This piece, titled Someone who kNOws someone, responds to numerous alienations, frustrations and rejections experienced by the designer when searching for employment and housing following emigration from Ireland in June 2022.

The piece itself will be exhibited as an A3 poster with augmented reality (AR) elements. When scanned with a third party app (most likely Adobe Aero), the animation attached to this email will begin to loop indefinitely.

The changing colours range from frustrated, stressed reds and yellows to calm, confident blues and greens which communicate the spectrum of emotions experienced in both the process of interviewing for jobs and attending house viewings. The repetitive, monotonous extension of the “NO”, highlights

the frequency of rejections early in the designer’s career and how graduation can feel like rolling off an assembly line. The bold, imposing typography speaks to the lack of comfort that the designer felt, which other, better connected contemporaries seemed to have in abundance.

Despite evoking frustration and despondency, the piece also encourages subtle hope. It acts as a call to arms to both the designer and other contemporaries to tenaciously continue their respective practices in spite of rejections and setbacks.

@jackmckeondesign