Sign Africa Journal November / December 2018 | Page 48
INDUSTRY
INTERVIEW
DEPARTMENT
BY THAPY MOKONO
FESPA Africa And Sign Africa T-Shirt Design Competition Winner
Loren Fisher from P3 Printing was crowned the
winner of the FESPA Africa and Sign Africa T-shirt
2018 Design Competition, which was sponsored
by Midcomp/Direct Color Systems. Entrants were
required to submit a design for a printed T-shirt,
inspired by the ‘Where T-shirt Printing Takes
Off’ expo theme. The top 15 entrants’ designs
were then printed and showcased at the event’s
registration area, where Fisher’s design was voted
the favourite.
Fisher is a self-taught designer who started
designing at the age of 15 on CorelDRAW X3. She
obtained her MSc in Biochemistry and LLB and
then decided to open her own printing company 10
years ago. ‘I was thrown into the deep end and had
to learn how to design all over again. CorelDRAW
is a fantastic programme as the basic buttons
haven’t changed much in 22 years, so it was the
easiest programme to teach myself. Over the years
of running my own business, I have developed
as a designer and improved my skill set. And for
every question, there is a YouTube video to tell me
what to do. 10 years later I am running my printing
company on my own, doing all the designing,
printing and finishing/installations.’
Fisher was a runner-up in last year’s T-shirt design
competition and was excited to learn that Sign
Africa was running the competition this year. ‘I
am glad to see that my skills have improved. It’s a
great opportunity for local designers
to showcase their skills and compete
against their peers in the industry,’
she said.
Advice To Designers
Have confidence in your design skills.
I like to spend a lot of time thinking
about designs while I do other stuff.
Those who procrastinate are sometimes
just waiting for their creativity to hit.
They can’t force the ideas to come, but
when it does, it can be magical. There
are many times where I’m just sitting
around waiting for ideas to materialise.
I then walk away or procrastinate, and
it can be an hour, a day, or even a week
later before the idea hits me. So, the
next time you are struggling, walk away.
A change of scenery can produce ideas
when you aren’t trying to be creative.
It’s your subconscious that produces
this creativity.
Inspiration Behind The Design
I thought about my design for two
48
weeks before I started working on it. And the idea I
started with is nothing like the idea I ended with. As
I played around with images and layouts, it slowly
came together. Because I had spent time thinking
about the design, by the time I was done I was
100% happy with the end result, which probably
only took half an hour to put together.
Initially I got stuck with the whole ‘taking off’ idea,
and thought about rockets and planes that ‘take
off’ but slowly expanded my idea pool to include
other ideas that were indicative of taking off and
flight. My first few designs were of a rocket with a
cloud of smoke, which I felt was a little too literal.
The phoenix rising then came to mind. It’s such a
powerful image and to me, it indicated taking off,
rising above and reaching new heights. I played
around with different ‘smoke’ effects to show
movement in the image and then tried a few
different colour combinations. Sometimes less is
more and I saw that too much colour was confusing
the design. I also played around with different infills
for the Phoenix until I found the one that worked
the best with the smoke I had chosen.
I hope more people enter the competition next
year. It’s great to see how creative South Africans
can be. Don’t be scared by the fact that you don’t
have a formal design background – I am proof that
creativity comes from within.
Fisher’s long-term career goals include improving
her design skills as ‘learning never stops’ as well as
business growth. She believes there are many new
avenues in the print industry to explore and there
will always be a need for small businesses like hers
to fill the gaps created by the bigger companies. ‘If
small businesses continue to support other small
businesses then we will all achieve our goals,’
Fisher concluded.
P3 PRINTING (+27 11) 887 1392
[email protected]
www.p3print.co.za
ISSUE 98 NOV/DEC 2018 | www.SignAfrica.com