Train Journey Home

I had a rather interesting train journey back home. I stated working on the indendity design for my Curious Eats brief and the guy sitting next to be became rather interested and turns out he is a designer for Dolcie & Gabanna, having previously worked with Gucci and was also the Senior Deisgner for Boots for many years!

Over the course of the journey we talked about what sort of design we both did, I showed him my work, and he showed me the designs that he did. Just to make it even better, he was the designer of many of the D & G adverts and also specialised in designing the packaging for the perfume and a new range of mascara that is going to be released. This is an area that I am very interested in. I know that my main interest in in packaging but I also love all the designs for the beauty sector, so this was a huge opportunity to be able to talk to him. He gave me feedback and pointers for some of my work, which proved very useful.

I also managed to talk to him about how he first got into design and how he got to where he was today. Turned out that he started as a fashion illustrator and did his degree at Central St Martins in London and just kept working up from there. He said that working in Boots was the most exiting job he had. He also showed me designs that he had done for them. Turns out he first became interested in what I was doing on my mac because he saw my crit boards and saw a packaging design that looked like something he did!.

He also talked to me about some of the ways he got the attention of the people he was trying to get a job with...very insightful and just proved that you do need to do something different to stand out. He took a picture of himself holding he portfolio wearing nothing and then put this image on the front of his portfolio when going to the interview. He got the job, but was then known as the naked designer!

Here are some of the adverts that he has designed:

Unfortunately, after overhearing a few of his phone conversations it sounded like he was about to be pushed out of his job at D & G so I didn't feel it would be appropriate to ask for his business card. However, he did talk to me about the beauty product range (Esell Organics) that he girl friend sells and who lives 20 minutes away from me at home, I have the name of that and if I ever feel I should get in contact with him then I can use these contact details. 

Live Brief // Glutton Club

I have been asked to design the logo and the flyer for the Glutton Club, a pop up restaurant opening for a month in Shrewsbury.

This will give me a chance to work directly with a client and work to a tight deadline.

There is a possibility that I will have to work with printers as well, the client said they have a local printer but I said I would also look into one in Leeds and compare the price.

Task 1

WRITE 5 RESPONSES TO EACH;

1. Things you know now that you didn't before.

I knew that branding was important in designing, but I now know that it is the basis of all design. I also now have more confidence in doing design branding, as before I didn't really have much confidence in my branding skills. 

I know that I am capable of working in a professional environment, that my software skills are much more advanced than I feel they are (although other software still needs development) and that I can work to deadlines and tackle unknown briefs. 

I now realise that as a graduate you are not expected to know everything, that many people start from scratch and pick up their graphic designs skills because they have taken a different degree and that this doesn't matter as you will pick everything up along the way and learn through experience.

Through the Industrial Experience I realised that I can design for different areas rather than just contexts that I find interesting (packaging for health and beauty products, and music), that I can apply my design skills and use them to me venture out to different topics, like wine, which I knew / know nothing about but I was still able to come up with design solutions for the briefs. 

I know that I want to own my own studio a few years down the line. I wasn't so sure on this throughout last year however I know now that I want to be able to make the choices of what briefs and areas of design I work for rather than joining a company and being set them. 

2. Things you would address differently that you did this summer.

Confidence in talking to designers and studios; I now know that I am a capable designer (with still a long way to go), and I shouldn't be afraid of asking for work or a studio visit that will in some form or another, help me get to where I want to be. 

I feel that I should make a conscious effort to contact and talk to people who work in different sectors of design, not just as a graphic designs who has all the briefs handed to them. I realise now that I am very interested in the music industry and designing for that, so I need to start finding out what it takes to be a designer for this type of area. 

I need to do more self initiated briefs, because of being away for the majority of the summer period I didn't get to full fill my plans of researching and designing briefs that I was interested in. I did design a couple of websites like Design Crowd and 99 Designs, this has given me the opportunity to keep a eye out for the type of briefs I could be doing which has also helped me focus in on what I really like and the type of designer I am. This will also ensure that my skills do not stop developing. 

Keep researching exhibitions and events that will help me develop as a designer. I was away for all the new designer events that were in London and I feel that they would have been very beneficial. I also missed out on the Design festival in London in September, so I need to keep more of an eye out for events like these so that I don't miss out again. 

Self promotion, I did manage to do design and print my business cards but now I feel that I need a proper design identity. Once I have this I know I will feel more confident in approaching people and putting my work out there. Like I said earlier, I have realised that branding is the bases for everything, especially in my case. 


3. Specific things you will address this semester that should be useful.

I need to talk to the tutors more about my work and on a more regular basis. Last year I felt that my designs were definitely making more progress however I failed to talk to tutors on a regular bases and get feedback. I do find that in most briefs I get to a point where I feel I am stuck but I have never asked a tutor for a bit of help. This year I have started to ask for more feedback from both tutors and peers that the change in my designs and progress is very noticeable. 

Coming in earlier, I have realise that I work best in the morning and once I get to about 6 / 6.30pm I start to get distracted and I am not as focused. I have started to come in at 8 / 8.30 am each day and it has made so much difference to the amount of work that I get done each day. This needs to continue!

Writing lists, I like working to lists in general but I have never applied this to my design strategy. This year I said in my presentation that for me to keep onto of my work and balance out each day, that I will write a 'to do' list and check it off. This will also give me an idea of what I find manageable and what is a realistic daily target. 

Blogging; throughout my time at Leeds I have tried to keep onto of blogging, some weeks are better than others but I have never managed to continually blog all my work and evaluate it so that I can see the progress and design decisions and developments that I am making. I tend to forget or loose focus of somethings, so if I am able to keep onto of daily blogging / blog as I go, I feel that it will help my design  greatly. 

Constant reserach; with all the briefs I have done previously I always start with research so I have some inspiration but after a couple of days I stop, I think that this is a bit fault that I have had because I need to take inspiration constantly from other designs in order to develop and push mine as far as possible. I intend this year to do constant daily research to help inform my work and make them as professional as possible. It will also help to broaden my design knowledge. 

Live briefs; this will get my used to working with a client and working out their wants, needs and expectations of designs rather than following my own. 

4. Things you feel we could address as a group?

Looking at the different areas of design / the possibilities of design jobs that are available once we leave. I am interested in working in the music industry but I have no idea of how I even start to approach people about this because I have no previous experience in this sector or contacts. How do we contact specialist design agencies and what do we need to include in our portfolio

How to know which job is the right job, not to take the first job that comes along just because I need the money...?

I am thinking of going travelling for 6 months after I leave, how do I start to think about looking for a job for when I come back after having some time away. I will be looking into getting internships out there but when I come back I will be slightly out of contact in comparison to where I would have been after graduation. 

5. Things you feel we have not looked at in PPD you personally would like to know more about with reference to professionalism?

Visiting professionals from different design areas / jobs / specialists. 

Talks from recent graduates on how they have got on in the few years after they left uni, what they found worked and didn't work / a realistic eye opener to what the path ahead involves. 

Working abroad as a designer...

Industrial Experience // Barlow & Doherty

http://www.barlowdoherty.com/

At the end of the summer I had the pleasure of being able to have a couple days industrial experience with Barlow and Doherty, a graphic designs company that specialises in wine.

They are based in Turnham Green, London, and right behind the Turner and Duckworth building!

Having been away for the majority of the summer period, I was a bit out of practice with designing so I didn't really know what to expect.

It is a small studio consisting of 6 people; 3 of whom were designers. They occasionally have freelance designers in to help out with projects so there was a free mac which I worked on.

Below are screenshots of their website and the work they do.

DAY 1

I didn't really know what to expect apart from knowing it was a small studio who worked with wine. I was very taken a back when I first walked in, I had never seen so many wine bottles in my life. Every inch of shelving was taken up by the hundreds and hundreds of different wines. I met the 3 designers, all of which were women under the age of 30 and very friendly. After speaking with a  couple of them I discovered that the senior designer there had actually taught herself illustrator and photoshop from scratch and not specialised in graphic design at uni. Very impressive.

Abi (the MD) took me through the basics of who they were as a company and the type of design that they do, and asked me to sign a NDA. She then said that she would be 'throwing me in at the deep end' and asking me to help out on a current brief one of the designers was working on. This was to brand and create the label for a new Prossecco. She said that the client had come up with a name but also asked them to try and think of another one, but they had all had problems so this was my first task. The designer I was working on the brief with then took me through the rest of the brief and their method of working; look at competitor labels, refine what stands out, start designing, print out and place label on wine, crit it, then develop it. A process that I have no continued into my design practice while being back on the course, something that has been invaluable for me as a designer.  I managed to come up with a name for the new Prosecco, Abi checked it against the data base to see if it has already been registered and luckily for me it hadn't been. I then started designing a range of labels, asking for feedback along the way. Near the end of the day there was a crit and the feedback was positive, just a few minor changes. Working on this label also greatly helped me with a few illustrator techniques that have also prove invaluable, I learnt a few this that I have struggled with since being at Leeds.

DAY 2

I had to make the rest of the small changes to my label design. My design was actually going to be sent off to the client so it then had to be placed on a prototype bottle and made to look professional. I was given a sheet of instructions of how to do this on photoshop but unfortunately I didn't succeed on this as it was time consuming and very fiddly and they were on a deadline. I was pleased with how it came out on the PDF which was being sent to the client and it was very useful to also see how they present all their designs to the client.

I was then set my next brief which was to redesign a pair of labels for a Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon that were in Morrisons. At current they were not successful so the client had asked Barlow and Doherty to update the label and make the wine stand out on the shelf. This label would only be changed for the Morrisson chain. This was slightly more challenging than the last brief as I was making two labels that had to look as tho they go tougher. The current label designs were not hugely impressive, they didn't stand out and it was very clear why they were not selling well. One of the other designers showed my a new way of working, to show every new little change in a new design, however small or big the change may be. In the end you may end up with hundreds of designs on one art board but at least then you could go back and compare each of the designs and see which one worked. It is also useful because the client may ask to see other designs / workings to compare. This was another invaluable lesson and has really helped my working process at uni.

DAY 3

This was my final day and I still had a few more changes to make on the pair of labels. When I felt I was finished / pushed the design as much as I could, I printed them out and we had a crit. This took me up to lunch, with only half a day left they decided to give me an old brief that they had to re-do, working on updating a label for a Frizzante wine.


Overall, this experience has been one of the most important since my time as being a designer. I feel that being on the course has set me up well for knowing what it takes to be a designer once I leave university, and luckily the long working day was not as much of a shock to the system, despite being exhausted after my 3 days there! I have been asked back for whenever I am free during the holidays which is fantastic news. I enjoyed every day there and loved working as part of a team.