Summer 2015 was one of the busiest, most intense and varied summers of my life. I engaged in a number of creative and non creative experiences ranging from competition briefs to volunteering on rowdy bars at huge music festivals. I found myself looking back at old work with a critical eye. I feel as if I have matured creatively to a certain extent over the summer. For example I feel my opinions toward certain styles within graphic design have changed. This I hope, should begin to manifest in the work I produce this year.
After completing my first year of study on this course, I left little time to relax. I knew that I didn't want to get bored after breaking up for the holidays, so I set myself a few personal briefs and entered several design competitions throughout June to keep my mind ticking over. I didn't want to become lazy or disengaged with my design practice or the creative industries. The first competition I entered was advertised on Talenthouse.com, an art/design networking hub that regularly posts open calls for live competition briefs. Channel 4 and "This Is England '90" invited creators from around the world to submit poster artwork that captured the zeitgeist of UK club culture during the 1990's. Three Selected Artists had their work used within the interactive marketing campaign to promote the series, and received £1,000 and a mentoring session with Channel 4's creative department, 4Creative. Rave culture has interested me for some time now, so I jumped when I saw this opportunity. I also really could have done with the money.
I spent at least two weeks designing the poster and asked for feedback constantly, mainly turning to my course peers and close friends. I was genuinely proud of my efforts and I believe I produced some really visually enticing work. Unfortunately, my design was not selected to be used in he advertising campaign. Initially I was upset, but I soon realised that taking part in that particular competition brief was highly beneficial to my learning and understanding of client led design work. It was an very 'open' brief, and I think if I were to enter a similar competition I would definitely do a few things differently in order to stand a better chance of winning. Taking part definitely helped me to push my ideas and practice further.
I kicked off my summer properly with a music festival, which in my opinion was a great way to start it. I have been fortunate enough to go to a number of different festivals and I'm always keen to try new ones out. I came across 'The Eden Festival', set in the gorgeous countryside of Dumfries and Galloway, back in March and thought it would be a good idea to try my hand at festival volunteering. A group of my close friends from Leeds were also considering volunteering there which was really exciting, and we all set off together at the end of June. Eden was one of the friendliest and most relaxed festivals that I have been to. The atmosphere was magical, the theming and decoration was excellent, the music was new and unusual and the weather was just right. I met so many interesting people through the process and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is curious. Volunteering allows you to access a different side of a music festival, it made me feel very independent.
After Eden, I went back to London and worked in my local pub for the whole of July which was good. I saved up some money and went on a mates holiday to Prague at the end of August. Prague is such a stunning place. I fell in love with the Art Nouveau architecture and the general character of the place, It was a highly inspiring place to be in. I am so happy that I got to experience it. I look back at this summer with a lot of happiness and fun memories. I feel that by engaging with competitions whilst also taking time out to relax and travel allowed me to get a lot out of the very extended holiday period.
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