A to M Visit

On the 13th March I decided to email Mike from A to M. I really like some of the work they produce, so I thought I'd get in touch. A few weeks went by and I didn't think I was going to get a reply but yesterday Mike's name had popped up in my inbox asking that I could go in with my Portfolio on the 8th April at 3pm. I am really pleased that Mike got in touch and I'm looking forward to getting some of his advice on my work. 

The Visit

On 8th April at 3pm, I went to A to M to show Mike my portfolio in progress. I arrived 15 minutes early and got buzzed in, their studio was located on the 5th floor. A to M is only a small company with only two designers, Mike and Ben. Even though it was originally Mike I was supposed to see, Ben sat down with us and also looked through my work. Firstly I showed my second year folio, and they generally liked my work. Mike liked my Observer Magazine and how I had made the type on the second spread mimic the image on the first spread. Also they thought my Typeface worked quite nicely when laid out into words. After showing them my first folio I explained that I had some of my third year work to show that was still a working progress. They both really liked my Women's Library brief, and gave me some good pointers on how I could improve the execution and make the strapline fit in with the idea a bit better, they gave some good advice that I will take on board for my final Portfolio. Mike and Ben gave a few interesting pointers on the Faber brief too and how that idea could be put across better, because the uses the idea of a film strip and is quite cliche of films its needs to be done in a good way otherwise is could look cheap etc. 

We had quite a long chat about my work and how it could be improved, but then I asked how they like to see work presented in Portfolios because it is an area that is so subjective and everyone prefers different ways of presentation. Mike simply answered as long as it good work it doesn't really matter, all he is bothered about is the quality of the work inside it. His advice was keep it short, around 5 great pieces, less is more. Never put work in that your not sure of because it will show and you may appear to be apologetic about it, just include the work your most confident about because it reflects you, this way you wont get caught out if someone asks a question about the work you don't particularly want to talk about.

Overall it was a great experience and they both gave great advice, that I will be taking on board.

Questions to Ady (True North)

I decided to send the questions I sent to Dan, to Ady at True North, who I went to visit with my Portfolio. He said I could send him questions when I spoke to him, so I thought I would, to help with my research for my issues and practices section. Hope to hear from him soon.

Ady got back to me with his answers which was very helpful (emails below)

Questions to Dan (ex-student/MARK Studio)

I have decided to email an ex-student Dan Ingham, who now works at Mark Studio, I also emailed Dan about the Comedy Festival '08 brief he worked on at Mark Studio, for some research on my final major project. Because I am answering the "Too Many Grads" question for this brief, I decided to email Dan and ask if it would be possible to ask him a few questions about what he thinks on the matter, and how he got to where he is today. I hope to hear from him soon.

I got a reply from Dan (above) so I have sent him the following Questions (below)

I got Dan's replies to my questions which can be seen in the email below, his views were very helpful.

Interbrand - PDF folio

When we went to London as a group, on the 5th March, we made a visit to a large branding company called Interbrand. Tim, James and Katie are designers at Interbrand, and they gave a great presentation, they also showed some work they have produced. Tim, said he would happily look over our portfolios in PDF. So below are some emails I have sent to Tim asking if he would mind giving me a bit of advice on my work. 

I emailed a few weeks ago and he said it would be fine to send some work through, so the top email is Tim saying it is fine to send some work through, the second includes the attachment of my PDF. The third is a quick email just kindly asking if he had had a chance to look at my work, as its been over a week since I sent him my work. I hope he gets in touch, any feedback would be great.

This is an email I received today from Tim. He's had a look at my work, but is going to email back with useful feedback when he has more time to write. I'm looking forward to getting his advice, hope he emails soon.

After waiting a few days Tim got back to me with some feedback and advice on my folio, I'm really pleased he got back to me and told me to contact James if I wanted to send any further work or any regards to a Placement. So I plan to do so very soon.

Dinosaur email

A few months ago I emailed Emily at Dinosaur, asking about a portfolio viewing, no reply as yet, I'll keep you informed.

Glorious email

Today I emailed Tom Shaughnessy from Glorious Creative, he came into college a few weeks ago and gave a presentation on the work Glorious had designed. I really enjoyed his talk and thought it would be useful to get some of his advice on my work. Fingers crossed he will email me back and I will be able to show him my Portfolio. I'll let you know if I get a reply.

A to M email

Today I emailed Mike from A to M, I really like the work they have produced, so I thought I would send a quick email to see if I could get a Portfolio Viewing, it would be great to get some of his advice. I hope to hear from him soon.

True North Visit

Today I decided to email Ady Bibby at True North, I emailed Ady last year but I never got a reply so I thought I'd give it another go. Within the hour I got a reply and an arranged date for a Portfolio Viewing for the 18th March at 10am. Hope it goes well, I'll keep you posted.

The Visit.

On Wednesday 18th March, I went to True North and showed my Portfolio to Ady Bibby. At first we had a general chat about what my plans were when I leave university, he explained that it will be very difficult for students to get jobs, but you have to be persistent and ask for placements, if you don't get replies keep asking. Ady told me that the best way to get into agencies is through placements and being versatile and making yourself available. After talking for a while I started to go through my work, I showed him both my 1st/2nd year portfolio and some work from the third year. Once I had finished going through the portfolios, Ady went back to beginning and gave me advice on each project, he never really told me whether he liked the projects or not just how it would like to see them presented in the final portfolio. Also he wasn't too keen on the book format and advised that he would prefer to see the real thing, even if it is a massive poster, he claims he would remember it more that way. Yet other people I have seen with my portfolio have preferred the books, but everybody has a different opinion and it is interesting to get different insights. Ady also told me how to extend some of my projects, so when I come to designing my final portfolio, the projects I include will have more depth. Once we had finished talking about my work, he gave me a list of creatives from some other agencies and told me to get in touch with them about advice on how to put my final portfolio together, so thats what I will be doing. Overall it was a informative visit more so about what I should include in my folio and how to construct it more than advice on my work and how I could make that better. Either way it was beneficial.      

Truth Visit

A few weeks ago I emailed Truth, originally we had a meeting arranged for the beginning of february but due to their work load they had to cancel a few times. The email above is just one of the cancellation emails.

This next email is the most recent I have sent, a few days ago, asking to rearrange our meeting, finally getting a date for my viewing. I will be going to Truth on 20th March at 11am with my portfolio, I'll keep you posted.

The Visit

On Friday 20th March I went to visit Darren Scott at Truth Design with my Portfolio, I decided to take some of my third year work too, the more feedback the better. After struggling to get through the massive red front door, I sat and discussed my work with Darren, also a girl called rebecca also sat with us and gave her input, I'm not too sure if she is another designer or if she just handles clients etc. Once again I went through all my work first then after I had finish we went back to the beginning and went through it again, this time giving advice. They both generally seemed to like my work and like Jamie from Turner Duckworth, particularly liked my Women's Library work. Because of what Ady said at True North about the format of my porfolio I decided to ask Darren what format he preferred to see when looking at Portfolios, he said he likes to see work on screen, this way you can zoom in and colours are generally brighter, small thumbnails don't do your work justice. This way you can simply bring a laptop with you show your work in a PDF format and have a few samples with aswell, also its easier to send through email if you already have a PDF created. Darren claims this his the way he presents all of his work. Towards the end Darren asked if I would like a placement, they offer 3-day placements, I would think it is because they are such a small agency. I was very pleased and didn't expect it at all, I love the work Truth have created and it will be really exciting to get involved. Rebecca took my details and said they will be in touch soon with dates, I hope to hear from them soon.  

Turner Duckworth Visit

Above is the first email sent to Turner Duckworth, myself and two other students were given the email address so we could make contact and arrange a visit with our portfolios. We emailed a guy called Jamie McCathie, after a few emails back and forth, we finally arranged a time for 1.30pm, on the 5th March.  

We originally were going to meet Jamie in their studio, but due to the company having so much work, we had to meet in the pub next door, which was great, it was a lot more relaxed and less formal. We all took turns to go through our work, I went first and I decided to show my more recent work first, then went through last years portfolio. After I had finished explaining my work he went through it bit by bit and give my feedback on most pieces. It was really helpful to get another opinion on my work and advice on how I could improve parts. Jamie particularly liked my Women's Library project and gave me some helpful tips on how to work it across other media. I also showed Jamie a few little bits from my Final Major Project, which I am working on at the moment, which was really interesting because it has lead me to go down other routes I may not have gone down with my ideas, and also made me think about different ways to style it. It was a great Portfolio viewing and Jamie's advice was very beneficial, he also offered to look at our work and any ideas we produce, while we are working on the Final Major Projects, so I hope to stay in touch. After each of us had talked through our work, Jamie took us into the studio just to show us around very quickly, and it was really interesting to see that the whole of the company only consisted of around 15-20 designers, which isn't small but isn't too big either. Over all a great experience and very beneficial.   

Dan Ingham

Two ex-students, Ste Owen and Dan Ingham, came into college to talk to us about like after university and how they have been successful in getting jobs in the creative industry. The talk itself for very helpful and very interesting, Dan now works for Mark Studio, a very small agency with huge success. When I decided on a Final Major Project, to promote the Manchester Comedy Festival 2009, I realised that Dan had worked on the promotion of the Comedy Festival 2008 at Mark Studio. So I decided to email Dan and ask if he had the original brief he worked on for this award winning campaign, I thought it would have been interesting to see what the original brief would have asked for, and it could have helped write my own brief for the Final Major Project. I got a reply quite quickly but unfortunately Dan didn’t have the Brief so instead he sent me the case study about the project talking about the solution and background on the festival, which was very helpful.