Iams frispee

Business Card for fitness trainer

Great business card for fitness trainer Zohra Mouhetta found on www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/

Replies - Katy Albert and Helen

It is nice to get feedback from different view points, interesting viewpoint about womens place in the industry and how women are the biggest consumers.

Answers - Steve Owen Love

Here are the replies from my questions proving that hard work and determination are the best qualities to have. After receiving this I sent a Thank You reply and also asked if Steve could have a glance over my Final Major Project ideas (PDF) he replied saying I could send a PDF or pop into the Love office, which I will be doing shortly.

How do you sell sex without ticking off feminists or conservatives?

Found at pzrservices.typepad.com/advertisingisgoodforyou (advertising is good for you)

Blackberry Vs Apple

Controversial ad by Blackberry against Apple iphone. Found at great-ads.blogspot.com/

Audi Q5 Flip Book

Too many Design Graduates - Where do I belong?

As a student we are reminded throughout our degree that there are thousands of graduates a year competing to get that job that you have longed for, as well as graduates there are also existing designers out there having the same portfolio viewing. So how do we get noticed and how do we know as a student if the agency is right for us also?

I am currently torn between the two subjects of graphic design and advertising, after only tackling a few advertising briefs I am still apprehensive about which direction to take my career, also which agencies to approach. My theory is to apply for as many placements as possible, and feed my knowledge. I think this is key to graduates as placements are what could possibly lead to jobs and networking between agencies, it is the easy option to give up and start designing take away leaflets. Craig Oldham a graduate from Falmouth College only graduated in 2006 yet has had placements at: The Partners, Navyblue, Design Bridge and Creative Leap. He is currently employed by The Chase and I have also heard he maybe working with the design agency Music, so if he can achieve and become a successful graduate through hard work then why can’t I? I don’t think anyone can dishearten me and I know I will receive knock backs but it is all part of the process. Craig states ‘You’re swamped in uncertainty. Wondering if this course is better than that, if option a). has a better lifestyle than option b). Does Door Number 1 lead to a great career, Door Number 2 to an alright career and Door Number 3 to certain death? I know how it is. I’ve done it, been there.’

At the moment I currently believe that students even though fresh to the industry need to move around from agencies, and not necessarily take the first job offered and set standards high, taking on as many placements as possible and find the right agency for them. Whilst doing this we can establish the lazy, uninspiring fakers who call themselves ‘designers’ we see who actually has the determination, passion and enthusiasm for the subject. This is where we discover the people who are waiting for the clock to strike five and the people who can’t go home until the problem is solved or there curiosity settled, I believe in the saying that was used for an advert for the Economists, 'Great Minds like a think', hopefully agencies can spot the hard working, truthful graduates from the rest.

After viewing numerous informative lectures by Dan Ingram (Mark Studio), Steve Owen (McCann Erickson now at Love), Tom Shaugnessy (Glorious), Darren Scott and Jane Kaye (Truth) and Anthony Smith (Music) to name a few, the reoccurring issues that they indicate is the motivation to keep contacting agencies and not to settle for just one email but keep getting in contact every couple of weeks, even if its to comment on their work, to show that you are interested. In almost all of the lectures they have commented on the majority of their class finding different jobs and not continuing with Graphic Design. They have also gave comments on working from up to a year unpaid, this may seem as negative feedback however I think it shows the determination for the job that you want, especially if you enjoy the agency that you are working for.

I am aware of the current recession situation however jobs will be still available and I am not going to waste my passion and drive because of this. When I leave university I am striving to know what I want to do, who creates that type of work and feel confident and free to approach them. Whilst I attended a portfolio viewing with Ady Bibby from True North he commented that the recession could be a perfect opportunity for graduates as they are ‘cheaper’ than senior designers, he believed they are more likely to lose others members of the team and employ new young and inexpensive graduates. This makes me then question what happens in ten years time? Will the graduate then replace me? I think the industry is always striving for new talent so staying on top of your game, always learning, staying motivated and never becoming languid will ensure that you will always have a place n design, if your good enough.

A discussion asking students from the London College of Communication ‘Are design graduates motivated by success, passion or money?’ shows interesting viewpoints. Some students commented on their concerns whilst they are at their first placement or job. A student Marina Bowater states ‘I fear that I’ll be unable to practice conceptually, as I have been taught’, worries like being used as an art worker may de-motivate students. An argument discussing that the subject has become refined and we have the tools, techniques and inspiration from the past that we should be moving forward with design and there is really no excuse for bad design. The article covers subjects about the future and concerns it can be found here.

In answering this question I don’t seem to be concerned with the fact of can I get a job when I leave, I am keeping a positive attitude and asking the question where do I want to work when I leave? As well as determination, passion and hard graft hopefully the agencies that I wish to work for will like me, my work and my personality, Sarah Temple the lecturer from LCC said ‘remember you’re a person and not a portfolio’.

Is there any future for design students www.independent.co.uk

Steve Owen - McCann Erickson - Love

I have been in contact with Steve Owen a former student at Stockport College. I have recently discovered that Steve has moved from McCann Erickson to Love. Steve studied Graphic Design however he never thought he would end up working for such a prestigious advertising agency. I love the work of McCann worldwide, I would also love to see some of the work that Steve has produced for McCann Erickson and I am curious to why he has left to move to Love. I contacted Steve to gain information on his experiences since leaving university and also whether he had any opinions on ideas and the differences between graphic design and advertising. I asked these questions for feedback for my Critical Journal as I wrote the journal about my confusion between graphic design and advertising and what would best suit me when I enter the industry. I feel confident in contacting Steve and he has also seen some of my work from last year. I have contacted Steve with a few general questions as I know he will be extremely busy at Love. He has agreed to answer the questions and I am also going to ask him in a few months time whether there are dramatic differences with the agencies and the work he is producing for them, I am still awaiting his reply to the questions.

Emails to Natasha Freedman - MWO

I contacted Natasha Freedman from MWO to see whether she could answer some general questions for me. I visited Natasha whilst I was in London and she told me to email any questions or work. Here are a few emails, as of yet she has been too busy with pitches but she has agreed to answer them as soon as she has time.

Belly Cushion New World Fitness

Love idea
www.ibelieveinadv.com/

Delvos Leaf Blowers

Mastercard Valentine

My Idea!!

Advertising Agency: JWT, NY, USA

I found this on Ads of the World and cannot believe what I found. I know most ideas aren't original anymore but for those who have seen my Daddies Ketchup Brief it is a similar idea of patting the end of the bottle so it looks like your patting the bum! Whats more annoying is the fact that JWT won a silver award for best ambient 2008!

Killed Ideas

This website dedicates itself to Killed Ideas, you can submit your own killed ideas and view some on the blog!

Clever idea
Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt Berlin, Germany

Invisible Man

Tequila - Katy Albert / Helen

On Friday 6th March I visited the advertising agency Tequila in London where I met Katy Albert and her work colleague Helen (both ex stockport students) I went to Tequila in order to gain feedback on my portfolio and work and hope they could give me any advice about entering into the advertising industry. I found out that Katy and Helen have been work partners since University as they completed briefs at University together. They advised me to find a partner if I am planning on entering the advertising industry as it is hard to find jobs as an individual advertiser. I had never thought about this before as I have always worked on my own projects, I am now curious to work with someone in a project and bounce ideas. The Tequila office was relaxed with friendly staff and up lifting music. I had to wait for Katy and Helen to come out of a meeting for roughly 30 minutes whilst I waited anxiously in the reception. When I met them I recognised Helen as she used to play Squash in the hotel which I work for. This made me feel relaxed as I already knew Helen, it also gave me determination and admiration as I know only two years ago she was at Stockport College and coming to my workplace. This made me realise this could be myself in two years, and how well she has done for herself.

They both spent half an hour looking through my work and how I could develop certain areas, giving me advice to keep the hand drawn visuals in my portfolio as well as the finals as they said it was nice to see both, as they thought I had good computer skills as well as hand drawn visuals. They both commented on the fact that could understand that I had come from the 'graphics side' as they commented on my use of layout and typography and thought this was also a good quality to have in advertising or design. They both liked the competition brief for Berghaus and encouraged me to enter as many competitions as possible as they believe it is a good way to get noticed in the industry. They got their placement through winning a competition brief and got employed by Tequila. Throughout the London trip I gained some fantastic advice and feedback, meeting the people behind the work was a great experience and gaining advice from successful people is inspiring. I intend to keep in contact with Katy and Helen and they both agreed to see my final portfolio and also show me some of their recent work.

Saatchi & Saatchi Ad

Love idea - ambient and simplicity.

Love this book!

I am reading this book at the moment by Pete Barry. It outlines fundamental rules about where to start and how to push ideas, with exercises during the book, it contains useful advice and different ways about tackling a brief. Written by Pete Barry who worked at Ogilvy London shows insight about strategies, truth, tools, visuals etc. The book contains over 400 hand drawn illustrations of successful campaigns. I can't literally put it down and inspires whilst working!

MWO - Natasha Freedman / Steve

On Wednesday 4th March I visited the advertising agency MWO in London where I met Natasha Freedman (an ex Stockport Student) and her Art Director Steve. I visited the studio where a staff birthday party was being held so the atmosphere was relaxed. I chatted with Steve and Tash and gained fantastic feedback for my portfolio. Steve commented on my portfolio and told me that it was an outstanding portfolio for a third year student. The whole chat was filled with compliments about my work and ways to push and extend further ideas. They were confident with the work for the YCN Berghaus brief and enjoyed my Daddies Tomato Ketchup brief, they explained how good it was to have a diverse range of work (graphics and advertising) and different tones of work from humour to serious editorials. Steve commentated on how unique it was to see a booklet form portfolio, and not to see the obvious A3 portfolio or photography box. This comment was also taken on board the week before at the D&AD portfolio surgery where Elmwood also commented on having a book as you can actually feel the quality of paper and it also shows that it has been considered and designed.

The viewing went brilliantly and I couldn't believe the feedback what I was hearing. The viewing gave me confidence and more determination. Steve and Natasha both told me to return with my third year portfolio and to also keep in contact. Steve told me to email him with more ideas for the Dulux brief and he agreed to give me more feedback on any projects and advice.
I was ecstatic by the way it went and found MWO as a very professional but enjoyable, layed back atmosphere.

Here is an email which I received after sending a Thank You email.

D&AD Portfolio Surgery

On Wednesday 25th Feb I attended the D&AD Portfolio Surgery at Urbis in Manchester. My portfolio was looked at by two creative directors from Elmwood design. I got great feedback about how to structure my portfolio and editing down ideas. I gained feedback on my Dulux (Final Major Project) and Berghaus (YCN brief) and how both briefs can be developed and pushed. I was encouraged to try placements / portfolio viewings at both advertising and design agencies to gain experience in both fields and also design my portfolio with both subjects in mind.

Some great feedback in the 20 minute spot and also discussed our plans for the End of Year shows.
I was also encouraged to use the book format for my portfolio as it stood out from the rest which were shown in either A3 portfolios or photography boxes as they found it unnecessary and distracted from the work inside the portfolio, especially with the photography box as they believe you can actually over-design the portfolio.

I can also confirm that Natasha Freedman from MWO in London has also replied to an email inquiring about portfolio viewings whilst I am in London. She has replied with a date and time that I can see herself and her art director. However I had already a portfolio viewing with Katy Albert at Tequila and so I have needed to reschedule the visit for Wednesday 4th March at 5.30. Good news!

Update from Andrew Birley - he has emailed me in reply to my email, asking if he knew of any contacts whilst in London. He has replied saying that he will ask Gavin and Robin from Fudge to email me of any contacts which they know of as they both worked in London. So fingers crossed!

I can confirm that I have a portfolio viewing with Katy Albert from Tequila in London on Thursday 5th March! I contacted Katy by email hoping that she will have time to see me whilst on the London Trip next week.

I have got an appointment at the portfolio surgery for D&AD at Urbis for Wednesday 25th Feb! Portfolio being looked at by a creative director at Elmswood! Wish me Luck!

On Monday 23rd February I contacted Andrew Birley from Fudge Studios (where I completed my placement) in order to see whether he had any contacts with agencies in London and whether he could help me obtain a name, number or email from any recommended agencies so that I could have a chat or portfolio viewing whilst I am visiting London. I am currently awaiting his reply.

Want this game, Kern works like Tetris missing letters fall and need to accurately kern them!! Genious!!

Ady Bibby - True North

On Monday 9th February I contacted Ady Bibby form True North in Manchester, hoping that he could spare ten minutes to have a look over my portfolio and some third year work and a brief for YCN. I had contacted Ady before the Christmas period and he agreed to see my portfolio, however he had to cancel with me as he was too busy and he told me to contact him again in the New Year. When I did this he never replied to my emails so on Monday 9th I emailed him again in order to gain a response, I must have emailed him at the right time of the day as he emailed me back within minutes agreeing to a portfolio viewing and chat the next day at ten. This came, as a shock however was exciting to finally meeting him. He emailed the address and contact number as the True North website was down. I went the next day and had about an hour-long chat with Ady. He gave me some direction on my portfolio and suggested putting my work in a box and polishing it. As True North is heavily ideas based he commented on how the majority of my work was ideas rather than design and commented that this is a good strength to have. He made suggestions for the YCN brief to strengthen the idea and said it merely needs tweaking. We had a chat about which direction I might pursue when I leave University and I told him how I was thinking about Advertising and how I would love to visit places like TBWA, Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson. At the end of the chat Ady wrote a list of contacts and told me to contact them and tell them that Ady had recommended me, which is really helpful and he told me that he wanted me to return with my third year portfolio. An exciting experience!

Guerilla

Oops

Oops Wine Pearl Fisher

Turner Duckworth - Metallica Death Magnetic

Dalton Maag

3. Practitioners

The two guest lectures I am writing about shows the diverse opinions about design, the two lectures both demonstrate each passion from type foundaries to ideas, moving image and experimenting. Most of all I wanted to write about these two talks as I was inspired by the enthusiasm and dedication of both lectures.

On Friday 24th October 08 I attended the Liverpool Design Symposium event where I viewed some of the best design and advertising work in the industry.
Bruno Maag who is the managing director of Dalton Maag, which is a type foundry based in London, gave a lecture about his work and typography. Bruno studied both typography and visual communication at Basel School of Design; he then immigrated to England working for Monotype. He founded Dalton Maag in 1991. His talk was very gripping as he explained his love for typography, and visual noise that can come with it. He explained the fact that typography is all around us and this can generate visual noise especially with everyday signs and newspapers such as The Mirror, not considering typography and having the type shouting, whereas The Guardian considers the design and is visually quiet.

The passion and obsession of typography is apparent, Bruno’s processes and methods of workings will continue his fascination with typography. In his lecture I liked the fact that he took us to the beginning of type, starting with the carvings and how this affected typefaces with serifs and the craftsmanship, the Gutenberg Press and how revolutionary this was. It industrialized, educated and gave freedom of speech, as this was the first moveable type, the book of Celts that is the first book to introduce lower case lettering.

When he spoke about type he spoke with passion and determination to make people believe his point of view. Throughout the lecture he kept you on the edge of your seat and made the symposium fall to a stand still. His attention to detail and his love for classic typefaces such as Helvetica showed the functionality requirements a typeface needs to follow, and how imperfections change the textures of type and how this then communicates on a page. He explained how technology has changed typefaces with bitmap fonts and also how type faces need to work with technology such as a satellite navigation, as the type face (Fruitiger) needed to fit on the screen.

The talk was informative, clever and witty and no one wanted to give there opinion about the 2012 Olympics logo in spite they might have been shot down by Bruno straight away as he clearly gave his opinion about the logo in such disgust and hatred for the logo, he spoke what we all felt like it could have been designed by a five year old. Bruno’s methods of working is that of a true professional typographer, that seems quite strict and precise about his work and attention to detail is mandatory. I think this method of working is important in a designer, as we are all particular in different fields of design. I believe if you are truly passionate about design this should and must show throughout your attitude and be evident in all aspects of the work. It was aspiring to view Bruno’s work and have him speak soulfully about it and makes his work more inspiring.
In comparison to Bruno on Friday 21st Nov 08 I viewed the lecture of an ex Stockport College student Grant Gilbert who founded Double G Studios. He has worked for some renowned companies. He started his career at Planet 24 where he worked behind the scenes for the channel 4 programme The Big Breakfast. He then moved to New York in 2000 for a year and worked for the agency Attik, unfortunately the agency shut the offices so he moved back to London and decided to work freelance. He has been working freelance ever since and Double G Studios has been running for two years consisting of himself and other freelances when he lands bigger jobs, as well as working with design agencies. The first piece of work he showed us was for a Channel 4 music promotion where he wrapped neon cable around dancers and filmed the projection of the lights on the dancers whilst moving. The short clip was interesting and showed the method of which he actually made it with neon cable.

Grant seemed very experienced and interesting to work with. He considers himself a designer however he believes designers should be an all rounder and be able to work with moving image as we would with print. He showed us some work he produced for the idents of More 4 the free view channel from Channel 4. This was a very prestigious piece of work and made the platform for the rest of his success. He explained his influence from Saul Bass and his interest of design and 3dimentional navigation systems. He also explained how fast an idea could change after months of hard work. He told us that the More 4 logo and idents took roughly five months to complete as well as working with a full team from the design company Spin.

It seemed throughout his lecture that he thoroughly enjoys everyday of his job; he gave advice about experimenting whilst we are still studying and how simple ideas always work the best. As More 4 was a success he was offered to work on the BBC logo and new idents. He explained how he felt controlled by the BBC as they are almost scared to take risks however when he worked for Channel 4 he believed they were more free, risky and enjoyable to work for. He showed the development of his ideas from using the globe shape, which BBC is renowned for and how some ideas got knocked back and he needed to start again from the drawing board. He showed the development of the BBC typeface, which he produced with Spin and the idents with swimming CJI hippos swimming in a circle that produces the letter O for one. He explained how he worked with fontsmith and how the logo needed to be kept its traditional red colour. The overall aim of the brief to create idents that ‘brings everything together’. He was honest to tell us how much the redesign of the logo and idents costs £1.2 million and how much this caused controversy in the media as it is the tax payers money.

The lecture was exciting and very commercial. He gave tips to always being two steps ahead of everyone else, keeping design simple.

Both designers were very interesting however their specialisms were incredibly different, one specializing purely on typography and the other creating ideas, logos, moving image and short films. Both designers spanning off into what they enjoy the most. They were designing completely different pieces of work but the most influential element from both of the talks was the fact that they were so passionate about their chosen area, they are both motivated and enthusiastic about what they do and that is the only comparison between the two as they are so diverse.