Week 8: Skills & Making
Lecture
In this week’s lecture we question leading experts in their field and ask them the following;
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
How important are side projects? Are you currently working on any?
It has been interesting to hear the different responses from the experts. It has shown how their skills and experience have influenced their own decision-making when answering the following questions.
Simon Manchipp, SomeOne
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
When asked the question, Simon Manchip’s response was very positive in the sense that he is content with his career. He explains that the variety and scope of the work he deals with are ever-changing, no two days are the same.
“The Projects that I’m dealing with at the moment are stretching in so many different directions, that it’s really compelling. I enjoy coming to work”. (Manchipp, S. 2023)
Working in an agency has its challenges, however, I do understand where he is coming from. It is a very diverse working environment.
“I really like the radically different mindsets that are required for projects”. (Manchipp, S. 2023)
Simon explains how the current work he is producing requires different mindsets. From working in sectors such as law, construction, healthcare and tech companies.
“You're changing your mindset, you’re changing your way of thinking to adapt to the client’s set of demands”. (Manchipp, S. 2023)
Furthermore, transformative and strategic work is at the core of what Simon has always to do in line with this is creating more now to benefit the future.
Simon highlights the benefits of automation and how this can be implemented in areas of business such as law, the information can be easily remembered and stored by a computer. However, Simon does note that although computers are good at remembering information they do however lack on the side of lateral thinking and cannot perform this in the same way as a human can. Which is what Simon loves most.
How important are side projects and are you currently working on any?
Simon explains how side projects are extremely important, they do have an impact on your learning and understanding throughout your career. Although now, due to the fact that Someone is now such a big global beast, Simon expresses there just simply isn’t enough time to have a side hustle. I suppose you could argue that Someone is Simon’s side hustle, being one of the directors. There are elements of his job he explains that do feel like side hustles.
“Everything I do now feels like a hustle, and I don’t actually have any side hustles officially on at the moment, or unofficially on because we’re so busy, everything we’re doing feels so exciting, entrepreneurial and interesting that I’m putting al my attention and efforts towards those things”. (Manchipp, S. 2023)
Furthermore, he explains that Someone are now working on products rather than just offering a service. Products like software and digital platform, in order to benefit their own clients.
Sam Winston
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
Similar to Simon Manchipp. Sam Winston is also extremely passionate towards his career. Although by trade Sam is a graphic designer, he does adopt artistic traits and considers himself a maker/artist.
Sam explains his fascination and passion for culture. He explains it as a broad set of rules that as a society we follow. He uses this as a platform or setting to create engaging pieces of work.
“Having that as your playground as in what makes and the values of culture are both terrifying and wonderfully engaging”. (Winston, S. 2023)
When asked the question what would you like to do other than what you're doing now. Sam explains that he is not interested in anything else other than the cultural sector.
“I don’t think I could ever leave the cultural sector, and if someone said you have to. Then I would probably go and be a hermit and live in the woods”.(Winston, S. 2023)
How important are side projects and are you currently working on any?
Sam explains how side projects have benefitted him by claiming that he has made a full-time career out of side projects. He explains how some side projects have developed further into a new idea for work.
“This is gonna be a birthday card or this is gonna be like a game I'll end up playing with friends, that could work as a kickstarter or that could work as a thing for something else”. (Winston, S. 2023)
In addition to this, he explains how side projects can also be a problem, as they can ruin creativity for work. I found this very surprising, as a designer myself this would produce the complete opposite.
Furthermore, Sam points out that he has to have something completely different to what he does as a career for a side project. Books and any sort of literature are what he considers his own side project.
Tom Finn & Kristoffer Souelling | Regular Practice
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
Tom and Finn both answer stating that there isn’t anything else they would like to be doing as they are already doing it. They have positioned themselves as a young studio in a way where they have brought about flexibility and versatility in the work they produce.
“There isn’t really anything we’d like to be doing, most of the things we’d like to be doing we are doing, but maybe that’s because I see it as how we work”. - (Soelling, K. 2023)
How important are side projects and are you currently working on any?
Tom and Finn express their interest in authorship as it is something they have never done. They are in the stage of figuring out how to do this.
They both express how important it is to have your own identity and the type of work they produce is evident of this. Furthermore, they both explain that at Regular Practice they have a subfolder of ideas they want to do in the future.
“On the notion of side projects, I think sometimes you have to like aggressively say like, right we’re doing this now and carve the time out of things that you’re actually being paid money to do”. (Finn, T. 2023)
Sarah Boris
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
Collaborating and experimenting with new practices of work. Sarah explains through working on a lot of projects such as books and branding, she found curiosity in testing different materials than what she is less familiar with.
Furthermore, Sarah explains that she would like to work with product designers and possibly produce tableware. She expresses the yearning of wanting to learn more through collaboration.
How important are side projects and are you currently working on any?
Side projects have always been part of Sarah’s work. She explains how a side project has become somewhat of a to-do list.
“They are really important for the practice, they define you as a designer.” (Boris S. 2023)
Sarah touches on how side projects can be an opportunity for you to have your own approach on a project with no client interjection. Furthermore, she explains how this style of work has benefited more than that of a portfolio.
“A side project is you from the beginning to the end with no compromise and no client interjection. It’s exactly what you want it to be. So what I’ve found is side projects have landed me with a job or have differentiated me to another agency. Because they said a little bit more about myself than a typical portfolio”. (Boris, S. 2023)
Julian House & Adrian Talbot | Intro
What would you like to be doing that you’re not doing within your work?
Julian and Adrian express their ages and experience and reflect this in their response. Although very happy in their careers they express cynicism in their day to day. Whether this is reflected in complaining about current affairs or even the clients they work with. They still share a passion and a love for the work they produce.
“What we do here is good enough to keep us both happy” (Talbot, A. 2023)
They express how over the years as they’ve gotten older, clients have become more demanding. Furthermore, Adrian expresses how important it is to have your own venture and have a challenge you can call your own.
“ Having a personal project actually takes a lot of pressure off the work you’re doing”. (House, J.2023)
How important are side projects and are you currently working on any?
Julian:
Julian explains how a side project to him is important, as it is an outlet for him to explore his interests in music. He is a big record collector and has made an immense interest in digital artwork. This is an area I also find myself extremely interested in.
Referring to his record label Ghost Box, Julian explains further how he was at a prosperous time to produce digital artwork, music and upload this to the internet.
“We hit a fortunate time, in that the internet allowed us to put stuff up there where people hadn’t really started stealing downloads and getting anything for free during that stage”. (House, J. 2023)
It’s really interesting to see how a point in time from 2004 can impact how a business still operates in 2023. Although the period was very useful to Julian and Ghost Box, this, in my opinion, only serves a small percentage of how it is has impacted the work of Intro. As without the skills and talent, Julian has, this could have only have gone so far.
Julian has made his passion for music his side project, Ghost Box being the platform for this. It is because of this he has been able to take more ownership of the work produced and also helps feedback into the work he does at Intro.
It is good to see how Julian recognises the importance of a side project. His approach is to treat it as an opportunity to learn new skills that can be filtered into his day job at Intro. On reflection this is how I like to value a side project, it is an opportunity something new.
From Julian’s response, it has raised a question I would to explore further in the studio practice pdf. Which is how can the differences in age determine what we decide to take on as a passion/side project?
Adrian:
Similar to Julian, Adrian also expresses how it is important to also have a personal or side project. Especially when you go through periods of lacking creativity or designer block.
Adrian explains how Talbot Type, Adrian’s Typography business has helped him with his creativity.
“Those low points I have when I start to feel morose, if I get a good project here (Intro) or get to spend a bit of time on Talbot Type, generally that will pick me up again”. (Talbot, A. 2023)
Like Julian, Adrian also shares that sense of ownership when he is working on his own specialism.
References:
Manchipp, S. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Winston, S. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Boris, S. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Seoulling, K. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
House, J. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Finn, T., and Soelling, K. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Talbot, A. (2023) Finding the gaps, Falmouth Flexible. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-8-lecture?module_item_id=63431 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).
Workshop Challenge
When listing my current skills, I would not consider myself to be proficient, at understanding print or branding. I still feel there are areas where I need to obtain a greater understanding.
I wanted to create a process model that enabled me to learn new skills but also highlighted what I had learned by way of an application.
On reflection, of this weeks challenge. I felt I struggled with coming up with an idea for specific process model.
I suppose my biggest concern with developing this idea was to not create something similar to a mind map that has already been done.
I am happy with what I have produced and believe the nature of this app would work as a process model. I do feel it would benefit people wanting to achieve more creative skills.
