We've been profiling top designers on DesignCrowd and published a recent interview with #1 woman Aussie graphic designer, JACQUI. Turning our eyes to the northern hemisphere, we invited our top female designer, Jemma Shelley, aka inspiral to be featured in this latest designer interview.
Jemma is the #1 UK woman designer (#2 over all), #7 in the worldwide designer rankings and recently hit $50,000 in contest winnings. Impressive, right? Residing in the countryside, Jemma didn't turn these achievements around overnight. She has been visual designer since she got her own PC at age 17. She fell in love with graphic design but qualified as a web designer specialising in action programming before trying her hand at logo design.
Turning setbacks that might ordinarily stop some people in their tracks - Jemma is vision-impaired in one eye and struggled to find any kind of work during the recent UK recession - she seized the opportunity to start freelancing online as a designer and spotted design jobs on DesignCrowd while applying for jobs online.
Jemma's advice to designers new to DesignCrowd is simple.
The more you work the faster you become with ideas and your skills get better.
According to Jemma, who's been active on the site for over two years, DesignCrowd gives her the "total freedom to work anywhere". Let's find out what makes Jemma / inspiral tick as a designer and her top tips are for new designers.
Jemma Shelley /
inspiral on DesignCrowd |
Describe your personality in 3 words.
Perfectionist, Adventurous, a bit OCD lol.
Describe your design style in 140 characters or less
I try to keep it minimalistic, clean, and relevant to the business product/service, I always try to incorporate some negative space or clever play on the company name.
Name your Top 3 Typefaces and why you like them.
- Harabara
- Century Gothic
- Walkway Bold
I don’t tend to like overly complicated fonts. All three examples are modern, clean and legible.
Brief: QuayPay Logo/Icon design project
Design by Inspiral |
Name your Top 1-3 design tools or apps you can't live without andwhat you love about them.
- Illustrator, because it’s the number one design tool so it’s a must.
- Dolphin Browser on my phone, it’s a great browser to use on the go. (Chrome and IE can be very fiddly.)
- Fireworks (Adobe).
Brief: Logo design for "Neon Knights"
(an electronic DJ duo band.)
Design by Inspiral |
How much training/experience do you have in Graphic Design?
I’ve always been artsy and drawing since I can remember, I’ve been into graphic design since I got my first PC at 17, I have a diploma in web design, 2 years in action script programming and 2 years self-taught in logo design.
Brief: Brooklyn Artisan Ice Cream Shop Seeking Logo!
Design by Inspiral |
Explain your design specialty in your own words.
I wouldn’t say I have a speciality really, I try to keep a whole range of different styles, everything from cartoon to the very corporate, I do really enjoy character design and emblems, although I’m always trying to pickup new design styles as I keep learning.
Describe this design concept from sketch to finished art.
Reading the brief carefully, I thought of logging on to your phone to sign into work is like clocking-in machine, so tried to think of something to do with time and a mobile. I did a little brain-storming with my partner and came up with the mobile phone icon, creating a shadow like a sundial to represent time. I then created the design in illustrator.
Brief: Logo Design - Mobile Timetracking Application
Design by Inspiral |
Briefly describe your design process.
Firstly I'll do a search on DesignCrowd for briefs, I'll scan through to see which ones interest me the most and work one by one, I'm quite lucky in that a lot of the time I can read the brief and a good idea will come to me right away.
Other times I'll have to go to Wikipedia to learn about the terminology and sometimes it can take a lot of research for an idea to pop.Once I have the idea I start drawing. Most of the time I can quickly tell if an idea will translate well into a logo. But it wasn't always likes that.
When I first started, although I had some experience in graphic design, I found logo design to be a whole new ball game. It took me a few months working hard day and night to find my feet, but the more you work the faster you become with ideas and your skills get better.
Brief: Logo design for "Bird on Fire" (video production company)
Design by Inspiral |
What does your workspace consist of?
I love my workspace and my gadgets. My number one gadget is my phone because I have total access to DesignCrowd in the palm of my hand when I'm on the move, my laptop for total freedom to work anywhere, and my home work station for comfort.
I only have one correctly working eye. The other is really blurry and I was told I shouldn’t strain the good one, so that’s why I have a 27” monitor - also a great size for gaming!
I’ve spent around £3000 on equipment upgrades. When I started I was working from a very old PC and a tiny monitor so it’s been great to buy all my gadgets with my winnings from DesignCrowd contests.
Inspiral's work station |
What/Who are the major influences on your style?
I try to be different as possible, but I do really like negative space and when two objects can be merged together to create something clever.
Where do you draw your daily inspiration?
Anything and everything! From films, art, music, even a reflection in the water can set off ideas. Something someone says in conversation to seeing a unique shaped tree. I sometimes go for a walk with a few briefs floating around in my head and when I come back I’m full of ideas and inspiration. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a logo so it’s interesting to see old and new logos and how they have changed over the years.
Brief: Striking splash graphic for family organisation.
Design by Inspiral |
What hobbies do you do outside of design?
I love walking and getting away into the country-side for one day or a short holiday and I like to visit my parents and two sisters every couple of months. I play piano but don’t really have the time these days, I like MMO’s, and games on the xbox or playstation and I love watching movies. I plan on traveling outside of the UK and because I'm a freelance designer I can work while I travel.
Why do you prefer DesignCrowd to find design jobs?
I prefer DesignCrowd over other crowdsourcing websites simply because they are bigger and better.
DesignCrowd has a huge variety of projects coming in every minute, and the contests are blind. They also reward with participation payments. But one major reason is the freedom and the ability to be your own boss.
I remember working for a company a few years ago and I really hated having to go to work on a rainy Monday morning, I hated being stuck in an office in the middle of summer and I always just wanted to be outside. Now, thanks to DesignCrowd, I have total freedom to work when I want and how I want!
Now on rainy Monday mornings I can stay in bed with a coffee, watch TV while I logging onto DesignCrowd via my phone and brainstorm briefs. I can relax in the garden, bask in the sun while I sketch out ideas.
If it wasn’t for DesignCrowd I’m not even sure I would have a job now let alone my own business. I was made redundant a couple years back, it was during the recession and even with experience and qualifications it seemed impossible to get a good job doing something I liked.
I found myself searching for online work while I was going for interviews and came across DesignCrowd. Within a few months I found myself winning projects and no longer need to apply for jobs! I had found myself being able to work as much or as little as I wanted, in the comfort of my own home with the ability to work absolutely anywhere.
My Top 4 Favourite Portfolio Designs.
Asia-based courier company needs a new logo
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I love this design because it's relevant to the business' primary function,
uses negative space and looks cool. - The R is the first letter in there company name.
- The universal band relates to the type of business,
a global courier service. - The design also morphs to a rocket trail.
- The negative space rocket replaces the gap in the R.
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My favorite DesignCrowd Designers.
There are so many but my top picks are:
- JaceDesign
- ArtTank
- Redcrackers
- BlueJet
Top Portfolio Picks
What new design skills are you looking to refine or learn this year?
I’d have to say word mark and letter mark symbols, I’m going to devote time to learning the more advanced tools in illustrator and try to come up with some ideas that haven’t been done before.
What are you top picks for design trends in 2013?
I see negative space staying around for a long time, but I feel wordmark and lettermark symbols being a big thing in 2013. I think mascots will become a big thing too, like the edf energy mascot.
As the #2 ranked UK designer and #1 female designer on DesignCrowd, what top tips would you give designers new to DesignCrowd?
- New designers should use free online tuts to learn the basics or to upgrade skills.
- Don't get frustrated if you don't win right away, it takes time build skills and you can't take it personally if you lose!
- Keep entering new contests. Don't wait for feedback.
- Keep up with the current trends and try to be diverse, don't focus on one style try to pick up skills as you go along.
- If you get brain-blank don't sit staring at the screen! Go away, get a coffee and take some time out. Ideas will come eventually so its important you don't stay at the PC banging your head!
- Try to see everything in life as art because ideas will come easier if you have no barriers. Don't just see a tile in your bathroom, observe the patterns, colours and shapes!
Sounds like great advice, Jemma. Thanks for taking part in our designer feature interview and good luck with your design career!
Check out Jemma's DesignCrowd portfolio here: inspiral
Let us know who you'd like to see interviewed next on the DesignCrowd blog!
Written by DesignCrowd on Wednesday, June 19, 2013
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.
