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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
Hi, I'm Katie Bradshaw a third year student at Stockport College studying a BA (Hons) Graphic Design, feel free to browse at some work and stuff thats interesting me at the moment.
