Nic Clear

"The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently"- David Graeber (N.D)
- shared by Nic in his lecture.

Nic is a huge advocate for transdisciplinary practice. He is the Dean of Arts and Humanities here and wrote the course I am currently taking. His own practice is also a reflection of this transdisciplinary nature.

One of the reasons I think Nic is so enthusiastic about transdisciplinary practice is that he has such a widely ranged skill set that encompasses most practices in arts and humanities. He has worked as an architect, builder, interior designer, graphic designer, filmmaker and more. As well as being well-versed in these skills, Nic is also a writer and a curator.(Clear 2023) Nic has set up and ran his own successful business, named Clear Space for a number of years. As well as this, he seems genuinely passionate about each aspect of his practice and it was rather contagious. So much so in fact, I decided to dabble a little in graphic design myself. Using software called Canva and armed with the logo and brand colours that were provided by our graphic designers Andrew and Akash, I tried to create my own posters to advertise the photography workshops I was writing about. These are the posters that I created:

For the first poster, I used images that I thought would demonstrate a good knowledge of studio space and skill working in such a space. The photos also included a range of makeup looks to demonstrate a diverse set of lighting skills as each look requires lighting adjustments. I think that if I am offering to run and write photography workshops, then I need to seem credible. One of the things I thought would help was to add my own qualifications much like a guest lecturer would do or like you would on your website or preferred portfolio platform. I think it is a good way to appear more professional and credible as well as showing that you're qualified for the role you're performing.

However, I feel like the mixed colours within the smaller images clashed with the purple of the brand. In the second poster, I included more images from the same photoshoot that I used for the larger image. This was because the backdrop that was used for this shoot was purple and so it mixed well with the brand colours whilst not making the poster seem too plain due to the shades of purple being different.

While we did not end up using the mock-ups that I had created, as the ones that had been made by the graphic designers in my team were of a much higher quality, (which was to be expected) I still enjoyed branching out my own practice and attempting something new by pushing my own limits of creativity.

Nic went on to tell us what we should specifically be getting out of this Masters's Course. He listed just four benefits:

• We will develop our skills.
• We will develop our practice.
• We will create networks.
• We should be having fun.

(Clear, 2023)

I think throughout this module I have managed to hit each of these points. I have developed new skills and pushed the boundaries of my practice by trying new things. I have shot group photos which I have never done before, I have shot artwork with a subject, I have developed skills in taking headshots as well as learning how to seamlessly merge two photos together and have tried my hand at a little graphic design. I have created networks by being part of a project that every single member of my team was able to be passionate about and get excited about, so much so that at times it didn't even seem like work. And I promise, amongst all the planning, jokes, meetings, working together and organising, that we had a pretty good time creating Unboxt and watching it develop from a tiny idea into something we think, if we were to create it, there would be a place in the market for it, we are a little sad this module is over!

Nic also spoke about setting self-imposed deadlines which was the lifeline of how my team worked together. We set our own deadlines but shared them with the group to help us be more responsible for them, as it wouldn't be a case of just letting down ourselves but the other people. Some of the other roles in the group were reliant on each other. For example, Rebeka couldn't render the walkthrough without the brand colours from Akash and Andrew. I think the group dynamic mixed with the general passion we all had for this project meant that it was never an issue for us. We worked well as a team without the need for any one person in charge. We focused mainly on how the project could be interpreted for our own specialism and then brought those ideas together to integrate them into what became Unboxt.

To conclude, Nic's excitement for exploring different disciplines was contagious enough to encourage me to expand my skills in graphic design. I think being able to create my own posters is important as future clients may request this to see how my images work in a format they will be using them for. I certainly need to continue to develop these skills but it's a learning process.

References

• Clear, N. (2017). Professor Nic Clear. Nic Clear. https://www.nicclear.com/About-Professor-Nic-Clear
• Clear, N. (2023,02,10). Nic Clear Convergences Talk [pdf]. Art, Design and Architecture. https://brightspace.hud.ac.uk/d2l/le/content/220703/viewContent/2125895/View
• Graeber, D. (N.D). David Graeber Quotes. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6875140-the-ultimate-hidden-truth-of-the-world-is-that-it

Illustrations

• fig.1 Wade, C (2023) poster mock-up 1 [Image]
• fig.2 Wade, C (2023) poster mock-up 2 [Image]