Lewis Church - BA (Hons) Communication Design

Lewis Church, Communication Design student at Gray's School of Art

Lewis creates a project centred around ‘Lost World’ design, and seeks to explore how image-making and print work would look in an unfamiliar future. What would we understand and what future languages or symbols would be lost to us?

Within his 'Lost World' designs, Lewis says the outcome, ‘Sodesero’, outlines his passion for world building and the genre of 'Solarpunk’ for its messages involving sustainable energies and ecological harmony.

His project embodies a selection of solutions from Risograph prints, to animated video and pixel-based photography, subsequently capturing a small pocket of his designed future with the concept art that arises.

He said: "The project of ‘Sodesero’ was largely inspired by the undertakings of concept artists, and the lengths they are often required to go to embellish fictional settings. To make the context of a designed world most believable, designers must consider the very minute details like the label of a discarded water bottle or a small ad in a magazine, while simultaneously visualising large concepts and phenomena that define the existence of the small objects in the first place. When visual realisations of both types of concept art come together, you achieve something audiences are more willing to engage with and listen to."

Lewis also tackles projects that express his career vision as a communication designer, as well as those that help grow his entrepreneurial skillset for the future.

"I love to create work that embodies location or encourages a bit of your own interpretation. I often hope to convey comforting emotion from my work or use character-based design to make people laugh. Ultimately, illustrating is what gives me purpose. It makes me relaxed, and intrigued, I hope it can make you feel a similar way by extension! "

Reflecting on his time at Gray's, Lewis said: "I’ve found that I’ve grown immensely during my time at Grays, both as a Designer and as a person. Gray’s has given me enough freedom to carve a path for my work that I can be proud of.

"Every year during my time at Gray’s has brought a new type of challenge while offering the support and resources to face them head on. I found that my time studying abroad was the most salient period for development during my degree. My work grew in a creative direction I don’t think I would’ve reached otherwise, and I was able to reflect on my career as a designer. "