February 23, 2009
Thursday
11.30 a.m. – Which way now? David Barraclough : Barraclough Associates
The guest speaker told us of how he got to where he is, starting from uni and work placements, and working up to how he now owns his own graphics business.
Buy this book – ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul’
- get placements – there’s no such thing as a bad placement
Approaching a studio -
- design a letterhead and don’t ever start a letter with Dear Sir/Madam
- take some samples of work
- be polite
- find out information about the company
- request an interview not a job!
Portfolio -
- make it relevant
- 8-10 pieces is enough
- design grid to portfolio
- keep it clean
At placements -
- be early
- take everything in
- MAKE TEA!!!!!!!!!
- Go for after work drink
- take your portfolio in every day … networking!
- answer the phone
- after placement – ask to go back
- say thank you, and keep in touch.
CheethamBell
JWT
pentogram website
Take advice but follow instincts.
3p.m. – We had a talk with Adam about websites. I thought it would be about how to build your own website but it was more the benefits of having your own website, but relevant none the less. Having a website is one of the best things you can do to get your name out there in the industry world. With text, image and video you can show your work and say what you are about.
Wednesday
11.30 a.m. – What is networking? This session was about networking and what it means and how to get more contacts in the industry. So, what is networking??
- getting contacts and keeping them
- business cards
- promoting yourself and selling yourself
- contacts of contacts
- getting help and advice from the right people
- communication skills
- interpersonal skills – keeping eye contact etc
- social networking, e.g. facebook
- working on your reputation
- co-operation and teamwork
- interaction
The definitions of ‘networking’ they gave us are
“The process of building strong, solid relationships that are mutually beneficial.”
“Networking links needs with opportunities, challenges with possibilities and problems with solutions.”
Remember CIA…
C – capture attention
I – intrigue them
A – ask … ‘how’s business??’
The session was done so we could all get involved, they handed out two post-it notes each and told us to write problems and issues that we have at the moment (mine was lack of contacts to get industry practice) on one note and solutions to possible solutions we have to any possible issues (I didn’t have one!!) on the other. We then put them on the wall and walked around to see other students’ problems and solutions … some of these included issues such as ‘need cheap printers’, ‘relatives need a skilled drawer to make portraits of their children’, ‘need actors for film I’m hoping to create” and solutions such as ‘know contacts who sell cheap printers’, ‘know graphic designer who has said I can get in touch if I need any help’, ‘have boyfriend who can fix computers and laptops for reasonable prices’. This was a good exercise in my opinion because if anyone wanted to pick up on these notes they could and it got us talking and making new contacts! Got us networking!
1.30 p.m. – Session with an experienced businessman in the industry.
- will meet good and bad people
- first impressions count
- time-frames
- CV has to look good
- work opportunities are going to be either very good or very bad – feast/famine
- keep updating your website, and have a down-loadable CV on there
- when the work is there it has to be done
- everyone has opinions – ask for them
- don’t be too precious about your ‘work of art’ – deal with it!
- research competitors
- look at how you present concepts to clients – give visuals
- when accepting a brief – ask questions
- doodle
- understand the end-market
- brainstorm with other people
- product, place, price, promotion
February 17, 2009
Tuesday
11.30 a.m. -An ex-student came to talk to us about what he did after graduating from Glyndwr. Even though he was an animator and more relevant for animation students than us, I found it interesting what he had to say about the design world. He talked about how he started off being a freelance animator, and said how it didn’t work out too good for two years. He then said how he got his job with the company he is still with today, but how it is more graphics orientated than animation. He showed us examples of his work as a freelance animator, and also some of his more recent works. I thought this session was useful, and having a recent ex-student here to talk to us was a great idea as it was easier to take information and advice from someone closer to our own age and with the same ambitions. It was also good as it was quite informal and got many people involved, and answered questions honestly.
1.30 p.m. – Gareth Lawn came to talk to us about what he is doing and how he got to where he is today. Another ex-student from Glyndwr. He talked about his portfolio, and how to make it look good and stand out. He said to aim to get 8 to 10 final pieces that you are happy with in your portfolio, and to not to put more that one or two of the same sort of work in there. He also told us how he made contacts and how to get your CV out there. Make your CV interesting because it is the first impression of you that they will get, and put some examples of your work in there, just a few of your personal best. He also said that companies like it when you ring them up to speak to them in person, as e-mails will often be discarded and not read, whereas if you talk to them directly and send them an interesting CV they are more likely to offer you an interview.
Monday
10 a.m. – We had an individual 10 minute drop-in with a career adviser (also an ex-student at Glyndwr) to discuss what we wanted to achieve after this year. To be honest I expected this session to be more useful than it was, she didn’t seem to give me any new information that I should know. What she did give me was the prospects website (www.prospects.ac.uk) and told me to explore jobs within graphic design. She also told me to have a look at the Creative Handbook. She also gave me the e-mail address for Judith Alexander at the zone@glyndwr.ac.uk, which I don’t know what it is!
11.30 a.m. – After the first session I hoped this one would be more informative, and it was! A representative of JPcreative came in to talk to us about CV and portfolio presentation and interviews.
K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple, Stupid
was the message he started off with. Some pointers I got from the talk which were useful were
* to know your target audience, and work with it in mind
* to sort selling points in order, the most important first – in case you run out of time at the end
* give clear message, and offer alternative route
* research the subject, facts sell
* play back to them their brief, and try use their company name in the work, so that it is personal to them as a company
* be passionate about your presentation
* always remember to say thank you for listening.
1.30 p.m. – A successful animator/illustrator talked to us about his work and how he got to where he is today. I didn’t find this session helpful or useful at all, but did enjoy it! He showed us many well-known cartoons, animated films and advertisements he had been working on. Many of these were for the welsh channel S4C which interest me as I’ve seen some of the characters he worked on on television in the past! I also like drawing characters and I was interested in seeing the styles of illustrating that are popular and successful, and how it they are animated! Some names he mentioned that I will look up – Christina Balitte, Richard Villeneuve and Joanna Quinn.
