Imagine That

Craig Morrison
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

http://www.creativeambition.co.uk

Hello Craig, how are you feeling today?
I'm good thanks. Been a crazy few weeks as my girlfriend and I make plans to head up to Dundee. Managed to get a flat sorted and are well on our way to getting it furnished.

What's your latest project?
I've been working on a rebrand for a dental surgery based in Glasgow on and off for the last year or so. I did a logo and some stationary last year and this time around they are looking for some brochures and folders for new patients. It's going well but it's a slow process as I am always waiting around for the actual content. Other than that I've been mainly concentrating on the blog I am part of called Evolution and Us (www.evolutionandus.com).

What is the project you have done that you most enjoyed?
I did a project at college where we had to visit a supermarket and choose a product I felt needed a rebrand. This was exactly what I wanted as eventually I would like to concentrate on corporate identity. I chose Homepride because after being in three stores and seeing it on the bottom shelf every time I knew I had to make it compete with the newer brands like Jamie Oliver and Lloyd Grossman.

I enjoyed this brief the most because of the freedom I had, there was very little requirements for the brief other than having three pieces of design on our product. I chose to do a new logo, new label and an advertising campaign.

I created a unique logo and set our specific colours for the jars depending on which category they fell into. Previously Homepride had used the same jar layout and design for all of their ranges, which went from pasta sauces to vegetable bakes to a roast chicken cook-in-sauce.

The advertising campaign I enjoyed because it allowed me to use my sense of humour with the tagline "It's almost like cooking from scratch". I had fun with this brief, so yeah, probably one of my favourites.

What/Who inspires you?
Someone asked me this before and I can honestly say that I have no idea. I don't think I'm ever inspired in the sense that I see something and think 'that's inspiration right there, I wish I was them, I wish I had done that'. I do look at a lot of work online and follow a lot of blogs and I do often say, 'ooooo that's nice' but that's about it. I like to create my own stuff, I think there is a fine line in being inspired by something and just plain copying it, I try my best to have my own take on things.

What are your future aspirations?
I'm 26 right now an I've wasted a few years in dead end jobs and sitting around doing nothing. My decision to return to education came about after spending 6 months in Canada. I quickly realised that my passion for design wasn't enough to get me a job, so I returned home to get my qualifications. My intentions were to spend two years at Glasgow Metropolitan, then two years at Glasgow Caledonian. Then I met my girlfriend, applied for art school because of some advice I got from a few industry creatives and here I am, 26 and about to spend the next three years at Duncan of Jordanstone. If I had been told two years ago that I would go to art school with the prospect of leaving with a degree I would never have believed them, now I reckon I can do anything. I hope to eventually have my own agency, like most young designers no doubt, but I am willing to just live my life and see what happens really.

What advice would you give to students in creative industries?
Networking is key in this industry and I'm not even really in the industry yet but I've quickly realised that if you sit around waiting for it, it'll never come. I won't be out of education for another three years, but right now I am actively building up a reputation (hopefully). I have my portfolio website up and running, Creative Ambition (www.creativeambition.co.uk) and also contribute to the Evolution and Us (www.evolutionandus.com) blog. Through both of these sites I hope that in three years time, with constant networking, I'll be able to come out slightly ahead of everyone else as far as knowing people in the industry. My advice to people, get Twitter and get a blog, get yourself out there or else you'll end up doing a job you have no interest in.

Any other comments?
Two things spring to mind
1) Good things come to those who wait.
and
2) Buy a kindle, best £111 I ever spent.