Investigate a list of methods you can employ to contact other creatives, studios or agencies.
MY LIST:
- Phone
- Behance
- Business Cards
- Visiting a studio and speaking to them directly
- Through contacts you've already gained
- Online through their website
- Google / search engine
- Sending a letter in the post
- Skype / Facetime
- Blogs
- Fax
- Through random conversation with the general public - I made my first contact from chatting to him at work and talking about our personal interests
- Tutors
- Lectures / Designer & creative talks
- Workshops
- Family and friends
1. Reflecting on your Summer, what is your most memorable event and why?
I'd say going on holiday to France with Joe, as I haven't been to france since I was about 5 years old and my family only ever go on holiday to places around the UK so it was really exciting to go somewhere abroad. It's also really memorable as we stayed in his house over there in a tiny little hamlet called Fontmore, near Bergerac, and you barely met anyone who could speak a word of English so it really put my mind to the test as I hadn't spoken any French since GCSEs! I went on a lot more holidays this year then I usually do, and actually kept active over the summer.
2. Have you made any contacts over the Summer that you feel could be helpful over the coming year or so and what outcomes did you feel you achieved?
I made a contact a few years ago, called Martin Lewis who works at his own design studio in London, but over the summer I actually got to go down there to visit his studio and meet him properly. The visit was really helpful as it gave me more of an insight into how smaller design studios work and how relaxed the atmosphere was at his studio. He's a really great contact as well - he is happy to criticise my work that I send him and give me professional feedback, he's also given me loads of portfolio advice and general feedback on how I present myself or how I could brand myself. His emails are always a lot lengthier than I'd expect them to be which is really good as he's always there to help me out!
3. How did you meet / contact these contacts? (methods used or how it happened)
I met him when I was working at a local gastro-pub in the Cotswolds where I'm from. I knew him already, because I went to school with one of his sons but didn't get talking to him properly about his career until I overheard him talking to another employee about what they're studying and what he does, so I obviously jumped on the opportunity and got chatting to him. He gave me his business card, and we went from there.
4. If you didn't make any contacts, why? Too busy working? Holidays? Commitments?
I haven't really made any new contacts, unfortunately. I just managed to get to know my current contact a lot better, which was really helpful. I think I was a bit too busy travelling and working on uni stuff this summer to consider looking for new contacts, but I'm definitely going to ask Martin if he knows of anyone else that I can talk to about the areas of Graphic Design that I'm interested in, as he doesn't really have any experience in the fashion industry himself even though we've spoken about it plenty of times before.
5. What methods of contacting creatives can you think of and what would you ask?
I think emailing them is an obvious method of contact, but you don't always get a reply. I don't think I'd ring a contact until I've spoken to them over email a little bit, as most contacts are always busy and whenever I need to ring or meet Martin I always have to arrange a time that he's free as he's always busily designing. When contacting creatives, I'd ask about particular work I find interesting on their website (suck up to them a bit and show that you're interested in their work) and then also ask about arranging visits or chats over the phone. Maybe ask if they can offer any feedback on designs that I'm working on currently, etc.
Look at the 10 things you wanted to do last year - review it and write whether you did each thing, then write a new 10 things for this year.
10 Things I wanted to achieve last year:
- How to present my work in front of others in a confident and professional manner
- How to develop my skills and strengthen my weaknesses
- How to find out if I have any form of specialist design skills
- How to manage my time
- How to remain enthusiastic and positive throughout the course
- How to become organised
- How to understand the basic principles of type eg kerning, leading etc
- How to produce good developmental work (for example visuals, scamps, analysis etc)
- How to improve on my Adobe software skills
- How to improve on my essay writing skills
- I think that I have definitely improved upon this from last year - when I started university I was terrified of presenting in front of new people, as I was used to being in such a small class and knowing everyone really well in the class so it wasn't very scary. We also never really presented formally, and usually had group crits every now and then. The past year has definitely helped me improve upon these skills and I'm a lot more confident with my presentation skills. This area still needs a lot of work, but I'm much happier with presenting at the start of this year in comparison to the start of first year.
- I have a feeling that a lot of my skills have developed over the year - I've developed my drawing ability when it comes to typography, I've found out loads of new things about the adobe software and I can now use the pen tool like a pro. I think my weaknesses across Graphic Design and the course have also improved, for example my attendance is so much better than at college and I can also come up with interesting concepts.
- I don't think I have my own form of specialist design skill just yet, but I plan to find this out over the next 2 years.
- My time management has improved significantly - I did slack at times last year, but coming into second year and having a new start that counts towards the final grade has really pushed me to work hard and keep on top of my work. Hopefully, I'll keep up the regime!
- At times last year I was really negative about the course, when things weren't going as planned, I was falling behind on work, experiencing family problems or being ill. Luckily I've met a few really great people from the course who keep me motivated and encourage me to do my best and keep at it. I think I wouldn't have gotten through the year as well as I did if it wasn't for people around me. I think I'm going to enjoy this year a lot more now that I fully understand the programme and how to go about everything.
- My organisation skills are still something to improve upon. I've discovered that I can be organised if I set my mind to it, but I can also lack organisation quite easily. One thing I've found that helps is keeping my room tidy, like the saying - a tidy house, a tidy mind. And it really does work!
- My knowledge on the basic principles of typography has improved considerably, thanks to all the design principles sessions with Fred as well as the course over the year in general. I am much more confident when it comes to using and analysing typography.
- My developmental visuals and sketches are coming along. I can definitely produce quality visuals that I can work from, I just tend to find that I don't dedicate my time to it so will often produce less drawings and developments than I want to, so this is something I will work on this year.
- My Adobe software skills have definitely improved. I know so much about Illustrator and InDesign now. There are still loads of things I'd like to touch upon over the next 2 years so that I can create things to the highest of quality - I'd also like to learn more about Photoshop as I don't really use this software as often.
- I think my essay writing skills are where I want them to be. After writing my first essay of the course, I've realised how useful it was to go to such an academic secondary school and all those fees definitely paid off! Hopefully I can improve upon my writing skills this year so that my dissertation is written to my highest potential.
- I would like to discover my 'design style' and apply it to a variety of briefs.
- I want to make sure that I stay motivated this year and keep on top of my work like I'm currently doing. I don't want to fall behind like last year.
- I would like to learn how to use new software, for example Fontographer or Dreamweaver.
- I would like to be able to improve upon my presentation skills further so that I am confident enough to speak about my work in front of new people as well as those I know.
- I'd like to gain some work experience within the areas of design that I'm interested in, and maybe even find some work abroad for over the summer.
- I want to produce enough design sheets this year so that I feel happy with the amount of work I have produced when it comes to submission. This will also help with my concepts.
- I would like to learn more about coding and how I can develop my own working website.
- I want to develop my knowledge for fashion and editorial design, as this is an area that I am interested to pursue for a future career.
- I want to buy lots of design books and read them to help improve upon my knowledge for design principles outside of the classroom.
- I would like to get involved with workshops and learn different methods of printing and production, eg screen printing, etching or spot varnishing.
In the studio we were asked to write down 10 things that you found were successful at the end of the 1st year at university. We were asked to do this in groups.
10 successful things:
1. Effective time management
2. Using applications more effectively and efficiently
3. Understanding the basic principles of Graphic Design
4. Learning how to compromise when working in groups
5. Learning how to properly perform "crits" and how useful they can be
6. Gaining more confidence when presenting work
7. Letterpress, screen-printing, lino, illustrator, photoshop, etc workshops
8. Having an incentive to come in on time
9. Quality of research and how it improves the outcome of your work
10. Meeting deadlines
We were then asked to think about 10 things you want to make successful by the end of this year.
My 10 things:
1. Explore different facilities around the college so that I can use them within my work - for example make the most of the print rooms
2. Gain more confidence when presenting - make sure you don't rush through and think about what you're going to talk about before hand to make it easier to present
3. Make sure that you meet every single deadline on time to your highest potential
4. Learn how to use new software - for example Fontographer
5. Keep focused when it comes to research and development to make the most of my time
6. Make sure that, when given feedback, you fully respond to it to develop your project, rather than casting it aside and not changing anything
7. Attend uni every day - keep the attendance at a high!
8. Get in contact with art directors and editors - see if you can get some editorial work experience
9. Develop my own distinctive design style
10. Look into design agencies around the world - possibly get some work experience abroad over next summer
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
- I will manage my time wisely. I found that, because this module was quite long, it was hard to keep on top of my time management and I found myself rushing a lot of the work near to the end of the module to catch up on what I had missed out.
- I will produce various design sheets for each separate brief, as I now understand how well this helps towards developing my final design, and that my design ideas often become stronger from doing so.
- When working on group projects, I think that it will definitely help to hand in my own copies of the rest of the group's work, so that it can be assessed as a whole in my portfolio, rather than just from photographs on my blog.
- I would like to try out more methods of production, as I found it really interesting learning how to Gold Foil my designs. I would really like to create something that has been screen printed, so I know how it works, feels and looks for further briefs.
- Keep up the better attendance, as it has definitely been helping me to keep on top of my work and stay focussed in class so I know exactly what is going on and when. This also helps to keep me motivated, as I get to see what my piers are producing.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)
5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Attendance
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x
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Punctuality
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x
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Motivation
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x
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Commitment
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x
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Quantity of work produced
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x
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Quality of work produced
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x
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Contribution to the group
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x
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The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.
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1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
- I will consider a different type of binding for the book - something that I have done before and know how to do well - this will mean that my final piece will look more professional and less messy at the spine.
- I will experiment with a few different types of stock, rather than deciding at the beginning to work with something of a grey nature. I didn't want to use Antique White like I often do, however I could've tried printing onto various types of stock so that I had more of an understanding on which stock suited the book best. However, I really like the final stock that I chose to use!
- I will work on my time management skills, as I often find myself falling behind and not keeping up with work when I should be. This makes it harder for me when it comes to hand in, as I found that I needed to go backwards and try to remember a few things that I had forgotten to blog about in the first place! By doing this, I will be less stressed, and my blogging will probably be more consistent and thorough.
- By keeping myself healthy and happy, I will attend uni every single day which means that I won't miss any important sessions. Even though I only had about 2 days off from the Design Principles sessions, it was really easy to fall behind on the workload and I struggle to catch up at times.
- Try and produce more layout/book variations before designing the final design as this will help towards the final design choices and I could possibly end up producing something stronger and more exciting that what I did produce.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)
5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Attendance
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x
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Punctuality
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x
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Motivation
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x
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Commitment
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x
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Quantity of work produced
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x
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Quality of work produced
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x
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Contribution to the group
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x
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The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.
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As a group what problem did you identify and why? In response to 10,000 steps.
As a group, we identified that the general public don't tend to walk 10,000 steps a day, or even try to keep themselves fit and active. We decided to act on this and encourage the public to walk more by creating a publication filled with inspirational quotes to motivate people to keep fit.
We found that most fitness magazines, leaflets or guidances are boring and follow the same style of design which encouraged us to create something innovative and different to all the rest. We wanted to create something that stood out and made people want to interact with the product. We also made sure that our publication was simplistic and to the point, so that it's not just filled with random collections of information.
What methods did you use to gather your evidence to prove this was a problem and what forms did it take?
Primary Research:
I researched into a few walks that I've partaken, looking through photographs from the time and found that half the time I went on long walks it was as a day trip with my family or friends, rather than something I do in day to day life. I think this proved the problem that people don't tend to walk long distances unless they make an actual day of it.
I also had an upperhand, in the fact that my idea for sending fliers off on balloons was similar to something two people I knew from college had done in the past, so I could talk to them about how they came about finding helium canisters and balloons etc, and they also sent me a link to their website youhadmeatballoon.com
Secondary Research:
I looked online, and researched into walks people can take that will make up 10,000 steps to your day as well as various ways in which you can walk further on your average days for example walking to work rather than taking a bus, or getting off that bus a stop earlier and walking the rest of the way. I found a lot of information online talking about different types of charities and organisations that encourage people to walk and keep healthy, which proved that this was a general problem in society.
We also split some topics up between the group, so that everyone had something different to research into. My topic was charity based, hence why my research is filled with an abundance of charity walks etc. I was also asked to research into colour schemes, possible packaging ideas, inspirational quotes, and ways that we can make our product viral.
What methods of research did you find useful and why?
I found that using the internet was the easiest and most useful form of information, as I could find a variety of sources online that were relevant to my research topics that I had been given. It also came in handy when I was looking for colour schemes as I found an extremely useful website called designseeds.com that is constantly updated with colour schemes every day.
I think my primary research could've been more useful, if I had actually collected various publications that have previously been made and analysed them. However I quite enjoyed looking through photos that I had previously taken of long distance walks, and also found talking to my friends from college useful for our project.
What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?
I think we could have actually gone out into Leeds and found publications and leaflets from gyms, this would have helped us to understand exactly what they tend to put in their information, and how we can be different from the rest. I think we could've created a questionnaire to give out so that we could form a base of statistics on how much people walk on average, and whether or not they think it affects their wellbeing. I think if our group had also bought a pedometer and counted how much steps we all took each day, it could've been really useful information for our project as a whole.
We also hadn't taken into consideration the costs, when it comes to printing and producing our publications and flyers. The balloons turned out a lot cheaper than we initially expected, as we managed to find a shop that blew 6 balloons up for roughly £4 rather than £1 each. However, we couldn't send as many flyers as we wanted to, as the flyers themselves were too weighty once laminated, which we should've considered at the beginning. Another cost that we faced, was the fact each publication costs about £4 to print and put together, which meant that we couldn't print out a large amount of them to give out to people, which is what we really wanted to do. However, we resolved this by producing the flyers and having an option to buy a publication instead, online.
How did you manage workload as part of a group?
I think that our group got on extremely well, considering none of us had ever worked together and we all design things differently. We decided to spread the workload out evenly over the entire group, so that everyone felt like they contributed to the group adequately. I think a few of us were a lot keener than some when it came to producing a publication, so we made sure that we didn't hold back from designing other proposals for if we were to take the brief further in the future.
From the beginning of the brief, we made sure that everyone had a say in how the designs looked, and we constantly criticised each others work constructively so that the designs were consistent and to a way in which everyone was pleased with the outcome.
Initially, I decided on the style of the layout, by using a sans serif font left/right aligned with an image on the other side of the page. This layout was then altered a lot by the group, so that everyone was happy with the final outcome. I think in the end Sam or Sarah chose the font that we went with (Bebas), and I reckon we couldn't have found a font more suitable for the brief!
I was asked to decide on the colour scheme for our group, and what paper we were going to use. I think that the colour scheme I chose worked really well, as it was quite organic, yet you could still relate the colour to fitness organisations etc (due to the colour blue).
I also came up with the idea of the flyers being sent out on balloons, rather than being handed out, as I thought this could help our group stand out from the crowd and it will be completely different to how any of the other groups approached similar flyer ideas. Because of coming up with the idea, I was asked to design the flyers to put on the balloons, which I loved doing and I am really happy with the overall look. I considered the fact that the weather constantly changes, so laminated the flyers, however this made them a lot heavier when we attached them to the balloons, so we had to attach one flyer to every two balloons.
Another thing I was asked to produce, was the Instagram page as a few members of the group weren't keen on creating it. I really loved making the Instagram, so we could show off our work to the general public, and took an abundance of photographs for it. The Instagram ended up being quite successful, in the fact we got over 150 followers and one of our designs got nearly 100 likes within 2 days!
Vicky designed some page layouts for the publication, as well as the twitter page and the website. Everything that she produced was to a really high standard and followed our theme consistently. I was really impressed by the website that she designed, and think that it was a really good idea overall!
Sam created the book layout, he created over 50 different page designs and designed some really unique and professional looking info-graphics to go on the pages. He also created the logo for our organisation Hit The Road, which was a really clever idea and it definitely stood out from all the other fitness logos that you see. He also bought the perforator which we used to perforate each page of the book so that you could pull out the quotes and stick them on your wall.
Sarah also created pages for the book that were added onto Sam's designs, we then had to go through all the pages and choose the best one for the final book as we didn't want it to be too big and bulky. Sarah also researched into the distances between main attractions in Leeds and created a quirky map consisting of how many footsteps it takes the average person to walk around Leeds. I thought this was a really clever idea and it worked really well for our brief.
Daisy and Mel worked together to create proposal packaging for the brief if we were to take it further. They packaged water bottles, plasters and even motivational CDs filled with songs to get you walking. Their packaging looked really professional and sticked within the design scheme that we had all chosen to work with. Mel also created some posters to put around college to help make our Instagram and Twitter pages known to the public.
I am really happy with how our brief panned out and how well it all came together at the end. I also really liked working with the group I was put in and feel that we all contributed to the group equally, and in a way that showed off our individual strengths.
I think our only downfall was the costs, and if we weren't all as poor as we are at the moment, we could've bought more balloons to send off more flyers like we initially wanted to. I think we could've also printed a few more publications that were to a higher finish, as we could have got them professionally bound, as we struggled with the binding. However, I am really pleased with the final outcome and was extremely happy to hear Amber and Simon's positive comments on our professionalism and consistency when we gave our final presentation.
- I love to sleep and can be extremely lazy at the weekends
- I’m not very organized, and need to learn how to organize myself better
- I am really bad at budgeting and spend a lot of money very quickly
- I don’t enjoy domestic chores, like washing up and cleaning
- I’m far too energetic and happy most of the time
- I really enjoy typography, whether digital or hand rendered
- I enjoy designing work that is well structured and clean, and I like a lot of modernist design
- I struggle to produce multiple design sheets and sketches for briefs
- I really like coming up with lots of strange and “out of the box” ideas for briefs, but probably won’t ever use them
- I really like feeling and looking at different stocks and thinking about how they will look with my final designs
