Great to attend the recent Dublin design event Luvin Letters In Design – for Typography & Lettering lovers, which ran over the 4th and 5th October in the Complex Arts Centre, Dublin 1.
There was an inspiring line up of speakers and some live mural painting with artists Theosone (Berlin), Milen Balbuzanov (Bulgaria), Horhay Design (Spain) and Calligrafreaks (Berlin).
Here’s to more of these design events returning to the Dublin design scene!
See more here: https://luvinletters.com
Two Videos Displaying the Laser Cutting & Etching Process of Typography on Wood:
Video Displaying the 3D Printing Process of Icons:
DesignWest is a creative growth design program set in Letterfrack in Connemara. It is designed for creatives worldwide who have previously been through university and are established in their careers, who are now seeking to grow creatively through new experiences, being inspired and collaborating with their peers and working on projects outside of their general day to day scope. There are mentors from top design agencies such as Pentagram New York, R2 Design Portugal, Isidro Ferrer Spain and also a number of high profile Irish agencies such as Design Factory, Studio Or and Unthink.
It was a really great experience. We got to use a wide range of facilities such as letterpress printing with Sean Sills from the National Print Museum, riso printing with Studio Or, laser cutting and etching to wood, large scale format printing, debossing and stitching, 3D printing and the use of the wood work room and team. The reputable mentors gave inspiring talks, workshops and advice – really encouraging us to get playful and more hands-on with our creativity, breaking away from the computer screens, with a number of different activities. There was also plenty of practical advice which can be easily applied to our everyday workflow, on return to our own client work.
We were inspired by the local environment, the beautiful west of Ireland, and brought on a number of trips to places such as mussel and oyster farms, the grounds of Alcock & Brown – the first transatlantic flight, Inishbofin island and artist’s studios and talks – all of which went on to inspire our individual projects. In the evenings, we sometimes watched design films in a special screenings cinema and there were some exhibitions also. We had two exhibitions of our work, one of which will travel from Letterfrack to Dublin later this year. It was impressive to see the finished work come together for everyone in the exhibitions and the overall experience of meeting and working with so many international creatives was really enjoyable and good to have established a new network of peers working in the design industry worldwide.
DesignWest was a great way to re-immerse myself in design and creativity and be re-inspired going forward in my career, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The end result was graduating with a NFQ Level 9 Special Purpose Award Certificate in Design Research with the subject ‘Design Unplugged’ at GMIT.
This book is great for teaching the complete background and history to graphic design. It’s a really thick, content-heavy book full of useful information and stories – it’s great to educate yourself on where the beginning of graphic design stems from. It’s important to understand this as it can help connect the past, present and future of design and form the decisions you make, adding more substance and context to your design work.
Again, this book teaches about the background and history in graphic design – the more you understand this, the better designer you can be, by playing on or remodernising styles in a new way or understanding the reasons as to why good design works.
I found this book along with Josef Müller-Brockmann’s book below brilliant in understanding grids and how they can create structure and bring design together through working with them. Sometimes you have to know the rules to break them! So when you can understand how using grids can enhance your design work, you can then afford to break them at times to add visual interest and create a unique point of interest.
Typography is an key element of graphic design. Learning about kerning, font choices, alignment, visual hierarchy and of course… dreaded widows, will really enhance your skills and knowledge and enable you to become a better designer.
Swiss design is known to be leading in design. As mentioned above, I loved learning about grids – it was a real eye-opener and offered so much more opportunities to create good design that worked well and looked visually appealing. Swiss designer Josef Müller-Brockmann is the master of grids and this book gives you a whole new system and way of working to add structure and order to your design work.
I love the title of this book. Irish designer Adrian O’Shaughnessy shares his tips and tricks on how to make it in the design world and many of the things that he has learned along the way. This is especially a good book if you want to become a freelancer or are thinking of setting up your own studio. It’s a good book to dip in and out of for helpful pointers.
This book is inspiring and makes you think. It is more advertising focussed and features clever ways of looking at things and selling products /services by portraying the story or idea in unique ways. It’s a large, easy to read book, which will leave you enthusiastic about creating your own ideas and how you can look at things differently.
Another book I love I added in as an extra. This isn’t strictly a graphic design book, although it is a creative book, centred around the design industry. I think you can find it inspiring no matter what you work at. It encourages the reader to think differently…bigger…to do the opposite…and to challenge what you see and think. It’s a small book which is inspiring, really easy to read and a great book to keep after you have first read it, to dip in and out of it, for fresh ideas or motivation when you need it.
The award-winning designer Paul Rand’s ‘Thoughts on Design‘ is another good book to read if you have got through this list! Happy reading and good luck bringing your design career ambitions to life or becoming a better designer if you are already working in the creative industry 🙂
“I love bad printing”
If you follow my updates, you’ll know I love to attend design talks and events to stay updated with the latest goings-on in the design world and keep the inspirational juices flowing!
Recently I attended one of the IDI & Epsilon Bread & Butter talks and created this poster based on a tongue-in-cheek quote from one of the designers, Niall McCormack, who was speaking on the night – “I love bad printing”.
I had fun designing this poster, showcasing some of the different types of bad printing errors that can occur, in a light-hearted way. It’s nice to do something random without a brief sometimes for a bit of fun 🙂
