Possible Manifesto Points
- Keep Calm & Stop overusing this design
- Collaberate. Often.
- Innovate & Communicate.
- Hard Graft. Always.
- Stay up North.
- Fuck the Haters. Get your head down, work hard, fuck em.
- Be Open & Straight Talking.
- Dream Big. Overused Phrase but if you don't try you never know.
- If you Don't ask, you don't get. (don't be afraid to ask people stuff)
- Relax, Let Creativity Breathe.
- It's Hip to Be Square. (in other words, don't follow trends)
- Football is Brilliant.
- Honest is the best policy.
- Travel. Regularly.
- Healthy Body, Healthy Brain.
- Don't wait for Permission.
- Do Stuff & Keep Doing Stuff.
Bucket List
- Meet Peter Saville
- Make a Legit Typeface
- Get a Degree
- Get a Job
- Write a book
- Put on an Exhibition
- Move to Tokyo (for a bit)
- Get commissioned to design the new Manchester United logo
- Fly to the Moon.
Final Manifesto of Life
01. Collaborate. Often.
Collaboration has become a key part of my practice of late. I feel that developing working relationships with people from different artistic backgrounds and building those relationships so that individual people can be utilised for their skills is a good way to create a higher standard of finished work. That is the way that agencies work, so implementing this into my practice now is a good way to practice the transition.
02. Hard Graft pays off
It really goes without saying to work hard, but this is something that I truly believe in. If your willing to put the work in and work overtime, all of the time, then thats half of the hard work done already. It's important to be skilled, but without hard work, its useless.
03. Innovate & Communicate
I believe that you should always push boundaries and to be innovative wherever you can be. Every creative problem and brief is an opportunity to be innovative and this is my outlook on Graphic Design.
04. Stay up North
I plan to stay up North for at least the early stages of my carreer. A common misconception to student designers is that they have to flock to London to find work, but that's not the case. I feel proud to be from the North of England, and want to be part of the growth of the Creative Industries up here.
05. Be Open & Straight Talking
I believe that being honest gets you a long way, whether this is in everyday life or within a business or talking to a client. I strive to be straight-talking with people and work on a no bullshit ideology.
06. Dream & Think Big
Another point which might sound a little bit cliche, but I think that if you don't dream big then there is no possible chance that you will be able to achieve big. I believe in setting big life goals and trying to follow them through. This also relates my practice. Always imagine the impossible when it comes to any creative challenge.
07. Good design isn't hip
I've found that good design is certainly not hip, and i've found this out the hard way. I feel that a lot of designers try to please their peers and whats 'trendy' at the time and forget that every client is different, therefore will need a unique approach to their problem. You can't just stick some wavvy type on it and expect it to work for anybody.
08. Branding is beautiful
I've found over the past three years that my labour of love lies in branding and creating powerful brands for other people. I feel that there is something special about creating brands and campaigns which excites me and makes me want to get up in the morning.
09. So is good type
On the back of the last point, Great Typography is another passion of mine, and something that I have a soft spot for. Typography is communication is it's most purest of form. It is human language written and that is something that makes is instant and beautiful.
10. Football is brilliant
Not really related to design in any way, but Football comes a close second underneath my love for design and this is something that is part of my life and will continue to be part of my life throughout my career. If I'm lucky, i'll get to work on football related briefs too.
Bucket List
So here's my Bucket list, with a couple of points on the list from when I was a little 'un, all the way up to being a working proffesional. As you can see, some of them are more ambitious than others.
I've managed to tick off a few things on the list and hope to keep ticking off and extending this in the future.
