Intro:
This creative report seeks to answer a series of questions
about the creative industry. I wanted to produce a creative report that tries
to answer or shed more light on personal questions I have about the industry. I
wanted to possibly find some answers and opinions from people in the industry
and creatives that would relate the most to my questions.
I set out to produce a series of set question that to ask a
creative/creative studio that I relate to in terms of style, personal
aspirational goals or otherwise. These questions aimed to shed a clearer light
on subjects I wanted to find answers to.
I wanted to get a response on various topics from the idea
of “selling yourself” to project size though the question I want to focus on
the most is the idea of studio size and the effect it may have on one’s work. I
have attempted to create a brand for myself through my time at college and
university as a design studio so this question relates to own identity in the
creative industry and is one I’m the most interested in gaining further insight
to. I feel by gathering responses from creatives I relate to I can get a much
more realistic, unbiased and well-rounded opinion on each of the topics I’ve
chosen to talk about.
I have reached out to several creatives with my questions
but have decided to focus on this creative studio, which I feel best relates to
my own practice, aspirations and desired success. I believe by focusing on this
studio will benefit my report more so than reaching out to creatives that don’t
necessarily relate to my own practice.
About:
My creative report focuses on Forth+Back studio. Forth+Back are an independent studio founded by Nikolos Killian and Tanner Woodbury based in Los Angeles, California. In their own words, their studio seeks to “break new grounds in problems old and new”. Niko and Tanner started Forth+Back at college (university) and continued the studio after graduation, though being a secondary practice while the two were part of different design studios in Italic and National Forest. The pair finally stopped part time work on the studio and embraced Forth+Back as their full-time practice. The multidisciplinary studio specialises in branding design and visual identity, while having feet in the poster design, web and modelling ponds to name a few, and has an emphasis on type based design.
Their work consistently incorporates type and
negative space and the studio’s ability to produce consistently clean and fresh
visual identity is something I admire. I’ve followed the studio and their work
across the likes of Behance and Instagram for a long time and they are a great
embodiment of my own personal aspirations of success and style. I take a lot of
inspiration from the work of Forth and Back across my work so when they happily
agreed to be a part of my report I was looking forward to the responses I would
get and their view on the various topics I wanted to talk about.
The studio have a large portfolio
of various works, such as clear, fresh branding design like NousTous and Hotel
Emporium, to more experimental works such as Things Are For The Lookin'
publication that blends a mixture of clear, bold typography with simple,
stylised street photography, physical illustrative elements and beautiful use
of negative space, and their poster work for Graphic Design Festival Scotland,
that explores great use of typography, hierarchy and interesting Rorschach
test like illustration.
As
I wanted to focus on studio size I felt this would be a great opportunity to
get their view on the matter. As a smaller sized studio, they’re directly
in-between fresh-faced creative and big corporate studio so I hoped this would
provoke a more interesting, insightful response based on their personal
experience.
---At this point the questions will arranged with various images of the studios work---
Analysis:
After receiving the questions and answers back from Forth
and Back I looked at each answer in depth. All the answers given from Nikolos
and Tanner were, detailed, opinionated and helpful responses. The answer
received for the questions regarding studio space were helpful. Their response
gave me great insight into working as a small studio. They talk about the
ability to scale up and scale down in a small studio format. The amount of
flexibility one can have in a small studio set up and the ability to mould a
setup like this into a format suitable for projects of varying sizes was one of
the main factors I took away from the responses. The way a smaller studio set
up is allows for a more personal, honest interaction with clients which is
something Forth+Back pride themselves on and feel is very important. They see a
set-up of this size as something with limitless potential which in turn breeds
creative freedom. I think to be able to have the fluidity in terms of project
scale with a focus on honest, close interaction with clients is incredibly
important. To be able to keep a hold of important, genuine connection with a
client is something I always want to keep in my own practice and being a small-scale
studio seems to allow that.
After having concerns and questions about the validity of a
structure I’ve been trying to build in my own visual identity its reassuring
and good to know that the small studio set up is not only a positive one but
can also be more beneficial than larger set ups to both creative and client for
a plethora of reasons.
When talking about the idea of selling yourself Niko and
Tanner go onto explain that they try to be as genuine as possible. They talk
about the importance of being genuine and “selling less.” As a practice, they
try and sell less, be more genuine and personal with the client and form a bond
with them rather than go over the top to win the client.
They give a really good piece of advice in focusing on the
work you want to put out, rather than trying to adapt to certain client and
pushing for something that’s not true to you. By being friendly and
understanding and focusing on the work you want to create there’s never a real
need to “sell yourself.”
I feel this advice is not only really positive but as an
emerging creative Is incredibly refreshing to hear. It’s nice to hear from
practicing creatives that the industry doesn’t revolve around selling yourself
and you can be creatively successful by being genuine, nice and confident with
your work. I’ve always had and been given the impression that the industry is
one big mess of creatives clambering over one another, but knowing that that
isn’t specifically always the case is welcome news and advice that I intend to
keep in mind. I’ve always wanted to try and allow my work do the talking
instead of needing a huge pitch to sell it, I believe it should always be that
way. I do know however that It’s just not realistic in every instance, though
generally I want to try live by the ethos that one’s work should do the
talking, with the designer being confident enough to back it up, nice and
genuine.
It’s interesting to learn that divides such as North and
South here in the UK exist in other countries. Although I’m not surprised by
divides being common across other parts of the world it’s surprising to learn
that an influx of design in the past year or so by the ‘lesser known, smaller’
areas of the world, such as LA for example are becoming more and more prevalent
and happening at the same time as the northern rise of design In the UK. It
would be interesting to explore that more, given the chance, to find any
correlation.
I found the advice about getting yourself out there and
started really helpful. The response was genuine and meaningful. I took away
the idea of being you, surrounding yourself with positive likeminded people and
other creatives. I agree with the idea of taking on smaller projects. I’ve
always wanted to grow as a creative but I’ve never wanted to see myself grow
into someone that would ever be too big for something, I feel if it’s fun, you
agree with the idea of it and you’re totally invested then go for it, larger
project or small.
Overall the response from Nikolas and Tanner were great,
they were detailed, genuine and honest responses with really good advice not
just for me but I feel for any creative. I feel the answers were genuinely
great pieces of advice that will stick with me throughout my journey as an
emerging creative. I want to also acknowledge the detail of each response, they
took their time to make sure each response was genuine, insightful and detailed
which is something I really appreciate. Not many people give young/student
creatives time out of their schedule to answer their questions in such detail I
know this just from my experience on this project alone.
I’d
like to thank Nikolas and Tanner for their responses and the time they’ve taken
to make sure each response is a great one, with genuine and helpful advice
that’s given me a great insight into life as a creative. I’ve admired
Forth+Back and followed their work for a while and love what they do and aspire
to be as successful, honest and down to earth as they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment