Commissioned work LBC and what it taught me

I undertook a big design commission for the Leeds Bread Co-op, a worker's cooperative based in Meanwood. It was a really fun creative job; it allowed me to do a lot of drawing that I was happy with, and offered me what will probably be valuable experience in back-and-forth communication with a client, as well as experience collaborating with a graphic designer. Working with LBC also got me the opportunity to have some communication with Footprint, another local worker's coop who specialise in environmentally sound printing.

However what was really valuable about this commission was the glimpse it gave me into the future of my professional practise. I've wrestled a lot in the past with the idea of working for money. I've done a lot of little jobs on the basis of charity for community organisations I'm involved with, or used work as tender in some kind of exchange. Perhaps this has something to do with feeling that my practise is something that's still developing, and feeling protective about it. I don't like the idea of handing any work over to anyone whose ethos and ideals I'm not 100% sure about. It is vitally important to me that any of my ideas or work never be put to something I personally wouldn't advocate.

I knew about LBC before I took on the commission and have always supported them when I can, and it was their aims and intentions that made me keen and happy to work with me. I liked the fact that I worked on a flat-wage structure (the same as the employees) and was paid for my hours, and that I had lots of communication and input with Coop members, making the job feel like a collective effort.

LBC also align with lots of my personal ideals, such as using local and organic ingredients, keeping their environmental tread light, and creating an enjoyable and ethical working environment for all workers. 

It's great to have had a really successful professional experience, and has made me feel more confident in seeing my work as a commodity. I now know that I actually have complete autonomy over who I work for, and there are clients out there who are decent. I don't have to feel like I should work for anyone I don't want to. 

professional presense

I've wrestled for a long time now with ideas about the professionalisation of my practise. I've always maintained that I felt on this course I was being pushed to think of myself as a professional and start marketing myself as such long before I was ready to. I've also been vocal in the past about thinking that the push toward websites/instagram/etc is a very prescriptive way of measuring professional development and isn't currently in line with how I want to keep exploring my practise, or how I feel about it.

I am still creatively in embryo, and I'm happy there. What I see as coming next for myself is still all about development, and learning new skills. And importantly, my work does still reach people: I use my work for community projects and workshops, I use it as the lens through which I see and explore the world. It's not online yet, so what.

How I have (or have not) developed presenting myself professionally may well cost me dearly in terms of marks, but I don't regret anything at all. Some ideas have started to develop about visual signatures that define my practise - eg the title page of my portfolio - but I haven't hurried to develop anything that hasn't happened organically.

I am looking forward to going to London for D&AD, and am totally receptive to the idea that perhaps that experience will change how I think about my professional development.