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I was lucky enough to receive a ticket for one of the beginners classes at Print Club London this Christmas. It was something I’d wanted to do for quite a while, and as this year I’m trying to learn as many new things as I can, I was a very happy bunny when I unwrapped them. I did my session a couple of Sundays ago, and I was even happier when I left their studio with my prints in hand.

Before I went, I was asked by a couple people to tell them what it the beginner’s class is like so they could work out if they wanted to go/buy tickets as gifts. So, I thought I’d share a bit of a review here as well in case anyone else out there was wondering.

What is it?

It’s a full day workshop that takes you through the full process of creating a single colour screen print from prepping your image, to creating a screen and then actually printing. By the end of the day you get to walk away with a final print run of 10, as well as some misprints if you’re lucky. Along the way you’ll get to learn about the history of screen printing and pick up some tips from the experts.

What did I think?

The overarching thing feeling was that I had a great day of making and learning.

As someone who had never screen printed before the class, I could now confidently talk someone else through the process, which I think is a sign of a good piece of teaching. There’s just the right mix of history, examples and then plenty of making.

I was so pleased with the prints that I came out with (so pleased that I’m selling some) and I didn’t see anyone who wasn’t really happy with what they had made. All of the images, as diverse as they were, came out wonderfully. It’s a craft class where you genuinely make something of a really high quality.

This might not be important to everyone but it’s a workshop that’s still comfortable and fun if you’re on your own or if you go as a group, and (at least from the sense in my class) whatever experience you’ve had before. So no one should feel nervous or uncomfortable about going.

What tips would I give someone who wants to go?

First off, just do it. If you’re thinking about going, I would definitely recommend you book your class because it is so worth it.

Second, give some thought to the image you want to print. During the class you work on printing one image, so make sure you take some time picking out what you want to print. It can be anything a doodle, an illustration (as long as it’s not someone else’s), a photo, or something else. I saw examples of them all working well in my class. Just remember you’re printing in one single colour so you want something with a fair amount of contrast. You also need an image that’s in a high enough resolution to be printed at A4.

Third, here are some ideas of nice places you can go for lunch nearby if you’re not a local. Voodoo Ray’s is one of my favourite pizza spots in London (even though I really shouldn’t eat cheese). They sell by the slice, are reasonably priced, and delicious. If you’re in the mood for a cafe both Finger’s Crossed and Old Dalston Cafe are great options. But if you’ve got the good fortune of going when the weather’s nice, I’d say pick up some bits and pieces from Harvest E8 on your way in then have your self a picnic on the Downs.

Support my screen printing habit

I have definitely got the screen printing bug, so much so that I’m selling some of the 10 final prints I made in my store to fund going back to do their more advanced class, and perhaps even become a member. So, if you’d like a print of the design above or if you’d just like to support my screen printing dreams, you can pick one up for just £25.

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Not so long ago one of my colleagues wrote this great piece about why data can’t replace human centred design research. While I agree with pretty much everything he wrote in that piece (David’s an incredibly clever guy) it did get me thinking about the hostility I’ve faced when talking to designers about data and data analysts about design thinking, and why it has always struck me as odd because they could work together so well.

 

Data is most commonly used to validate design hypotheses and user research. It’s somehow seen as truer, because numbers feel solid, which I think is the issue. A huge quantitative survey that asks users 200 questions is incredibly valuable. But alone it is not enough. Those 200 questions might miss out the most important 2. The lack of follow up means you never get to ask a user why they do something, and why that thing led to the action, and why they felt a certain way. Those giant surveys lack depth and quite often they lack the narrative which actually connects with people.

But those surveys can serve a purpose. They can be used to identify and slice up your audience. We can use them to find what an average behaviour might look like, and so we can find out where they outliers are. Outliers, or extreme users, can often give us the greatest insights into how things work, or rather how they don’t. These are the people who love or hate a service, who hit the enter button more times than anyone else or who wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot barge pole. Knowing what makes them tick can help shed light on that average portion and what pushes people to either extreme. We can also see what these groups have in common, does everyone who loves your product also love rugby? Does everyone who hates it come from a certain demographic? You can then take that information into interviews or ethnographic research and find out why. Surveys aren’t the only data source that can be used in this way, I’ve seen absolutely fascinating identification and sampling work using DMPs.

 

Once you’ve found those outliers or any research participant data can be used to track how they actually behave. Most user research is done face to face, interviews or workshops. We rely on what people tell us, and what they tell us is fascinating. Having the opportunity to talk to someone about how they interact with a service, and why they do the things they do or feel the way they feel, is an invaluable part of research. But sometimes what people say they do, and what they actually do can be quite different. For example, if you asked me how much time I spend on my phone in an average day I’d estimate it at maybes 2-3 hours a day. However, I recently downloaded Moment and found the real figure is much closer to 5. Now, I wasn’t lying when I gave my first estimate. Perhaps I was a little generous to myself, but not to the extent that the data shows. Collecting data on how people actually use services, and using it for specific cases and at an aggregated can provide additional insights, as well as provoking more questions – why is my perception of the time spent on my phone so askew?

 

That same kind of tracking data can be used to support ongoing user research for services. One of the principles behind Government service design is “design with data” and in the description of that principle, they say “Analytics should be built-in, always on and easy to read. They’re an essential tool.” Building a tool like Google Analytics into a site is pretty commonplace, but making sure that your ongoing analytics set up properly (whether that’s on a website or not) so that the information you gather can give you useful insights is so important. That data can act as a flag to pain points, a warning sign. It can also help inform and focus further user research.

 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, there are whole swathes of thinking about how we can use tagging and metadata to organize and analyse user research findings. That’s even before we touch on the mysterious entity that is big data.

 

There’s so much that data can offer design and in particular user research. It would be a real shame to ignore that for fear of being replaced because let’s face it no data capture can ever get close to the insight you can get from asking someone “why” three times. This is such an exciting time for both disciplines, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to work across them.

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It’s time for my another monthly roundup. In this second edition I’ve got some thought provoking long reads, a YouTube recommendation and I’m channelling my inner Gene Kelly.

stop watch illustration

SHORT READS, IF YOU’VE ONLY GOT A FEW MINUTES:

1. What I Realized About My Self-Esteem Problem

While not necessarily about creativity or design, I loved this piece from (one of my personal heroes) Leandra of Man Repeller all about self-esteem. It’s a really refreshing take on the struggles a lot of us face (or rather hide from) day to day, from someone who seems to have so much confidence the world at her very well-dressed feet.

2. The most influential female designers of the last century

On the centenary of women’s suffrage in the UK, have created mini profiles on some of the female designers who have made an impact on everything from graphics to textiles over the past 100 years. It’s an inspiring list and includes one of my personal heroes Margaret Calvert.

3. Chatty Sketchbook Tour · Learning To Love My ‘Mistakes’

How I had I not been watching Minnie Small’s videos before this year? They are so good. Her videos are based around her art, but also include vlogs and more lifestyle content. I really enjoyed her most recent sketchbook walk through, mainly because of the way she approaches her rough work as a conversation between her and the page. If you’ve got the time I’d also recommend her studio redesign video, because her new space is so wonderful and well designed.

 

Dentures illustration

LONG READS, IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH STUCK INTO:

1. The Consumers Book

The Consumers Book is a manifesto on consuming more inspiration and combinational creativity. Made up of quotes and stories lifted from elsewhere and patched together it’s well worth a read. It’s beautifully put together as well. I know you shouldn’t judge a book on how it looks, but damn sometimes beautiful things do just work, or rather read, better.

2. Why Accessible Design Isn’t a Niche Market

In last month’s longer form piece I talked about assumptions and accessible design. If you enjoyed that post, or it got you thinking you’ll really like this too. Aiga’s eye on design reflects on a new exhibition at Cooper Hewitt which reminds us that all design is fundamentally assistive, and asks what can designing for accessibility teach us about designing universally?

PS – I love pretty much everything Eye on Design publishes

3. How One Typeface Landed on the Moon

I feel like most people associate Futura with Wes Anderson movies, and all of the aesthetic dupes of his work. But it started off as an avant-garde contribution to 1920s Modernism. Then by the 1960s, it had become part of NASA’s authoritative image. This is the story of how that happened

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT:

This is an odd and all-encompassing favourite for the month, but I have been really loving music again. I go through phases of listening to only podcasts or music (or in rare cases nothing) but I’m back on the hunt for great new music at the minute, and dreaming of spending my days dancing around the kitchen like Gene Kelly.

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It’s rare I do any kind of shopping guide, except for my Christmas gift guide, even though they seem to be something of a staple in the blogging world. But today I’m changing things up, because I’ve been bulking up my art supply cupboard so I’ve been doing a little bit more shopping over the past few months.

So, these are some of my favourite places to get supplies, or just to look lovingly at supplies. They’re all based in London, but where they have online stores I’ve linked those as well in case you have the good fortune of having escaped the capital.

Without further ado, and in no particular order, here we go…

 

CASSART

Cass Art is probably the place to go if you’re looking for supplies in London. They’ve got stores across the city – Islington and Soho are my most frequented – and they have a huge range covering all price points and styles.

 

THE LONDON ART SHOP

The London Art Shop does exactly what it says on the tin. It sells a little bit of everything at a fair price, in a lovely store in northwest London.

 

L. CORNELISSEN & SON

If you’re after a bit of London history with your shopping, L Cornelissen & Son has been selling high-end, hard-to-find artist’s equipment since 1855. It’s a bit pricier and more niche than the other stores on this list, but it is stunning, and who doesn’t have a treat yo self ***link*** moment every once in a while?

 

GF SMITH

GF Smith is the go to place for everything and anything paper related. If you’re looking for a soothing afternoon activity, they have a gorgeous and perfectly colour co-ordinated showroom just off Oxford street.

 

LONDON GRAPHIC CENTRE

So, this is probably my most visited art supply store in all of London. There was definitely a period when I worked closer to Covent Garden when I popped in every other week just to touch the paper. They’ve got pretty much anything you could ever want, especially if your work has a more graphic rather than fine arts (they have you guys covered too don’t worry) as their name might suggest. Plus, if you ever find yourself with a Ryman’s voucher you can spend it at LGC as well! Just as an FYI, it’s not open on bank holidays – I’ve been caught out by that a few times.

 

QUILL LONDON

Calling all letter lovers and calligraphy cats, you need to visit Quill. They have everything you could ever need in order to write a beautiful letter, and a whole load of gorgeous stationery besides. Plus, they run calligraphy workshops if you’re looking to brush up on your skills to help you make good use of all of the correspondence cards you will undoubtedly leave with.

 

PRESENT AND CORRECT

It took me a little while to visit Present and Correct, as it’s not on my normal routes, but it was well worth the trip out. Their store is the stationery heaven you would expect if you’ve ever had the good fortune of stumbling onto their Instagram feed. The only problem is that it’s very hard not to walk away with 15 kinds of paperclip that you definitely don’t need.

 

CHOOSING KEEPING

Based on Columbia road, Choosing Keeping is just as beautiful as the flower market its based next to. The next time you’re in need of a stationery fix, or you just want to ogle some stunning “desk objects” I would highly recommend you give them a visit.

 

If you have any hidden (or not so hidden) shopping gems I’d love to hear about them!

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I want to be honest, this post is almost entirely an excuse for me to draw some of my favourite film characters. But this is my blog and I’ll make what I want to. So, in the same spirit as my podcast posters, I’ve done a small series of portraits of characters from four of the films I’ve watched the most.

 

I’m a bit of a serial film rewatcher, there’s just something so comforting about a rewatch, so this definitely isn’t the entire list (there are a load of romcoms that should be in here) but these are the four which came to mind first. If there are any on this list you haven’t seen, they’re all quite different, but all come highly recommended by me and the fact I’ve seen them all at least 5 times.

 

La la land

I know La La Land only came out quite recently, but that didn’t stop me pretty much putting it on repeat as soon as it was released on Netflix in the UK. I’m a sucker for a musical, and have always been, as you’ll see with one of my later picks. So, when you combine some Gene Kelly-esque magic, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone trying to fulfil their creative dreams you’re always going to be onto a winner for me. I may or may not have cried the first time (and every other time I’ve seen it) at the scene outside Mia’s childhood home. The position of this one has certainly been boosted by the number of times I’ve listened to the sound track. If you need to put some pep in your step on your morning commute, Another Day of Sun usually does the trick for me.

 

 

Garden State

This was the film that introduced me to The Shins, which I always feel is kind of shameful til I realise I watched it in 2006 and I was 13. It’s my favourite of a whole group of films all about the ways in which we isolate ourselves, and why should reach out and actually feel. I think it was a film that came to me at just the right moment, and has continued to comfort me in those moments when I want to tap out and detach myself from everything. It’s also one of only perhaps two films I’ve watched with the director’s commentary.

 

Bedknobs & broomsticks

Bedknobs & Broomsticks was my favourite film as a child (along with Spy Kids – the first one) so I’ve been rewatching this since I was probably about 5. It’s got a wonderful mix of romance, Angela Lansbury, adventure, mild peril, magic, cockney accents and animated animals, all of the keys to a great children’s movie. Plus, it’s got some darn catchy songs – bobbin’ along anyone? I’m always torn between wanting someone to remake it to introduce it to a new generation, and my love for the 1970s (I know I’m a 90s baby but still) grain and animation which just wouldn’t translate in the same way in 2018.

Die hard

I love Die Hard. I have no shame. I love it. It is a great piece of cinema. I’ve seen all of the entire series (apart from 5) multiple times, but I’ve gone classic with this illustration with our introduction to the badass that is John Maclane and his ever-white vest in the original Die Hard. I’m not sure there’s anything more I can say, other than Yippee Kay-yay.