The Graduates 2013: This week ends with graphic designer Lottie Brzozowski

Every year when we scour through the hundreds of submissions to The Graduates, we come across a great many graphic design students whose final projects bear little relation to traditional ideas of the craft. That can be tremendously exciting and these kinds of conceptual stars have already made an appearance in this year’s showcase (and will do so again). But there is also a place for great graphic design talent of a more traditional bent, such as Lottie Brzozowski.

The Liverpool John Moores graduate combines impressive ideas with flawless execution and has a really natural feel for the communicative power of great-looking, tactile work. She is aware of dominant industry trends without slavishly following them – a major way of discerning the best from the rest. We were particularly enamoured by her risograph work as well as her experimental typeface Vertex – “created by a system of folding which disrupted a 2D surface, making it appear 3D.”

Here she is in her own words…

Why or who or what made you go to art school?

Going to art school came about quite naturally for me really. I’ve always followed the theory that if I just keep doing things that I enjoy, then I’ll surely end up in a career that I’ll enjoy. And sure enough I ended up on a great course, with great tutors and friends, doing something that I love doing.

What’s the best mistake you made when you were studying?

Honestly, it was turning up 10 minutes late one day during my foundation course. This was the day we had to choose between Fine Art, Visual Communication and 3D something or other. I was torn between the first two, however by the time I arrived at college that day, the Fine Art introduction had already begun. So that pretty much decided it for me and I went along to Visual Communication where I happily studied illustration for the rest of the year – so thank you for that, Carlisle rush hour. Actually, illustration turned out to be another good mistake that eventually led me to study graphic design.

If you could show you your work to one person, who would you choose and what would you show them?

I’m not great at showing people my work so I’m not sure who I would show it to, someone whose opinion I really value and respect – perhaps the likes of Eike König, Adrian Shaughnessy or Irma Boom. I’d like to see what Eike would make of the Not Just A Pretty Face degree show publication that I designed with Tom Rogers, as his “philosophies” on design had a big influence on that project.

Can you give us one prediction about your work for the next year?

It will be risographed! Myself and an illustrator friend Rachel Davey have just bought a second-hand risograph machine which I intend to use to explore the self-publishing world in much more depth. So I’d expect a lot more publications, and more specifically, black and blue ones (seeing as they’re the only coloured inks we have right now…).

What’s the best thing you saw in the last three years?

I don’t think I could choose! A lot of the best things I’ve seen revolve around travelling. I’m very keen to experience different cultures, and eastern Europe being an area I’m particularly interested in, has often landed me there. Highlights include a comic strip exhibition in Ljubljana, a book market full of Cyrillic book covers in Sofia, a festive Serbian postcard and of course, seeing Prince live in Budapest… because Prince is just great.

Represent

We are very pleased that The It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 is once again being supported by Represent Recruitment who are themselves celebrating being ten years old this summer. The graphic design recruitment specialists have developed a peerless reputation working with designers of all levels and matching them up with the right positions in some of the top agencies around. Represent’s support has helped us grow the Graduates scheme over recent years and we are thrilled they have partnered with us again in 2013.
www.represent.uk.com