Jo Crane - BA (Hons) Communication Design
The Cairngorms national park, provides inspiration for Jo’s projects which celebrate her love of wild swimming and skiing. She has created a guide to loch swimming in Cairngorms National Park, called 'Dookers' featuring a small leaflet, map and towel.
For her other project, Jo has designed 'Atomic Alba' creating three sets of skis for the iconic ski brand, Atomic, with designs influenced and inspired by skiing in Scotland and named after Scottish ski resorts.
“I am massively inspired by the landscape where I live. The vast lochs lying below the snowy, heather covered mountains, are so special to me. I was so keen to do a project about wild swimming as I felt there has been surge in popularity of wild swimming in recent years, but a gap in the advertisement and information about it.
“I realised most of the information I knew about wild swimming in the Cairngorms was down to word of mouth/just knowing the right spots to go to. I wanted to create a bold leaflet design so people who wild swim regularly can use it, but also people that may never have tried it before. I also came up with the idea of creating a towel design so that people could take it wild swimming and my bright illustrations would be recognisable on the towel that they take with them.
“For my other project I took inspiration from having skied in Scotland since the age of two. I had always wanted to do a project that was based on Scottish skiing as it means so much to me and is an outdoor activity that has always been a part of my life.
“I wanted to create something that got other people excited and interested about skiing in Scotland, and how it can be so different than skiing anywhere else in the world. I am hugely inspired by Chris Benchetler who is an American Skier and illustrator and he recently designed sets of skis for Atomic."
“I hope people will be inspired to get outside and visit the Cairngorms after seeing my projects. I think outdoor activities can be seen as elite, and not accessible for everybody, and that’s why specifically, wild swimming is so popular, because anyone can do it. I want people to realise they can grab my leaflet, take a towel and go for a swim in one of the most picturesque places in Scotland, without spending lots of money. I also hope people appreciate the bold shapes, bright colours and photographs I have incorporated into my projects. I love combining illustration and photography and I have enjoyed experimenting with that even more this year.”
“My experience at Gray’s over the past four years has been so enjoyable and has made me realise who I am as a person. It’s helped me identify what my real passions and interests are and how I can input these into my designs.
“It has been a rocky journey thanks to Covid (not being able to be in the studio for most of 2nd year), but I’ve come out the other side and am so excited for people to see my work at the Degree Show. The staff have been so helpful along the way, giving good ideas, being motivating, curing creative blocks and challenging my thinking. The Communication Design staff go above and beyond for the students and I am so grateful for that.
“RGU has been a great university to be a part of and in my 4th year I took on the role of being President of RGU Netball Club. I was worried about how I would manage my time, as I was completing my dissertation as well as undertaking design projects and organising the running of the Netball Club. Overall, it was a very rewarding experience, it challenged me, but I am so glad I did it and managed to balance university and netball life. I think it is really important to have other things going on outside of your studies at university, it’s also a great way to meet other students outside of Gray’s.”