Studio: Founded, London

http://wearefounded.com/project/1/glint

Studio; Equator, Sidney

I came accross a design that I found on LovelyPackage, and turns out this is the company who did the branding and packaging design for PUKKA pies (Australian Pie Brand) and one that I have been researching for my pie packaging brief.

http://www.equator-design.com/our-work

Design Studio - Blue Marlin, Fulham

This is a studio I have just come across from looking at work on LovelyPackage, they have 4 offices in different countries (Sydney is one of them - if I ended up going travelling to Australia and getting an internship it may be quite useful to get in contact.) From the images it looks like they have quite a large studio but reading their website, I love their ethos...

"We’re like a big family, rather than a big impersonal agency.

We're small enough to really know each other – an integrated team working together towards a single, unwavering goal: landing big ideas.

Our intimate size also means we get on personally with clients, wherever they are in the world.

We delight our clients with our creativity, commercial nous, cultural awareness and round-the-clock resourcefulness."

Other Studios that I aim / want to get in touch with by the time I leave

I have compiled a list and saved a range of work from each of the studios that I am interested in and have been inspired by  (all in London). When I have made a bit more progress with some of my FMP work and I have more dates set for the other internships in London then my plan is to get in contact with them and see about internships. My aim for the time after I leave is to work in London doing a range of internships, however short or long, just so I can build up my CV, learn as much as I can from as many different studios, and to experience working in different environments. I then plan to go away to South America (free lancing wherever I go) for a few months and see some of the world and then come back and try to find a job back in London.

One of the ways at the moment that I look for new studios to get in contact with is through http://lovelypackage.com/ as there is always a link and location to the studio / company who designs the packaging...if I really like a design I normally look into the other work that the studio does. Even if the studio isn't in England / London I find it interesting to see how studios from different countries vary in design and style.

Here are a list of studios that I will be contacting / chasing up;

B&B

http://www.bandb-studio.co.uk/

Design Bridge

http://www.designbridge.com/

(Phil Cleaver from Et-Al used to work with the guy who set up this studio so I currently trying to find the best way / address to contact him through.)

Here Design

http://www.heredesign.co.uk/

Lewis Moberly

http://www.lewismoberly.com/

Pearlfisher

http://www.pearlfisher.com/our-work

Made by Analogue (Leeds)

http://www.madebyanalogue.co.uk/

Pentagram

http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

R Design

http://www.r-design.co.uk/

Studio H

http://www.studioh.co.uk/

* This studio is in Battersea and walking distance to where I normally stay.

SunBranding Solutions (Bradford)

http://www.sunbrandingsolutions.com/

*Kate Bradford from Parker Williams recommended I get in contact

Turner Duckworth (contacted)

http://www.turnerduckworth.co.uk/large.html

Ziggurat Brands (contacted)

http://www.zigguratbrands.com/

PPD / Design Strategy Presentation

Emily Fairbank PPD3 Presentation (2) by Emily Fairbank

Studio Contact: Turner Duckworth

http://www.turnerduckworth.co.uk/large.html

Over the Easter I had a studio visit over the day that Tuner Duckworth were doing a speech at the Cheltenham Design Festival but I hoped that I would be able to go to the studio while I was in London. Unfortunately I never heard back from them, but like Parker Williams, they are right next to Barlow and Doherty (on Barley Mow Passage) so I hope to be able to get the chance to go and see them, it may be more beneficial to wait until my portfolio is finished before trying to get an Internship there!

Studio Contact: Parker Williams, London

http://www.parkerwilliams.co.uk/

Parker Williams is another leading branding and packaging design studio in London. Interestingly it is the next building down from Barlow and Doherty (where I did the internship over the summer) and next to Turner Duckworth. 

I got in contact with Kate Bradford the MD to see if there was a time on Monday the 29th to go for a studio visit however they said that they were incredibly busy with a few looming deadlines so unfortunately couldn't see me, but that I should contact Sun branding Solutions. 

I am going back to Barlow and Doherty over the summer so I'll email again and see if I can drop by.

Studio Contact: Ziggurat Brands

http://www.zigguratbrands.com/

This studio is in London and near Kings Cross train station. I was going to London and booked off an extra day so that I could visit them. Like Big Fish, some of their packaging designs I have loved and followed for a while without knowing that it was them!

I sent them an email and got this in return.

I sent them a PDF of my portfolio and never heard anything in return from this and never chased them up. So I am going to try again when I know that Ill next be down in London as I would love to be able to meet them. Especially because on of my briefs is branding and packaging a range of home made pies - and Ziggurat brands did the branding and design for hugely successful Higgidy pies...a design that I am using for inspiration / a basis and a starting point for this brief.

Studio Visit: Et-Al, Oxford

Being in Oxford it is very close to where I live. Etal is a small but very well established design studio run by Phil Cleaver. He showed me his portfolio and a couple of designs that he was currently working on (which was a huge library of design in their meeting room, incredible work and such a large range! I ended up staying there for over an hour and a half!  It was fascinating hearing all bout his work, carrer, and how he got to where he is today. Overall it went really well and he really liked my portfolio as well has giving me tips and advice for future and in my work.

He also mentioned that one should never leave an interview / studio visit without getting at least on more contact (something that John has also said to us), and Phil said that when I have finished my course and I have finished my portfolio that he is going to put me in contact with some one at Pentagram! extremely exiting. 

At the end of the meeting he offered me an internship there over the summer. He said that he likes interns to work for at least 4 weeks so they have time to work on a whole project and also so they have something to add to their portfolio. So I am going to do at least 4 weeks there, starting July 8th and see how it goes!

These are the emails;

This is some of the work that Et-Al have done;

Studio Visit: Big Fish, London

This is one the studios I wanted most to work for, I love their work and insodently some of their packaging designs I have loved and taken notice of long before I knew that it was Big Fish who designed them, for example the packaging for Dorset Cerials and the Gu (branding and packaging range). I had arranged to meet Pernille at 3 and to have a look through my portfolio. I found out that she had been an intern at one point and had managed to secure a job from it. Big Fish have roatating interns over the year for 1-2 weeks each. The company itself is quite large (about 50 people) but there were lots of different sections. They had a whole different room / area for the web designers (about 15 - 20 people). The studio itself was amazing, very open and overlooking the Thames. There were about 10 actual designers, a different area for photoraphy and meeting rooms. Incredible space and just made me want to work there even more! I showed her my portfolio then for the remaining half an hour we talking g about design and the type of stuff I am into and what Big Fish does. This is definitely the type and size of studio / company that I want to be working for, I did let her know that I really wanted to be able to secure a place as an intern at some point over the summer.

She asked me to email her the dates that I was around over the summer, this was the email I got back from her.

Below are some of the amazing work that Big Fish have done.

Studio Contact: Big Fish

I had initial contact with Tim Pearce after contacting Big Fish via their website. I never heard anything back  so by before my trip to London I rang the studio and got put through to Pernille who is incharge of all the internships and managed to book a studio visit with them for Tuesday 8th April. 

Studio Contact: Et-Al, Oxford

http://www.etal-design.com/

Portfolio Surgery and updated Portfolio

After the portfolio surgery, one comment that was made was the my portfolio was portriat orientation while my spreads were landscape and this would mean that the designers I would be showing my portfolio would have to lean over to see the top page when looking through. 

The other main comment was that a portfolio spread should have as little text on as possible so not to distract from the images and designs, with this in mind I numbered the images and wrote a description / name of them in the bottom left corner. I kept a short paragraph about the brief under the name and title of each page. 

Emily Fairbank's Portfolio by Emily Fairbank

Easter and the CV

The little time at home away from Leeds was the perfect opportunity for me to finally sit down and put together my CV. I now had a direction, I know where I want to be and what I want to do; working for a design studio that focuses Branding and Packaging (for food, drink and retail) in London. 

I think the thing that has held me back from making this was that my branding is very typographic, and my business cards were use this gradient that you can see below so I thought that by using this on the CV it would make the page stand out. 

Also over Easter I started to really put together my online portfolio / presence...I updated my Tumblr, I set up a Behance and I started following more studios of Twitter (having previously being very opposed to this social network site, I am now starting to see the benefits of it!)

Kickstarting

It was after the Christmas term and doing the Curious Eats brief that I really started to have more of an idea about what line of design I wanted to peruse as a career. First and foremost, I love anything to do with print, packaging and especially for food, drink and anything related to bars and restaurants.

After I graduate I will returning back home to the South, and this is where I plan to work. Although Leeds is cheaper and there there are huge opportunities up North, I would love to be able to live and work in London, the centre of creativity! I have done a few days work experience in London for Barlow and Doherty and loved it.

With these two things in mind, I have now got to a point where I think that I am now more in position to approach studios, to contact for feedback, studio visits and potential internships! First things first, getting my CV together...this has also been another slight hurdle in my path...representing yourself on effectively on paper!