Designer

rechord ltd / Hypermedia Research Centre, University of Westminster

Q. Describe your experience at Art College – what were your opportunities, what did you learn, where did you struggle?

I had the good fortune – or blessing, I suppose – of accidentally landing in what was at the time one of the top 10 best Graphic Design courses in the country. I loved it. My greatest problem was finding inspiration, and realising that I probably should have done illustration rather than graphics. I didn’t come across the usual prejudices that students often face at Art College, for example, ‘talk about your faith one more time and I’ll fail you’, despite one of the chief lecturers on my course describing himself as a born again atheist! ‘Tolerant’ post modernism was all the rage, though I didn’t have the tools to question it until I started my MA. One of the best moments was realising that the process of play was as valid a way of producing design as any other, and I could use my love of technology to take this places I hadn’t gone before, on the Multimedia stream of the course.

Q. What made you want to carry on as a Designer?

I have always believed that you should do what’s in your heart – what makes you feel alive – for a job, not necessarily what’s logical and / or practical. My tutors encouraged me to do an MA, and I found one that just jumped off the page to me and was very excited about it. After I graduated, I was as surprised as anyone else when one of the guys from the Graphics degree asked me to set up in business with him and I said yes. It was really because I wanted to be polite (!) and I wanted to avoid the ethical dilemmas involved in daily work for an agency / corporation, but things took off and we ended up getting some really amazing opportunities and recognition. I am very proud of a lot of the work we did. Now I see new media workers burned out all over the place and I’m so grateful that I can set my own hours. My health was not something I thought of at the start, but now it’s a key factor in my happiness. Being my own boss enables me to keep a good work / life balance without worrying about being fired

Q. Describe the kind of work you are involved in. What do you enjoy about it?

I now run the entire business, including looking for work, managing the production process of websites, art direction, and coding HTML. It can be anything from small five page jobs to massive sites with thousands of pages and involves quite a range of skills. rechord has a voice that is all its own and is hopefully saying good things. I love the fact that I can work wherever and whenever I choose. I have nobody to answer to but myself. The work is very varied, and the satisfaction when a cheque comes in, or somebody says yes to a proposal, is indescribable. And I have the opportunity to provide work for other artists who have to eat wild plants to survive, just like I did back in the early days. (Not kidding!

Q. What are your opportunities and challenges now?

The same as they ever were – inspiration, sustaining the flow of creative ideas and output, keeping up with technological change, making money. It’s exhilarating. I never thought I would manage to stay in business, but I did, and even now, 5 years on, it’s still a joy to go in to work. (Well, most days. Doing the VAT return is not fun.

Q. What keeps you going as a Designer?

To be embarrassingly honest, running a business has honed the entrepreneurial streak in me and I enjoy making money a lot. But there’s more to it than that, because if I really wanted to, I could go off and train to be a manager in the City or something and rake in a lot more. So it is also the fact that doing something any less creative would be soul-destroying. Positively, it’s the idea that I can put good, new things into the world that hopefully change people’s businesses and projects for the better, while providing for other people

Q. Who are your role models?

Jackie Pullinger, because despite the rejection and criticism of others, she just went and did something that was her heart’s longing. What she did would terrify most mortals, but she simply set out on a boat one day all by herself, and the final result has changed thousands of lives

That’s about it really. I am annoyed not just by the lack of female design role models, but by the lack of Christian designers, and especially Christian women designers. I guess in the early days, a handful of my university tutors were my role models, (AntiROM for example) but the playing field has changed a little since then

Are you part of any support networks for Christians in Art or Design?

Artisan and the Arts Centre Group, as well as more informal stuff like hanging out with many of my best friends who are also Christian artists and designers at various stages in their careers. And I must also mention the staff of L’Abri, because while they do not openly declare themselves to be a support network for Christians in Art and Design, they have kept me going during my most difficult spiritual moments

What advice or encouragement would you give to a Christian student at Art College?

There are two types of discouragement you’ll encounter

• the voices who tell you that there’s not enough money in what you are doing, and you should get a ‘proper job
• and the other voices (less so from the church nowadays, thank goodness) who tell you that you should be doing something more worthwhile like feeding the homeless, healing the sick or teaching the Bible in Kenya etc.

I have heard both; the first from various family members, who desperately wanted me to go to Oxbridge and become a famous, respectable something-or-other, and the second from my conscience. But I realised, eventually, after making a fool of myself in the Oxford interview, that doing something non-artistic would have robbed me of a bit of my soul. I would have become a different person – a duller, sadder, paler shadow of me. And a dull, sad, pale shadow is unlikely to bring in the Kingdom: God’s Kingdom, which is full of brightness, joy and life. Where would that Kingdom be without the artists? How could it come without colour?

So, I would say be bold. Recognise the voices for what they are: puritan/fundamentalist on one side, materialistic on the other. And recognise what your response can be whether it is fear and guilt, or determination and hope. But above all, enjoy what God’s put in your heart. Whatever you end up doing (chances are, one thing will set your pulse racing and you’ll set your sights on it – either that or you’ll blunder into it accidentally) do ask for advice about it, but whether the vocation is right for you is a decision that should be made alone – just you and God.

The payoff for me was that the disappointed family members were, in the end, impressed by what I’ve achieved, and I’ve even surpassed my own expectations of what is possible.