Meet the third year whose design is being sold on ASOS
She also won £5,000
For most the thought of having their design sold to thousands of people on one of the biggest fashion websites in the world is nothing more than a dream, but for one talented lady it’s a dream come true.
Sophie Mahmud is a third year studying Fashion Graphics at Southampton Solent uni. She’s also the winner of ASOS’ Blank Canvas competition.
ASOS scoured the country for talented, creative students to produce a shortlist of 200 tote bag designs, only one of which would be voted the winner by the public.
Sophie won a massive £5,000, mentoring from ASOS, a trip to HQ and her tote bag is being sold on ASOS.
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How did you get involved?
My degree means I have experience in making designs, so when I saw that students could design their own tote bag for free I thought it would be great to make one for me to carry my books to the library in.
I ticked the box to be entered into the competition as a kind of afterthought and completely forgot about it because the process was over six weeks of them designing the bag and all I wanted was to know where my bag was so I could carry my books!
When I got the email that I’d been shortlisted for the competition it felt amazing. I started sharing the competition on Facebook straight away and everyone voted for me.
What was the inspiration for the design?
I do a lot of flamingo prints on my website and find them really nice to draw. I wanted to draw something that felt like it was my own.
I started with the flamingo print by itself but it looked pretty bare. I really like palm prints so I incorporated my leaf drawings with the flamingoes and it all came from there. The design is basically the two things I really like put together.
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Who’s your design inspiration?
I love Hattie Stewart. She does bright, pop illustrations which are really cool. I really like her stuff – my style’s nothing like hers but I draw inspiration from her and make it my own.
My main inspiration comes from looking at Pinterest and seeing what’s trending. I then turn the most featured pictures and words into drawings.
My course involves trend forecasting as well as designs. We did a project with Liberty where we had to trend forecast our own trends from one major trend to create macro trends. It really interested me and influenced me, so I now make sure I look at what’s going on around me to get ideas for my designs.
What style is your work?
I make quirky digital illustrations.
I started illustrating when I had my internship at Skinnydip and they asked me to do some illustrations for stickers – I didn’t realise I was good at drawing till then. I posted these stickers on social media and from then I had companies calling me asking for similar illustrations.
Love Sophie’s design?
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What do you love about Fashion Graphics?
It’s the creativity and it’s something different – you never do the same thing twice.
If I’m freelancing things are always changing and I love working with different people, having different ideas and creating something new. It’s that sense of achievement you get when you see something you’ve created online or printed and knowing all the hard work that’s gone into it.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I want to go and work at ASOS as a print designer or junior art worker.
When I found out I’d won the ASOS Blank Canvas design competition it was even more of a sense of achievement because I actually wanted to work there.
Why ASOS?
I think it’s a really cool brand. I love the way they promote themselves online and I want to work somewhere really creative and fun because that’s who I am.
I want to work at a brand I like shopping at as well!
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Which prize are you most excited about?
Definitely the mentoring.
My mum was like “you’ve won so much money” – because £5,000 is a lot of money – but for me the mentoring, that foot in the door, is more important to me as I’m getting involved and learning new things from them, and that’s what I want the most.
What are you spending the money on?
I’m going to America for two weeks next year so it’s going towards that. I’m travelling to Orlando, LA and Vegas. My birthday’s two days before I go so it’s kind of a birthday thing.
I’m also putting it towards a help to buy ISA to buy a home and then my car insurance.