Creative report with Bonnie Kate - www.bonniekatewolf.com/
1. Who is your biggest influence towards design and why?
I think it would have to be Eduardo Recife, a Brazilian collage artist. I discovered his work in high school and it inspired all my early work. Without him, I wouldn't have developed my taste or standards.
2. I personally am not always comfortable with myself. Have you always been confident and if not how did you get over it?
I grew into myself throughout university. I found that doing the work I was interested in was more important than trying to please any tutor or peer. This I realised I could apply to my personal life. I now spend time with people who like me the way I like myself. Those are the people you want around you and those people will help you blossom and grow.
3. I personally love working with a team/group. Can you describe the most collaborative creative brief you’ve worked on and how it benefited you.
My favourite group brief was one for JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle). We created a news app and website as well as a film. Even though my team was made up of people from different sectors, we were able to create interesting ideas and form a creative outcome that I am very proud of. (it's on my portfolio website, project titled 'the pulse')
4. Can you walk me through one of your favourite projects given to you by your university/client.
My favourite brief was one that I hated at first! We had to design a poster that explained what our life would be like in 5 years time. I thought it was SUPER CHEESY, but then as I started working on it, I realised it was a great opportunity to show the world who I want to be. I created a poster titled '24 hours as graphic designer' (also on the portfolio for reference) which ended up brilliantly mixing my illustration, design, and typography skills. To this day, it's probably still my favourite piece of work.
5. How do you stay on top of current design trends?
I'm always online. I spend a lot of time on pinterest and instagram. More importantly maybe, I read design books. Lots of them. I surf a generous number of artist's websites. To be honest though, I'm not super into trends. I prefer to do what appeals to me and then apply my knowledge of the world around me to know that I'm current.
6. Other than Graphic design/Illustration what is your favourite hobby/activity?
I am HUGE into fibre arts: knitting, crochet, and spinning yarn. Also ceramics. Hard to pick between them. I love craft in general. I find making things with my hands calms me tremendously and gives me purpose at the same time.
7. Working with certain clients can be frustrating. How do you manage a 'tough' client?
Yes they can be. I find that getting very specific information helps. If they explain something that makes very little sense, I try to ask them back if that's actually what they want in more specific language so they can see where their communication is breaking down. When the client doesn't understand good design, I try to push them for a bit, but in the end, they are paying so they get the final say. Most of the time, I'm able to help them reach a positive place for both of us, but sometimes they just like your least favourite designs and you have to accept that.
8. What design mistake have you done in the past that has benefited you in the future?
I can't exactly pinpoint that moment where a 'good mistake' occurred, but I am aware that, especially in my personal work (mostly textiles and ceramics) the points where something went wrong (eg. a colour didn't turn out as I expected in a glaze or a quilt had some strange unexpected shapes in the panels) usually end up being the most interesting part of the design. I think that the future of design involves a lot of 'wrong design' and that we are going to embrace the notion that perfect isn't perfect. We are going to want things to feel touched and manipulated and messy. We're so bored by computerised symmetry. The future of design is to accept those flaws and mistakes and embrace them the way we embraced the impressionists in art, those who saw things a little differently.
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