When choosing a university, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula. For Jodie Chung, she opted for a “smaller university” after feeling a “disconnect between lecturer and student” at larger institutions. “With UWTSD there was a more personal connection when talking to the lecturers there, and I went with my gut. I’m so glad I did as they turned out to have great connections, with graduates going to work at Sky and Pepsi, which led them to hosting design weeks to learn more about live briefs and working in industry.”

She adds, “I do believe it’s not that university makes you, but how you take those three years and make those opportunities and connections yourself.”

Thriving in a smaller environment, Chung made use of the university’s “amazing print studio for letterpress, riso [and] screenprinting”. Exploring various mediums and understanding traditional methods of working, she says, “can often tell you more about what works and not works in your design compared to just staring at a screen.”

This hark back to traditional methods and a hands-on approach has led to her forming a nostalgic and cohesive style, rooted in retro graphics, Americana and pops of bright colour. She explains, “I believe colour is one of the most important features for design as it’s what turns people’s heads.

“Colour was a mechanism to get people to think back to the past as certain colour schemes could be nostalgic, relating to older packaging design. I remember spending hours trying different colour schemes for briefs. In some of my development files, there are so many art boards of just colour variations.”

Alongside her dissertation, she produced the project Memory Mart, which focuses on how the commercialisation of nostalgia impacts design and originality. “We see a rise of more retro style designs, such as with the rise of rubber hose characters in branding and when Burger King went back to a more 60s style design logo,” she points out. “Therefore, I wanted to highlight the commercialisation of our memories with companies using nostalgic marketing to tap into consumers’ memories, to manipulate them into buying items.”

On the making of the project, she elaborates, “I asked my friends and people around me about their childhood memories which is where building forts, making mud pies and watching Saturday cartoons came from, and I then created them into consumable products to commercialise and ‘resell’ to people in my ‘supermarket,’ which also incorporated a more retro style logo and colour scheme. I used satirical marketing to sell the ‘past’ back to people.

“Making the products then rolled onto promotional items such as a magazine, like when you could pick up the magazine in the supermarket and it’d have coupons your mum would cut out,” she continues. “I even created a little trolley, taking inspiration from the ones you’d walk around with in store with your mum and their long flag in case you got lost. Everything was designed in detail – from the nutrition labels describing how much childlike wonder or youth juice is in it, for example.”

However, nostalgia isn’t something that Chung necessarily wants to anchor her work in. She explains, “I have gone back to nostalgia a few times as I did my college project on nostalgia and now with my dissertation project, but I’d like to believe a lot of my projects are people focused, looking into current issues and how to help people through design.

Chung is keenly aware of how design is a service-focused industry, and it forms part of the ethos behind her practice. “With graphic design, I don’t think I do it to express myself, but rather, I enjoy it as it allows me to help others express themselves and bring their vision to life.”

She adds, “That’s the part that appeals to me the most, as I am able to help people communicate their ideas and share their wonderful thoughts through design and visual language.”

I do believe it’s not that university makes you, but how you take those three years and make those opportunities and connections yourself

For one of her projects, she dived into Latin culture and design – and it resonated with her audience. “From knowing little at the start about Latin culture to developing designs and learning more about that side of the world’s style and art, I was so happy towards the end that I was getting Latin members complimenting me on specific features of the design that may have represented their culture,” she says. “I’d like to work on more real projects that are impactful in that way.”

Designing late into the nights during her course, her family were a support system and a source of motivation for her. “I’ve learnt over the years that one of the most important things to have is a good support system,” she advises.

“The amount of times I’ve called my dad late at night asking for advice and his view on my work, and him trying to understand my rambling about a type choice,” she laughs. “He thinks he should get half of my degree.”

Rather than take a break, Chung is eager to continue learning, developing and connecting with people. She’s optimistic about the future, though she admits it’s a strange time. “I saw a story of a girl who applied to 200 jobs after graduating last year and only just managed to get a job recently,” Chung recalls. “There are junior roles I’ve seen that somehow require four years of experience or are based in London but with minimum pay. It’s scary out there, but I think the main goal is to just keep going and staying as creatively linked as possible.”

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