Their talk was insightful into the way in which they work, including their design processes, as well as some of their influences for much of their work.
Influences include Neasdon Control Centre and Mike Perry, with whom they worked with for 2 months as students.
One of their first projects together was to produce a record sleeve for Dutch Uncles, an English pop band and their album Cadenza. The design for this album consisted of a hand-cut, contemporary collage, and this fed into most of their future projects. Not only did this project develop their own unique style of work, but it also inspired them to create more visuals for music, taking opportunity from local venues and musical friends. DR. ME suggest this for many new graphic designers, as it gives you freedom to experiment and helps to start getting your name out in the industry, even if it only starts off small and locally.
365 Days of Collage
This was a project that came about from their love of found imagery. They wanted to produce a piece of collage every day for a year, which could be affordable pieces of artwork. The size and price of these collages were dictated by the least you could pay for a large envelope.
As a follow-up to this, they produced a book titled 'Cut That Out', which is all based around contemporary collage within graphic design - their own work, as well as the work of other designers who use a similar style.
The main pieces of advice I gained from this talk was to:- embrace collaboration
- different people can offer different skills and knowledge. - make your own trends
- do not follow trends, make your own and be yourself, everyone has a unique sense of style, work with your own imagery. - do not be afraid to ask
- send out mail, let people know how you are and what you can offer, give them constant reminders.
