Welcome back to ‘10 QUESTIONS for…’ a series of 10 interviews with 10 designers from around the globe, where I get to share with you their answers to 10 important and interesting questions related to their artistic career in the Surface Pattern Design industry. I hope you find these interviews informative, fun, creative and inspiring.
This week’s ‘10 Questions for…’ interview we travel to the beautiful countryside of Wales and hear from the multi-talented Ceri of @cerigwen_shop.
Go grab a cuppa, sit back and happy reading. Enjoy the second interview in this series of ‘10 Questions for…’ Surface Pattern Designer interviews.
Ceri of @cerigwen_shop is a graphic designer, surface pattern designer and maker of quirky gifts. Ceri lives with her family in south Wales, in a rural village just outside the capital city of Cardiff.
Ceri is a multi-skilled and talented designer. She graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Typography and Graphic Communication, and after working initially for Microsoft in Seattle, and then for a branding agency in London, Ceri became a founding partner in a Cardiff design consultancy. Today Ceri freelances and works with clients from all over the world from her gorgeous home studio in Wales. Ceri is a regular contributor to the Spoonflower blog where she shares tips, projects and sewing tutorials online.
I first discovered Ceri’s beautiful artwork online thanks to Instagram. It’s a great tool for connecting with like-minded creatives across the globe isn’t it?
I love the gorgeous harmony of her bold colour palettes, the whimsical illustrations she creates and the flat, graphic style to her prints and patterns. They have a retro feel to them which I resonate with, being a child of the 70’s. I’m also a big fan of Ceri’s photography. Moments captured in her early morning walks posted on Instagram using the hashtag #overthestileandacrossthefields. You will immediately be transported to the idyllic scenes of the Welsh countryside in the morning.
I hope you enjoy reading this interview and seriously, if you’re a new designer, Ceri’s answers to all the questions are great but number 10 especially is spot on. It shows just how much experience she has and why her career has been so successful. Go on, take a read and you’ll see why.
Ceri in her garden studio in Wales
Q 1. How long have you been actively pursuing or have established a career in art/design/art licensing?
Ceri: I started my career way back in the 90s after completing a BA in Typography & Graphic Communication from the University of Reading here in the UK. My first job was for Microsoft in Seattle, followed by a stint in London at a branding agency. I’m originally from Wales and the pull of home was strong so I moved to a design agency in Cardiff for a while before setting up a consultancy with an old school/uni friend of mine. We ran that for about 10 years before I left to have my daughter. The hectic strain of a deadline-driven job and all the responsibilities and long hours of running a business with staff weren’t conducive to family life for me, so since then I’ve mainly dabbled in freelance design work which I fitted in around bringing up my daughter. A few years ago I started designing and selling my own line of printed gifts and fabrics as a separate creative venture and so now I combine that with my freelance design work. It gives me a nice mix of work and satisfies all of my creative urges.
Q2. What are your favourite tools of the trade?
Ceri: Everything starts with a pencil and paper for me. I like to sketch my ideas and make copious notes and lists before I inevitably move over to my Mac for the digitisation stage. I do really enjoy that part though. I love the way that you can endlessly tweak and fiddle with colour and placement. It appeals to the control freak in me!
Q3. What are some time saving tips you use in your workflow when designing?
Ceri: Hmm I am not the right person to be asking this question to. I am a terrible procrastinator and spend far too long getting designs ‘just right’ (see previous answer) — so if YOU have any time-saving tips for me, please pass them on!
Julie: I can be a bit of a procrastinator too, however I do use my iPad pro and procreate to draw quick icons for my graphic design clients. I then export them into Adobe Illustrator and image trace them and tada!!…vector icons to colour and scale. Anyway…on to more of your questions :)
A branding project Ceri designed recently. Copyright Cerigwen
Q4. Who are your design idols, past or present and why? You can name 3 ☺
Ceri: Oh this is a good one. It’s so hard to choose, but if I have to pick just three, then I choose Lucienne Day — pioneering textile designer from the last century, Heather Ross — whose whimsical illustrations I absolutely adore, and Thomas Heatherwick — genius designer responsible for the beautiful cauldron at London 2012, which totally blew me away when I saw it in the Olympic stadium.
Q5. What’s your favourite colour palette?
Ceri: I seem to spend my life trying to make my colour palette more restrained and sophisticated. But the truth is I love ALL the colours. And usually all at the same time! When I look at my work I’m usually a bit dismayed at the riot of colour I always see, but to be honest that’s just me and I have to accept this character trait. Colour make me happy and my extensive, unedited palette reflects this. If I had to choose one favourite colour though, it would be emerald green. No contest.
Q6. How do you deal with rejection if a pitch you made to a client with your latest work doesn’t get picked up?
Ceri: Most of my freelance work these days involves branding. The way I work is always based on a clear client brief, so thankfully rejected work doesn’t really happen. My clients approach me because they know my designs and like my style, and I work closely with them through every stage of the design process to create a brand that is just right for them. There are no surprises for anyone – nasty or otherwise!
Poster design. Image copyright Cerigwen
Q7. What’s your proudest design achievement in your career to-date?
Ceri: Well my most prestigious achievement to date was when I was working in London on the branding for The Royal Parks. It was a big project, very high profile, and we even had to secure approval from the Queen. Design Week magazine hailed it as one of the top ten designs of the decade, which I was very proud of. The logo has been tweaked a bit over the subsequent years but is still in use, and I always a get a thrill when I see it on signage around London when I visit.
Julie: I’ve included a link below for readers to check it out. It’s a beautiful branding piece! What an honour that would have been.
Q8. How do you find clients to show your work to and how much does knowing your design aesthetic and ability impact on who you approach?
Ceri: Client work is just a part of my portfolio these days and I don’t tend to approach anyone directly. My branding work tends to come from recommendations from existing clients, or from followers of my instagram page who like the work I post there.
A snapshot into Ceri’s beautiful studio space.
Q9. What is a typical and honest day in the life of @Cerigwen_shop look like?
Ceri: I try to start my day with an early walk in the countryside which surrounds our house — although that has become a lot more difficult these days as I care for an elderly family member who lives with us. But I’m usually at my desk in my studio in the garden by about 9am, with a large mug of tea. My first task is answering emails, dealing with client queries and logging customer or wholesale orders for my products. Making a ’to do’ list for the day is essential. I usually spend the morning working on client work or designs for new products. I’ll also be getting print quotes and researching new ideas. I stop for lunch early — usually at 12 — because I can’t work when I’m hungry! I pootle back to the house, fix my lunch, cuddle the cat, and catch up on a bit of news on TV. The afternoon will usually be a continuation of the morning’s work, with the addition of packing orders from my Etsy shop or wholesale orders for my shop customers. I head out to the post office at about 2.30, pick my daughter up from school and then work for another couple of hours when we get back. I usually finish for the day at about 5, but might work for a bit longer after dinner if I have a pressing deadline.
Lucky Day print. Copyright Cerigwen
Q10. What are the top 2 things you wish you knew when starting out in your career, or what would be 2 pieces of advice you’d share with new designers to the industry?
Ceri: Try to get some good early experience working for a respected designer or company. This is where you’ll learn your craft and understand how a business is run and how to talk to clients. This knowledge will be invaluable for when you inevitably want to ‘go it alone’ at some point in the future.
Never do free pitches. It can be tempting to fall into this trap, thinking that it will give you good exposure and may open up new opportunities. This rarely happens. It will just undervalue your work and the work of everyone else in the industry. No-one ever visits a dentist and says, ‘Fix my teeth! If I like your work I might pay you’.
Find out more about Ceri and follow her for her bright, colourful designs, purchase her cute products, or buy her designs on fabric through Spoonflower. You can connect with her here:
www.instagram.com/cerigwen_shop
Thanks for your time answering the ‘10 Questions for…’ Ceri. I agree that getting experience early in your career by working with either a respected designer or company, or working in-house is one of the fastest ways to learn business critical, important skills. I also saw The Royal Parks logo when I was in London travelling (a few years ago now) and I would be proud if it was my design. You should be proud, it’s a really beautiful graphic design piece and branding outcome.
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Next week we’re staying in Australia to hear from a very popular designer whose use of colour is joyful and whose work is popping up on lots of different surfaces, from tiny labels to activewear.