006. Sami, Designer and Illustrator (Get to Know)

What’s your background before joining Create 8?
Before I started at Create8 I was completing my Illustration degree, focusing on illustrations for children’s books, storytelling and character design.

What got you into design?
I’ve always been heading in a creative direction academically, I opted to do an Art and Design BTEC over A Levels which led me to my Illustration degree. Nothing else has interested me as much as being creative, everything starts with it. My granddad always used to say that ‘you can’t create anything without maths’, this is true but you can’t start applying maths until you’ve had the creative spark of an idea.

How do you describe your design style?
I really enjoy creating characters, however it’s not often we get character design projects to work on, so what I try to do is bring some personality into each design I create. If I have text and visuals, I try and apply the rules of children’s picture books to ensure the text and imagery compliment each other – each shows something the other doesn’t.
I’ll work at this for a while and then I have to take a step back and decide how to refine the design to feel more modern and relevant.

How has working at Create8 influenced your style?
I have started working with vectors a lot more since joining Create8, illustrating products, icons and logos that are clean, simple and a long way from the children’s picture book paintings I did in my degree.
I think vector illustrations are a great way to simplify things for the client, getting straight to the point of what you’re looking at as well as easily incorporating relevant colour palettes. They’re also more versatile for scaling than any other type of illustration; want to make that chicken vector the size of a building? No problem! If printed well, there should be no pixelation in sight.

Sami Designing

Do you have a preference for projects you work on?
Of course my favourite projects are when I get to create illustrations, and I have a soft spot for any designs that are relevant to children, nurseries and similar businesses.
However I do also enjoy projects that have a bit of character behind them, where the client is willing to go for something colourful and fun. Also I have dibs on Christmas projects!