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Visual Communication (MA)

Vicky Evans

Vicky Evans is a graphic designer. She graduated from Buenos Aires University and was tutor assistant in Typography and Morphology. She has UK experience in the design industry, working in art direction and identity design, with an interest in editorial practice.

She was Group Identity Art Director at the branding agency Design Bridge, working across all the agency’s studios: London, Amsterdam, Singapore, New York and Shanghai. She was responsible for creating the agency’s image and design identity — bringing a critical eye for detail, storytelling and creative flair to every project. 

Vicky is an RCA MA Visual Communication Identity design team member with Hairun Li, Jiarui Wang and Joo Yeoun Yoo. She is also in the Curatorial team for both WIP Work in Progress Show at White City Campus and RCA Show 2023 at the Truman Brewery. 

At the RCA, Vicky also actively participated in collaborative extracurricular teams: Co-designer for Fugitive Voices lecture series started by Eleni Ikoniadou; The Design & Philosophy Society team, she designed two publications; Freewheelers Bike and DJ Societies. College welcome party team. 

She has won awards in Hong Kong, New York and London. She spoke about Design at Selected, Bilbao twice, and Argentina: TRImarchi, San Martín Cultural Centre and various Universities.


Key words: community — engagement — collaboration — nature — well-being

Interests: education — multi-cultural — diverse — academic — culture

Photo: Owen Richards.

I am a creative practitioner who firmly believes that design is a return ticket, a two-way street. Living in different countries and experiencing multiple contexts have opened my eyes to this. Collaboration, different points of view, cultures, nationalities, learnings and their tensions, multiple views and media contribute to it.  

I am naturally curious with a passion for design, typography, colour, photography and all things books. I also love sketching plants.

Nature, botany, art, culture, identity, sustainability, architecture and community projects interest me, and I enjoy researching, experimenting and working in a team. The relationship between sound and design intrigues me and I hope I can add teaching to my practice in the future. 

There is medical evidence green spaces are beneficial for our well-being. Behind a busy junction, Tibby Place is hidden and negl
Talking/Seeing — A moment of respite.
A local resident stoped using and benefiting from the space after a bench went missing.
Talking/Seeing — Mr. Turner’s missing park bench.
A publication shares a research flavour. It invites non-users through their letterboxes.
Talking/Seeing — 'The Tib' newspaper.
Talking/Seeing — Newspaper spread. Laundry local voices and archive research material.
Talking/Seeing — Newspaper spreadwashing line pegs dance on the page. Laundry and Baths stories.
Frequently visited by pigeons who enjoy pausing on the curious Victorian structure at the heart of the Place. Curiously not by m
Talking/Seeing — Newspaper spread. Local voices, interviews, reconnaissance sketches and photos.
From hectic urban activity to a green pocket. With this in mind, why is this space not used more? What does the blue structure a
Launch Project
Talking/Seeing — Soundscape. Busy junction to Tibby place transition, ambient and local residentshttps://on.soundcloud.com/wXsSc
Alluding to its past stories and today’s traces, sketches hang from the structure.
Talking/Seeing — Past Victorian bath laundry item in dialogue with local residents today.
Sketches move from the sketchbook to laundry fabric.
Talking/Seeing — Flora site research sketches.
Weed plants spread, fall and grow with litter.
Talking/Seeing — Weeds and litter coexist.
A meditative, contemplative and curious moment to take in the place, green, sounds and visual cues.
Talking/Seeing — Local residents and site stories in conversation.
Tibby Place diary.
Activating Tibby Place by organising creative workshops.
Talking/Seeing – Urban green space activationI invited a group of MA Visual Communication students to a Cyanotype workshop at Tibby Place. Photo: Abodid Sahoo.
We hang all our cyanotype experimentation on a washing line from the Victorian structure.
Talking/Seeing – Washing line exhibitwe hang our cyanotype experimentation artwork to dry from the Victorian structure.
A collective gathering. Everyone was curious to see how their experiments would turn out and to see everyone’s outcomes.
Talking/Seeing – Urban green space engagement. Site activation: workshop activitieseveryone was curious to see the outcomes.
Fallen plants, transport cards, onion layers, beer tops, pigeon feathers and plastic bags scattered by the playground
Talking/Seeing – Archival gesture. A Victorian cyanotype technique alludes to the site Bathsexperimenting and observing prior to the workshop: fallen plants, a transport card, onion layers, beer tops, empty bottles, pigeon feathers and plastic bags objects scattered around the playground.
During research I enquired and had conversations with more than 50 people.
Local community engagementI designed, built and installed a comments box. It helped spark conversations with residents whilst being present in the space was also key.
Capturing local residents' voices, ambient sounds from the busy junction nearby to the ones in Tibby place.
Talking/Seeing – Soundscape recordings: local voices, ambient sound and Victorian structure reverberations.

With a genuine curiosity about Tibby Place, Islington, London. 

An urban green space, or in-between space, hidden and neglected behind a busy junction; with a small playground and an intriguing metal structure at the heart of it. Why is it fenced? Why is it frequented by pigeons and not people? Why is there a structure and what is it for? Why are people afraid of being there? Why are they disheartened with it? This site helped frame my urban green spaces research, to enquire, engage and prove it. Following medical evidence green spaces are beneficial for our well-being, to connect with ourselves and others, I propose this to work as a flexible blueprint for other green spaces.

The research involved people, their testimonies and you can see the results of the intervention or offering of the space in the missing bench.

Everything is about perspective. By enquiring with the Council, conversing with local people and experiencing the site, day by day, listening to a child in the playground and his grandad, the bin-man, non-users and passers-by, looking through different perspectives can change perceptions. 

People now recognise me as a fixture with no distinct role.

Furthermore, in opening up the history — visiting the Islington Historical Archive, stories and communication, local residents are given a chance to re-approach the site. It can become a place of historic significance and a place for them to play in a way they couldn’t imagine before. This is what bridges the past and present, linking history. How something mundane can be something valuable in their life. Perhaps, they never had the same urge about the space before. 

Recorded ambient sounds, interviews and the Victorian structure mix together in a soundscape. The conversations, aided by photography, journal sketching, scanning, archive consultations and gestures like cyanotypes became flavours in a newspaper – Leroy, the local sweeper, the first person I spoke to had one. The bench with a view to admire the greenery and structure develops a conversation with its past laundry and baths. 

Mr. Turner’s missing park bench sparked a conversation with local residents, highlighting the importance of green spaces in our search for wellbeing.

Medium:

Mixed media — sound recordings — sketches — photography — scans — cyanotype — frottage — reclaimed items
A way to convey the passing of time and a state of mind by observing flora changes when everything stands still.
THEN and NOW — Aiding health recovery. The passing of time and a state of mind. Fuchsia magellanica.
Captured rose plant movement and changes.
THEN and NOW — Visually communicating the passing of time.
Suspended flower petal with a bug hangs in fine balance and emerges from darkness.
THEN and NOW — Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) petal abstract dance.
Leaf macro detail exhibits a state transformation.
THEN and NOW — Visually communicating the passing of time.
Observing a Hydrangea flower and its leaves  at an in-between state of green and decay.
THEN and NOW — Aiding health recovery.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can alter memory sequence, cognition; and the perception of time can stop at a traumatic event. Nature can quietly act as a welcome proof and a reminder that time does pass. It can bring us back to the present moment and be a stepping stone into the future. I have recorded the passing of time through observation and foraging a collection of local flora: sharing a certain vulnerability and state of mind through the use of light, movement, the coexistence of nature photography and inanimate objects. Working with simplicity, pace and a sense of mystery can be a powerful thing whilst it helps us tell a story and be a voice that might help others. It all hangs in fine balance and emerges from darkness.

Medium:

Photography — Lighting — Nature — Movement — Art direction — Natural Archive construct as time indicators.

This project is based on a personal story; finding solace in Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower

I looked at a plant in complete stillness one day; and then again, the next. 

We kept each other company in silence. I observed beauty in its decay. 

And then I clocked the passing of time. 

I was leaving home to go to campus and noticed a seed sitting outside my front door.

I picked it up.

And then another. I dropped them in my bag. 

I let them find their place, randomly, on my desk. Tongyu, my desk neighbour, helped me gather different ones at campus. 

Something else happened. 

Georgie, from the workshop, helped me cut a piece of piece of wood to reuse it. Claire, helped me carry it. Ali, from maintenance, brought his ladder to help me stick an orange colour photographic gel film to the ceiling light fitting. Sam, from reception, received film delivery. Sotiris, a photography technician, gave me photography advice and moral support. Alba, from the printLab, advised me on Riso printing and paper trimming. Jim, from IT, brought and replenished recycled paper upstairs at the printLab. Sharon, a print technician, helped me bind the book. Andrea, gave me dried flowers from her garden. Xanthe gave me a dry leaf. Pam, lent me a wooden stool from her office. 

This project is about recovery, growth and the gift of finding help in others.

They are all present in my work.


Making the most of an unused building space.
The space, a hidden building pocket, created an intimate and meditative experienceusing the building's remanent area create the setting for a time of renewal reflected in the publication. A Show visitor took this photo and it sparked collaborations. Photo: Abodid Sahoo.
Creating an environment with simple elements: a stool, a piece of wood that slots between walls, gathered seeds, a publication.
Bearing – Editorial and space design project.Creating an environment with simple elements: a stool, a piece of wood that slots between walls, gathered seeds, a publication.
Annotations come to life and emerge from darkness.
Bearing – Writing projection experiments. Reconnecting with the world, reading and writing.
Observing visitors engage with the space and publication was a delight.
Bearing – Editorial and space design project. Visitors engage and find their bearings. A meditative moment to find yourself.

Health conditions can make reading a daunting task. But annotating a text can work as a coping mechanism for reading on the journey of recovery. They are presented here as a methodology to help understand, digest, interpret, intervene and transfer text, at a time when reading can be a challenge. This project is based on the personal story by Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower

[A small format prototype book with annotations and seed references sits in an intimate space of the show. The enclosed and angled surroundings provide an uncomfortable experience of isolation; but also one of hope and blossoming thoughts just as seeds have the potential grow.]

Articulating the identity with an animated gif for all pathways.
RCA2023: Work-In-Progress ShowArticulating the identity with an animation for all pathways.

RCA Work In Progress Show

Co-designed the identity and co-curated RCA Work-In-Progress Show 2023 for MA Visual Communication Programme. This Open Studio event was open to the public on 3 February - 4 February 2023.

A member of the identity team with Jiarui Wang, Joo Yeoun Yoo and Hairun Li; it included way-finding from ideation to implementation.

A way-finding system was vital to navigate the show; together with a cohort collective sentiment and word exercise, it was brought to life in four expansive dialogues: Auto-Fragility, World-Detour, Immortal-Materiality and Breather-Text. 

Each theme was colour coded and was expressed in a utilitarian way through a building intervention. All under the umbrella name of ‘Cosmic-lonel(y)ness’ — defying and questioning artificial intelligence generated text.

Medium:

Mixed media — digital — way-finding — building space intervention
RCA Visual Communication website header image
Visual Communication Programme website — key visual
RCA Visual Communication website header image
Illustration Pathway — key visual
MA Visual Communication website
Experimental Communication Pathway — key visual
Each Pathway had a hero image, this one is for Graphic Design.
Graphic Design Pathway — key visual

RCA2023: Graduate Show at Truman Brewery

Co-designing the Show identity and co-curating RCA2023 Show, MA Visual Communication Programme; live on this website and physically at the Final Show. The Graduate Show event will take place at the Truman Brewery from 13 July to 16 July 2023.

A member of the Show identity team for MA Visual Communication with Jiarui Wang, Joo Yeoun Yoo and Hairun Li.