Being briefed on the type and grid workshops last week was quite an experience and definitely an eye-opener to myself and many others I am sure. I guess I have never truly understood just how much detail goes into designing a page layout be it in a book, magazine, newspaper, website or leaflet... the list is endless if I'm honest.
Moving on however, the brief itself was to produce a fully laid out editorial article of the our creative partner; who is in this instance is the delightful Kate Fenton - good times! The article has to span three double page spreads and has to be based on both primary and secondary research; all of which should reflect our partners interests, ambitions and personality. According to the brief you should also 'never let truth get in the way of a good story'. Interesting.
After a moderately lengthy interview and a fairly tame interrogation later that day, I acquired much of what I needed to know in order to produce the mandatory 500 words for the first DPS. I shortlisted a few relevant images for the layouts also.
If you have ever needed to learn a thing or two about Kate Fenton then read on...
Kate Fenton exemplifies the particular mixture of imagination and drive that is needed to get things done.
She has a keen awareness of how concepts can be developed and is often at the forefront of producing the goods when an idea is in need of being plucked from the clouds of creativity. Informed both by her roots in fine art and textiles her own personal approach to graphic design can be somewhat diverse as well as insightful and imaginative.
Talking about her time at London College of Communication where she studied a foundation geared towards graphic design, Kate says ‘I enjoyed my time there quite a lot, it was really good fun. It helped me to develop and explore my strengths in photography and abstraction. I felt that I learnt about myself as well as the ways in which my opinions were relevant to how I wanted to take my artistic direction forward.’ As a result, it comes as no surprise that Kate often utilises photographic based imagery to progress with the development of her ideas and to ‘make sense’ of the problems that she is faced with. But there is definitely more to this girl than what meets the eye…
Pursuing her studies onto degree level, it is clear to see that 20 year old Kate who is now a local resident of Leeds is not only a creative with a camera. After a particularly inspiring visit to Ardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Creature Comforts) in midst’s of 2007 and a recent reunion with the collectives work this spring, her work often takes shape in the form of animation that combines a stop frame and photo frame aesthetic. Commenting upon a recent piece admittedly experimented with out of boredom it was said ‘My logic first came from working directly with music and imagery more, and finding an appropriate balance between the kind of music and the imagery or shapes that were being used.’
Prying further into this aspect of her life definitely unearthed some intriguing discoveries… ‘Yeah haha, I really have a passion for Indie and Electro at the moment which is probably reflected within my design work.’ She also elaborated by saying ‘Kings of Leon, Foals and The Klaxons are always getting a play on my iPod at the moment.’ Being an ex-musician herself, it also came to light that Kate played the trumpet for roughly 8 or 9 years and inevitably became ever enthusiastic about the classical jazz artists from the 1960’s and 70’s.
It is not only this that may come as a surprise however. Born and bred in the suburbs of Harrow Kate is an open follower of Judaism, boasting the capabilities of be able to read fluent Hebrew whenever the opportunity should arise… ‘Sure, it’s a very handy talent to have, but in respect to living in England all of my life I’m not sure as to how this may benefit me socially, let alone within my studies as a graphic designer!'
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