Tag: graphic design

5.12 Nikita Prokhorov, Professor of Graphic Design

It’s great to have Nikita back. He was a guest during my earlier seasons. This is an update about his life and a teacher and graphic designer during these crazy times. Here is a bit about Nikita.Nikita is an NYC-based lettering artist, graphic designer, and design professor. His minimalist style reflects an admiration for work such as pure marks by Stefan Kanchev and beautiful typography of Doyald Young. As one happy client put it, ‘his work is conceptual, clean, and the reasoning behind every design decision is crystal clear.’ Focusing mainly on logotypes and lettering, Nikita has worked on a variety of design projects for local and international clients. He is an ambigram expert that has taught several ambigram workshops–in addition to having written a book about ambigrams. Nikita’s work has been featured in multiple design books and websites.His love of bad puns and jokes is second only to his love of type. To pass the time between projects, he reads, scuba dives, skydives, wingwalks, skis (not very gracefully), and travels. He thinks that writing about himself in third person is a bit strange, but he has gotten used to it.

See his work at https://www.nikitaprokhorov.com/or on IG https://www.instagram.com/typebynikita/

Here are some website that Nikita shared that are great for designers and illustrators. https://www.itsnicethat.com/
http://visuelle.co.uk/
https://www.behance.net/
https://fontsinuse.com/
https://www.designspiration.com/

Here is a written version of his response from the interview.

1. Reminder for the audience tell us bit about yourself? I am a lettering artist, graphic designer, and design teacher residing in NYC. With a strong focus on typography, I have worked for a variety of clients, ranging from small independent businesses to Fortune 500 companies. I have conducted workshops for several universities, AIGA, and Typism Conference, as well as being a featured keynote speaker for the latter. I am also an ambigram expert who has written a book about ambigrams, and my design work has been featured in multiple books and has been honored with several industry awards.

2. How have things changed in your life as a graphic designer during pandemic? Has it affected getting freelance work? I haven’t really focused on much freelance word, doing only a small one-off project or two during the pandemic. Teaching has taken up quite a bit of my time, and I like the flexibility of working on personal projects rather than meeting client deadlines in my spare time.

3. How have things changed as a professor during pandemic? As a professor/design teacher, everything has shifted to remote teaching for now. We use tools such as Zoom, Notion, Slack, and Canvas as a replacement for in-classroom interaction, grading, and communication with the students. Although nothing can replace a true in-classroom experience, we try to keep it similar as possible.

4. Where are the cool kids (designers and illustrators) showcasing their work these days as far as portfolio sites to get work? Behance, Instagram, Working-Not-Working, and a few other websites. There are some Instagram accounts that focus on lettering, branding, typeface design, illustration, and other niches of the creative industry. Those are also a good place to showcase your work.

5. How was the speaking engagement in Australia since we last spoke? The engagement was fantastic! It was one of the best experiences of my life as a designer – I’ve connected with a lot of old friends that I’ve only been able to communicate with online, made some new contacts, and was able to travel Australia for almost 3 weeks after the conference. It was a trip of a lifetime – that I plan to repeat again soon!

6. What are you currently working on? Are there any future events you’ll be speaking at? Currently, just personal lettering projects, design work, and laser-cutting various creations out of wood and plastic – a new obsession.

7. How are you managing work/life balance during the pandemic? I’ve been relatively consistent in terms of disconnecting after work and keeping fit – working out at home, playing tennis, or going for distanced outdoor hikes. It has helped keep my sanity and health!

8. How do you stay creative during a time like this? I’ve actually allowed myself to be less creative and not force it. During ‘normal’ times, I’ve tried to do an ambigram or a piece of lettering almost every day. Now, during these latest times, I allow myself to not create something every day, and taking that pressure off myself has allowed me to be more productive and creative when I need to be.

9. Where can people see more of your work? My work can be found at nikitaprokhorov.com, and instagram.com/typebynikita for more experiments, weekly lettering, and illustrations.

10. Some of my guest say they would like to teach at the college level. What advice would you give them to get hired for the job? Also are there more online options for professors and teaching. I would say that most colleges in the United States require an MA or MFA from an accredited school. So, if you have the time/money to get an advanced degree, I say – why not? It will set you up for the future if you decide to teach, and if you decide not to, you will still have an advanced degree that you can put to good use as a designer, even if you never become a professor. There are also some programs that don’t require you to have an advanced degree to teach. I teach at a school like that currently (Shillington), and I’ve seen first hand that it’s not always about the name of the school you attend or teach at – all that really matters is the desire to succeed as a designer, hard work, and everything else will fall into place.

Listen at My Creative Life Podcast.

Podcast Episode 13 – Interview Nikita Prokhorov, Graphic Designer

62372231_439182943532593_8643443248783687680_nMy next interview is with Nikita Prokhorov. I met Nikita, 13 yrs ago at Scuba Diving Magazine. He filled in for me while I was on maternity leave. He had just finished his MFA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design. Nikita has some beautiful design work and I’ve been watching is an evolution of his work on his Instagram TypebyNikita.

Here is a link to the podcast on My Creative Life Episode 13.

Below is a little bit more about him.

Nikita is an NYC-based lettering artist, graphic designer, and design professor. His minimalist style reflects an admiration for work such as pure marks by Stefan Kanchev and beautiful typography of Doyald Young. As one happy client put it, ‘his work is conceptual, clean, and the reasoning behind every design decision is crystal clear.’ Focusing mainly on logotypes and lettering, Nikita has worked on a variety of design projects for local and international clients. He is an ambigram expert that has taught several ambigram workshops–in addition to having written a book about ambigrams. Nikita’s work has been featured in multiple design books and websites.

His love of bad puns and jokes is second only to his love of type. To pass the time between projects, he reads, scuba dives, skydives, wingwalks, skis (not very gracefully), and travels. He thinks that writing about himself in third person is a bit strange, but he has gotten used to it.

Photoshop CC

Screen Shot 2019-05-10 at 9.35.21 PM

I just saw a youtube video by Brad Colbow on how Photoshop is raising their subscription rates.

I use Photoshop all of the time. Luckily I can afford the entire Creative Suite. I agree with the video content by Brad Colbow regarding how Adobe really hooked people on the lower subscription price and now they are raising their rates.

I’ve been hearing slowly that designers are trying Affinity Designer and some of their other products for their design work. I don’t think I’d be able to justify crossing over, but I’m thinking about paying for the software to try and see what it is like. At $19.99 it is reasonable, and you don’t have to do a subscription. Schools just don’t like the subscription model because they see that you have to upgrade and pay the cost every year.

I’m thinking about downloading and trying it. If anyone has tried it love to hear what they think of the software.

Georgia Southern University Cont. Edu

Screen Shot 2019-05-03 at 9.34.34 PMI’m excited to announce I’ll be teaching a Lightroom and Photoshop course in June for the Georgia Southern University Continuing Education Program. It’s a night class that runs twice a week for 2 weeks. I love teaching the night classes and enjoy spending time with students who are older. It’s been a wonderful experience.

Here is a link to the site for my class. Introduction to Lightroom and Photoshop.

After my high school classes are over I’ll be posting what I’m working on with my Lightroom and Photoshop course. Looking forward to it.

I’m also trying to get some work together for an art show Aug 1-31. Then I’ve got a workshop that I’m going to be teaching to art teachers about art and technology. I’m very excited about everything that is going on. Then I signed up for 3 graduate classes at SCAD. I’m back to trying to get my MFA in Illustration. I’ll be posting along as I go. I also started a Youtube channel for Nancy Miller Illustration.

I finally got a custom URL for my Messy Art Teacher Youtube channel. I’ve gone past 102,000 views.  http://youtube.com/c/MessyArtTeacher

This has been all the effort I’ve been making while working full time.

Graphic Design Final Project

Above 2 student examples for logo project.

Wowser, were does the time go? I’ve been having students work on their final projects for their Graphic Design and Photography class. I’ve been thrilled with the results. I think even if they aren’t going to pursue graphic design, they see the practical nature of understand why it is important in business. I don’t have a marketing background, but I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful marketing director. I learned a lot from what she said and why she would do the things she did for the magazine. It’s great to learn from someone like that on the job.

They design their own logo for the company or personal brand. Then they are taking the logos to make business cards, stickers, and letterhead. Then they will put their logo on to 5 different pieces of swag.

We started by going over some history of logo design. Then they created a mind map for their brand. Then they created their sketches. Next it was turning their best idea into a vector image in Illustrator. They had to reproduce their set of 12 stickers, 16 business cards. Next week is letterhead and swag. I would say this unit took them a month of 44 min class sessions. Once they finish and mount everything I think it will surprise a lot of them on how good it all looks together.

I was hesitant of teaching graphic design and photography. Mainly because I hadn’t done it before in an educational setting. My professional experience has been a huge help. 10 yrs spent working as a graphic designer/illustrator. The assignments are based off of what I’ve been asked to do as a graphic designer. It’s like having to train newly hired graphic designers. I get to watch them grow and start getting good with the projects. I can tell some of the students will one day own businesses. They start planning and thinking ahead about what they would do for their identity. I really like teaching the class. I’m already starting to plan out ideas for lessons for students that come back and take more classes in graphic design.  I see product packaging design in their future. I’d also want to do more field trips for the photography. I think we’ve shot about everything I can think of in walking distance. I really enjoy teaching these classes.

Side note I also have been teaching a night drawing class at local university campus. Man, I love my adult students. They are fantastic! I love listening to them and where they are in their lives, and why they love making art! I’m going to ask them next class if I can take photos of their drawings and post them! They are already amazing artists on their own!!

 

 

Graphic Design Wk 11

I’ve started having my students create their own logo designs for their own personal brand or a company they would like to own in the future. I had them fill out a worksheet that I created and then I have them create their own mind map that connects to them. It is like a mood board that lets you see how things are related to each other. Then they are going to create sketches, and then create the logo in Adobe Illustrator.

My students this semester have a stronger sense I think of what they want to do already. I’m curious to see what the final results will be. They will turn the logos into stickers. We will also create a line of products to put their logo on.

 

 

Graphic Design wk 8

Screen Shot 2019-03-02 at 4.29.18 PM.jpg

Still working on the same project. I’ll be introducing some new photo projects. Taking photos of small people. I bought them originally on Amazon, but they were really small so pay attention to the ratio size. I ended up going to Hobby Lobby so I could see them.

Then they will also work on product photo shoot. Athletic energy drink. I have my photo booth that we will use to set up with props.

Graphic Design Week 6

Screen Shot 2019-02-16 at 3.06.53 PMStudents finished their Soccer ads. We have Monday off. I’m planning to do a critique of the student work that was finished. For my larger groups, have about 4-5 students come up at a time to look at the work. They are pretty honest about what they like and don’t like. I agree with them and make some additional comments. I think next time I’m going to give them a direct critique of their own work instead of having them pick out the ones they like.

Then the rest of the week students will work on a poster design for lacrosse. That includes making a mood board. I want to go over some really basic typography terms. There is a fun game I have students play called I shot the serif. Then I’m going to have them learn how to install fonts as a bellringer.

I’m probably going to give the students a couple of weeks. I’d like my higher students to try and add the game schedule, but we’ll see. Might be too much. I’m also having a contest for a gift card to itunes for the best design. I’m going to have my students in my animation classes vote on it.

 

Graphic Design Week 5

Still continuing the work on the students creating a soccer ad for the school and Adidas. We also experimented with Layer Modes and creating a custom path/selection with the pen tool. I’m old school, so I tend to learn towards using the pen tool. I’ve seen Youtubers like Peter McKinnon still use that feature.  It should be finished on Monday. Then Tues, Wed, and Thurs. I have plans for drawing a background of a line pattern using pencil, and pen.