Birmingham Design Festival 2024- Takeaways and Actions
Two days spent at the bi-annual Midlands based Design Festival leaves the brain busy with both inspiration and overwhelm. Going into the festival prepared with a notebook, key lessons and actions were noted down from each talk attended. These are accompanied by some sub standard photos, please don’t let these put you off some of the great content ahead.
Sarah Morris
Licensing and Negotiating (AOI)
Takeaway- How to respond when a client asks to buy an illustration to use as a ‘sample style’ in a presentation.
Action-Include a license in the contract for an illustration to be used as ‘for presentation use only’.
Matt Saunders
Process Recess
Takeaway- People get obsessed with how characters ‘look’ within an illustration.
Action- Sometimes, instead of drawing out characters, mark where they will be on the sketch and describe what they are doing/their purpose. It saves time and stops clients getting too specific with sketched characters.
See more of Matt’s work here
Sonny Ross
Writing It Down
Takeaway- Writing down an idea for an illustration helps you to boil the idea down into the most important part. It also helps with alt-text which will become a big part of design as it gets more accessible.
Action- When stuck with a tricky brief, try writing down the key visuals that help communicate the idea.
Some more of Sonny’s work here
Nicola Hamilton
A Creative Career is Messy
Takeaway- If you succeed spectacularly or fail spectacularly its still spectacular.
Action- Remember this when self doubt creeps in! Keep taking risks as fear is an indicator that we care.
David Pearson
An Acceptable Level of Miscommunication
Takeaway- Treat an audience with respect by simplifying a design. Design can be a good tool to slow people down, make them ask questions and therefore engage with a piece of work.
Action- When speaking to clients about making designs more ‘clear’ by adding in lots of information, mention that the audience will be able to figure parts out without everythig being laid out to them. Use the phrase ‘take the eye for a walk’ because its fun,
See more of David’s work here
Emilie Chen
Dramatic by Design: Creating Posters for the Stage
Takeaway- When designing posters for stage, often some of the key criteria including the main actors are yet to be cast which can be difficult when trying to attract an audience to buy tickets.
Action-Be experimental with different artforms to stumble upon ideas organically without too much pressure.
See more of Emilie’s work here
Neasdon Control Centre
Process Towards a Feeling
Takeaway- Your eye gets lazy in usual environments. Draw in different places and on different materials.
Action- Buy a sketchbook and start creating collages and compositions.
See more of Stephen’s work here
Telegramme
Two’s Company
Takeaway- Splitting your business into different services (which can include your online presence) can be useful when working with difference clients.
Action- Be clear with your audience. Only show the work you want to be hired for. This can mean writing your own briefs and hiding the work you don’t want to create again!
See more of Telegramme’s work here