#alexmakes

So I've never posted Steven Universe art before but here! I just was really interested in how much Steven has changed from the first season to now!!!

Read about the design project by Alex Makes for Kingswood Arts here, or follow the link to view the project page: ☞ Signage Design for Kingswood Arts

Not far from the hidden away Sydenham Hill Station, on the Kingswood Estate in Dulwich, lies a historical gem that I fell in love with at first sight. Given the nickname ‘the Castle’ by locals, the crenellated parapets of the Kingswood House mansion feel whimsical and unexpected amongst the blocks of the council estate that surround it.

Kingswood House is a Victorian Grade II listed building with a colourful history, having changed hands many times over the years including ownership by the inventor of Bovril, and the local council. Then after a long lockdown period it went into private ownership once again and began its transformation into the non-profit community hub known as Kingswood Arts.

Briefing

I was able to contribute to Kingswood Arts’ transformation process by providing feedback during a consultation of local creatives, and offering my creative services.

I had attended a historical tour of the building and walked around the grounds to get a feel of the atmosphere, an understanding of the site's history, and what Kingswood Arts hope to achieve in the area going forward. I would get more information about this through the design briefing process during which my client provided detailed specifications about their goals with the project and supplied relevant brand assets for me to work with.

For this project, we would focus on the design of navigational and informational signage to be posted on the grounds of Kingswood House and at one of the entrances to Kingswood Estate. I prepared a proposal document for the client, to confirm our shared vision of what should be achieved and then began the design process.

Drafting

As is usual in my design process, I first brainstorm ideas and then iteratively develop the designs before selecting a few to present. The first concepts were presented with explanations for my design choices, and how each might meet the design brief in different ways. With feedback from the client on which concept they feel would most likely meet the goals of the project, I focused on utilising the most relevant design features when designing the next drafts.

Printing

We wanted the signs to be durable and long-lasting, needing to survive the English weather for as long as possible, while providing good visibility for navigation to Kingswood House. Working with local printers that could provide a relatively eco-friendly solution at a reasonable price would be ideal, so I researched some options and provided quotes for approval to the client. I could then use the appropriate print specifications to prepare the print files.

I visited Kingswood Arts again to check the locations of the signs and how they would be affixed before we ordered the prints. In this case, I recommended aluminium composite and PVC-free vinyl for use with the existing posts that would still be in quite good condition when repaired and cleaned up.

Reviewing

This project resulted in high quality print signage that was highly visible, easy to understand, and met the brief of presenting the brand clearly. We wanted the design to be accessible to a wide range of people, appeal to local community and paying service-users, keeping in mind heritage of the location, creative services and community focus. We met that goal, and I was pleased to receive positive feedback from Kingswood Arts regarding the creative process and outcomes.

The sign that Alex created was perfect for what we needed. Excellent communication and high quality end product. Very good customer service. Would 100% use them again!

Countless events have led me to where I am today – to believe the things I do, to have the motivations and desires that I do at this moment. The over-riding theme in my life has been the search for freedom – to be able to be myself, whatever that may be, but also to be free of whatever I consider to be my ‘self’… It’s an ongoing project!

I believe in the fundamental rights of everyone to freely exist, explore and identify what it means to them to be human. We should all have an opportunity to not only confront the meaning of our own personal experience of this existence, but also to have access to resources that enable us to craft our own experience. What would this look like for us? What would we discover if we made time for discovery, increased our capacity and reach, and developed true determination over our own lives? Where do we even begin?

Creativity is one way that we analyse and communicate our humanity. Sometimes what we say is conscious and deliberated, often it is an instinctive reaction to our circumstances. The most ancient art and graphics contain coded meanings that have survived history, changes in language, cultural symbols and belief systems. Our genetics predispose us to react to colours, shapes, patterns, and textures as a necessity for survival. How objects, images, and symbols relate to not only our instinctive interpretations, but also the layered meanings we assign to them, is one of the core areas of knowledge in the study of graphic communication.

Using the resources and knowledge available to me, I provide materials and services to empower people to experience their own powerful visions and journeys of discovery. Working with creative minds, unique individuals and organisations with noble goals… visions intersect, opportunities open up, and we strengthen our resolve – we will achieve great things together.

Novel Notes

Novel Notes is a medium for ethically conscious creativity, making unique environmentally sustainable and vegan stationery materials available whilst promoting intersectional social and ecological awareness. Novel Notes products are modular, customisable, minimalist and gender-neutral in design, allowing the user to create their own systems and tell their own stories. Trust in your individuality while building something greater. I believe in you. You are creating something beautiful.

Alex Makes

Alex Makes is a resource for creative services with a focus on ethical processes and outcomes. We are connected, yet out of reach from those that could help us achieve our shared goals. Use visual communication, with the help of an experienced professional graphic designer, to connect with your intended audiences, expand your ethical business and watch your creative vision come to life.

My Goals

Within the limits of our individual lifespans, physical and mental abilities, available resources, natural skills as well as learned ones, we each have something to contribute to the network of shared knowledge. I hope to be able to contribute something of my lifetime exploring and learning about visual communication to help others find their own meanings and understand those of others. The more we understand, the more we strengthen the links between us.

Let’s bring awareness.

Let’s set a standard.

Let’s make something good.

Thank you for your participation and dedication to the good work.

If you are interested in reading more about Novel Notes, browse the Journal and visit the Shop.

MarchMeetTheMaker® (MMTM) is a 31-day social media challenge for creative businesses. This event runs throughout March every year and starts on Tuesday the 1st of March this year. It takes place primarily on Instagram which makes this a really interesting visual event during which makers, crafters, creators, and artists can share their work and themselves using visual storytelling in the form of daily social media posts.

The challenge was created in 2016 by Joanne Hawker​ as a way to get out of a creative rut on social media. She created MMTM to show the different aspects of her business and encouraged other creative, small business to join in. The challenge has really taken off, gaining over 761,000 posts on the hashtag in just 6 years!

The beauty of a challenge like this is how the creative community comes together to support each other and make new connections. It is also a great opportunity to share your small business story, grow your confidence, and help people with similar interests find and enjoy your work.

I have been thinking about participating in the March Meet The Maker challenge for a couple of years, but the timing was never right for me. Now that I have a bit more time and energy, it feels more like a chance to get creative and have fun. I also look forward to getting to know new people through the hashtag!

I will be focusing on my eco-friendly and vegan stationery shop Novel Notes, although I also do graphic design work that is a bit more confidential due to the nature of the work. I will still be sharing some aspects of that business though, so if you are interested, please do follow along!

There is a lot of preparation involved, as I want to make sure I have a rough plan of what to post each day. Luckily, Joanne releases prompts before the start of March so that creators know what to post, and others can know what to search for. Keep an eye out for the following hashtags alongside #MarchMeetTheMaker so that you can click through and see more of the type of content that interests you. These are the themes for each day of March:

1. You & your work

2. Brand values

3. Planning

4. 3 things...

5. Free day – makers can take a break from posting, or post anything they want!

6. Free day

7. Favourite

8. Best Decision

9. Hands at work

10. Storage

11. Seasonal

12. Free day

13. Free day

14. The numbers

15. Time

16. Goals

17. Sneak peek

18. Sell yourself

19. Free day

20. Free day

21. Materials

22. Mistake/lesson

23. Product range

24. Milestone

25. Workspace

26. Free day

27. Free day

28. Low stock

29. New vs old

30. Day in the life

31. Looking forward

​

My plan is to post a mixture of content including photos, edited images and graphics, maybe some short videos or gifs. We will see how it goes. I will try to get a few blog posts out as well – there are a couple of topics that I think might be interesting to expand on in text.

The difficulty is finding time alongside work, projects, and life to create content, write copy, prepare hashtags for social media and search engine optimisation for blog posts… It can be quite hard to post regularly, let alone every day, when you have a small business to run, and you have to wear all the hats. The way I make big projects like this a bit more manageable is by making a plan of what I want to post, and start to prepare what I can in advance. This will mean that not everything will be representative of that specific moment in time that the post was created. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to show things accurately when images are selected, edited and posted to social media! Hopefully, the descriptions and blog posts can add a bit more insight to things behind the scenes, if the images don’t provide the full picture.

Make sure to subscribe to the Novel Notes mailing list for notifications about blog posts. If you prefer to just see the pictures that I post, the main platform for that will be Instagram. However, I will also try to repost a lot of the content to other channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

I might post relevant highlights to my graphic design website www.alexmakes.co, and if you are on LinkedIn you might see those highlights there too.

If you have ever worked with a graphic designer before, you will probably have discovered the importance of the graphic design brief. It is a crucial step in the design process and one that is necessary to save you time and money, and get you the design you want.

What is a Design Brief?

A design brief is an outline of what you are hoping to achieve from a design project. This document will contain all of the information required by a graphic designer to complete a design job, and help you to fulfil your business goals and objectives using graphic design. Sometimes the designer may utilise brand strategy or marketing methods to do this, but it is really dependent on the project. They will need to know as much as possible about your business and your goals to determine the best course of action and what type of design would work best.

If you have a consultation call with the designer, they will likely ask you a lot of questions so that they can figure out the best possible design solution for the job. They might provide you with a questionnaire to get really detailed information for the brief, but you will find it is easier to complete if you have a lot of information prepared in advance.

You may benefit from conducting an analysis of your business and the market to find out more about how it is performing comparatively to competitors, and who your current audience is. This is information that will help you to create a more complete picture of your business.

After filling out the design brief questionnaire with as much detail as possible, or sending over your own brief, the designer might have questions about some of the points. They can help you to dig deeper and uncover problems that need addressing. This is a useful and important part of the process. A skilled designer will be looking for the most effective and impactful way to solve underlying problems with their strategic design skills. You provide the information about your business, and the designer provides the strategic creative solutions.

Why Is a Brief Important?

Writing out a design brief is not only useful for the designer you work with, it can also help you to focus in on exactly what you need to achieve before starting the project. By establishing strategic goals and measurable objectives, you can have a clear measure of success for the project. You will be more likely to get the results your business needs and be able to evaluate the success of the project after it is complete.

A design brief will save time as the designer can establish what they need to do much quicker, and they will be able to create a more effective proposal. They will be able to tackle the problem you want to solve more precisely and efficiently. This in turn will mean fewer revisions throughout the design process, as you are more likely to be on the same page as the designer from the beginning due to clear communication and fewer misunderstandings. All of these factors assist in creating a positive and effective working relationship with the designer.

Clear communication and fewer changes during the design process can also save you money. The designer will be able to provide a more accurate quote for the work to be done, right from the beginning. There are also less likely to be additional costs later in the design process due to miscommunication and changes needing to be made.

What To Include in a Design Brief

It is important to describe how your business is currently positioned so that the designer can work out how to get the business to where you want it to be. You can get a great deal of value from a design project if you can provide plenty of relevant information, such as:

What your business does in terms of services and products

What your mission and values are

Demographics of the current audience

Current competition and what they do well compared to your business

How your business is doing well compared to the competition

How your business is currently differentiated from the competition

Current branding and communication style

Existing promotional materials

Provide clear and measurable information about how you would like your business to be positioned. What are your business goals, and how do you hope the design project will help you achieve those goals? What are the objectives that you can measure to evaluate the success of the project? For example, are you trying to get a certain amount of new leads, increase sales by a specific amount, or gain a number of subscribers by a certain date? Think of a realistic objective or several objectives that you can work towards, and that a design project could help you to achieve.

Describe your ideal target audience. How are these people different to the people that currently engage with your business? Provide specific demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural information such as:

Age distribution

Gender distribution

Ethnic background

Nationality

Occupation

Interests

Behaviour patterns

Lifestyle

Values

Think about why this group of people need your service or solution. How will they benefit? How would you like them to interact with your business? You might have multiple audiences that you want to target, in which case rank them by priority.

Project Details

As well as the big picture stuff, the designer will need to know some other critical details that could actually determine whether they will be able to work with you or not. The project has to be mutually beneficial for both parties to be fully invested and committed to the work. It is therefore very important to share this information so that the designer can prepare properly for the job if they do work with you, or offer recommendations for more appropriate support if they are not able to do the job.

Be honest about your budget and your deadlines, and whether they are flexible or not. The designer may be able to offer you options suitable for your budget or direct you to another designer who can work within your budget. If you have a high budget, there may be premium options available or even special discounts for large orders or regular bookings.

Deadlines need to be realistic. The design process can be lengthy, especially if you want an actual decent outcome, and you are not doing yourself any favours by rushing the process. Discuss timelines with the designer to come to an agreement on what would work best for both of you. The timeline should include time allowed for:

Consultation

Concept development

Communicating with the designer – responding to emails and scheduling calls

Draft designs

Looking over work and providing detailed feedback

Getting approvals for designs

Revisions

Production

Delivery

Try to avoid rush jobs as this can result in unfavourable outcomes, but if it is unavoidable, be honest about it. Make sure you are easily reachable during that time to provide prompt feedback and approvals so that the work can be completed on time.

Do you have existing promotional materials such as printed leaflets and business cards, or platforms such as a website and social media accounts? The designer will probably want to see these for reference. They will also need to have all the text and images that you want to be included in the designs. Have a discussion with the designer about whether you will provide these or if you would like them to source content for you. Make sure that all the materials you provide are checked over, proofread and signed off as final before handing over to the designer.

Are you the primary contact for the project? Let the designer know the best way to reach you and provide the contact details for any third party that they need to be in contact with, such as copywriters, web designers, illustrators or photographers, printers etc. If you do not yet have contacts that provide these services, the designer may be able to give recommendations for people that they work with and trust to do a good job.

Design Details

A graphic designer can make recommendations for how to strategically and creatively solve the problems that you present. It is often best (if you hire an experienced professional creative) to allow them to use their expertise, skills, and knowledge to provide you with the high quality outcomes that you pay for. A professional graphic designer will have a good idea of the outcomes that would work best for each unique design brief, the right aesthetics to communicate your brand message and the types of visuals that will appeal to your target audience.

However, there may be times when you already have an idea of what you want to have made. Be clear about the outcomes that you expect and provide details of the format, materials, measurements and any other specifications. The more detail you provide, the closer the final result can be to the expectations you have in your mind.

It is useful to share benchmarks for what you consider to be effective design. This might include links, mood-boards or Pinterest boards showing:

Competitors you admire

Aesthetics that you like

Aesthetics that support your business principles

Aesthetics that are likely to appeal to your target audience

Aesthetics that you hate

Aesthetics that go against your business principles

Aesthetics that would definitely not appeal to your target audience

In Summary

A design brief is an invaluable tool, crucial to the design process. It is really important to communicate with the designer to ensure that they have all the information they need to help you achieve your business goals.

Be honest about the issues your business is experiencing, as the designer may be able to offer creative solutions that you weren't expecting – their specialism is doing the creative thinking!

They will use the information you provide to price your project, create a project proposal, develop concepts and designs, and ultimately create the design that you want and your business needs.