Angela is our Senior Studio Designer who has some pretty exciting plans for this summer. We decided that now is the time to ask her a few questions about design, some questions that really AREN’T about design, and about those all important plans for the summer…
Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
When I was at middle school I knew that I wanted to do something involving design (I was always making things), but I couldn’t decide between fashion, design or being an architect.
Which artists/designers are you inspired by?
Mondrian (De Stijl movement), because of the geometric shapes and lines, the use of bright primary colours with white space. Clean and simple. I also like Georges Seurat (Pointillist), paintings made up of tiny dots (optical illusions – your eye puts the dots together to create more colours and an image).
I enjoy Karl Blossfeldt’s plant portraits, the close up photography of plants in black and white. His works are beautifully simple images with detailed shapes. I’m inspired by nature and natural shapes and colours, which can inspire everyday, this leads to my love of all things Orla Kiely and her use of colour and shapes, which are also found in natural landscapes.
Finally, Bridget Riley – I love her simple black and white optical illusions, and (of course) her colourful stripes!
I like so many designers it’s hard to pick just a few, but these people stand out for me with their use of colour and shape.
Which shapes and colours are your favourites?
I love natural shapes like flowers, plants, swirls and curves, as well as bright, cheerful colours such as red, blue, yellow and green.
Tell us about a recent project you’ve enjoyed working on…
I have enjoyed creating a new logo and branding for Electrical Oil Services recently, and seeing that creation through to promotional material. I have also enjoyed working on a new logo and brand design for Solutions for Outsourcing.
If you were an animal, what would you be?
I would be a Tiger of course! All those lovely stripes? Yes please!
How does your work as a designer help outside of work?
I like making things in my spare time, so I often find myself designing birthday cards and invitations for parties for my friends and my daughter Keira-Rose.
What are your favourite designs in:
Book covers – I cannot name my favourite book cover, but it was my first fairy tale book (heavy hardback). It had a beautifully illustrated colourful dust cover with some characters from the stories, I liked to peep behind the cover to see the actual books cover: pale blue with gold foil embossing and swirls. I can remember drawing onto the illustrations with my favourite red crayon.
Movie posters – I really loved the poster for the film Moon. It is such a simple design, and has a design not unlike the works of Bridget Riley. My other choice would be E.T. It’s a very simple design that captures a memorable part of the film.
Nature – Rainbows. It’s a meteorological phenomenon, but it’s always quite magical when a rainbow appears – so simple and beautiful.
Technology – when I was little, we only had a single land line telephone in the house so the mobile phone revolution is incredible. I’ve always liked the curvy and sleek design of the iPhone, except for the iPhone 5 which was blocky and harsh. I am glad that Apple has returned to a curvy, sleek design for the iPhone 6.
If you could invent one thing to help your working day, what would it be?
I would really like a device that let me stop time, but be able to carry on with my work. It would come in handy in all sorts of places! Imagine being able to catch up on sleep, or do all of those little jobs that mount up, without wasting time!
If you could time travel to any time period, where would you go?
I would travel to the year 2115, just to see what’s going on. I think it would be really interesting to see what effect the next 100 years has on human life – we might be living on other planets and all own Apple iRobots.
What are your plans for the summer then?
I am off to have baby #2, leaving the design department in the very capable hands of Bruce and Suzanne.
When is baby Balaam II due?
Baby (I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl!) is due on the 1st of August.
When can we expect you back?
I will be returning to work in around May next year, ready to throw myself back into work!
What will you miss while you’re away?
Everything. I will miss the team at Mackman, chatting to clients and getting stuck in to their design projects.
If baby II could speak right now, what would it say?
“Let me out!”, baby likes to kick so it must be desperate to come and see the outside world!