The first industry talk of the year came from Anthony from Founded, a local design agency in Newcastle that have done work for the Baltic, the Turner Prize, Ryan Edy, Cotton Love and Mushka Music to name a few. An agency that prides itself on the fact that a good idea is always the most important aspect of a design; this however, paired with professional execution can make the idea that much better.
The talk started with looking through projects that Founded had completed, one of which being the Baltic, a centre for contemporary art on the Gateshead Quayside the branding is very bold and simple, the custom typeface used throughout their strategy is Baltic Affisch and is based around the original typeface used on the building and the print letters made by using wooden blocks. Sune Norgdren, the director of making this typeface said "Baltic was an old industry building, rough, black and white and simple. So that is the basis of the choice for the Graphic Identity". Every finished piece was actually made and then professionally photographed instead of being placed on a mockup. Founded and the Baltic have had a very successful partnership together, celebrating ten years of the Baltic and ten years of working together Founded created a piece machined out of a piece of Walnut, the Me, We pieces were also made into posters.
After looking through their portfolio of work, which was both great ideas wise, but well executed throughout, Anthony told us some of his influences design wise. One of the things that stood out for me when he was talking about this was that his influences weren't all graphic design based, he was inspired with what ever he would see, looking at interior magazines and being inspired by music (which plays a big part in the Founded office). Even though some of his influences came in other creative industries a big inspiration for Anthony is Tyler Brûlé, who is behind the publications Monocle and Wallpaper* as well as being part of Winkreative.
The most important things I took away from this talk is that good work gets good clients, this has to be from the start and is based around a good idea. To get noticed you need a good portfolio that is well rounded with digital skills and ideas at the basis, it should show a good thought process and give an insight into how you get to a finished piece. The portfolio shouldnt be crammed with ideas either, it should have a handful of well executed, well thought out, nicely presented works that shows your strengths.
Thanks to Anthony from Founded for the talk, if you want to have a look at them and their work check out their website: http://wearefounded.com/
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