Learning about the Industry - Bella Gingell

I haven’t had chance to update the blog until today! Anyway! Last Wednesday, we met Bella, who is a businesswoman who came to talk to us about the financial side of the industry and the factors to take into care when setting up your own business. 18 years ago, Bella set up her own business renting out self-catering holiday cottages in Bath and Wiltshire and the Somerset Border with her company Farleigh Wood (www.farleighwood.co.uk). She came to speak to us about the more financial side of running a business, offering advice on how to go about things like Tax, VAT and other costs. She couldn't stress the importance of keeping receipts of items you purchased while on the job as they are fundamental proof of purchases and can help back up overall costs. Keep all the receipts for food, parking tickets, even your mileage if you have to travel in your own vehicle (works out as an average of 40p a mile on petrol) these are all things that you have to buy yourself to keep you working and thus come into the equation of the final invoice. Sick of doing it yourself? Or have too many eggs in one basket? A lot of bigger companies will hire accountants and bookkeepers to deal with all the financial side of things. Keep on the good side of the taxman and VAT people, being prompt and reliable with payments will stop you from having to liquidate your business! Small businesses or freelancers that deal with cash in hand are not a problem when concerning the taxman, but once your business gets to a certain size and starts earning a lot more money, things can become tricky. With big electronic payments, cheques etc, it makes it a lot more noticeable to the taxmen and they will likely come calling asking for a percentage of your income. To avoid such troubles, speak to the VAT companies and ask about setting up a tax billing service. After visiting Bella's website on her cottage rental business, we noticed how it had been designed by Craig Gill of Gill Design, who had previously been on the same course of us and had been set up this website opportunity by our lecturer, Catherine! 

Bath in Time Exhibition

Today I went along to Dan Brown's exhibition which was relevant to his Bath in Time project which we learned a bit about last week. The exhibition was situated on the first floor of the Poseidon shopping centre, above Waitrose in Bath and it consisted of a number of makeshift walls where photos of Bath could be seen dotted all around the room it was in. Dan Brown himself was there as well and we had a little chat with him before going on to view the various photos on display. It was interesting to see what the city looked like in the past and I could recognize the modern equivalents a lot of the time. There were also a few modern pictures of the city and the people that populate it. It was an interesting event and definitely worth the visit. I didnt have my camera on me at the time, so here are some images that we saw from the Bath in Time website (www.bathintime.co.uk):

Learning about the Industry – Dan Brown

Today we were introduced to Dan Brown, who is a Bath based photographer who most recently started the ‘Bath in Time’ project where he cleverly blended pictures of various parts of the city of Bath with historic pictures. He got a book published on the topic and over 2,000 have been sold so far! And at £9.99 each, that sure is an impressive income!  We learnt that Dan didn’t go to University and his love of cars led him to being a mechanic, a few years later he became a chef in Devon, during his time there, he met a man who worked in a sports shop who later on helped Dan get a place at that shop! It was during this employment when he found his way onto computers for the first time, he was tasked with understanding the workings and technicalities of them and he quickly became adept at using them (although very basic systems at the time) He enjoyed the marketing side of this business and eventually went on to being a salesman for a large corporation (I forget the name) he dealt with stock control and selling of software. Over time he lost passion for this and dropped out in 2004. He had always had a passion for historic photos (especially those of Bath) and he decided to take up photography. Picture libraries became his field of proficiency, he had re-invented himself occupationally. He took a training course studying the technology and equipment in photography and got to work on his ‘Bath in Time’ project where he only recently produced a coffee table book of the project. His current work is being shown in an exhibition in Bath at the, I will definitely attend this at some point next week as it seems interesting and partially relevant to my own work. Dan told us the importance of earning contacts in business and self promotion etc. More importantly he taught us to be passionate about our work. The more you enjoy doing something, the better the outcome will be and the more fun you will have along the way. This advice has been some of the most helpful from all of the people we have seen, I think this is the case because it may be the difference between me as a digital worker finding satisfaction or aggravation in the field I choose. I’m hoping by the end of this course, I will have found a specific field of design which I want to specialise in.

My Animation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwE_LkyajQE

Shepton Mallet Digital Arts Festival

On Sunday, I went to the final day of the Digital Arts Festival at Shepton Mallet. At 7:00 Rod Dickinson (digital designer) gave a talk on some of the work he did as well as teach us about some valuable lessons in his field and some interesting facts about digital design in general, a lot of the information was relevant to the current course I'm on although I felt as if already knew a lot of this information. At 7:45 Dan Dixon came in and looked into the question of "Can We Educate Creative Technologists?" this session taught us the fundamentals of creative technology as well as the education and demand behind the industry as well as the principles and skills needed. The room we were in was freezing! so I didn't stay much longer, but I made sure to speak to some of the other people there and I met Claire Sully who I had spoken to before via email. I was surprised when arriving that she knew who I was. Not just because we had been in contact, but because of my competition entry a few years back for my A Level project in Media Studies which I will try and post on here as soon as I can remember my YouTube account :)

I also saw a competition entry from a fellow colleague; Mat Gartside. And pictures of Tim Hammond and Tom Gray which were being projected on the big screen - Most probably from a previous year! I also just found out that my lecturer, Catherine knows Claire Sully. Small world, eh?

Learning about the Industry – Dean McLachlan

Today we met Dean, who is a wedding Photographer. When he first started out as a photographer, he wasn’t interested in focussing primarily on weddings in his profession, the idea never really appealed to him initially. He started out working as an apprentice for a high end wedding photographer, gradually working his way up to becoming a photographer himself. 9 Years later he was taking photos of products and most notably taking pictures of the dogs of Crufts. Eventually he found himself picking his clients more freely and becoming more of a pro in the field. In 2007 he bought his first professional camera and went into the wedding photography niche – over time he had learned to love the subject and spoke passionately to us about how much he loved photographing people and their emotions as opposed to stationary objects and scenery. Most recently he has been working alongside the Bath Rugby team, capturing scenes of the game and the more interesting aspects of the sport, not just the players and the ball, but the people watching and reacting. He’s not getting paid for this project but he knows that because he is a Bath based photographer, this is a fantastic opportunity to work for a more well-known organisation and as part of the project, a coffee table booklet with photos he has taken will be produced and that will be a good form of advertisement for him as a photographer and will hopefully get him by more potential clients interested in obtaining some photography work. Dean explained to us how most of his most recent work has come from the networking site, Twitter. He recommended us all signing up to the site (which is ironically what I did minutes before he came in!) it’s good for getting your name out to the industry as well as your work, for potential clients to see. Another thing Dean has done is advertised in a local photography magazine. The magazine is a not particularly well known one and is dedicated to very local photographers and Dean as a photographer is a lot more established in that field, and he explained his reasons for this were that he would “prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.” I can see where he is coming from in this aspect; people are more likely going to notice him than they would if he had a small article dedicated to him in a large ubiquitous magazine. He taught us the imperativeness of getting yourself known and really showing your passion for your field. Follow people on Twitter and get yourself a good website up and running. Realise the importance of your portfolio, to a client, you’re only as good as that. Also if you’re thinking about going into advertising yourself, it’s important to advertise according to your current scenario. If you’re just one person, its best to advertise locally as opposed to all over the country, you’re not Superman at the end of the day, you can’t manage all that work and all that travelling!

I’m a Twitter!

It was only a matter of time before I found myself on this website. I have followed quite a few of the relevant creative profiles as well as added a few of my colleagues as contacts. I’m hoping that I will be able to promote myself as a freelancer better on this online profile and hope that I may be able to network better between clients and other people in the same field as me.

Link to my Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/#!/AlexJamesParker

Networking Events, Work Placement

This Sunday, I shall be attending the Shepton Mallet Digital Arts Festival, where I will be attending a few talks and workshops, I’m not too sure on the specifics, I’ll let you all know how it went when it happens! Also there’s an iNet Networking event happening at the Square Club in Bristol next Tuesday which I might attend to, hopefully Max will be able to join me as I really don’t know Bristol very well! It’s also going to mean that I’ll have to miss one of the other lectures which should be ok so long as I can find out what I missed and catch up. It looks like it might be a formal event so I’d better dress appropriately!

I also emailed a whole bunch of Frome based businesses this morning and have heard word from the Rook Lane Arts Trust, saying they might be able to provide me with an intern opportunity which should be good as I need some work experience as part of this module and I will learn more about what happens in the design and arts industry and about running a business in general. They’ve asked if I can send them a CV which means I’ll need to crack on with that tonight!

Learning about the Industry – Andrew Fuller

Today we met Andrew Fuller, who is the creative director of Designbull, which is a design company which focuses primarily on making logos, brand identity and general design work. Andrew studied Graphic Design and Photography and eventually moved into Freelance designing. He enjoyed the freedom of being his own boss and quickly became a jack-of-all-trades working with a number of clients doing many different projects, he managed to find work by promoting himself through basic advertisement but usually he would get work through meeting the clients via networking. It’s an excellent way to promote yourself as a designer because you can earn people’s trust and friendship through communication in a casual environment. Even if you don’t get work straight away, you will still be in people’s minds and eventually something might come along in the future. When it came to dealing with clients, I learned that he would often make a sort-of questionnaire for the client upon the initial walkthrough where it would ask them suitable questions relating to what they want done, the image they want to promote and other details (however this method was probably less appropriate for the bigger companies you’d work for) the process helped him save time and get a more basic and understandable outlook on the project at hand. When it came to the matter of the costs of the work he was doing, he told us that he initially started out at a £10 an hour rate but as he became more prominent and started his own business (Designbull) he felt more comfortable charging a higher rate (Nowadays he charges around £60 an hour! But if he can get more he will try!) When pricing yourself, there are other costs that you need to consider in the final pay which is also important to look at, such as the materials used, printing costs, time consumption, brainstorming, also the knowledge of the subject. Also he explained that when he works with the payment, he would often charge 50% of the final costs up front and 50% after completion, so that if something bad happens, he walks away with some money for the work he has done. Andrew taught us some valuable lessons when working in the industry, he told us when it came down to clients, we must stick to our guns, that we should have standards when selecting, we should not say yes to every offer because in the long run it may not be worth it. He also taught us the value of networking and getting yourself known to the masses as it is the best way to get work in this industry if you don’t have unlimited funds to spend on advertisement. When finding images to use in logo work, websites etc, you’re better off using original photography as infringement of copywriting and plagiarism can become detrimental to your funds very quickly. Overall we should just set ourselves boundaries and values of which to stick by, but not so much as to prevent yourself working out an agreement between a client.

Learning about the Industry – Louise Myers

Louise was studying at Bath Spa last year working with a lot of animation based projects. She came in to talk to us more about the course we are on rather than go into her own career although she did bring in some of her work from when she studied last year. She showed us a CD with her stop-motion animation and some other animation projects from her colleagues. Many of the projects used a variety of animation types; we saw work in stop-motion, motion graphics and computer generated animation and it was interesting to watch them. She taught us many values regarding how to approach a brief/project. When choosing what project/client you choose, it’s important to choose concepts that you are interested in because you will naturally have more passion and when it comes down to brainstorming ideas, you should always try and spend a lot of time thinking of ideas as you will have a more wider and diverse selection to choose from, also looking at existing concepts in the field for inspiration is important.

Sounds of Frome Logo

Last Thursday I had prepared some logo designs to bring in to the Sounds of Frome shop. I brought in around ten different rendered designs and showed them to Tom. After a brief discussion on each design, he decided on one which he liked the best. He said that he would need to speak to his boss about it and that they'll contact me once they have reached a decision, things are looking good!

Here are some of the designs I submitted, the final one was the one he most preferred:

Learning about the Industry – Ben Derby & Joe Ashford

Today we met Ben and Joe who I learned had previously been on the same course as us, but had finished the Digital Design Foundation course as well as the Graphic Communication third year a few months ago.  Since then, they have paired up and co-founded their own design freelance company which they called ‘Purple Egg’. They basically prepared us for what it was going to be like in the third and final year of this course, should we decide to go for it. I now feel more informed about this year and am not dissuaded by the amount of work and effort needed for it. Along with that information, the duo also gave us some general tips for when you work/try to find work in the industry. One of the main factors about being a freelancer is the fact you have to constantly promote yourself. Go to expeditions, events, pick up leaflets, meet contacts and lots of general networking (maybe even start a Twitter account one day, god forbid!). Your personality is also an important factor and a client/contact will always appreciate someone who is positive, polite and enthusiastic. This can be accentuated with what you wear, how you present yourself and what you bring when you meet them. The Design industry is full of creative and casual people and thus, the need of looking overly formal is almost inappropriate (except in some cases – pitching for example), don’t feel you have to disconnect yourself with the client. They will open up to you if you’re friendly and humorous (within reason obviously), if you know the client’s name, don’t be shy to call him/her by that. Nobody will stop you if you were to bring a few sweet offerings to butter them up a bit as well! Keep business cards on you at all times and hand out when appropriate, enter competitions and get placements, everything you do will help you learn in the industry and prepare you for the possible issues you may face. The duo also taught us how to go about the current course we are on as they were once in our position. They told us to make sure we turn up to as many lectures as possible and to make use of the resources available to us. So get down to the library for solid primary research on anything and liaise regularly with our mentors. They are there to help!

Also, earlier this morning I also heard back from Sounds of Frome regarding a possible project with re-designing a logo for them. They would like me to come in for a chat tomorrow at around 10.30 and discuss how to approach this brief and have a look at some of the ideas I have made.

What goes on in a Design Company?

I sent out a couple of e-mails to some locally based design companies to see if I could arrange to meet with the designers and observe the processes involved in the life of a graphic design team. I would hope to learn how they go about a project as well as tricks of the trade and gain general experience of work in the industry. I will also try to interview a couple of the people there to get more concise information. I hope one of the companies will take me on as it will be a genuinely interesting experience and I feel I could learn a lot.

Learning about the Industry - Tom Maurice

Today we met Tom Maurice, who is a member of the Sun House Design team. Sun House Design works with larger businesses and companies doing graphic work, most recently branding and logo design. Sun House Design was founded in 2008, and consists of a team of around six designers who work on multiple projects for a number of clients, in the last few years they have been working for some big companies. They have kept their business small to make best use of funding. Tom himself is a good communicator and very knowledgeable about the industry; he has a degree in Graphic Design where he studied at the University of Edinburgh. He started out working temp jobs and eventually got a place in the BBC for five years, he then found a placement at Bristol based Epoch Design as a designer. He found that he had a skill in working with clients and this eventually led to him to do design work for them. Tom has worked with many big companies, names like the BBC, Marmite, Master Chef, Danone and Selfridges. An upcoming movie in 2013 based on the 2002 series; ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ is scheduled for release and the company behind it were on the market for a redesign of the old logo. Sun House, (along with some other design companies) were paid three thousand to come up with some potential logos and then pitch them. Sun House spent a total of ten thousand to fund the facilities, wages and pitch so they were making a bit of a gamble. They spent a lot of money and put a lot of effort into something which might work out as a big loss so there are definitely risks to this business. Sun House came up with many variations of logos for Walking with Dinosaurs and considered every medium of the usage (in film posters, merchandising and more). I hope they get this job as they have put so much effort and money into it and have come out with some excellent designs and logos, although they know the risk of losing out is possible, the benefit of the win though is worth the risk of losing it seems. I learned the importance of really getting into the brief of the client and experimenting with multiple designs, examining the existing market thoroughly, looking at intrinsic and extrinsic values of existing designs in that field as well as noticing clichés. Also it is good to show your design (if relevant) in realistic scenarios, like on billboards, posters, even if it’s just superimposing on an existing advertisement. The clients really like to see what the finished design will look like when displayed as such. When it comes to logos, it is fundamental to consider the logo for all mediums. It’s no good making complex multi-coloured logos if they don’t work on shop windows or are illegible in black and white. Take care when making a logo and consider this or create suitable renditions for specific scenarios. There is also no harm in using other designs for inspiration; designs can always be modified to avoid plagiarism. Pitching to clients in paper is often more professional then using a big screen projector, there is a feeling with a high-quality colour print which can’t be unmatched and there will be no issues with any software or decreased quality on an A1/A2 paper board. Client Relations are very important to uphold and a good relationship with a client is good for your image as well as for business. Don’t go burning bridges between clients as it might come back to bite you in the future, Tom couldn’t stress this enough.

Client Work!

I have just spoken to Tom, who runs his own music shop in my hometown of Frome, and I have been informed of his need for a new logo for his business. He is currently working on making a website for the business but still needs a new logo as the old one is looking a bit out of date:

I am to call him again next week to arrange a date and time to bring in some draft designs of a new possible logo and to further discuss into the matter.

Learning about the Industry – Nadine Wickenden

This morning we were introduced to Nadine Wickenden, who works with illustration. She became interested in illustration during school where she did A levels in Art & Design and Illustration, she then went on to do a degree in the subject. She then began work in a studio where she found an agent to support her in her career. She started out designing packaging and advertisements and found a niche in cookery books and children’s story books. She also found an interest in combining other materials with her work. She was fond of using traditional methods of drawing, using watercolour paints and using pieces of fabric and textiles. Her work has a very unique ‘feel’ to it and this is obviously her signature style as a designer and illustrator. Her work is very florid and pleasant and I think this is bolstered by the use of her own little caricatures and traditional methods. Nadine brought in some of her own work for us to see which was nice and gave us a flavour of what she does and her target market. The thing I most liked about her work was the way she had stuck to a specific style of design, creating an image and style for yourself can play an important part of your career if you’re to reach out to certain markets. Deciding what style and clients to go for though can be a difficult choice to make.

Design Submition!

For the last week I have paired up with Max to create a website for a travel and logistics company on 99designs.com. The company was called the 'Naouri Group' and they are based in the Middle East. The brief required us to create two pages of a website for them. Me and Max discussed and planned over MSN and during lectures about how to go about our design and set ourselves tasks and deadlines. We both had a go at creating the index page, and showed each other what we had done. We then pointed out the positives and negatives of each design and managed to take the best factors of each design and combined them so that we were both pleased. After making the index page, we did the same process to create the second and when we were both satisfied it was done, I uploaded them to the competition with fingers crossed. There is a cash reward of $500 to the winner, which if we won, would split half and half. If we don’t win, I don’t feel as if I would walk away with nothing. The experience of working for a brief professionally made me much more aware of the industry and after looking at some of the other submissions, shows me how competitive it is. I've also learned the importance of synergy and with working with others, I dont think our final design would have been as good if it had just been done by one of us.

Learning about the Industry - Louise Owen

Today we met Louise Owen, who is another member of the Ice House team and the wife of Jack Owen, who we met last week. Louise taught us the fundamentals of making a design portfolio and means of getting work/clients. She told us that when it comes to making a portfolio, the important thing is that it is well presented, good quality imagery and no spelling mistakes! She also suggested that alongside our work we can show the creative processes and decisions that went into it. Also documenting the product if it is used in advertisement (so a photo of it if it was on a billboard). As for the person presenting the portfolio, they need to show passion for the subject as well have good communication and show a broad range of knowledge of the industry, clients will not frown upon you for asking questions and wanting to learn. If a freelancer has feedback from other clients they have worked for, this would be a good thing to include in the portfolio as well. When assembling our own portfolio, we should not overburden it with hundreds of images, we should keep it simple and to a minimum of about 12 of our best designs/projects. Louise initially started off as a freelancer working very hard for not a lot in return; she spent almost a year trying to get a steady job in the industry until she got one and gradually went up in the ranks until she could fund Ice House. Louise taught us the value of self presentation as well as maintaining the presentation of our own work. From what I gathered from Louise, it seems we still have a lot to learn about this industry and not any one person can expect to start out without making mistakes, the important thing it to learn from them.

Learning about the Industry - Jack Owen and Ice House Design

At 12:00pm this morning, we had the pleasure of meeting Jack Owen, who is one of the founders of Ice House Design, based in Bath. The company has been running for over fifteen years and it consists of a team of four designers. The company prefer to work primarily on print based briefs, but hire other businesses to assist in more digital based objectives, or they hire photographers if they need photos. Other times though, they will often use stock images or illustration when working with clients. Speaking of which, Jack told us that when it came to clients, Ice House targeted small to medium sized businesses. They don’t get many big jobs from clients, but recently they are working for the National Trust, creating some appealing design work advertising Corfe Castle. They have been completing the various stages of the brief over nine months so far, they will be receiving around thirty thousand pounds for this project.  When Ice House started out, they were doing simple freelancing, for small companies but eventually grew as they became better known. Jack told us how he was dissuaded by advertising the company too much because of costs. He explained to us that the most effective type of advertising he used was in the form of Business Cards as he could manufacture them in bulk for a lot less money. All of the work Ice House had done for clients was recorded in portfolios to which they could display to new clients. The clients they had worked for included names like Marks and Spencer and WHSmith and after completion of the briefs with these clients, Ice House were left positive feedback which was also helpful to their image. Companies that Ice House have worked for in the past are kept on the register and often come back to them for more work that needs done. It was most interesting learning from Jack about his personal experiences and a bit about the design industry we strive to work in. Jack himself was very humble, and he told us that he didn’t even have a degree in Graphics! And yet this didn’t stop him doing what he was passionate about. The most valuable lesson I learned from him was the importance of a person’s attitude. When you’re looking for a job or working for a client, the important thing is to maintain a good attitude, to show your passion for the subject. Never rely on skills alone.

Introduction

Today we started our Professional Studies assignment, which I have learned is a bit more in-depth then it was last year. Our lecturer, Catherine explained to us the objectives of the brief. This year it seems there is a lot more consideration and individual work that needs to be done. In our quest to become more professional designers, we must examine the ways of existing designers, to find out what they have experienced, uncover more about the design industry, and learn valuable lessons which will aid us in our own careers in it. Our main task in the brief is to make ourselves ready to realistically start working in the design industry. The best way to start is to get you known throughout the design world, whether it’s by freelancing, portfolios, or even by making blogs and entering online design competitions. I felt the best way to start was to create a blog of my experiences over the next few months working toward being in the design industry.