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.
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