Totally Okay Interview Responses and Evaluation

1. Is it just yourself working at Totally Okay, or is there a team?

Totally Okay is myself, although I work on commissions and projects with other professionals; web developers, illustrators, etc. under the same moniker.

If there's a team how does the dynamic of the studio work?

If not why identify as a studio rather than a freelancer?

I had identified as a solo freelancer for over ten years, working under my own name. As I

broadened my skillset I found myself working on a much wider variety of projects and

disciplines. I relaunched as Totally Okay around five years ago so that I could consider this

wider context of work and the studio, or ‘brand’, as something independent to me.

2. Which element of the design/creative process do you think is most important and why?

Research research research.

3. When it comes to getting your work seen do you contact exhibition spaces/other creatives or do people request your work?

Usually I will be contacted about projects/exhibitions, on the odd occasion I will make contact if I find something interesting I want to be involved in.

How has this dynamic changed since you first started designing?

When I began I was promoting my work all the time, through websites, portals and social media, as well as through regular mail; I would make little packages and send them out to a long list of art directors.

4. You've worked with opening restaurants and bars within Sheffield, how have you gathered

this clientele? And how do these opportunities arise?

When I first moved to Sheffield I found out who were opening new venues and got in touch with them via email or facebook at the time. The bar industry is very social by default and my contacts grew quickly through that network.

Eval
Having to be proactive in getting yourself noticed is key to getting the jobs you want. People won’t contact you unless you’re making yourself known, put yourself out there and become noticed.

5. Do you feel as though your work has a particular style? And do you think it's important to

have a recognisable style or not?

I think my more illustrative work does, broader branding projects less so, which is natural. It

depends what you’re doing, I think there are two sides to this. 1. It’s good to have a style as a freelancer (way more so as an illustrator) so people know what they’ll get from you. 2. It’s also important to be flexible and respond specifically to the brief. Your ‘style’ could be more of a methodology rather than a graphic style too.

6. When you were studying did you create similar work to what you create now?

I studied fine art, it was only through some computer based graphics modules I became

interested in Graphic Design and using the computer. Most of that work was very experimental. So no, essentially.

If so in what ways, if not how does it differ?

The only thing that has stayed fairly fixed is the process, the dialogue of analogue and digital

media. I would stand at the photocopier for hours feeding paper back through, resizing,

cropping, screwing up, unfolding, destroying, until I got something interesting to scan. I still use that method to some extent today, playing with the authorship of a machine.

7. What advice would you give to your past student self?

It’s not about design. Exercise more and don’t smoke!

8. Have you worked as a designer in other cities before? If so how does working in Sheffield

compare? If not why not?

I moved around a little while working as a freelancer initially, before settling in Sheffield around ten years ago. I don’t think it’s been incredibly different wherever I’ve worked, as I always liked to be quite isolated, in whatever studio space, away from the noise. Sheffield is such a small city however it was very easy to tap into the art/design scene when I first moved here, it was buzzing at the time. Maybe it still is, I’ve just got older!

9. How does being a lecturer influence your practice?

The research and discourse involved in lecturing at University is very important, academia has brought a lot of rigour to my practice.

10. Being someone who's grown up in Sheffield I have always been aware there's a design

scene within the city, but never sure how to get involved.

What advice would you give to someone in my position wanting to get their foot in the door?

Go and meet people (as you are doing!) Get a list of all the studios/agencies and take your

portfolio to all of them, say hi. Go to exhibitions, gigs, talks etc. The design scene is not huge so this is not as mammoth a task as you’d think. Be the first person people think of.

Evaluation:

How did they answer?

Response over email meant I wasn't able to ask follow up questions, I tried to prepare this the best I could by having secondary questions in response to the potential answers if it was a yes or no answer.

Responses are less detailed than other people I've interviewed, but again I feel this is due to the fact the response was via email.

What insights, knowledge, advice did you gain?

I found out that Nick didn't originally study graphic design, this was interesting as his practice is rather multidisciplinary but with a digital focus. It was fascinating to find out he had studied fine art but retained this interest of machines.

It was good to hear that Nick found it easy to be introduced to the design scene in Sheffield, I understand he was approaching it at a different time to me however his answer was comforting as it showed there is an accessible design scene.

The answer 'It's not about design.' is really interesting, think I should ask further questions to this answer.

Was the response good or bad?

The response was good, I have learnt from his answers, and found out more about Sheffield's design scene, as well as his practice, and how he got started as a graduate.

Do you need to find and include more information/research?

A few of my questions could have been more open as it meant the email response stunted the answers Nick gave.
I've sent a follow up email to ask a few more questions based off of the responses to my initial questions.

Final Eval:
As the interview was conducted via email the responses were limited, I wasn’t able to ask follow up
questions in response to his answers. When someone has to type an answer it tends to be shorter
than talking. From this I’ve learnt that talking to people face to face, or over the phone is the best way to gather a
breadth of information as well as have a more in depth understanding of someone’s answers. Despite this by contacting Nick Deakin I was able to understand his journey to his current
professional position, particularly his relationship to Sheffield as a city. Deakin doesn’t feel
as though work has be very different depending on where he’s been. It is interesting to hear
his response compared to those interviewed later in the report as they differed a lot.