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.