I am an energetic designer devoted towards creating vibrant results as well as creating visually engaging experiences for users, with a speciality in creating distinctive compositions. Eventually, I aim to combine my passion for electronic music with my practice.
A major issue, one that is close to my heart being a producer and DJ, is the major decline of the electronic music culture in our cities nationwide. The cost of living crisis, lifestyle changes post-COVID-19, as well as people simply not going out as much – are leaving too many beloved establishments closing their doors – for good. The UK government also, has shown little to no interest in helping our community either. Therefore, I felt it was time to propose a solution to help clubs, business owners and all those involved in the nightlife scene.
Keep The Lights On (KTLO) is a solution where we, the general public, have a chance to keep our nightclub doors open; since the government has shown little interest, it’s in our hands. But I wanted to make this scheme a little fun for people, a scavenger hunt in a way. It is well known that we all like a challenge, and to make night-clubbing more appealing, as an experience (rather than a night out to get drunk), users can ‘hunt’ for scannable stamps across their local city. When scanned, they unlock discounts and rewards not only for local establishments, like cheaper entry but also for other experiences such as coffee making or pottery. Whilst some of these aren’t directly related to a night out, the engagement of an activity by seeking/finding and retrieving a reward, is a memorable experience that should keep clubbing in the forefront of the user’s mind. Hopefully, they might want to give ‘going out’ another chance; seeing it as a good experience rather than a drunken one.
The colour palette chosen was a deliberate attempt to replicate the positivity that electronic music culture produces. With the visual style attributing to a time when electronic music and its community was one of the largest in the country – the 90s. The grungy style, as well as the manipulation of imagery, was a way to try and break through the saturated market of event posters we see on our streets. Often dark and poorly designed, the contrasting bright composition created for KTLO, aims to instantaneously differentiate its identity from other outdoor imagery.
For this years D&AD competition, we were told to make Gen Z and Millennials (18-35 year olds) think of only one place when it came to refurbished phones – Giffgaff. But we weren’t trying to persuade our market that refurbished phones were better, it was to convince those already intrigued by refurbished phones to take the plunge and buy one.
Tailoring towards such a large market in terms of age proved tricky. One segment from this market, however, stood out to me – as they had not been catered to from a mobile provider – the graduate. Many may go-travelling, others might be saving for their first home, or some may simply be out of pocket. It was therefore my aim to make graduates think “If I save money on a refurbished phone, there’ll be more money left over for future ventures.”
In addition to the campaign, it was necessary to ensure potential buyers of refurbished phones felt confident not purchasing a lower-quality, second-hand device – but rather an almost-new and dependable one. To address this concern, I designed an app to help guarantee users that their phones had been tested and restored to a professional standard. The app features stages where users unlock through progression – each stage represents a step in the phone-building process. For example, the first level involves finding specific components for your phone on a fast moving conveyer belt, the next puzzle to try and put the parts in the correct place. The intention was to provide users with transparency, regarding the origin of their phones components, therefore creating trust in GiffGaff’s reliability.
During Semesters 1 and 2, I had the opportunity to create posters for various nightclubs, allowing more room to explore color, texture and layout. When the poster was being designed for some of the biggest names, it was crucial to immediately grab the viewers’ attention of their names. When asked to create a visually distinctive composition, I experimented with visual distortion, filters and overlay techniques – giving the final product a unique touch and aiming to establish my own style for future projects.
