One workshop we had in university which I found very interesting and learned a lot from was when we had a talk and a workshop presented by Les Jones, the writer and author of ELsie MAgazine. Elsie is a creative Magazine which contains a variety of contents within it, and is solely created by Les Jones himself. He mentioned that he felt a need to create something, so he did. I definitely felt like this piece of advice was important, and it encouraged me to be more comfortable with what I create. Jones also mentioned how many people didn't think his idea would work, but now it is published, people love it. It just goes to show that even though people may put you down and discourage you, it is always important to do what you think will work.
The day we spent with ELsie Magazine was split in to two different sections. In the morning we had a presentation, where Les Jones presented and talked about his work, and in the afternoon was an interactive workshop. First, I will talk about his presentation in the morning.
I took a lot of notes during his talk, and a lot of it has helped me recently when making creative decisions. He said his inspiration was to look at independent magazines, as these were often the most creative when created by one person. He said as well it always helps to have a big idea; it may not always feel right, but if you are determined to create it, it will work. There was one quote in particular which Les Jones said and sums up ELsie MAgazine in a perfect way:
"I have nothing to say and I'm saying it"
I think this quote in particular was very inspiring, as it goes to show that content can be created even from nothing, or even having no reason for it at all. If one feels the need to create something which they think will make an impact, even to a few people, it should be done. Jones even said it himself that he wasn't happy with the magazine at the start, but through persistent design and energy, he managed to create something he was extremely happy with.
One unique point that Elsie Magazine has is that it is not afraid to talk about things that people wouldn't usually talk about. At first, this doesn't seem like a good selling point, but when one is to think about it properly, because no one else is writing about this stuff, his work is the only one to do such a thing. It is an extremely smart method of work in my opinion, and the weirdness of the magazine helps to bond well with all the crazy and creative people out there. He also said that he takes weird routes for his work, and is not afraid to get weird and wonderful. After all, Tom Hanks is a fan of the magazine.
There were a few pointers he left us with when he was finishing up his talk. He said it is always important to follow your passion. It is much easier to create good work if you enjoy doing it. However, he did mention it is important not to fall in love with your work, as many people may not see it the same way you do; make sure to take everyone's points of view into consideration when you can. Nothing is ever just easy either, to make a piece of work the best it can be, it is important to get into the "nitty gritty" and make the work the best it can be. Ditch the excuses, if you feel something will work, then work on it until it does work. ALso, no one cares about your idea! They can't envision it the same way you do, so make the work and show them the final result; they will care more about that. Don't do it for the money. This piece of advice I wasn't sure whether or not to follow, but then I thought if one enjoys just doing the work and not worrying about the money aspect, they will get more experience and enjoyment out of it. He mentioned to keep doing stuff, and from that, other stuff will happen. I agree with this part a lot. When creating work, I get more and more ideas, so it is always good to pursue what you think is good work. His final piece of advice was be happy, but never satisfied. A designer is often their own worst enemy, and will be their own critic. It is important to know when our work is good and to be happy with what you have created, but don't stop there. Just because you are happy with a piece of work, it doesn't mean it can't be improved or taken any further.
All of this advice definitely helped me to understand his views on designing work, and gave me a confidence boost in creating my own work. NExt, we had the interactive workshop.
During his morning presentation, Les Jones talked about one of his favourite styles of work, where he would randomly chose a word, search Google Images for images relating to this word, and create a montage in Photoshop of all of these pictures edited and combined together to create a new piece of work. It was incredible to look at, and it is not hard to see why he felt it was important to do this exercise, as he said it helps with his creativity and gives him new ideas.
This method and practice of work he does was now what we had to do in the workshop. We were each given two pieces of card; one which we would keep to ourselves and one which would be passed around the table. We were also given different materials to work with, ranging from pens, tape, paper, and even magazines to cut parts out of. Les would then give us a word, and we would have to create something from our materials matching that word, and put it on each piece of card. Then, he would give us another word, and we would have to use different materials and pass one of the cards to the person next to us. This was because it allowed us to work on our own piece of work, but also work with others; all the while using different resources at our hands.
After doing this for 10 rounds, we were left with a load of cards with different styles of work on them.
It was really interesting to see the different routes everyone took when given the same task as everyone else. Analysing peoples work was also educational, as it allowed us each to see into the mind of our colleagues and gather a better understanding of not only how everyone worked individually, but also how everyone worked separately as well.
Overall, this workshop definitely gave me a greater insight to a different part of the graphic design industry, and I saw a side to publishing which I never had before. I am really happy the experience turned out the way it did, as I have never been a fan of publishing as I always thought it had to be done a certain way, however seeing how LEs Jones created Elsie MAgazine gave me inspiration and hope to do the same. His style of wacky characters and bizarre concepts was definitely the route I wanted to take, so seeing it work in action and the success of the magazine was inspiring to see.
I learned a lot from the presentation and workshop, and what I learned can definitely be applied to my work, and will inspire me to continue to improve my work as a graphic designer.