I am from England and was born in Reading. I moved to Cyprus (Limassol town) when I was one and a half years old due to my fathers job. I lived there nearly my whole life and moved back to England last year (Aug 2008) to Bournemouth to study Graphic Design Degree at The Arts University College Bournemouth.

Initially, I was truly and first inspired by my school teacher Mr. Nigel Hall when I was approx 13 years old. I was in an Art lesson and created a graphic piece. My teacher was the first ever to complement me for my work properly and inspired me every step of the way, which made me end up taking GCSE Art & Design Graphic Design when I was 14, where I received an A* Grade, which followed through to A-Level Art & Design Graphic Design and receive an A Grade in it. Throughout this process, My friends and family and Fiona Henderson (another teacher) really helped me strive to succeed in this field through motivation. Nigel Hall introduced Computer Art magazine to me when I was 14, which I have now been subscribed to for many years which had the largest impact on my graphics work in terms of inspiration.

Yes, I have done several live projects for other students, friends and some professionals. Some were for free, but I believe that unpaid work is just as important as paid work when you want to get known by word of mouth. This is my 6th year of doing Graphic Design (still have under three left at the university), and have loved every minute of it. I love it because every project, design or brief outcome I produce, I improve so much each time, where I get a feeling of success and achievement for each one I complete from the amount of effort I know that I put into each one.

My favorite part of graphic design is the feeling of success and happiness after each project I do. My other favorite part of graphic design is that you never stop learning, and are always new styles (at the time), updated software, unlimited tutorials to learn; to keep up to date with all of this is constant learning and never stop.

If I could do one project I would do some graphic design work for Vault49 Graphic Design company. They are truly inspirational to me and I admire their work more than anything. To be able to do a design for them would be one of the biggest achievements to me. I have designed a logo for a Graphic Design Tutor at the university (which I find out soon if I got one or not), which is really exciting because the deciding person is an inspiration to me as well and I would feel very good if she picked my design. I have also designed illustrations and logos for a fashion student (which is in a completely different discipline). That was good for me as I learnt new skills and team working as I went along.

The only advice I have is to always keep up to date with the latest tutorials, software, trends. Read as many books on Graphic Design as possible in the long term, and subscribe to monthly Graphics magazines to keep up to date with the graphics world around you. Not forgetting to conduct this research on the internet too, as often as possible, on blogs and as many graphics sites as you can. I learned this through my own experience of experimenting, conducting thorough research and improving/learning new graphic skills for the past six years, and it has personally been a great tactic.

Fiona Henderson was my out of school art teacher, and helped me considerably in terms of inspiring me to do better and broaden my way of thinking in terms of graphics and knowledge. She changed the way I thought when designing which I am forever grateful. This was around the time where I was applying for universities and knew how much I  wanted to go into the graphic design field.

I research as much as possible about the project first (whether I know all about the project/topic or not), which gives me a background knowledge of what and who I am designing my piece for. Once I am fully aware as to who my target audience is, and what themes could be used, I create mind maps as to what initial ideas come to mind and expand as much as possible on them no matter how experimental the idea may be. This is where I manage to do a different piece of graphics for each project I do from the last. I then conduct a thorough amount of secondary through looking at previous designers I have looked at, new designers, new tutorials, old tutorials, inspirational designs. I save all of the designs and links in my own folder library of graphics when working so I can go back to them again and again for more. I then conduct the necessary primary research needed, and go back to further secondary research and inspiration, and then develop my design throughout this whole process (from thumbnail sketches to finished pieces). This process prevents me from getting a writer’s block of design. If I do get this though, I go back to stage one and start over.

I personally love the fact that I have happiness in my life with my friends and loved ones. I believe that you must have as much fun as possible in your life and to not let the little things get you down as much. Life isn’t all fun and games, but even when times are hard, if you set your mind to it, you get through it and can enjoy it even more after. Making memories is what life is about. What I find exciting in life is that there is so much to learn, so much to do, so much to see… So much I have not done yet, even though I have done so much for the age of 20 years old, but know that there is so much more available to me during my lifetime and won’t hold back. I want to fulfill my life by doing as many enjoyable things as I can, which I can truly say I have done so much in life so far.

I see myself as a top graphic designer in the future and won’t give up until I’m there. I am young and have the biggest opportunity to do so, as any individual does if they put their mind to it. I am set to work for either a top graphic design company or end up as a well known free-lance graphic designer depending on the circumstances at the time. My biggest goals are being happy and successful… to settle down and have a family, all the while being the most successful I can personally be.

Thank you very much for this opportunity,

If you want to take a look at my personal academic blog and portfolio,
please feel free to go to http://joncleavegrafix.wordpress.com

 
Kind Regards,

Jonathan Cleave (Aged 20)