I’ve always admired designers; the way they balance creativity with commercial viability, their meandering and colourful lives. Design has always been a castle in the sky for me. I’m not a maker, at least not in the traditional sense. I knew I’d always be on the periphery of the industry, peeking in but never partaking. In the past few years, I’ve become a dyed-in-the-wool storyteller, narrating the passages of designers, by whatever medium is most fitting.
My enjoyment of conversations with designers is what lead me to transition my self-entitled online portfolio into a website that would house these interviews as well as the projects I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with designers on.
A fashion-led Belfast Design Week event produced by Jessica Fok at Culture Night Belfast 2016
This transition into my blog Designher happened organically. At university I was a resident blogger for a fashion collective called Unify, an initiative managed and advocated for by altruistic designer David Henderson. Through the collective I made the acquaintance of a medley of talented clothing and accessory designers, interviewing them and telling their story on the Unify blog. After the collective’s dissolution I continued to keep up with many of the designers, even collaborating with many of them in a creative direction capacity for new campaigns and collections. Some of the works I have proudly created alongside talented photographer Ryan Richards include the Black & Silks shoot for Attune Womenswear and an in-studio photo album for milliner Marie Claire Ferguson.
After Unify ended, I felt there was an opportunity in Northern Ireland for a new fashion event to take place that would showcase and prioritise local talent so in 2016 I reached out to Belfast Design Week, which I felt, was the perfect vessel. With the help of a stream of wonderful people I created the fashion show DesignedBy.
While I’ll call Designher a blog, I don’t want it to be restricted to just that. At the moment it’s a space for me to publish my conversations with designers and design enthusiasts, as well as viewpoint pieces on different strands of the industry. Often I work with designers to direct and create visual campaigns for new collections, new products or for their social media channels and I’ll be continuing to post these photo books on Designher.
There is a plethora of reasons for why I’ve founded Designher. In a similar vein to Womenfolk, Designher is primarily intended to celebrate the work of women in design. I’ve had the luck of working alongside the women who co-founded Belfast Design Week and they continue to inspire me to mobilise and advocate for Northern Ireland’s design scene. Designher is testament to the good work of design communities and their unwavering dedication to creating and innovating their cities.
I’m balancing Designher with my very full-on full-time job so this year my main goal is to have fun with the blog and fit in as many interviews as possible. I have a couple of creative campaigns in the pipeline and all being well at the end of the year I might even try my hand at designing…
"Black & Silks" - a styled shoot for Attune Womenswear
Showcasing Marie-Claire Millinery's work in studio
A short list of advice / ideas for designers on social media and how to make the most of it:
Less is more: I often find designers feel like they need to be on social media sites but that’s exhausting and wasteful. Use insights tools to heatmap where your audience/target customers are and select the channels that resonate the most with them.
Invest in photography: In a world of double screening and relentless scrolling, imagery is often the only way to stand out. Understandably designers often view a photo session as a luxury, but the trick is to be efficient with your time. Create a vision, develop a curated photo brief that will give you an extensive suite of images to use for the next 3 – 6 months and above all – find a photographer who you can collaborate well with so they get a better picture of your needs/expectations.
Speak authentically: We all know a social media account where we cringe over their posts because they sound too ‘salesy’. You need to give users a reason to interact with you, never mind buy from you. You may think you know your brand inside out but often people gloss over the ‘brand tone’ element. The more comfortable you are with your brand’s voice, the better your posts will be. Whether the tone mimics your own voice as an individual designer or you have to carry out a day-long workshop to unveil the character – once you find out your tone – whether it’s sassy or calm and collected – project it far and wide and you’ll find your tribe.