OUGD502 - Berlin Visit - The Graphic Designer in Me

This visit had a massive influence on me as a graphic designer. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the Pentagram studio based in Berlin and listen to a small lecture by Justus Oehler. His talk was incredibly inspiring and focussed on the concept of the importance of graphic design being understood as an academic subject. He talked about design being under appreciated and the importance of good practice by demonstrating bad examples of design. It was interesting to hear a professional talking about the importance design as I myself have felt that it can be under appreciated. It was his own passion for design that inspired me the most, "we don't design because we have to, we do it because we fucking love it." I feel just as passionate as he did and it made it easy to connect with him. His speech made it clear to me the importance of taking myself seriously with my own practice, and ensuring any clients I work with understand what is involved with design work as many people take it for granted. It also demonstrated how important my attention to detail is especially with kerning....

I also had the opportunity to speak to an illumni, Chloe Galea. She spoke to us about her experience moving to Germany to work and it was good to hear about how she achieved it. It is an ambition of mine to work abroad and this benefitted my knowledge of how to approach it myself. Me and Chloe exchanged business cards and I intend to be in contact with her in the future. 

Whilst in Berlin I visited several stores including Hay Store and Ace and Tate. Whilst at Ace and Tate I had the opportunity to try on a variety of glasses and prepare if I ever need them... but as well Anthony Burrill had a small exhibition in the store. Anthony Burrill's work involves a lot of letter pressing with large wood block type. Typesetting is a technique I am fond of and enjoy the results it produces and it was good to see how it could be used for more than publications and instead with poster prints. Whilst in Berlin I also ate at Burgermeister. Not only did this burger bar serve incredible burgers and chunky cut chips, their branding was most appealing. Their typeface treatment and use of recyclable packaging paired with their street food style interior impressed me. I was keen to see Berlin's U-Bahn as it is a portal of creativity. Many of their stations are stylised to make commuting more enjoyable. I managed to see a couple of stations whilst travelling around Berlin.

I took this visit as an opportunity to practice my film photography. As is this course's nature, I have been quite busy and not had the opportunity to use my camera, as well as the weather being a little dull. This trip to Berlin allowed me to take full advantage of my camera and it has increased my knowledge in the difference in film. I am still keen on photography and will continue to incorporate it into my work where I can.