourite song. From this we had to put together a return brief and finally create a design artefact. 

It was refreshing to have somewhat un-conventional creative expectations put on the development of this assessment piece. Writing a piece of text and then styling it in accordance with my own feelings about the conversation and subject matter was a really great jumping off point for the task. I hadn’t really had the opportunity to do something like this in the previous semester or other classes. At the moment the model seems to be that we are given a piece of text and told to style it how we please. I find a lot of the time the text is really dry or un-relatable so it was a great experience to be able to manipulate the text form the ground up. 

I think futures module can help my practice a lot as it really encourages approaching issues from a different angle. I’ve often found that this is the best way to create something unique and inspiring. The task we were given was great as it was essentially focussed around having a meaningful connection with the person you are designing for. I though this was a really interesting concept as a lot of the time we seem to be designing without having this person or group in mind. Having an honest conversations with the people or groups I am designing for is something I see as key to the development of my practice.

The strategy module was my favourite of the three specialist streams. Essentially the brief in this class was to dissect and explore a prominent brand. I chose to explore Airbnb as it is such a diverse company. I wanted to learn how the company behind the branding managed to create such an effective visual identity despite the obvious challenges. The business model is not simple like say a fashion label or a beverage. Service companies like this only have to generate quite a simple branding scheme compared to Airbnb. Alternatively Airbnb has quite a hard pitch to sell, basically they are trying to convince you to either stay in a strangers home, or let a stranger stay in yours. A strong brand for a company like this is key as it builds the trust that is so needed for the business to be effective. 

I got really deep into the brand, looking at as many case studies I could. As well as researching on the Airbnb blog and reading news articles that were published when the brand was rolled out. I got quite a joy out of thoroughly researching Airbnb. Given the opportunity I would definitely like to work in a position where I can explore visual identity on an even deeper scale. I was also really into creating the document that went along with the research. 

I spent hours crafting and adjusting the document to get something that I thought was up to a corporate standard. Creating + publishing long-form documents is definitely one of my specialities and I want to incorporate this into my practice as much as I can in my future learning and practice. David Cutter was extremely helpful in giving feedback and pushing my research and recommendations in the right direction. I’m definitely looking forward to the next strategy based subject I take.

Strategy Mock Up 01

Strategy Mock Up 02

For the craft module we were tasked with creating a 4 page flip book exploring the theme of metamorphoses. We had three classes all of which involved drawing with charcoal and conti. I’m not really an illustrator at all so I didn’t really get a whole lot out of working in this way. I understand that drawing is supposed to be creatively stimulating but for me it’s quite stifling. Personally I find no joy or outlet in still life drawing. I am pretty certain I won’t be bringing my own illustrations or drawings into my practice at any point in the future.

In class we studied the Franz Kafka novel Metamorphoses. This was a pretty interesting read and helped a lot with inspiring the 4 page flip book that I made. I think that the concept of metamorphoses is pretty poignant especially at the stage that we are in as a cohort. We are all figuring out how we want the next few years of our education to pan out. At the end of the course we all will have changed significantly, not unlike the character in Metamorphoses. I’m looking forward to seeing how my practice develops but I’m still pretty certain illustration won’t really be a part of it.

It was great to see our branding system being used so diversely throughout the event. People had definitely responded to it and attempted to use it in the way that we had intended. I would say however that it could have been pushed slightly further. In saying this creating and rolling out a brand is a bit of a rush for me. I’m starting to think about really focussing in on branding and identity in my practice. The experience that I gained during this semester’s Food project has been very eye opening. 

For a long time I saw identity and branding as only surface level design. I didn’t really think past how a logo was generated or how branded collateral was mocked-up. Having the opportunity to create a branding system for a really open brief changed my perspective completely. Discussing and critiquing different visual identity’s leading up to the creation of the system was also really helpful. I was able to really dig deep and see what high end brands were made of and why. Agency’s like Studio Round + Experimental Jetset have changed the way I think about brands for the better. 

Food Logo + System in Use:

Logo used on packaging for bespoke utensils

Logo used on paper food cup

This was the week of the Food event. As we had already created and supplied the visual identity to the rest of the cohort my team and I did not have a great deal of work left to contribute. I could see that other groups who were contributing items that were intended to be used on the event day or needed to be ready by the event day were getting busier. It was quite interesting to see how our work flow varied compared to the other groups. If we had been working to the same schedule as the team that was bumping in the entrance to the alumni court there would have been no point in our contribution.

A lot of other teams where starting to contact me regarding adding their collateral to the tote bags before the event. I decided that I would try and get the groups to supply their items all at once. This would save confusion and give them all a clear deadline for when they had to have their contributions ready. I put the word out on the Facebook page and organised to be available during the hours before the event for drop-off. This worked pretty well I never realised how active the cohort was on the Facebook group.

Lachie CC, Emily P, Emily F, Walter and I all got together in the morning before the event and set to adding the items to the bags. After this we walked them to the Alumni Court and distributed them amongst our peers. Once everyone had the tote bags we headed off the the markets. I think the tote bags looked pretty good but they weren’t really very distinct. I had this idea in my mind that it would be very obvious we were all in a big group. We were obviously in a group but there wasn’t a great sense of uniformity. I suppose you really need branded clothing or T-Shirts to make a crowd of people really stand out. I’ll keep this in mind for my future practice. The tote bags did serve as a great way of getting everyone contributions together though. All up I think there was about 12 different items in each. It was like being at the Royal Easter Show.

Packing Tote Bags

Emily P clowning around

Andy showing us how to use a tote properly

Packed and ready

In order to print the bags we needed access the masters course facilities. Usually we wouldn’t be permitted to do this but my friends in the masters course were coincidently printing their own bags and needed help. I offered to help them do some screen printing in return for using their facilities. I was able to make a screen using photo-emulsion. It was important that we make a screen this way as it’s not possible to print 100 tote bags using only a paper or vinyl stencil.

After the stencil was made we set about printing the bags. Andy had reserved a room for us to print in so we got together as a group and set up the printing equipment.

1st Roadbump The first issue we had was that the platen was too big to fit the tote bags over. I had to retrofit a piece of cardboard to the platen in order to get the bag under the screen. Forcing the bags onto a platen that is too large would have taken a long time and could have potentially ripped the bags. This is just another one of this issues that you face with screen printing your equipment isn’t always going to be perfect for your desired outcome. From my experience with printing I know how important having loads of sticky tape at your disposal is.

Taping cardboard to the platen in order to fit the bags

2nd Roadbump This second problem we had was that the stencil was too large for the squeegee. Every time I would print areas would be left out and I would get a tide mark in the print. Emily P had the idea to print around the stencil in a curved motion in order to avoid this issue. It worked perfectly. The only issue was that I had to pivot around the O which made it slightly heavier than the other letters. We agreed that this actually gave the print a nice warmth so went ahead with printing.

Trying to print the whole image in one go

I was really glad to get back behind some printing equipment to make collateral for the event. There’s nothing better than being able to print your own work. Even if I’m only prototyping I think it’s important because there is a such a vast disconnect when you’re just creating artwork behind a screen and sending it to printer. Sure it’s gratifying to get some fantastically printed collateral back from a professional printer but there is always something missing. I definitely want to invest in my own equipment in the future so I can offer bespoke printing services to my clients.

The plan for the Food event was to walk to the Queen Victoria Market, purchase some fruit and bring it back for a fruit salad. We thought that a good way to add some uniformity to the event was to organise some tote bags with branding printed on them. 

Emily F put her hand up to create the tote bag artwork. While she was making the artwork I set about organising the purchasing of the bags and figuring out exactly how we were going to print them. I also drafted up a GIF with the event information, made some final posters, a Facebook event page image and some invitations that could be printed. My team members were set about their own tasks too. Emily P was created and Instagram and made a multitude of posters and Lachie CC put together a style guide and also made posters.

The team working on posters concepts

We split up these tasks by listing out what we wanted to achieve and then delegating who would do each task on a hands up first basis. I’m sure there are more sophisticated ways sorting out a division of labour but our group is relatively easy going and work well together so this suited us fine. In a real studio setting there is probably a system which evens out the workload for everyone based on their skills and availability this wasn’t available to us but I would like to explore a system like this for labour division in my future practice.

As we were now slightly behind on account of scrapping our original idea it was important to catch up. It was decided that everyone would spend the week creating logo prototypes then we would get together before class and go through our ideas selecting elements of each that we thought would work. I spent the entire Sunday before class on a rapid sprint trialling different logo options and opportunities. Rather than wasting time getting attached to a single logo option I crafted about 20 and then put them to the test. 

Food Logo Unsuccessful Options

For me the logo had to be a tool first, its aesthetic qualities could wait for now. I knew that I was never going to be able to please everyone in my group let alone the entire cohort. So instead I focused on creating a logo device that worked and could be adapted to suit each designer's personal aesthetic preferences.

Food Poster Iterations 

After a hard earned break we where back for the second half of the semester. My team and I caught up early before a session to start planning out what we would be doing for the rest of the semester. It became apparent that what we had initially anticipated from the cohort was vastly different to what they had actually chosen to focus on. With a large amount of groups wanting to do product design and a decent handful also making websites we decided to take stock and see if we had any room to move on our project.

We saw an opening that we considered almost essential to the development of the Food project. Not a single group had chosen to create a visual identity for the project. We decided to drop the website that we had planned and start fresh by creating a branding system. As we had kept our initial planning so open it was really easy to drop. No one had committed any time into actually crafting anything. Rather we had focussed on research and planning so there was no creative investment at that point. 

In this weeks session my team and I generated an outline for what it was that we wanted to do for the Food project. We had initially anticipated that a large number of groups would be contributing design related outcomes. We wanted to create a system that could organise these outcomes and make sure that they where accessible to anyone within the cohort that required them. 

For this reason we decided that we wanted to focus on service design. We where inspired to create a website or hub where teams could go to get the information or documents that they needed to help them with their own projects.

We looked at projects like go-wander.org by Carvalho Bernau a community research hub that tailors the viewers experience by only showing them relevant content. It also maps the information journey they are on so they can review and assess relevant content. We knew that it was unlikely we could make something as intuitive as this but where still inspired to create a hub that was equally as helpful.

Week 3′s session was cancelled due to staff being unwell so we picked up where we left off in week 4. As a group we got together and mapped out our experience visiting Queen Victoria Markets to eat together. It was interesting to take an in-depth look at how our experience was shaped by ourselves and also outside influences.

We looked at two case studies in class but for me the most important was the Fallen Fruit Project. Fallen Fruit was a project that mapped and documented locations throughout Los Angeles where you could find fruit hanging over public property. As the fruit is located in a public place it becomes public property and is available to anyone. I thought this was a fantastic initiative because it was so perfectly simple and positive. 

Fallen Fruit (USA)

One of the strongest aspects of this project is the community values that it champions. If there was no community around this project it wouldn’t work. To me this was a really interesting way of looking at art and design. There was no single stakeholder profiting or benefiting from this activity. Rather the whole community could enjoy and be involved in the concept. 

In this weeks class we looked at two separate case studies, Mai Ueda’s “World Tea Gathering” and Nicola Tosic’s “Meet in a nice restaurant” project. Both case studies focused on open art and design outcomes.

Nicola Tosic’s “Meet in a nice restaurant” project was good segue into our first team activity. We were given the task of meeting with up with our team members to enjoy a meal during the week.

My team decided to take a trip down the the Queen Victoria Markets. This was a great exercise to take on as a group as it gave us the opportunity to get to know each other outside of a university context. 

Emily documenting our team building

As we are going to be working together quite closely for the next 11 weeks it’s important that we begin to understand each other as individuals. Socialising as a group within the confines of the university is important but it is also very helpful to share a meal with a group to facilitate team building. 

Me enjoying a lamb and chilli borek

For this semester’s group project my group and I are working on creating a visual identity for the event. Initially we had planned to create a website as a service however there were quite a few other groups going down this route.

We wanted to create a visual identity that was as open to creative interpretation as the brief. So after some brainstorming and little back and forth we landed on the idea of using a visual device to bring the identity together. This is not uncommon to some approaches pioneered by Experimental Jetset and Pentagram. 

Experimental Jetset created this W or Zig Zag device to tie in all the different publications put out by The Whitney Art Museum in New York. It’s simple, versatile and extremely effective. We wanted to create a device that took a similar approach.

We prototyped a lot of different logo options all with varied levels of success.

After a few options had been sketched out they where digitised and tested for validity.

The option that proved the most successful was the semi circle device. It’s a positive and versatile shape that can be easily rolled out across a number of different application. 

To say that Gordon Matta Clark was ahead of his time would be an understatement of grand proportions. His artist run restaurant named “FOOD” was fundamental in shaping the way that we perceive art and dining today. 

A few key points that resonated with me about the project:

• Food was simple and affordable • Diners didn’t have a choice in what the ate • Food was always fresh, often procured at market that day • Intention was to bring community together • Food was an “active and dynamic site” • Served nearly 100 people daily • Food was documented artistically in many different way

The fact that a group of artist could come together and put together an operation like this is inspiring. My group and I can definitely learn a lot from the way that the operation was run. Collaboration was clearly the only way that this project could ever have succeeded.

Part 4. Final Product

Overall I’m really happy with how this has turned out. It was a lot of effort but I think it was worth it and I would feel good about sending this to Na. It’s not everyday you get to talk to someone who really inspires you let alone dedicate and entire assignment to them. For me this has been a really valuable exercise I had the chance to work with some different mediums, talk to someone who inspires me and expand my own practice at the same time. 

Part 3. Printing

After prototyping and editing the publication to Na’s liking I was ready to print + bind my final product. I had used Officeworks to print a previous outcome for another class so I was aware of the restraints involved, i.e glossy finish, expensive, difficult to make changes, generally inflexible. I really wanted to be behind the driving seat when it came to printing to make sure that I could achieve the result that I wanted. Andy had informed me that I may be able to use the Risograph printer however this was not the case. I was however able to use a small screen-printing set-up that he had somehow acquire. 

I decided that I would buy my own stock feed it through the Ricoh printers available in building 9 and then do placements prints using the screen printing equipment. I have never worked with two printing results before and I found it really interesting. The key for me was to make sure that I was operating within the means of each device so as not to create inconsistencies. This meant that the shape I was screen printing had to be a particular size and the stock that I chose had to feed correctly into the Ricoh. I can now see how manipulating and exploring the different outcomes of printing devices can yield really interesting results. This is something that I won’t forget quickly. 

As much as the results from purely digitally printing would have been passable I found that using the wet screen printing ink really lifted the overall feel of my publication. The yellow screen printing ink is super bright and gives off an inviting warm glow that can be felt throughout the publication. Breaking away from conventional printing methods was an eye opening experience for me and something that I will definitely introduce into my own practice.

Part 2. Publishing + Prototype 

I love Na’s publication work so it felt right for me to turn the conversation that we had into a small hand made zine. I hadn’t tried my hand at publication before so I knew it would be a challenge but I didn’t realise how rewarding this process would actually be. It was a long process with lots of road bumps but I’m so excited by this medium that I will definitely be exploring it further in my practice.

The most helpful tool that I had during the development of my publication was a prototype. The prototype was crucial in making design decisions in real-time. It allowed me to reasonably foresee the different potentials for my final outcome without having to invest too much valuable time. Designing in this way highlighted for me the importance of working with my hands. Physically being able to adjust elements or trial ideas on the go allowed me to push the idea far further than I would have been able to just pushing pixels around on a screen.

The prototype also assisted with my collaboration with Na. After looking over the first draft she had extensive changes that needed to be made, I was easily able to accomodate these with help from the prototype.