Veronica Rafa
MA Graphic Design, London College of Communication, UAL
Born in Gdańsk, Poland, Veronica attended the Academy of Fine Arts to study graphic design. She is a recipient of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Scholarship for academic achievements, Gdańsk City Mayor Scholarship and a winner of Typography Day 2013 Poster Design Competition, organised in India. As a freelance graphic designer she created a series of typographic posters about gender stereotypes, which has been exhibited more than 20 times in the last 3 years. She is currently working on contemporary illustrations.
For DeL 2015 Veronica will discuss her experience of being a post-digital designer, often making work with a digital audience in mind. She will consider the advantages and disadvantages of the fanbase, and the kinds of audience attention it encourages. Read more.
In my practice, being a post-digital artist refers to connecting with the viewer through social media and building a digital platform to show my designs. Since 2013 I have been developing a fanpage for my typographic posters and illustrations. Using this medium lets me to interact with the viewer and see which of my works have greater impact. The biggest advantage is that it motivates me to creating more and better designs. The disadvantage to the fanbase is that it is not necessarily critical. Another problem comes with the content of presented artworks. People tend to appreciate sarcastic, humorous ideas, which get more likes than my art directed creations. In my practice I try to balance between both.
Comparing presence in a post-digital context with real life exhibitions (I have participated in roughly 30), technology facilitates finding fans, curators and eventually – clients. Post-digital media give the author a chance to remind people why they liked the work initially.I would call myself a post-digital designer, because a big part of my work is made with the intention of showing it online. Sometimes this shapes the whole creative process.
In this presentation I will share my journey with post-digital media, which I am happy to use to help my practice. If not for anything else, just last week my page reached 4000 likes, and that moment was extremely rewarding.