We teamed up with graphic artist (and absolute babe) Cat Lobo to work on a collection of pin cards titled ‘Honesty’. The idea behind the series is to provide an antidote to sugary-sweet sentiment in the form of this affectionately insulting pin card range.
Cat has brought the range to life with her signature fresh, fun and cheeky style! We had a chance to catch up with Cat and find out more about Cat’s unique style and how she approaches design.
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What influences your design style? And how long has it taken to develop your own personal style?
I'm definitely inspired by a lot of artists and designers I see via Instagram. It's such an amazing place to see incredible art and design, and type too! I'm also inspired by popular culture and music, as this is often where I get a lot of my slogan ideas! And as for personal design style, I actually don't feel like I have developed that yet, I'm still working on it haha!
Can you describe your process - from the initial idea/brief to finished design?
On the whole, I usually know what I want something to look like before I design it. I do always do A LOT of mood boarding and research before I start a design. When I first started out I would begin designing without doing proper research and referencing first, and I often felt like my work looked unfinished. I think inspiration and collaboration is really important to make something super strong!
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100% the size and understanding what's actually possible when working with enamel! And also asking yourself "but would someone actually wear this?", I think that's important too!
What do you listen to while you are working?
Good question! I subscribe to Apple Music rather than Spotify (which everyone takes the piss out of me for) but it's because I love the radio shows. I listen to Julie Adenuga almost every day, and I love the show Time Crisis by Ezra Koenig where he compares the current top 5 songs to the top 5 from 20 years ago.
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What advice would you offer to budding designers and illustrators?
Try to get a job as a junior or assistant designer within a company whose work you REALLY like!! My first proper job was for Skinnydip London and I blagged my way in a bit, I didn't really know how to use Illustrator but I frantically watched youtube tutorials before my interview and I learnt a lot on the job. Working in the industry definitely teaches you things you might not learn on your own!
Also I really advise young designers and illustrators to get off Photoshop and start using Illustrator! It's industry standard and it will open you up to so many more tools than you have in Photoshop
You can check out the ‘Honesty’ collection we collaborated on with Cat here. And check out Cat’s other design work over on her website and instagram.
