I visited Precision as I wanted to enquire about getting some Christmas cards printed for another brief. I was greeted by Francesca who nicely took me around the building and explained all the different processes and jobs they did. This helped my practice as it broadened my knowledge of different types of print and the cost of an order depending on what you needed. They appear to be a very high quality print company who deal with other creatives on a regular basis. With the many different printing process available they will definitely be a company I will keep in contact with for future jobs.

 

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."

Day Brief

Who am I?

- Values, morals, views
- Print, digital
- Communities

My values

- Believe in moral and ethical working standards
- Love print but want to expand to digital
- Music inspires and influences my designs
- Inspirational people motivate me

Interests

- Movies
- Gaming
- Music
- Novels
- Gigs/festivals

Beliefs

- Print will always be important in the ever expanding digital world
- Equality between genders
- Make mistakes; learn from them

What mainly influenced my design was the quote by Alan Watts. Its something I often refer to whenever I feel overwhelmed or lost with different situations. As university was such a huge change, living in a city was a huge change, and trying to adjust to the course and living independently I did struggle with adapting and often felt overwhelmed by everything. This quote reflects my way of thinking from the past two years, I interporate it as when change happens its best to try and adapt as best as possible to the situation, absorb yourself with it and the outcome will be more beneficial to yourself.

I contacted a designer from Soho as I thought it would be beneficial to get some advice from someone who is already an established freelancer. One of the questions I had asked him was whether I would need studio experience before considering to freelance. He responded with advice from his own experience that he has never worked in a studio so it not required. However I can gain experience from other sources such as getting clients myself, freelance for an agency and even somewhere that has nothing to do with design.

For extended practice there must be at least two live client briefs, this will give me a good opportunity to try work for clients and get some experience to see whether this is the route I want to take. I do believe for myself I should get some studio experience before I make a final decision.

Overall this module has been very useful for myself as a developing designer. Visiting various exhibitions and researching into different studios helped broaden my mind on whats going on in the creative industry outside the universities walls. Looking back on my design process last year I have definitely improved on time management and my skills on different Adobe programmes. Time management is still an issue at times and I've found it hard to summarise this module for submission, but I have definitely improved from last year where I left things a little too late.

This module has made me push out and contact people who have all been very useful. As I use social networks such as Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter I've been able to pluck up the courage and contact those designers I've been following for years and find out a thing or two about their experience. The trip down to London in January was interesting and effective to how I perceived other peoples work, however I did get distracted slightly by the rest of the museum. Although I'm a huge believer in appreciating other fields of art which could influence your own which is why I made full use of my trip visiting other various museums. I've also created a Redbubble and Behance account so I can start selling my designs and make a profit whilst getting more exposed at the same time, my next social networking task is Linked In!

Over easter holidays I was unable to visit any exhibitions or studios due to money problems, I found this very frustrating and is something I'm working on so I will not longer be missing out on all the excitement. Re-branding myself this year round seemed a lot more thought out and had a more professional approach, I've enjoyed working out my brand and who I am as a designer and I hope my project pack will reflect the type of person I am.

Currently I'm heading down the more smaller design firms that work with clients in a more personal manner. Freelancing is something I'm interested in but I would have to start getting more popular on my Behance and Twitter and getting more commissioned work to get myself more exposed.

Slide 3: As a studying designer I think the quality of work I have produced has improved a lot from last year, I've gained more confidence which has enabled me to contact other existing designers, produce my own brand and join websites such as Behance, Twitter and LinkedIn. As I used to be more critical on my work I found at the end of every outcome I would feel disappointment instead of appreciating the work I had put into the design.

Slide 4: I've looked at various design studios across Leeds as I think this would be most appropriate as my house is in Leeds therefore I would have easy access to get work experience in the summer. I've looked at studios that are more print based as this is what I'm currently interested in.
My influences vary as I love getting magazines and checking out blogs but I'm a huge believer in finding influences that haven't entirely came from the creative industry, these influences come from things that may be way off topic from the brief I've been given but I find the stronger concepts come from something I've learnt from a book, film or on the rare occasion music.

Slide 5: This is my timeline for my summer so far. Starting out I will be doing a short time exam invigorating job at a school which give me a little financial boost for the beginning of summer, then I will be attending Glastonbury with my friends which I think will be a well needed break and let me enjoy myself before third year starts. I then plan to get some work experience at a design firm either in my hometown Middlesbrough or Leeds, when I'm not doing work experience I am hoping to knuckle down on my skills as a designer and try and improve my quality of work in time for third year.

Slide 6: These are the goals I want to crack down on. Time management has always been an issue however this year I have definitely improved on the quality of work even though sometimes I don't have all the necessary evidence to back it up. Typography is something I'm wanting to study further this summer and hopefully will be a good enough standard for third year. Blogging is also something I need to knuckle down on as I find the more I keep up to date with briefs the more stronger the concept and outcomes are and my confidence improves as I feel more organised.

Slide 7: Thanks for listening does anyone have any questions?

Here is my Behance portfolio. This is my Behance portfolio that I've had created for a while now, as I've recently grown more confident in my own work I've found I'm more willing to post my work online. Behance has enabled me to reach contact with previous peers who have also moved onto university and we've been exchanging contact on collaborating in the future as they have more followers and are more established as designers.

Here I started out by experimenting with different ways of drawing my name. My first initial idea was to have something quite clean and minimal on a white business card to reflect my identity as a designer.

Here are my website mock ups which show and reflect my work as a designer. I kept the theme consistent and informative and show examples of work which have brief explanations of what the briefs are about and how I approached them. My logo is consistent and fits the theme throughout and will be compatible throughout different medias and formats. I picked a colour to border around the outside of the website as that is also the theme that is featured on my project pack, this I hope will keep a constant theme which will stay in people's head and stand out from others.

This is a mock up of my project pack I have created, trying to keep a consistent theme throughout I've wanted to keep a clean minimal yet exciting theme. I've found this very useful being able to brand myself in a more professional manner compared to last year, the workshops I have attended have definitely helped my improve the quality of work I'm now producing. My logo is consistent and is compatible across different formats in black & white and also in colour.


I'm extremely happy with the overall look of my logo, although it lacks in colour I've found for this moment in time financial wise its beneficial to stick with the black and white look of the logo. The shape itself also represent my personal interest and passion for music as it has a musical note element when the E and C and joined together. I think the theme of the design reflects my professionalism and development as a studying designer.