WHY BEN FREEMAN?

My general idea of how I would like to progress after university is to be able to tackle different roles in different industries. It was never my intent to focus purely on one goal or specialise. I would very much like to go down the entrepreneurial route and have my hands in different ventures. To do this my next plan of action is to do a Business MBA to further enhance my understanding of how to reach my goals. I believe I can truly be successful when I better understand how to reap the potential of my design ideas. 

Ben Freeman epitomises this for me. Not necessarily in terms of business. But he has many interests in the creative industry and has managed to obtain different roles through his career. Be it an art director, a creative director or a publisher. I admire how he has gone about achieving his goals in pursuing ideas that he is genuinely passionate about and actually gaining exposure and success through this. It is difficult in this industry to stay true to your own style and ways of working. 

I have many ideas of what I would like to do many differ completely some not even relatable to design which I do not have a issue with. My passions and interests are not all design based, but I do feel every business (design related or not) will always involve aspects I have learnt in this course. As a study Graphic designs principles can be relatable to so much more than the course itself.  

The reason for why I am trying to get in touch with him is to learn more about his values and how he pursued his ideas, as it stwill further inspire me to do the same and get some further knowledge into how to go about pursuing my own ideas, whilst still remaining true to my own style. 

What’s been the driving force for Future Artefacts and Ditto Press?

Both Ditto and Future Artefacts are about physicality, Ditto reflects my personal tastes and aesthetic, Future Artefacts is about our interest in the future of the object. The driving force behind all of it is really my curiosity about human nature and visual culture, whether that’s fashion or politics or any other area. I have quite specific tastes and interests and these are reflected in our output.

Both businesses celebrate physical media: Has the digital revolution created a new vacuum to champion physical manifestations of contemporary media?

I think that the digital revolution and the post-digital space we are in now did not cause attraction to physical media, they just highlighted a part of human nature that we perhaps didn’t need to pay attention to in the past, namely our attachment to tangible objects.