OUGD503 - Responsive - Collaborative Practice - Identifying Collaboratives/Contract

Collaboration: 'Great things are never done by one person. They're made by a team of people' - Steve Jobs

I have identified YCN's Royal Opera House brief to take forward into collaborative practice because an engaging campaign spread across a variety of media will be more attractive to the client. I am looking for creatives that I haven't met/worked with before, ideally someone who has:

• Good communication skills
• Committed and passionate about what they do
• Adaptable 
• Strong work ethic
• Friendly

After expressing an interest in the ROH brief, I got in contact with an animator and illustrator who were both keen to attempt the same brief. I have also collaborated with another graphic designer.

• James Green (me) - Graphic Designer
• Annie Merrick - Illustrator
• Tom Hallgarten - Animator
• Samuel Harpin  - Graphic Designer 

My motivation for collaborating is to work with creatives from different design backgrounds and skill-sets which will ultimately broaden my practice. Gaining perspectives, opinions and insights from other creatives will help to formalise concepts and speed up definitive decisions. I aim to use this collaboration process in order to take advantage of the specialist disciplines and skill sets from other courses in order to create a consistent and transferrable campaign, over a variety of platforms and touch points, in order to build a greater portfolio of work. AND WIN. 

Identified skills that each of us have:

James Green (me)

Positives:

• Practical and hands-on processes
• Aesthetics
• Typography
• Text and image composition 
• Conceptual - Thinking out the box
• Marketing
• Ethics

Negatives:

• Indecisive
• Tend to spend too long in the research stage, rather than developing a strong concept

Hopefully throughout this process I will improve on these touch points and learn from others around me. 

Annie Merrick

• Illustrator
• Drawing/collage/printing
• Colour theory 
• Shape and line
• Adobe Illustrator skills

From looking at Annie's work, it is clear that I can learn a lot from her use of colour, line and shape which plays a key compositional role. I have previously struggled with combinations of colour in my practice, as I often resort to black and white so I am looking forward to working on a brief from the perspective of an illustrator. Annie will play a key role in producing the visuals, however we all have transferrable skills to which we can use to help each other out if needs be. 

Tom Hallgarten

• Experienced in After Effects/Animation
• Creating an narrative
• Drawing
• Story boards

I have some very basic animation skills, using stop motion photography and After Effects, however Tom's specialist and well practiced skills in animation will allow us to professionally translate our concept into moving image. I am excited to work with an animator as it is a discipline that has always interested me whilst I am reliant on it almost everyday. 

Samuel Harpin 

• Formalised concept generation
• Strong typographical knowledge
• Functional design
• Branding and Marketing
• Strong organisation

Working with another graphic designer because we both share the same discipline, however our approaches and styles are very different. This collaboration would be beneficial because we can share the creative responsibility and fill in the gaps for each others practice. 

I was made aware of these designers from the Pitcha-Pitcha presentations. Engaging with other creatives such as Tom and Annie gave me confidence because we all share a similar work ethic and strive to get the most out of this collaborative module. 

CONTRACT

What methods of communication will you use and how often will you meet?

Each member has their own personal Facebook account which we agreed would be the most accessible and practical platform because it allows group discussion and the ability to share images quickly and easily. This will be really beneficial for sending over initial concepts and visual inspiration to keep all members of the group informed and on the same page. We agreed that we will meet at least once a week, whilst keeping each other updated via the Facebook Messenger chat. 

...............................................................................................................

Central St Martins, S.E Salomon

6 key elements of collaboration as a result of a research project:

Motivation - Everyone involved needs to feel like they are part of the project in order for the individual to have a positive approach to the brief. 

Communication - Project needs to be communicated clearly. Articulating the goals of the project will give everyone a direction and motivation.

Diversity - Creatives benefits from a wide range of skills from different design backgrounds. Often a clash of styles/approaches produce successful collaboration. 

Sharing - Flexible with ownership of ideas. 

Support - Moral support during difficult times or unforeseen difficulties. Collaborative group needs to be built on trust.

Problem Solving - The group must be able to solve problems together. High tolerance for uncertainty is needed when the project changes direction or something does not go to plan. The diverse amount of skills that collaboration provides makes it easier to overcome new obstacles.

Considering Salomon's 6 principles throughout the module will allow the collaborative group to consider each others voice and point of view so that we all feel confident presenting our work. This will ultimately create a positive working environment which is important for producing great work.