#negotiatedstudy

ARTIST INSPIRATION // ARON VELLEKOOP LEON 

Aron Vellekoop Leon is an illustrator and print maker. He has a popular, but still relatively small following of 10,000 for such beautiful work, over on his bechance.  Even so he has worked for many big names and is obviously popular in Amsterdam exhibiting at The Van Gogh Museum.

The aspects that drew me to his work for a source of inspiration, especially for this project, were initially the colours. I love the contrast and overlay to create a message. Not only this, but the style of illustration itself is simple. Simple shapes yet some how works in effectively summarising objects. I equally want to inspire my design to create a message out of such simple forms.

I feel like we are all our worst critics, but the frustration I will never get over is my inability to transfer my designs into real life PROPERLY.  I mean, overall I feel that what I have produced is an accurate portrayal of my illustrations, yet having a really rubbish body that won’t let me sit and sew for hours is massively disheartening. 

For my own sanity, I have come to realise that sewing will perhaps never be my calling - at least not in the sense of total flawless professionalism. Put me into the setting of costume and less generic sewing techniques and I would probably be absolutely fine, but for fashion, no way. I have found positives in everything I produce, as always, meaning that I can now move forward pursuing the things I am capable of. 

These were actual hell to sew - each material picked was a nightmare in its own way. Yet, minor details and imagination has been my strongest attribute once again, the amount of work gone into these pieces is unreal. The hand painted jacket, even though falling and flaking to pieces, with the hand sewn, designed lining and eyeball collar - the hand embroidered dress with pom sleeves, piss off bow and faux placket - the hand painted organs, pom and tulle filled rib cage, hand knitted bow and hand sewn layers - the amount of work I have actually put in is above and beyond, yet the finished result isn’t overall perfect.

I keep having to remind myself that I finished all of my work on time, I didn’t skimp on anything and made sure I put my all into every thing I produced this year. It might not be perfect but I was taken out of school aged 11 because my mental health was so poor, and tutors told my mum I would never make anything of myself. I didn’t leave my house for years because of anxiety and yet here I am, I totally finished and on a high too. For that I feel amazing. 

Quite often in the business world, and otherwise, we need to get other people to do something that they otherwise probably wouldn’t do. We have to negotiate our way out of these situations and come out with a deal or an agreement which serves either our purpose, or goes close enough to it to make a certain small adjustment, only if required.

Times are such that there are buying centres in companies and people have an all integrated approach towards getting their means. Thus, we all need to have a very planned take on negotiating, if we are heading out to do the same. One should also have a contingent plan in place so that if things do go wrong in the last minute, there are still options one can lay on the table to make the deal work.

NEGOTIATED STUDY PRESENTATION //

Yesterday was my final day of the Negotiated Study module. Even though we handed in our work last Friday we were asked to go into uni and present all of our work from the last few months. This was a great opportunity for us to talk tutors through our work on a one to one basis and show off everything that we've been up to. Chris and Kingsley both seemed pleased with my progress this module which is great news and will hopefully result in good feedback in February. 

Negotiated study has been one of the most stressful yet rewarding modules to date. I feel like it has started to combine all the things that I have learnt over the last 3 years and has begun to give me the confidence in my design ability and the way that I work. I have covered several projects over the last few months that have all been very different and as wide reaching as possible. I started out with choosing 3 ‘main’ project briefs, however this quickly escalated and by the end of the second week I had double that. One day briefs were some of my favourite projects this module and still to this day the quick-fire idea generation session we had during the ‘Milk brief’ project was one of the most invaluable things I have learnt at university so far. The quick turnaround from idea to outcome was totally out of my comfort zone but it made me focus and gave me no choice but to think on my feet and become less precious about my work especially during idea stage.

I have also this module completed several collaborative briefs. These for me have been an opportunity to share ideas, split job roles and create work that isn’t necessarily the kind of design I would venture into solo. The DMA brief was one that really tested me personally because I didn’t fully believe in the ‘contactless attachable’ products that they were trying to sell and as a group we all really struggled to get our head around the brief and what they were asking. We put our doubts to one side and really came together as a group and made good use out of each of our individual skills, making sure that we all helped wherever possible. Most of my time during this brief was spent on idea generation, scamping and design as that’s where my strengths lie. This is also where the brief tested us as it was a constant few weeks of problem solving, going back to brief and continuingly connecting the dots so that the campaign worked cohesively. The pitching and winning experience for me during this module was for sure one of the highlights as it gave us all an opportunity to show how much hard work we had put in and get real industry feedback, it was an invaluable experience and something that will for sure give me more confidence when leaving university and attending client pitches in the future.

I very quickly decided on the RSA ‘Post-Truth’ brief as it was so closely linked to the political topic of my dissertation and I knew it would be a great way to explore techniques, make connections, talk to practitioners working with similar styles and tie in all the hard work and effort I had put into the research of my extended essay. This was one of the best decisions I made this module, as it provided an escape from the other more pressured and constrictive briefs allowing me to purely create something that I loved and was 100% passionate about. It forced me to put aside my worries about learning after effects and made me throw myself into it (something I’m not sure I would have done without this brief) learning from online courses/tutorials and serious amounts of trial and error! As a total perfectionist, there were a lot of times I wanted to give up on this particular project because it was taking me ages to make the smallest movements documented fully on my Tumblr blog. However, I am proud that I stuck with it, gave it a go and learnt some new skills along the way.

Working on a live client brief has also really helped me this module as it has allowed me to work on designing to industry standard and has forced me to stick as closely to a brief as possible. This is something that I always struggle with and tend to push the limits of the brief a little further to get the most creativity out, however with a brief like the NEC one I had to step way out of my comfort zone and produce something that I knew they wanted. This wasn’t easy as it required lots of email and face to face meetings, sending sections of work back and forth making continual changes but I know that this is real and will be less of a shock when I leave uni. I have learnt a lot from this project and even picked up skills such as learning how to package files for print, working to size guide restrictions and using correct colour profiles etc. These are all elements of being a designer that I have never focused on much at university but will be something that I will for sure need in a few months. 

In true Rosie style, most of the projects that came my way over the last few months I have at least attempted. This is something that I know I need to look at because I tend to say yes to everything and although it gives me loads of opportunities I know it can be detrimental to my actual design work. For example, alongside numerous briefs I also pitched, won and became treasurer of a grad show society, dealt with gaining sponsorships, talking to industry, organising fundraising events, creating and selling prints and then on top of this gave up many weekends/nights along with a select group to attend design events etc. that would help raise money for our end of year show. Although this has been a total pleasure and I’m so proud of the progress we have made, it’s been hard work and has taken up a lot of our time.