Hi, my name is Megan and I’m a multi-disciplinary visual communication designer currently in my 3rd year of University.
I work in a wide range of mediums, from typography, illustration, branding and painting in traditional media such as acrylic and watercolour paint, which are all key elements within my practice. I focus mainly on branding and illustrations. By using these key elements, I try to create solutions that are engaging and meaningful as well as being memorable and appropriate.
One of my interests is painting simple line drawings as well as creating brightly coloured abstract pieces. Another interest of mine is sustainability. I have worked on many projects to find solutions to tackle sustainable design and the use of eco-friendly materials as well as using the circular economy process. “Circular design is about creating products and services that no longer have a lifecycle with a beginning, a middle and an end. The purpose is to design products that can ‘be made to be made again’” both at college and at university. I try to incorporate sustainable design approaches into my practice as much as possible.
Whist I was at college I was asked to create an infographic based on current affairs, this included politics, environmental and scientific breakthroughs. When doing my research for this project I saw a static that said ‘8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year’ and I thought that this was horrendous so I decided that I was going to base my idea on the evolution of plastic and how it has effected both land and ocean.
I am currently writing my proposal for my dissertation which I have based on sustainability and I plan on exploring ecological and green design and how products and packaging are marketed to the public.
When developing products with the view of being sustainable, there’s a couple of things that have to be taken into consideration. For example, the producers have to consider where the materials are extracted from, how they are going to be manufactured, how the product will be distributed, how the product will be used and finally the end life of the product
Ecological design isn’t just a principle but is also an approach. It takes into consideration the environmental protection criteria of a product lifecycle. The main aim of ecological design is to reduce the environmental impacts that are caused when manufacturing/using and disposing of the product.
As well as looking into how products and packaging are marketed to the public I am also looking into carbon footprint and how it can be reduced. What is carbon footprint I hear you ask? Carbon footprint is a measurement of negative impact on the environment, many people believe that carbon footprint is created by transport and emissions but thy don’t realise that it is also created by fuel, electricity and gas. So to reduce it, many designers and producers follow the 6 R’s which are recycle, reuse, repair, refuse, rethink and reduce.
According to the Sustainable Packaging Alliance (SPA) which was updated in 2007 due to global warming, they believe packaging should meet the following four sustainability principles:
effective - provide social and economic benefits;
efficient - provide benefits by using materials, energy and water as efficiently as possible;
cyclic - be recoverable through industrial or natural systems; and
safe - non-polluting and non-toxic
By using these four principle effectively a designer can create a packaging solution that is environmentally responsible, commercially viable and socially acceptable.
One project that I really enjoyed working on was the Student Design Awards 2020 brief for Penguin Books which was to re-design a book cover for Goodnight Mister Tom. For this project I decided that I was going to make Willie one of the main parts in this cover because he is the main character in this book. So I decided that I would create a book cover that as a silhouette of Willie looking back at London while the planes fly over.
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