The next step

Last year I found it really rewarding and exciting contacting professionals, 2 I never thought would reply did!! Therefore take that for this years goal- being a memorable face within the graduates in Leeds and contacting those who work at studios I would like to be involved with to interview and go over my portfolio if possible. These are people I have connected with on Linkedin or new agencies recommended by Buttercrumble in my portfolio surgery session. This is now the time to start getting in touch with these new contacts for graduate opportunities!

Applied for/contacted

Finn agency
Boohoo
Brass Digital
Robot Food
Craft Agency ad
LOVE.
Bright Carbon
Cafeteria- not successful
Skinny Dip- offered me an internship, will have to see as it is in London
Zeal - said they will keep me in mind as there are no current graduate opportunities
Propaganda- no current positions but will keep me on file
UK Greetings
Buttercrumble Creative
BGC Studios- asked me to complete a brief for consideration
charactercreative- not successful but gave me cv/portfolio pdf feedback and keeping me on file

Papergang 'Oh Deer' Competition submissions

I submitted one my own personal illustration style, and one 'trend' in my style on the graphics tablet. This was a fun submission which crosses over my design interests in making stand out pieces to bring joy to consumers wether it be through stationary boxes,campaigns, packaging or posters! This was useful practice in developing my illustration skills and expanding on mark making, which I was told was something I was stronger in whilst on placement. Understanding that for particular briefs working to a trend in this case cactuses, will be at your advantage.

Sadly I wasn't shortlisted but the feedback I got from peers and through my design instagram was very positive! Despite not winning, side projects like these allow me to design what makes me happy and keeps me engaged in designing.

Feedback from Buttercrumble portfolio surgery

Hi Hannah,

It was lovely to see you on Tuesday, hope you’re having a good week.

We’re just emailing a few notes from the meeting and some extra support.

Local Companies to Contact

Hallmark (Greetings)- looks really fun although can be restricting, but a great place to start as it is expressive

UK Greetings (Greetings)- same as above

La Redoute (Fashion)

Bon Marche (Fashion)

Nestle (Fashion)

Vast Digital (Fashion Marketing)

Brass (Marketing)

Intermarketing Agency (Marketing) - to me personally looks very dull and corporate, not exciting 

Boohoo (Fashion)

Forever Unique (Fashion)

Misguided (Fashion)

Arcadia (Leeds office)

Also try Print & Pattern for more illustrative jobs: http://printandpatternjobs.blogspot.co.uk

Look at trade shows related to your industry and approach companies speculatively. 

Approaching Companies

Sending something personal in the post is a brilliant idea and you could take this to the next level. Include something interactive in a mailer like a small gift or activity to make the recipient smile! Find specific contacts in the company through the company website and Linkedin and set reminders to follow up with them through email. A week after sending your parcel, email them to ask if they received it. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t hear back! Follow up again after a few days. We’d recommend sending three emails in total.

Use your strengths to your advantage! You have extra skillsets that will be desirable to employers such as illustration and copywriting. You also have a brilliant eye for colour and this will definitely grab people’s attention.

It was great to meet you, Hannah! We look forward to seeing what’s in-store for you! Enjoy the rest of your week.

Take care,

Buttercrumble Portfolio Surgery

During my placement I got the chance to take the morning off to go for a portfolio surgery with the twins from Buttercrumble which was a great direct opportunity to get designer and illustrators view on my work. I definetly need more of these as I don't feel truly confident in my work sometimes and know it isn't as polished as it could be, and that people are honest saying they like it but feel they don't have extreme enthusiasm which worries me.

They told me to definetly include illustrator in my title as my portfolio shows I am a graphic designer combined with an illustrator due to my illustrative crossover in my work, which makes my work distinctive they said.

They loved the colour as did the lady from UK Greetings when I quickly showed her my Behance. Comments I got from both were that in a mass amount of applicants my work would have a great chance of standing out due to the colour confidence within my portfolio.

Expressing my enjoyment of copyrighting at George Home, they suggested even marketing jobs could be a route for me. I asked them to recommend places locally I would suit applying to based on my portfolio and they emailed me feedback which I was so appreciative of!!

They told me I should definetly pursue my illustration even on the side as it can amplify my work and shows I can do more than just graphic design, as they did in their last year at university which worked out in their favour.

Careers Fair

Attending the unis careers fair my main goal was to speak to those at UK Greetings about their different jobs and processes. I asked them if there were strictly artworker jobs or it was a bit of everything like at my placement (I don't want to be just an artworker editing other people's ideas and designs) and she proceeded to tell me they had so many departments including humour copyrighting, sympathy, Disney etc.

I expressed how excited I would be to use greetings cards to bring a smile to people's faces and be different in sich a saturated card market. She said although they had no job/internship places available currently, to keep in touch and gave me her personal email which was really Good!

Oxfam and duke studios weren't for.me as I want more stability in the start of my career.

Placement Experience

My 2 week placement took place at George Home in Leeds at Asda's head office. I secured this placement through meeting the design manager at a Career Track Tuesday event at university entitled 'recruiting creative graduates' in which Clare stressed the importance of showing your unique 'handwriting through your portfolio.

I was unsure of what I would be working on and was up for any challenge given. I knew they would be working on homeware designs and this initially was an option I saw for myself. I enjoy bringing colour and positivity through design to People, so doing this through homeware made sense. I also enjoy shopping/always worked in retail and I notice trends and enjoy seeing new ones emerge to inform my practice.

They were so welcoming when I got there and informed me they had created 5 moodboard packs and colour palettes for next spring/summer 2019. They presented these packs to me and went through the styles expressed through the mood boards.

Every other day I would be briefed by a colleague to try and design either mugs, cushions, signs, patterns and have a go illustrating key trend characters as they enjoyed the illustrative element within my portfolio!

Positive feedback I got throughout was that I was a fast worker, my ideas were bang on the trend presented to me and that my illustration was what they wanted.

These were really positive comments and boosted my confidence, as well as the fact there were no qualms with my work. I would have enjoyed more constructive criticism to improve my skills but the workplace was very calm relaxed and everyone was really lovely.

Throughout this placement I realised retail design could be a route for me to pursue at the beginning of my career, but overall I would like to work on bolder design ideas as these are all very mainstream/family friendly. I still had a great time designing for their trends and the colour palettes inspired me to definetly work this colour palettes/pantones more.

This has encouraged me to keep applying for juniour/graduate positions that come up on Linkedin as I am confident I bring professionalism and focus to the job which I am known for in my retail jobs on the side of education.

I am looking to greetings cards companies due to their fun illustrative/graphic design element and I really took control with copyrighting and coming up with slogans for each trend at George Home trying to come up with brand new ones.

Also, clothing/beauty brands where I can bring my feminine design quality. Ultimately in the future it would be amazing to have my own shared studio (I enjoy working with others) when  my work gets known and commissioned as I feel my own style will grow and grow.

Seeing freelancers being commissioned at the placement was inspiring, however I enjoy working with others too much to work alone as I enjoy sharing ideas and enthusiasm and sharing skills.

The work I have done will be reviewed at meetings and if any of it is chosen I will be commissioned which I am really excited about! All over a brilliant first placement and it has eased me in gently to a design studio environment.

From this placement experience I will...
-Continue to apply for jobs with confidence
-Update my work experience on accounts such as Linkedin
-Keep in touch for possible future opportunities to work with them again
-Get in touch with other companies such as UK Greetings about internships or another placement possibly
-Have more confidence in copyrighting and illustration
-Get a pantone book to really think about colour pallettes
- I want to be part of design ideas and copyrighting process not as an artworker editing others designs etc

Self branding initial feedback and ideas

Asking others that know live with me on the course and my design style I got...
Colour- bright pinks/oranges/loud gradients
Style- Feminine, loud, vibrant, 'girl power'
Type- handwrendered, organic shapes
Interests- packaging, illustration, music posters, campaigns, positive posters/zines, fun materials

NEST Submission for 'Motion' theme

This was an experiment for one of my posters for the song 808 State- pacific state for a series of posters i'm creating for Manchester song posters.

My thought was they are having a crazy night listening to the electronic music on a bit of a mad one there are all the lights and everything is quite blurred but spinning with motion!

This extended practice brief is inspired by secret 7 but by working in poster format.

Artwork Commission

The meeting rooms/board rooms struck me in particular with the black and white colour pallette. I understand they are looking for details to enhance the space and work with the corporate atmosphere.

These are a set of 3 mark making designs that work in harmony to bring a space to life without the subject matter being too distracting in such a corporate environment.
I got the inspiration from my placement to experiment more with mark making and not always using bright colours, and the result was really interesting to me and allowed me to experiment and learn more about different brushes available with adobe and control over mark making on my Wacom tablet. I got a lot of feedback also which was that markmaking is one of my strong points so I will consider this for future. This also prompted me to go for it entering this competition!