Intro, rationale and reflection for the creative report

 Intro, rationale and reflection for the creative report

INTRO

Alexis Jamet is a multidisciplinary graphic designer and illustrator based in Paris, France. Specialising in illustration and animation, Alexis’ varied portfolio of work showcases bright colours, nostalgic elements and a wide range of both digital and analog creative processes. This tactile approach to design is what distinguishes Alexis’ unique and playful style; this dynamic stems from Alexis’ values of experimentation, stating how ‘working with different mediums keeps (him) active’. 

Branching into the design world by creating zines around the Paris skateboard scene, Alexis’ has a visible interest in publication design; many of his personal projects consist of printed matter such as his zine ‘A Special Request’, and the ‘Coup De Vent’ flip book. Despite this, in light of his awareness of getting ‘bored very quickly’, Alexis has recently translated his illustrative work into moving image; creating campaigns for clients such as Nike, Hermes and The New York Times, Alexis brings his drawings to life through animation.

Over recent years, Alexis has gained an insight into both freelance and studio environments through having the opportunity to work for agencies based in France, Spain, North America and England. This has massively broadened his experiences within the industry, allowing both his practice and himself as a creative to evolve.  

RATIONALE

I have chosen to focus my report on Alexis Jamet as his fun and playful approach to design definitely aligns with my values as a designer; a lot of his work integrates analog elements into illustrations, relevant to my own creative processes as I enjoy having a balance between digital and physical. 

In regards to my aspirations as a designer, I admire how Alexis’ practice is constantly evolving, especially through his recent animation work; broadening my skills into moving image is particularly something I want to improve on, as I love how Alexis builds narratives through animation.

Alexis also has very consistent self branding as a designer and on social media; in today’s creative industry, I feel like it is crucial to build a strong image online, so I would like to gain an insight into how to be a designer in a digital environment. This is especially relevant to my practice post graduation, as I want to be more aware of self branding, particularly when it comes to potential freelancing.  

REFLECTION

Gaining an insight into the design industry from Alexis’ perspective has been super interesting, as his perspective has taught me a lot about creative processes, client commissions and self branding as a creative. Alexis’ ethos of constantly trying new things has really inspired me to evolve as a designer, especially when it comes to integrating analog methods into digital design; it’s definitely reassured me in regards to being confident with the work I create, as Alexis is a creative that sticks to what he wants to produce within his practice. I even applied this confidence to the animation for the creative report, as I felt inspired to try something new and work on challenging my own skill set; this helped align my practice with my ambitions as a creative, as becoming more of a multidisciplinary designer like Alexis is something I want to achieve.  

 

Learning about Alexis’ experiences with both freelance and studio work has also shed a light on the fact that as a designer, you don’t have to be limited to the same ways of working; through moving around the world both as a freelancer and working at agencies, Alexis’ constantly changing creative environment has encouraged me to focus on new opportunities, particularly when it comes to post graduation. 

I think his approaches to commissions is also great advice, as clients and commissions within the design industry are very daunting to me; it’s kind of comforting to hear from Alexis that his commission work is very varied (good and bad), as well as his advice to continue with personal projects alongside client briefs. I can definitely relate to his frustration with repetitiveness, so it’s nice to learn that professional designers experience this issue and can resolve it by producing work that they want to do. 

In terms of finding inspiration, it was also very interesting to learn that Alexis gets inspired from such a wide array of things, from film, podcasts, and the internet; for some reason I felt like there was a stigma surrounding getting inspiration from social media platforms, as like discussed in the interview, graphic design is becoming very trend based. Initially, this aspect of the design industry being trend based worried me, as I fear falling into the category of designers that follow trends too much; Alexis’ transparency with the subject and his self awareness kind of changed my perspective, as he made the good point of trends existing for centuries and that good designers can find a balance between trendiness and audaciousness.