Futurising

Where did you graduate from and what did you study?

I graduated from the BA Graphic Design/Typography course at the London College of Communication May '09.

When you left college, how did you find your first few months? Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to do?

I found it really daunting, more so than I was expecting. Your whole life you go about the next natural social stage and my 'expected' educational years were over. My choices and decisions from there on suddenly felt very real. I soon realised how beneficial it was that I had invested so much time into work experience over the 5 years I was in London. Those years enabled me to experiment and make a lot of practical choices that I otherwise might not have been able to make until 5 years post-graduation. For the first few months I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I was very sure about what I didn't want to do and I'm grateful for that!

When did you decide you wanted to go it alone and set up for yourself? Why?

I began thinking about the possibility of the studio in August last year and decided to go ahead in the November. The idea was really the coming together of 5 years of experiences that taught me to know myself and how I work. It takes time to learn who you are, and time to build the courage to accept it in this industry. Throughout the course I worked very hard both in the studio at LCC and outside of college on work placements and occasionally longer jobs. 3 years ago, I was finishing my second year and about to begin a year of working in industry. That was when I really started to question my work, and my drive for what I was doing in design. I had worked in-house as a designer for the ICA and the Guardian that year and while I loved it, I was aware that something was missing.

Throughout 2008 I worked in Sydney as an art director at M&C Saatchi. My days were divided between working closely with creative director, Michael Andrews, and design director, Simon Hong. There was a stark difference. Within each role there was little time (unless you worked through the night, which I did several times with Simon) for the depth of craft and process that makes me tick. I should maybe have read Shaughnessy's 'How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul' before I left, because I was losing mine rapidly. I returned to London in the October to begin my final year at LCC and was determined to try and understand why my year in Sydney had been such a shock. My 4 final year projects subsequently all reflected the kind of questions I was asking myself. I was desperately trying to link my conceptual LCC education, my philosophical approach and my placement within commercial design, the result of which was a range of art-based, conceptual, typographic works.

During the final weeks of my course I came across the work of Oded Ezer during some research into Hebrew typography. I read his book 'The Typographer's Guide to the Galaxy' and it made my heart beat far too fast. I could see that this man had worked out all of the questions I was trying to answer. Oded is a wonderfully talented designer. He makes a living through commercial graphic design while at the same time dedicates time to his experimental art-based practice which keeps him alive creatively. I emailed him to ask if he would be willing for me to come and learn from him for some time. Subsequently between September and November of last year, I worked alongside him in Givatayim, Israel. They were possible the most valuable 3 months of my education to date. Oded taught me to respect myself and my process, and to similarly not be afraid to not conform to the city. In August, before I left for Israel, I was beginning to consider setting the studio up in the country but was obviously concerned that it might be a bad move. He taught me then when you are content within yourself, you are content within your work. Hence, I made the decision to do what I am doing now, to set up on my own, in the country, and do what I love. So far, all is very well and I'm only half an hour from Liverpool and Manchester or a 2 hour train journey to London. Throughout my time of working alongside Oded I kept a diary of the process. Jotta.com are currently publishing the diary in installments so the full process of our work together can be read there.

Was this a difficult thing to do? What would you say are the hardest parts of setting up for yourself?

It felt very much like the right thing to do next. That's not to say it is easy. My creativity is my identity, through and through. I feel very content in the studio and able to be myself which is crucial to me in my work. Despite that though it comes with its daily blend of concerns. I think the hardest part of it is that if your creativity is such a large part of your being then how you choose to utilise it is like putting yourself on the line. The anxiety of whether or not you are going to make it is always there.

Thoughtful, a studio based in Manchester, have been a huge support and encouragement to me in setting up on my own. Their belief in my ideals has really helped to reinforce the decisions I've made. They summed up my drive rather well on their blog recently. "We sensed Lucy was a doer the moment we met her and not someone who is prepared to sit around and wait for the phone to ring".

I spent 5 months, in the middle of winter, renovating an old stable building into a design studio with some vague glimmer of hope between my teeth. I wondered many times, usually when painting in the early hours of the morning, if I was insane. Come March, the sun was out a little more and now in May I'm sitting in the most wonderful space, and working as a designer. Splendid.

Did you have a clear idea of the type of commissions you wanted to work on? Do you have a simple one or two line pitch of what you and LucyBrownStudio are all about?

Not particularly, but I know that I don't want to design the cheapest A6 flyers and logos in town. I would like to be recognised for the quality of my work. It's obviously very early days, and i'm learning fast about the pros and cons of pitching for work, or not. My work is consistently influenced by typography so, however its incorporated, I see it is limitless in terms of terms of the type of commissions I might find myself working on. I admire the work of Morag Myerscough and, of course, Oded Ezer has also had a huge to play in the philosophy of how I'm setting up. I also find the work of Marian Bantjes, Jessica Hische and Alex Trochut inspirational.

You studied in London, is Cheshire where you’re from originally? Was it an easy decision to move to Cheshire? Why did you decide move?

My family moved away from Cheshire when I was 14 and so it's 10 years since I've lived here. Throughout my time in London and Sydney and particularly at points throughout the course at LCC I used to question a lot where my geographical home was and struggled to know where my graphic identity and influences had come from as a child. It sounds very philosophical but it felt important to me to try and work this out. So many established designers talk about their influences from their childhood, the records they bought, the books they read, the posters they saw, etc.

While I was in Israel I worked out that I honestly wasn't sure what had influenced me having grown up in the green planes of Cheshire. In the August before I went to Israel, I stayed with extended family in a village near where I grew up. I realised that month that Cheshire was home and after 10 years away began to see the kinds of things that had maybe influenced me when I was younger. I've always had a very architecturally graphic mind and, removed as it might sound, their is a power plant on the river Mersey which you can see from when I live. When I drive past it now it absolutely fascinates me. I remember as a child being amazed by the shapes of the structures and the form of how all that metal fits together. That sense of recognition with my past, and coming back with a sense of identity in the area is why I decided to move.

You’ve recently set up your own studio (or are in the process of competing the studios!), could you tell us a little bit more about that? Did you know of a space or hunt one out?

I've touched on this a bit already but... the studio is in Cheshire surrounded by fields and cows. It's a beautiful, peaceful place to work. I renovated the building, with help from family and friends, between November '09 and March of this year. Much blood, sweat, paint and tears went into it, all hours of the day and night, and in the middle of winter it was testing on the finger tips at times! The building is in my grandparents garden and was only being used to store a table tennis table! My grandparents kindly offered it to me to help me get the studio off the ground. I'm incredibly grateful to them for that. It was originally a stable building, then an office, and now a typographic curiosity shop of sorts.

Why did you set up your own studio space rather than rent a space in a pre-existing studio?

Again, I've touched on some of the reasons above but it mostly boils down to my identity as a designer and where I feel content and able to work well. I'm not sure that it is particularly this building which is important. If there had been one available, I could have rented an existing space in the area and probably made it into the studio I was hoping for, but, this one was offered to me and it made a lot of sense to go ahead.

Could you let us know the advantages and disadvantages of building your own studio?

I think the advantages/disadvantages obviously vary hugely depending on where you are / who you're doing it with / why you're doing it. For me, there are many many advantages, but it has been very much a personal decisions. 99% of designers work in cities, are deliriously happy there, and would die out here - maybe. I love the city, I'm there a lot, but for now it's important to me to have a base in the middle of (relatively to the rest of the design population) nowhere. Out here, I'm able to think straight minus the pressures of existing in a city. Each day i'm learning a little more about the disadvantages but to be honest, I'm enjoying working them out and finding other ways of doing things. For example, I don't have London Graphic Centre around the corner when I need some materials, but that's a good thing! It pushes me to use something else, to think differently. I think it's a healthy thing for me in my work to not always have everything at my fingertips and if at the end of the day I still need that x, y, or z from Falkiners Fine Papers or Atlantis, they do deliver, thankfully. There is however one place that I would like as my neighbour in Cheshire - St Bride Library. For now, I visit whenever I'm in London town.

Would you recommend new graduates follow in your footsteps? Any pitfalls they should try and avoid.

I'm not sure that I would recommend it particularly, only because we're all very different! I'd hope that rather than someone do exactly as I have done, I would inspire them to do what is right for them, which may be the same, but it may not. I think a big pitfall that many design students make is not getting any/enough practical experience while they're studying. There are many, many incredible opportunities to be had, LCC particularly encourage you to get out there and learn as much as possible. Take everything that comes your way if possible, it doesn't matter if you're not sure that you want to do it in the future. Nothing is ever wasted, every experience you have will inform you a little more and take you onto the next. Eventually, you might have worked at some wonderfully huge companies but end up in a studio in the middle of nowhere...but, happilly so, because you've worked it out for yourself.

You were part of the emerge exhibition your 'Clocks' project was featured in the publicity image for the event.  Did you know holly and jane previously? How did this come about?

I submitted my final year projects to be considered for emerge 2009, out of which my '26 Clocks' project was chosen. I was in Israel during the exhibition and so was involved remotely but I was pleased to be a part of something that I think will go from strength to strength each year. I didn't know Jane before but it was a coincidence that I knew Holly. In 2005 I spent a year doing 10 different work placements. My final placement was at Idea Generation, now in Shoreditch, where I then stayed on for a further 2 years into my course, and worked with Holly during that time.

Living in Cheshire, networking must be a big part of your career to be as successful as you are in getting commissioned? Any skills and advice to impart?

I tend to just keep in touch with a lot of people and therefore a lot of the work I do is through word of mouth. I hope to always maintain a healthy reputation through simply doing good work and remembering my 'p's and 'q's. The people I have known and worked with in London over 5 years has given me a relatively good foundation, and I'm currently getting to know people and studios in Manchester, Liverpool and around the North West. To date, things have crossed my path at different times that have led to other things and people and led to other work and other conversations, etc. Everything informs everything else, day by day. I don't particularly consciously 'network', it seems to happen naturally, which I think is the best way.

I have done some teaching at LCC and CSM in the last year and I'm sure i'll continue to build further connections with London. I'm currently doing a lot of work with a local bakery which is wonderful. For me, this is no lesser a job than working for M&C Saatchi. I simply aim to work well, regardless of the client. Yesterday I had a cup of tea with an artist, Emily Speed, who lives and works in the same small village as the studio. She has letterpress, screen printing and bookbinding facilities, all just up the road - who would have thought it in the middle of 'nowhere'.

What have been the highpoints of your career so far?

There has been one that came about as a result of all the others:
the day I first sat at my desk in the studio.

What are the projects you’re currently working on?

Alongside the day-to-day graphic design, I moved out here to enable me to also work experimentally on personal projects. During my time in Sydney I did a lot of research into the characteristics of autism and how it relates to the working process of designers. This informed my dissertation and several pieces of experimental work [Framework of Language, Visualthought and Typotherapy] last year. In my 'spare' time in the studio, outside of client work which is ticking along well, I'm developing these projects.

And your plans for the next couple of years?

To simply continue... grow slow, and grow strong.

Finally, what's the best bit of advice you can impart to our new graduates?

Co-founder of the Do lectures, David Hieatt has written a wonderful piece called 'The Path of a Doer', I think every new graduate should read it and live by it: 

The Path of a Doer
Set yourself a goal.
Set yourself a deadline.
Define success at the start.
Make a plan to make it happen.
Build a team to help you.
Get the team to sign up, head and heart, to the plan.
Understand there will be hurdles, barriers. Accept them. But defeat them.
Work each day toward getting things done. A little can do a lot.
Keep the end goal in your mind at all times.
Understand the importance of your energy. Your stubbornness. Your persistence.
Half way through a project is always the lowest point. You are neither at the start, nor at the end. Energy dips, morale is low. Have a day off.
The next day remind yourself why you started it in the first place.
Focus. Focus. Focus. But focus on the most important thing.
Tell the world what you are doing.
Tell the world your deadline.
Celebrate progress. Any progress.
Never give up.
Look back at how far you have travelled. It will surprise you.
It will also tell you that you are closer to your goal than ever before.
Keep going.
Then one day, after many, many days, you will complete your goal.
You got there in the end.
Your words and your deeds are one. Most people in life are just talkers. But you are a doer. Well done.

by David Hieatt

 Check out the Lucy Brown Studio website here and remember to follow Lucy on twitter!

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