Work Placement
The Ramblings of a Mad Man The Reflective Writings of a final year Graphic Design student
by James Iredale
Covering Modules: DN6031
James Iredale
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Module: DN6031
Work Placement Statement of Intent
What excites you about the brief? The brief allows us to go out and participate in the creative industry doing the jobs that we’d like to do post university. This is a project that allows us to build ourselves as industry professionals - applying what we have learned over the past 2 years. What excites me most is the idea of experiencing the workplace as a creative where opinions and designs are valued.
What Prior learning can draw upon to work on this project? Given that I have been able to secure a summer internship for the past 2 years, I’ll be able to draw upon the experiences from them to help me succeed in my role at Stack Magazines. The professional etiquette that I learned whilst there and at previous employment will set me up well for life in the workplace. I’ll be relying heavily on the presentation principles that I learned during my time at Extreme Sports throughout my placement to show a certain level of practical communication of ideas and responses between myself and Steve from Stack.
What themes, materials, processes and research sources will you explore in the project? I think that the processes I’ll really be exploring during this project would be the process around creating a visual identity for a sub brand as well as interesting assets to compliment the new identity. The process I’ll mainly be using to best compliment the identity will be around using 2D animation. Creating the identity for the sub brand will need to have a lot of influence from the parent brand, so ensuring the identity is consistent with that is vital to the project’s success.
What skills and techniques would you like to develop and use for the project? I’d definitely like to develop my logo work for this project. I’m excited to try out the processes that I’ve started with my FMP and put them to test with a live brief for an established company like Stack. I’d also love to try out the process of logo animation - I’ve begun seeing a lot of these trending through Instagram and am excited to try and do one myself.
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Module: DN6031
Work Placement
Work Placement
My ambition for this project is to try and do a good enough job during these 2 weeks that the company would think about offering me work outside of this. It’s going to be a great opportunity to create some designs that will go onto my portfolio as live briefs rather than as strictly university / passion designs. It also helps me reach a point further with my ambitions for wanting to go into the branding / advertising route.
Examples of specific practitioners you will have to research the project. The majority of practitioners I have looked at are similar to those that I have researched for my FMP given that this job revolves around branding and visual identity. These include the works of Alina Wheeler, Marty Neumaier as well as Chris Do and the video guides he gives on his platform The Futur. However, for the logo design and videos, I’ve been looking at the works of ‘Made.By.James’ on Instagram. He’s a great logo designer and has recently been specializing in creating logos for the purposes of showcasing them through animation. His finished results are so well thought out and revolve heavily around the use of grids. I’d like to try and implement some of his principles and strategies during my time at Stack Magazines.
Define your audience. How will you reach them/interact with them? I suppose my audience could be targeted towards 3 sets of people. The first is the company Stack Magazines. They have to like the work I submit as they are the client - so they are the most important priority of the audience for this project. The second set of audience will be potential future employers, I want them to be able to look at my work and think that this is done professionally and of a standard that they would have. The last audience would be the other students at London Met.
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Module: DN6031
What is the scope of your ambition for the project?
Work Placement
For a long time I’ve felt that my CV has needed some Jazzing up. This was confirmed when I showed it to Alistair who said it’s vital that I have a professionally designed CV if I’m going for any form of job with ‘Designer’ or ‘Creative’ in the title. Whilst I do have CV’s that are designed - they’re old and definitely don’t reflect the kind of direction that I’d like to go for.
Research I started by having a look at some of the graphic designers that I follow, in particular the ones that are in similar areas of speciality as I want to get into. As luck would have it, I found one that is almost identical to the fields of interest as mine (perhaps minus the animation). Kate Margolis. Her portfolio and CV gave me the idea to utilize presenting its landscape rather than traditional portrait. This will allow me to get a bit more information onto the page, as well as providing clear sections to distinguish.
The Information I think it’s worth putting as much of the professional information on there as possible - showing how much real workplace experience I have in an office environment. Thankfully I’ve been lucky enough to secure work placements every year since starting university, so I hope that this will play into my favour when applying for jobs post graduation. Some of the information I want to put on there include: Extreme Sports, Adler and Associates (in particular working Cannes Film Festival) and SmartFocus. I want to highlight what skills I have that are related to graphic design specifically also: things like proficiency with the Adobe CC and UX related platforms like Sketch.
The Logo There’s no way that I can go down the branding route without creating an identity for myself! So I started sketching down some ideas and values that I believe that I have. These included elements like ‘Innovation’, ‘Investigation’ and ‘Out of the Box Thinking’. I also got to think about me as a creative - what sort of style have I started to develop throughout my journey so far. At the moment, I’m loving the blocky modular style of design that can be seen by the likes of identity strategist Mark Bloom but also the use of geometric shapes. Funnily enough, it was down to me playing around on Illustrator that I stumbled upon the idea that I really liked. I came up with the concept of a shape breaking away and moving forwards.
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Module: DN6031
1. Professional Practice: CV Creation
Work Placement
My portfolio was in a relatively good position prior to this year. However, given the changes to my CV I thought it would be a great opportunity to completely rejazz the entire design of it. I began by deciding on a colour palette that would benefit my new identity logo mark that I discussed in the previous blog post. Going with a more neutral colour palette, I wanted the work to really be the eye catching part of the portfolio - not have the portfolio be a distraction. The typeface needed to emulate a similar sort of style, for it not to be distracting but easily readable and unobtrusive to the showcased piece. For the colours I decided to go with a simple off black (#020202), red (##F2490C) and grey (#F2F2F2). For my headline font I’ve decided to go with Concord - a simplistic geometric style typeface. For the body copy, I’ve decided to go with Calluna - a serif font that’s easy to read both print and online. When choosing what to put into my portfolio, I wanted to make a really strong statement right from the start as well as at the very end. Perhaps some of my strongest work comes with the process of identity design. Similar to some of the portfolios I’ve researched like Kate Margolis, I wanted to dedicate an entire spread showcasing the logos that I have designed right at the start of my portfolio before jumping into further detail with my FMP - WANDER. This project has given me the opportunity to explore the identity process in all its glory - from creating stylescapes and personas to developing characters to be used as logos and animations. Other projects I want to include in my portfolio include: The Cass Summer Show, Touring Tails, Extreme Sports Iconography and Athlete Mockups, Stack Magazines branding work, Delayed Gratification events animations, and the animation work that I did for the D&AD brief.
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Module: DN6031
2. Professional Practice: Portfolio
Work Placement
Perhaps one of the most important elements, particularly today is making sure that I have a professional looking website portfolio. It’s on this medium that I should be able to go further into detail about the projects I have worked on both at university and outside of education. There’s many different platforms that I could use to create my website - probably the most popular being Wordpress. Using a CMS like Wordpress would allow me to create a website with real structure. It’s also the platform that most companies and agencies use to host their websites, so gaining more experience with the platform is likely to be valued quite highly for work (although traditionally that’s more of an assistants role - i should know as that’s what I used to do!). Then of course there’s hosting sites like Wix and Squarespace - offering a simpler alternative to wordpress requiring less developing knowledge, but at the same time giving you less creative freedom when wanting to design the website. This wouldn’t be a bad option for my current situation given there’s still a lot of work to be done with my other projects. Options like WordPress and even Webflow would require me to spend a fair amount of time researching and learning the platforms further. Wix and Squarespace offer a good solution given my other university commitments. The hosting platform that I’m likely going to go for however is the Adobe Portfolio one. True it does probably give me the least amount of flexibility - but it has some key aspects. It’ll do everything that I need it to, I have the option of presenting my clearly using a grid, it’s a very friendly user interface. Also, as I have the Creative Cloud subscription - it’s already included in the price and requires minimal setup!
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Module: DN6031
3. Professional Practice: Website
Work Placement
Deciding which content I want to present on my website is key. For sure I definitely don’t want to show any early works where I don’t feel entirely happy with the outcome. I also want to try and set myself up a niche or area of speciality. My focus throughout this year has always been centered around two main areas: Branding and Animation. However, I would love to try and focus more on the Advertising and UX route of design particularly post university when I’m looking for jobs etc. The projects I feel happiest with at the moment are the following: Stack Magazines - Identity Work and Animation WANDER (My FMP) - Identity / Branding / Animation / Project Management / UX BBC Tips - Identity / Branding / Animation / Advertisement / UX Extreme Sports - Identity / Branding / Advertisement The Cass Summer Show 2019 - Identity / Animation Touring Tails - Identity / Branding / UX I’d also like to try and include some of the logos that I have designed (be they for made up companies or existing ones).
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Module: DN6031
Content
Work Placement
As part of our practice for the upcoming Work Placement, we’ve been tasked with conducting research into some of the companies that we would like to work for. This is something that I’ve been meaning to do personally anyway as we get closer to finishing the year. Although I had some work experience with Extreme Sports over the summer - which was a really great experience, I’d like to try and focus on gaining a placement with more of a design based agency. Specifically, I want to try and find an agency that focuses on either branding, UX/UI design or even in animation.
My List of Companies Somo: These guys are one of the fastest-growing digital product and experience agencies, working with some of the world’s biggest brands as well as startups. They focus on designing digital products as well as solving technical and creative challenges that companies have. Their clients include Audi, HSBC, EasyJet, Siemens and The Economist. Fjord: As part of a university trip we went to visit Fjord’s offices. However, thanks to Southern Rail, I missed out on this which would have been a great opportunity. Fjord specialise in product design - one of the areas of interest that I’d like to get involved with post university. Their clients include: Natwest, Sonos and Unilever. ManvsMachine: I found these guys when I was looking for summer internships during my first year. I decided not to go for them because I didn’t think my animation knowledge was anywhere near the level it should be for them. MVM specialise in creating motion campaigns for large brands such as Nike. Mash Creative: Mash is a one person studio - so the likelihood of getting a response might be high but getting a placement could be quite low. Mash (otherwise known as Mark Bloom) are an identity and type creative agency based in Essex. Some of his most recent clients include doing some identity poster design for HP. Big Fish: Big fish specialise in creating brand identities, packaging and marketing. Some of their recent clients include Tyrrells, Yeo Valley and GU.
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Module: DN6031
4. Professional Practice: Placement Research
Work Placement
Although I wasn’t chosen by one of my preferred companies, I was chosen by a cool little publishing / independent supplier company located in Somerset House. Stack Magazines are a well known independent publisher for a range of magazines. Stack prides itself on publishing the works that push the boundaries of contemporary magazines. Their content includes topics that cover global issues such as climate, modern artistry, feminism, tackling ethical and racial issues and even unexpected (sometimes humorous topics) like Skateboarding, an entire book of what the author doesn’t like and even a magazine that gives the reader useful tips to take over the world. Stack works off a subscription basis with customers that are located all over the world. My primary focus during my placement at Stack was focussed around creating an identity for their podcast as well as developing a promotional video for their up and coming commercial service Stack Bundle. I also did some work for a company that Stack shares an office with, Delayed Gratification, an independent journalism publication. During my time with them, I created animations to be showcased at their event featuring Iain Hislop. I was even invited to attend the event. However, during this time I had a few health issues that really impacted my working capabilities. Due to this, I decided not to attend which was a real disappointment as I would have loved to have been there as well as gotten to know the guys at Stack and DG a bit better. I may have been chosen for the placement with Stack due to my background and interest in identity design and branding material. However during the placement I was able to further explore the process of 2D branded animation as well introduce myself to 2D character animation. Progressing forward I do intend to try to implement After Effects animations within my university work, and conducting further research in Brand Identity animators such as Nikita Melnikov and Phong Luong. This experience has been great practice for my FMP around creating a brand and product (app prototype). One thing I would have liked to improve on was unfortunately unavoidable given my health issues. I did try to remain professional and was communicative with both Delayed Gratification and Stack, updating them on how I was feeling and what I was working on whilst at home. “James Iredale worked with Stack from Monday 13 January to Wednesday 22 January 2020. He worked diligently at all times, and was able to pick up briefs quickly and produce a high standard of creative work. One of his pieces of animation was used at a live event featuring Ian Hislop, and a separate piece of logo design and animation are currently being used to promote the Stack podcast. His time with Stack was unfortunately cut short because of ill health, but we’d love to have the opportunity to work with him again in the future.” - Steve, CEO and Founder of Stack
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Module: DN6031
5. Professional Practice: Stack Magazines
Work Placement
I thought it would be useful to reflect and research on what it could be like to go out and try and find work during these uncertain times. The world right now is in uncharted waters that could have a lasting effect on how we work. The pandemic has hit everybody hard but perhaps, in terms of job opportunities and employment has hit the creative industry one of the hardest. Unfortunately in the world of big business, it’s often creative which is the first to get cut. Now more than ever it’s important as a creative / designer to apply yourself and work in trying to build a portfolio that stands out. There are several areas that I want to look at a bit further given the current job climate. Certainly I’ll still be applying for jobs that interest me particularly around branding, visual identity, advertising, UX and advertisement. However I want to start paying attention to advertising myself for freelance work. From first year, this has always been spoken about not only by tutors but by the guest speakers that have presented at London Met. In particular, everyone mentions the importance of having a well thought out Instagram page. This is an area of my portfolio that I have completely neglected throughout my education. However this is a good thing, as now I can tailor it to the direction that I want to focus on. During this time it’s also a good opportunity to start doing challenges that would benefit my field of interest. Daily logo designs and animations are a good way to pick up new techniques and get into better habits. One thing that I’ve been wondering for the entirety of this year though is whether I pursue education further and apply to do a Masters. Due to my health issues, I put this thought to the sideline, but given the situation, it is perhaps a good time to start relooking at some of these options. In particular, I would need to make a decision as to which pathway I want to take be that a more theoretical and behind the scenes psychological style of design like in UX, continue the graphics route and pursue more of an education in Animation, or go down the more commercial and business route in Advertising and Project Management. The last option I have in my mind is that this time could be a great opportunity to start thinking about creating my own product. My FMP has put me in a fantastic position to pursue the creation of a brand and developing an application. It should go without saying that during hard times, creativity should be able to thrive and succeed.
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Module: DN6031
6. Professional Practice: Pandemic Professional?
Work Placement
Overall I would say that this module has prepared me quite well for the workplace environment. It has given me the opportunity to work in a design / creative role in a small business where my responsibilities actually had an impact on the company. Through the placement, It has also given me the opportunity to work as a team, teaching us essential skills such as communication, delegation, efficiency, idea generation as well as offering support for each other. It has helped me develop and a certain level of respect that should be shown for other creatives. I really enjoyed my time at Stack, and in particular I enjoyed the experience of working as a creative professional. Being able to set up meetings to discuss ideas around the different campaigns I was working on, allowing me to take the lead on creative concepts and idea generation. I feel as though my results show this. Thanks to my time at Stack, my portfolio is heading in the direction that I want it to go in - further highlighting my interest in 2D animation and branding/ identity design. I don’t feel as though I got everything out of this section of the module though due to my health issues. One of the studio sessions that I found particularly useful was having the introduction to project management at the beginning of the year. Learning principles and best practices such as SWOT and PEST analysis are key for any working environment. The strategies such as using a gantt chart proved useful in university projects (in particular the anthology module). It also helped me to reaffirm the benefit of using platforms like Trello for my design projects, even for the day-to-day design activities it has helped keep on top of all of my projects (well for the most part at least). Although the degree is in design, I would’ve liked to have had more from this workshop. I felt as though we only just scratched the surface and I was interested in finding out more about project management as a whole. It’s definitely something I’ll look further into post university. The portfolio workshops were great for formatting our pdfs and giving us advice on which projects we should present with them. The one thing I wish we did have a bit more guidance on though is building a website and best practices for advertising it. However with that said, the portfolio and CV workshops have been essential in preparing us for the job hunt post university (even if it will be a bit different given the ongoing pandemic). However, I think that there could’ve been sessions to teach us how to present ourselves in conditions such as interviews or how to best to network and collaborate with other creatives. In particular, if we were to pursue a self-employed style career it would’ve been great to have a workshop that focused on preparing presentations for pitches, agreeing and pricings of our services and ways to get work other than through social media and traditional PPC search options.
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Module: DN6031
7. Professional Practice: Critical Evaluation