{"id":4972,"date":"2019-03-25T17:12:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T17:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=4972"},"modified":"2019-11-13T12:54:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T12:54:11","slug":"process-ben-mottershead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/process-ben-mottershead\/","title":{"rendered":"Process: Ben Mottershead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Studio<\/h3>\n

I wouldn\u2019t say I have a conventional \u2018Studio\u2019 space. I work pretty much everywhere. On the move, in my flat, at coffee shops, on the bus, or tube. I\u2019ve never really found I need a single location to work on projects. I just need the right mindset which, if I\u2019m being honest, is a hard thing to get into when you suffer from ADHD. That being said, the below items\/objects are things that I find help me to get to the point where I am able to finally begin.<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Signs<\/h3>\n

No, not the film starring Mel Gibson. Street Signs, or the ones you find above shops, giving you directions, or what location you\u2019re in. I\u2019ve always liked seeing a design which gets straight to the point. One you can understand and consume immediately.<\/p>\n

A couple of examples of this would be the London Underground typeface and signage by Edward Johnston. It was commissioned because the Commercial Director of the London Underground wanted to update their look so it wasn\u2019t mistaken for advertisement. Quite literally cutting through the noise of the environments they were placed in. Another is the artist \u2018Bob and Roberta Smith\u2019, who I discovered in my first year of university and who\u2019s has had a large impact on how I work today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Poster
Interpretation of Bob and Roberta Smith’s posters by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think my love for straight to the point communication design comes off the back of my ADHD. It means having a million thoughts going through my head at any given time. Not having to read between the lines of some skewed meaning, or \u2018wanky\u2019 message is super helpful.<\/p>\n

Finding simplicity amongst the chaos is something I\u2019m always trying to translate within my own work.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ADHD<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve mentioned this already and it doesn\u2019t appear on my desk, but it does play a huge part in my inspiration as a designer. I\u2019ve had to learn to live with it, accept it and make it part of my everyday process. The world is pretty chaotic and it often feels even more chaotic in my own head. However, the plus points of this are I\u2019m always full of energy and\u00a0constantly thinking of ideas which I write down everywhere. It\u2019s the one thing I feel has probably shaped my current style of working the most. I\u2019m always trying to simplify my thoughts to make sense of them.<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead, taken from his ADHD series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This never-ending journey of attempting to find simplicity amongst the chaos is something I\u2019m always trying to translate within my own work. Currently, I’m doing a small poster series on my experiences with the disorder. I intend on making them free to download to raise awareness for the condition.<\/p>\n

\"Planner
Planner by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With books, you get to read about the project and learn about the process. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Books<\/h3>\n

Screw the internet! If you currently only use the internet to do your research then you should cut back. That may sound outdated but for me, there\u2019s a reason trends reappear within design every few years. It\u2019s mainly because of sites like Pinterest & Instagram. Something will crop up from the past, get featured on big channels and everyone will start doing it again. With books, you get to read about the project and learn about the process. Someone\u2019s actually spent money on paper and glue to publish it. With that comes a level of curation, connection and care that I feel get\u2019s a little lost online at times.\u00a0There are too many to count so I\u2019ve taken a photo of my favourites.<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s also a reason a lot of renowned creatives often don\u2019t list sites on the internet when it comes to talking about their process. It\u2019s not because they want to appear deep and brooding.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I don\u2019t want to make things that just look nice on a wall<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Comedy<\/h3>\n

Aside from my client facing \u2018serious\u2019 projects, a lot of my own personal work, especially posters, involves humour. From animation to print, I\u2019ve found it to be a really effective way of connecting with people. That’s how you create an emphatic response. I grew up on a diet of \u201970s and ’80s British sitcoms such as Porridge, Blackadder, Only Fools and Horses etc. They’re very observational in terms of its delivery. They also had confidence that the audience would understand what was being communicated.<\/p>\n

\"Ben
Ben Mottershead sketchbook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This era of television had and still has a big impact on my own sense of humour. It’s quite tongue in cheek and riddled in sarcasm (finger snap). The point of my work isn\u2019t to offend anyone, but create more of an \u2018oh I can relate to that\u2019 kind of reaction. I don\u2019t want to just make things that just look nice on a wall. However, I don\u2019t want to spell things out to people as it\u2019s boring being spoon fed. I like to think the people who see my work get a laugh out of it. The ones that don\u2019t probably wouldn\u2019t like me in person.<\/p>\n

Everyone has a unique view of the world and what\u2019s in it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

#1<\/h3>\n

The first is from my recent series around ADHD, mentioned earlier. Despite it having a big impact on my life I\u2019ve never openly put it into my work. Instead,\u00a0I’ve almost avoided it altogether. I decided to change this and took a series of occasions within my own life where I\u2019ve regularly had battles. Whether it’s with directors, colleagues and friends who see it as controllable and just a matter of a lack of focus. One of my last directors used to constantly say in daily emails that he “needed me to focus”. This was always quite patronising. As for me, it wasn\u2019t an issue of focus and just made me want to tell him to \u2018Fuck Off\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead, taken from his ADHD series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the end, it was almost like a form of therapy; design has the ability to communicate many things. I\u2019ve always thought the most interesting and unique work surfaces when the person puts their own life experiences into the design. I don’t believe in the statement \u2018nothing can be original\u2019, because everyone has a unique view of the world and what\u2019s in it. If you let that unique view become a part of your work then it doesn\u2019t matter if what you produce kind of looks like something else in the world, because what it communicates will be totally different and individual. At least that\u2019s what I feel.<\/p>\n

#2<\/h3>\n

This is a piece I created for Valentines Day which again was based on everyday observations. Both myself and my girlfriend have never really seen much point in Valentine’s Day, it\u2019s always felt like a constructed holiday made to make people feel sad. Or to spend money on each other which usually ends in a low bank balance and additional sadness.<\/p>\n

So, I was seeing the endless waves of Facebook posts about meals, gifts, the store signage, the advertisements and despite being in a relationship for five years it made me feel incredibly apathetic to the entire \u2018holiday\u2019. As a result, I wanted to create something which was a bit stupid, relatable and almost a protests to what valentines day is to me\u2026 a corporate money making occasion and instead decided to focus the attention onto something which people do all have and is for the better part completely free\u2026porn!<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Ben Mottershead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If I could be remembered for anything I\u2019d rather it was for having a sense of humour and trying to help people out whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Ben’s limited edition ADHD awareness T-shirt is available here<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We caught up with London-based designer and self titled jack of all trades Ben Mottershead to discuss how ADHD, humour and a love for signs have influenced his creative process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4972"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7333,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972\/revisions\/7333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}