September - November - Focus on researching studios, figuring out a way of approaching talking with them and what I want to say, contextual & visual research into self promotion
December - Make any personal branding changes and devleop a plan of relevent collateral, create a plan for contacting studios
January - Make contact with studios, begind with online self promotion
February - Make PDF portfolio & CV to show studios, make professional Instagram, begin website design
March - Finsish website design, talk about internships with stufios
April - Be doing or have done an internship, have all self promo done, print any self promo materials (portfolio, business cards etc.)
May - Submit PPP, have job interviews and be actively be applying for jobs and internships
June - Do internships and freelance briefs
July - Hopefully have a job!
Sunday 14 May 2017
~ Level 6 - Final self evaluation ~
This year has been completely pivotal for me and my personal design practice. I have changed the way I view my work as my work has improved massively. I realised I spent the first 2 years trying to conform to what I felt graphic design should be and should look like. This meant my work was bland, didn't stand out and wasn't true to my creativity and imagination. This year was a year for discovery and finding a new process of working and coming up with original ideas for answering briefs. I look at my portfolio as a whole now and its so colourful, illustrative, expressive and bold. I think in comparison to the bog standard and regular designers portfolio it does stand out and thats what I was trying so hard to achieve before but I didn't realise I needed to stop trying to be something and just let it flow naturally to achieve this.
Another thing that i've gained masses of confidence in is my presentation and general professional interaction skills. At the beginning of the course I felt really anxious in presentation and interview situations. My increase confidence in my own work has helped in the ease I now feel speaking about my work and practice. These skills are key for thriving as a designer as meeting with/pitching to clients will be a huge part of selling my ideas.
My biggest negative/worst trait during the year has been my overall time management. Many of my briefs this year have challenged my time management skills; demanding certain submission dates. These have pushed me to organise myself well and plan ahead particularly within production. But unfortunately this meant the more self directed briefs that didn't have set deadlines often got pushed aside and left to last minute. In the future I hope to find better ways of organising my time across multiple projects without any having to get lost.
One of the most valuable experiences this year has been during my internship. I interned as an in-house designer at a tech based recruitment company. The internship was very cooperate based; producing mainly web based designs following a strict existing brand identity. The lack of creative freedom and focus on digital design really wasn't for me. This experiance has helped show me that going forward I need a job in a more creative studio environment in which I can express my multi-media, illustrative and creative style.
The past year I have engaged outwardly with studios. Talking and engaging with studios I find inspiring within Manchester, Leeds and Hull specifically. It's really gotten my name out their in terms of future employment opportunities and they have given me so much valuable advice in going forward. I aim to use these valuable contacts in the future when looking to collaborate, work, freelance or just network.
I have also improved my online & print presence massively - as advised by Craft (creative) recruitment. I adapted my portfolio into PDF, print and website form which gives me masses of options in terms of approach dependent on the context. I have printed a miniature portfolio also for interviews - I will be printing a full size one after the planned portfolio surgeries we have in the calendar. My brand identity is now looking secure and demonstrates my working style and positive, bright personality well.
Over the past 3 years i've had the best and worst experiences of my life. But I really feel like this is the first step on my path of success and look forward to an exciting future in the creative industries.
Another thing that i've gained masses of confidence in is my presentation and general professional interaction skills. At the beginning of the course I felt really anxious in presentation and interview situations. My increase confidence in my own work has helped in the ease I now feel speaking about my work and practice. These skills are key for thriving as a designer as meeting with/pitching to clients will be a huge part of selling my ideas.
My biggest negative/worst trait during the year has been my overall time management. Many of my briefs this year have challenged my time management skills; demanding certain submission dates. These have pushed me to organise myself well and plan ahead particularly within production. But unfortunately this meant the more self directed briefs that didn't have set deadlines often got pushed aside and left to last minute. In the future I hope to find better ways of organising my time across multiple projects without any having to get lost.
One of the most valuable experiences this year has been during my internship. I interned as an in-house designer at a tech based recruitment company. The internship was very cooperate based; producing mainly web based designs following a strict existing brand identity. The lack of creative freedom and focus on digital design really wasn't for me. This experiance has helped show me that going forward I need a job in a more creative studio environment in which I can express my multi-media, illustrative and creative style.
The past year I have engaged outwardly with studios. Talking and engaging with studios I find inspiring within Manchester, Leeds and Hull specifically. It's really gotten my name out their in terms of future employment opportunities and they have given me so much valuable advice in going forward. I aim to use these valuable contacts in the future when looking to collaborate, work, freelance or just network.
I have also improved my online & print presence massively - as advised by Craft (creative) recruitment. I adapted my portfolio into PDF, print and website form which gives me masses of options in terms of approach dependent on the context. I have printed a miniature portfolio also for interviews - I will be printing a full size one after the planned portfolio surgeries we have in the calendar. My brand identity is now looking secure and demonstrates my working style and positive, bright personality well.
Over the past 3 years i've had the best and worst experiences of my life. But I really feel like this is the first step on my path of success and look forward to an exciting future in the creative industries.
Saturday 13 May 2017
~ Internship review ~
Internship review - DanTech Talent
This internship was within a tech based recruitment agency as opposed to a creative design studio. It was something I wanted to experiance in order to know which jobs to apply for and which direction within graphic design I felt best suited to. This was a huge learning curve for me as i'd never produced design work within such tight brand guidelines - being told what colours, typeface, tone of voice needed to be portrayed throughout.
For me this wasn't an enjoyable experiance what-so-ever. The office environment was rather intimidating and very dull - it didn't inspire me at all. The corporate tone of voice of the work I produced allowed for no creative freedom and I really didn't enjoy making it. It taught me however how to engage with clients on a professional level, appropriate ways to conduct myself within an office environment etc.
I really did learn a lot from this internship mainly about the route I wish to take with my personal practice in the future. I most definitely do not want to work in house within a brand at all. It's too tightly bound and has too many constraints. From this I know to apply just for freelance and creative studio based work in the future.
I have made a client out of the company and do plan to work on a freelance basis with him in the future - but only on small and quick briefs.
Timescale - Date started 27/02/2017 End date 10/03/2017
This internship was within a tech based recruitment agency as opposed to a creative design studio. It was something I wanted to experiance in order to know which jobs to apply for and which direction within graphic design I felt best suited to. This was a huge learning curve for me as i'd never produced design work within such tight brand guidelines - being told what colours, typeface, tone of voice needed to be portrayed throughout.
For me this wasn't an enjoyable experiance what-so-ever. The office environment was rather intimidating and very dull - it didn't inspire me at all. The corporate tone of voice of the work I produced allowed for no creative freedom and I really didn't enjoy making it. It taught me however how to engage with clients on a professional level, appropriate ways to conduct myself within an office environment etc.
I really did learn a lot from this internship mainly about the route I wish to take with my personal practice in the future. I most definitely do not want to work in house within a brand at all. It's too tightly bound and has too many constraints. From this I know to apply just for freelance and creative studio based work in the future.
I have made a client out of the company and do plan to work on a freelance basis with him in the future - but only on small and quick briefs.
Timescale - Date started 27/02/2017 End date 10/03/2017
Wednesday 10 May 2017
~ Position statement ~
I have spent the most part of the past 3 years trying to categorise my work and design towards standards of what I felt design 'should' look like. This year that has completely changed, I have learnt to work in a more fluid way which has allowed me to develop my own individual style.
My work is illustrative in nature, colourful and emotive in positive ways. I like to work on briefs in which I can explore multi-media outcomes - print, animation, digital & physical. I feel this drive to create work that goes beyond the brief and beyond the guidelines makes me stand out among the crowd.
I plan to use my degree experiance and the skills gained through the past 3 years to pursue a career in design, multi-media creativity and art direction. I feel more comfortable than ever leading a group and taking the reigns both individual and group projects. Due to this new found lust for leadership I can see myself having a future in freelance work - hopefully leading on to the opening of my own design studio.
My portfolio is at a place that represents me as a designer well currently. I have only included work that I feel expresses my morals and preferred working style. My main fear being that I could end up working within a studio that is really corporate and dull which is the polar opposite of the type of design I enjoy creating.
My plan going from here is rather fluid but looking positive. I have been offered summer internships at Elmwood (Leeds), Alphabet (Manchester) and Music (Manchester. I then have an interview for a junior designer role with Graham and Brown (Manchester) who specialise in wallpaper & pattern design. And another interview for a graduate designer role with Strawberry Too (Hull); which is looking to be the preferred first job for me currently. I have also been in discussion with a creative in Hull setting up a multi-disclipinary creative hub/studio within the city; desk space for freelancers will be rented at a reasonable rate so this could also be a potential direction for me. Lastly i've been in touch with Hull's Humber street gallery about being taken on as an assistant curator - I have close links with a lot of local creative talent so this would also be a good outcome for me.
In terms of the future location isn't something that will limit me or my decisions. I am willing to go where the wind takes me as long as my creativity is not muted or pushed aside wherever I am working.
My work is illustrative in nature, colourful and emotive in positive ways. I like to work on briefs in which I can explore multi-media outcomes - print, animation, digital & physical. I feel this drive to create work that goes beyond the brief and beyond the guidelines makes me stand out among the crowd.
I plan to use my degree experiance and the skills gained through the past 3 years to pursue a career in design, multi-media creativity and art direction. I feel more comfortable than ever leading a group and taking the reigns both individual and group projects. Due to this new found lust for leadership I can see myself having a future in freelance work - hopefully leading on to the opening of my own design studio.
My portfolio is at a place that represents me as a designer well currently. I have only included work that I feel expresses my morals and preferred working style. My main fear being that I could end up working within a studio that is really corporate and dull which is the polar opposite of the type of design I enjoy creating.
My plan going from here is rather fluid but looking positive. I have been offered summer internships at Elmwood (Leeds), Alphabet (Manchester) and Music (Manchester. I then have an interview for a junior designer role with Graham and Brown (Manchester) who specialise in wallpaper & pattern design. And another interview for a graduate designer role with Strawberry Too (Hull); which is looking to be the preferred first job for me currently. I have also been in discussion with a creative in Hull setting up a multi-disclipinary creative hub/studio within the city; desk space for freelancers will be rented at a reasonable rate so this could also be a potential direction for me. Lastly i've been in touch with Hull's Humber street gallery about being taken on as an assistant curator - I have close links with a lot of local creative talent so this would also be a good outcome for me.
In terms of the future location isn't something that will limit me or my decisions. I am willing to go where the wind takes me as long as my creativity is not muted or pushed aside wherever I am working.
Tuesday 9 May 2017
Thursday 4 May 2017
~ Portable portfolio ~
When creating my PDF portfolio I considered layout in a way that it could be adapted into a small portable portfolio - to take with me to interviews and such. This is the final result, I am really happy with this as it gives interviewers and clients something physical and real in-front of them to show my work.
One negative thing I found was that many of my briefs have used stock choices or colours that cannot be printed using CMYK so these pages do not look as effective in printed format. This just means that I will always be sure to take my laptop or a tablet to show my digital portfolio alongside a physical one so they can really appreciate the real colours and effects of the final products.
I took this mini portfolio to my interview with Music and they really liked that i'd considered doing a miniature version as they are so used to seeing huge a3 portfolios and this is really different and shows my different thought process and approach to design and not being 'ordinary'.
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