The Creative Condition podcast

We've seen sonic speed developments in technology over the last decade. How do the possibilities impact upon design and its role in the world moving forward? Last year's 'This Time Tomorrow' exhibition at the World Economic Forum was based on the theme 'The fourth industrial revolution' and curated by V&A museum's Mariana Pestana. Mariana joins me to talk about the work featured, including the much discussed Radical Love by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, a 3d print of imprisoned Chelsea Manning, a transgender U.S. Army soldier convicted of espionage after leaking documents to Wikileaks.This Time Tomorrow's six scenarios will present a leap into a potential future and foster debate about their consequences as well as posing pressing questions about the future we choose to create.Mariana Pestana is a fascinating lady with big ideas, working closely with the V&A following her work with The Decorators, a multidisciplinary design practice working with local authorities and public institutions to design, produce and deliver community building interventions in regeneration areas.Episode 45 is not to be missed for those wishing to feed their creative output with the most cutting-edge ideas and technology.https://twitter.com/marianapestana_ - Mariana on Twitterhttps://www.vam.ac.uk/ - V&A Museumhttp://the-decorators.net/ - The Decorators official sitehttp://deweyhagborg.com/ - Heather Dewey-Hagborg

The Association Of Illustrators join me to discuss where we find the industry in 2016. With a dual role of the trade union for the illustration industry and champions of it too, the AOI are as important as ever before. We enter the digital age and with its arrival comes a whole new host of questions about intellectual property rights, big business bullying and where we are headed.I head down to the Somerset House home of the AOI to catch new managing director, Ren Renwick and membership coordinator Lou Bones to discuss the new possibilities open to illustrators with accessible technology, how the industry has greatly expanded in recent years and the recent link up with U.S. based Directory Of Illustration to form the World Illustration Awards.Ren is keen to take the business new places in more ways than one and is keen to break down boundaries between disciplines as the creative industry becomes increasingly amorphous.

We all need to use it, many of us struggle to get away from it. The internet has become the core of may of our worlds and in the creative industry of today, we have it at our fingertips at all times. But are we using all this glorious technology effectively? Where do we draw the line between cat video, selfie and portfolio? Heart Internet's Nick Leech has been heavily involved since the advent of the readily accessible world wide web and he joins me to talk about what SEO is, why it's important and how we can maximise our use of it. How do we boost our search engine rankings and how do we find the most effective use of social media for ourselves and our unique identity? Do we build a website from the ground up or use a tool such as Squarespace or Adobe Portfolio?With some great insights, tips and tales, Nick brings A-list internet experience to Arrest All Mimics to break it all down for us.http://heartinternet.co.uk - Heart Internet officialhttps://twitter.com/HeartInternet - Heart Internet on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/Nick_Leech - Nick Leech on Twitterhttps://www.123-reg.co.uk/search-engine-optimiser/ - 123-Reg SEO Optimiser tool

Did you ever stop to think about how people perceive your brand, shop, artwork or look? For me personally, colour was always a way of conveying a mood, energy or method of instantly drawing a viewer into my artwork. But if I'm honest, I never truly stopped to consider the deeper psychological impact of colour. Whilst reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink a few years ago, I was intrigued with a case study in the book. It informed me that 7up carried out a taste testing session as part of a rebrand. After adding 15% more yellow to the packaging, they found that the vast majority of subjects reported that the drink tasted more of lemon, when in fact, no change had been made.So after a chance introduction to Justine Fox, a colour psychologist and professional colour consultant, I had to find out more. Justine explains why certain branches of high-street stores failures could be linked to the interior design colour palette, how we perceive and digest the colours in the world around us and why Facebook is blue! This is a mind bending insight into just how critical colour can be to creative success, how others perceive you professionally and the crazy science behind one of the most crucial aspects of any creative professional's practice.https://twitter.com/MaterialColour - Justine on Twitter

Rohan Daniel Eason's stark black and white, pen and ink illustrations are rooted in the more traditional style of organic illustration. Often found in beautiful books with a dash of fantasy, they inspire freedom of imagination and transportation to a faraway land. But Rohan's real-life story is far more intriguing and inspiring than that. Taking the long road, his musical exploits, not without success, led him back to his childhood pleasure of drawing.He takes us through that tale, including school artworks sold to peers, open-minded parents not questioning subversive pieces including three girls sat on toilets and a less than conventional method of getting his place at Kingston University.Rohan's tale is hilarious, a great lesson to people who feel like they're existing down the rabbit hole in this confusing and often challenging creative industry.We take a look at Rohan's work for Unicef, creating animations for a recent campaign to raise awareness of the plight of child refugees, his illustrations for My First Kafka and discuss how personal work can be the key to not becoming typecast and personal creative development.http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/RohanEason/view - Rohan on Illustration Ltdhttp://www.rohaneason.com/ - Rohan official sitehttps://twitter.com/RohanDEason - Rohan on Twitter

When Liz Atkin gets on the tube, pulls out her pack of charcoal and starts to feverishly draw on the free The Metro and The Evening Standard newspapers, there’s a refreshing break in the monotony of tired commuter journeys, littered with people with heads lodged firmly in their mobile devices, disconnected with the immediacy of right here, right now. For anyone who’s ever felt the self-conscious pinch when opening a sketchbook and getting to work in the public eye, or been overcome by the alarming notion that they are indeed the subject of a creative stranger’s work, Liz Atkin manages to shatter both discomforts.With energy and an inescapable charm, Liz, on face value, creates vibrant original artworks and hands them to fellow passengers. This alone is enough to snap many from their routine daily slumbers and provide them with an unexpected anchor point to the present moment. Some find it fun, watching with a curious smile and a raised eyebrow, delighted when Liz almost telepathically grows aware of their interest and hands them the piece. Others grumble, accuse her of littering and return, disgruntled to the confines of their mind.But there’s a deeper story here. Liz suffers from compulsive skin-picking disorder, a surprisingly common problem on a broad scale of extremes. Her drawing is not only a gift for travellers and a welcome break to the soullessness of many London train rides, but also a great way to keep her hands and mind busy in the most productive and fascinating of ways.I join Liz on platform 2 of Crystal Palace over ground rail station and after hearing Liz’s fascinating journey, we jump on the train to Dalston Junction, where I witness her live in action for one of the most exciting train rides I’ve ever had!http://lizatkin.com/ - Liz Atkin Official sitehttps://twitter.com/LizAtkin - Liz Atkin on Twitterhttp://instagram.com/liz_atkin - Liz on Instagram

London based graphic designer, art-director and illustrator Gordon Reid (Middle Boop) joins me to discuss the dual sciences of specialist creative style and versatility. Gordon takes us through his career to date, a journey that has seen him evolve from editor of the magazine he created, via freelance illustration, to a more rounded, versatile role on a range of different projects in advertising, music, editorial design, public speaking with the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi, London Design Festival, Mogwai, Coca-Cola and many others.As an illustrator who has created a very distinct brand, I wanted to see where Gordon and I crossed over, the methods we’ve created over the years in order to facilitate the work we wanted and how perception and packaging can be the difference between treading water and significant progression.Episode 39 is a must listen for the modern creative professional who operates in an ever-changing digital landscape where adaptation and problem solving is paramount.http://middleboop.com - Gordon Reid officialhttp://twitter.com/middleboop - Gordon Reid Twitterhttp://instagram.com/middleboop - Gordon Reid Instagram

I'm joined by Designers block ahead of their events at the 2016 London Design Festival. Rory Dodd and Bud Moore take me through the Designers Block story, bringing European design ideas to east London in the late 1990s and seeing the potential of the Old Truman Brewery long before it was hip! As a three-person core, Designers Block carry out huge design and arts events in many unconventional spaces worldwide, from craft fairs to talks and forward thinking projects ahead of time.The guys divulge the story of the mind-blowing, forthcoming 'Painted Oceans' project, run by Tristan Eaton, involving Shepard Fairy, How & Nosm, Futura 2000 and The London Police, including why the 'James Bond' approach to filming was considered...This not to be missed insight into one of the creative industry's real gems is essential for all, no matter your position, veteran or student!http://verydesignersblock.com - DB officialhttp://twitter.com/designersblock - DB Twitterhttps://www.facebook.com/Designersblock/ - Designers Block Facebookhttps://www.instagram.com/designersblock/ - Designers Block Instagramhttps://billetto.co.uk/designersblock - Creative Matters at London Design Festivalhttps://billetto.co.uk/en/events/designersblock-london-2016-edition-19 - Designers Block Edition 19 at London Design Festivalhttp://paintedoceansmovie.com/ - Painted Oceans

One year on from her first appearance on Arrest All Mimics, Miss Led returns. In summer 2015, we met in Brooklyn, New York to discuss her creative roots, journey to becoming one of the most recognisable and loved illustrators in the business and plans to expand. (You can listen to that on episode 4 of the show) It’s been one crazy year and I meet her at ‘Miss Led Towers’ in London to hear all about the imminent launch of her online video tutorial course. We also hear about inspiring adventures to a solo show in Hong Kong, live painting with Escoda Brushes in Barcelona and much more. We talk about how Miss Led’s evolution from freelance illustrator to functioning as a more rounded creative professional, dabbling in art-direction with Lynx, taking on an assistant and how a huge, hard-earned social media following can bring global exposure and opportunities. This lady is one inspiring professional and she lays down a perfect example of the commitment, self-belief and individuality required to continue progressing in the creative industry. Take note!Episode 37 is supported by http://illustrationweb.com http://heartinternet.co.uk and http://printed.comWatch the video tutorial trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMoRkUTwSlY&feature=youtu.behttp://missled.co.uk - Miss Led official sitehttp://www.missled.co.uk/news/ - Miss Led newsletterhttp://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/MissLed/view - Miss Led on lllustration Ltdhttps://twitter.com/missledster - Miss Led on Twitterhttps://www.instagram.com/miss_led1/?hl=en - Miss Led on Instagramhttps://www.facebook.com/missledstudio/ - Miss Led on Facebookhttp://www.escoda.com/ - Escoda Brushes

Illustrator and designer Kingsley Nebechi joins me to discuss the release of his debut artist book, the wonderful post-apocalyptic illustrated Tribe Hunters. Kingsley’s fascinating journey involved a move from his native Italy to London at the age of fourteen and he’ll tell us all about the challenges he faced, possessing only a very basic grasp of the English language before thriving and embracing the sink or swim nature of the English high school and the cultural differences. We recount our first meetings through Twitter, when Kingsley came across my angry blog and we connected because whilst my freelance lifestyle ramblings resonated with him, he feared it was getting to me a little too much! We find out why Kingsley’s mother’s notepad doodles during phone calls influenced him during childhood and became subtle foundations in the beautiful patterns seen throughout Tribe Hunters. He also tells us why thoughts become things if you believe in the work you’re doing and work hard, how he landed a job with his dream client and favourite creative agency I Love Dust following a degree in Portsmouth and why London’s Liverpool Street being so busy isn’t such a bad thing if you use it creatively! Kingsley Nebechi’s story shows us why life’s challenges and changes can instil a fierce resolve and work ethic and details a fantastic example of self-publishing success that anyone with aspirations of comic book work, character design or storytelling must hear. http://kingsleynebechi.co.uk - Kingsley official http://twitter.com/kingsleynebechi - Kingsley’s Twitter http://instagram.com/kingsleynebechi - Kingsley’s Instagram http://ilovedust.com - iLoveDust