Emily Forgot

Emily forgot A.K.A Emily Alston is a Graphic designer come illustrator who works in London. She graduated 6 years ago from Liverpool and is now a successful freelancer! Fingers crossed I can hope to be as accomplished and connected as she is in 6 years time!

I really enjoyed looking at Emily's work because it was so surreal. She has very distinct and recognisable styles which included simple minimal drawings to very detailed images. I particularly liked how surreal her work was and the use of colour, her work felt quite dark and always visually stimulating. She talked about how she was inspired by the likes of Aldridge and Koon and was openly honest about what she liked and how she always tries to get something random into a piece. She particularly likes juxtaposition in her work, something I have always been into myself.

With Jobs like Selfridges window displays and Creative Review covers, Emily has definitely made a name for herself in the industry and I'm sure her success will only continue.

Emily talked a lot about life after university, missing the facilities that we have access to when we're here, being put into a box and always getting asked to just repeat your 'style' for a different client. I totally related to what she said about being in London - it's not that the city itself inspires you but that you feel like your in the middle of something and it's easier to get into those circles and meet the right people. Something that really stuck with me is the idea that your personal work can help influence your commercial career. This is something I intend to keep in mind, I don't expect to be able to work on the briefs/clients that I want to immediately but keeping up a personal portfolio should help to remind people what I want to do and what I am capable of.

I got these images from Emily's website, and while I was visiting it I noticed she had used the same simple format to build hers as we are doing in our workshops with Chris. She actually has a very similar design to mine that I have been laying out recently - the thumbnail portfolio that links to the work and use of black lines will be appearing in mine soon! But it's good to see that this will work and that you can build a website simply and yet still have a very effective tool to promote yourself. Watch this space for my new website which is currently in the middle of two designs (after spending ages on it I totally changed my mind and am revamping it already)!