Russell Hancock- Graphic Design and the dotted line...

Russell Hancock came to talk to us about his experiences of being a freelance graphic designer after he graduated in 2006. Leaving university, Russell set up 'SOUP' which was a collaborative group who registered as self-employed. Having very little money the group worked for free to try and get established, however as Russel put it, they got 'shafted' as their first illustration he created got totally manipulated by 'Swell Music.' There were no terms and conditions in place and as the work was done for free they just had to let this one go.

The main point of the lecture was for Russell to give us some pointers in what to do and look out for within the industry:

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  Get money and signatures upfront
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  Getting people to pay for design isn't always easy
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  Be sure but be aware of your opinions
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  Assess free work carefully
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  Act professional and be treated professional
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  Ask your mum, i.e think about your design audience
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  Remember people and be remembered
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  Sometimes clients are bad
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  You need good interwebz
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  Become organised
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  Get out and socialise

All of these points are such important things to consider and Russell gave us prime examples to back these up which made us completely more aware that it happens. We also learnt how to 'price' ourselves in terms if freelance rates, Russell very kindly provided us with a set of documents including terms and conditions, fee proposal's, invoices and a cover letter which we can utilise if the opportunity ever occurs.

As well as talking to us about the above, we learnt of Russell's development within the freelance world. Most interesting was the take over of the art noveau 'Regal' cinema in his home town of Evesham. We were told of the rundown cinema owned by someone who wanted to let it rot in order to build flats on the land, Russell created a series of images which were to be used as simple decoration on the outside of the building. The work was declined, and Russell took the campaign  further by creating a very unique petition. To cut a long story short, he managed to raise enough signatures, the cinema has now been taken over and Russell is being involved in the entire refurbishment and re-branding of the cinema. Such a brilliant opportunity has come of this initially small, low budget campaign and it just goes to show if you want something really badly you will achieve it with hard work and determination.

A really fantastic lecture- similar to the 12in12 talk given by Craig Oldham there were many useful points to consider when we finally graduate in July. I felt reassured to learn that everyone faces difficulties and feel it is important for us to be shown the 'harsh realities' of the design industry. I relish at the idea of having my own company, so I found it a very insightful lecture and one which I am keen to take inspiration from for setting up on my own, finger's crossed that one day I will be able to make a successful career like Russell has done.

Some images from is campaign:

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Helen Murgatroyd

Another graduate of MMU, Helen Murgatroyd paid us a visit to show us her illustrations and drawings. She is now studying for an MA at the Royal Collage of Art. I wasn't overly keen on some of the current work which Helen showed us, but after having a nosey at her online portfolio there were a few things including some commercial commissions which caught my eye.

I remember way back when I began studying D&AD, we were shown a piece of Helen's 'mapping' work and it has been shown to us every year ever since. The 'Food Preperation Map's,' have been a point of research simply for the style and the final execution of the pieces which are just lovely. Attention to detail has been to every part, and I just love the chosen colour scheme and stock in which they have been printed on.

I have enjoyed the majority of the visiting lecturers we have had, especially because I think they have illustrated the 'less digital' aspect of design. Helen talked about how and why she had made her own drawing implimants, and looking at the final pieces there is such a personal elemant to them. I felt rather inspired after Helen's lecture, it was given very naturally, which almost put me at ease with the course (even if it was only for 5 minutes!!)

Below are some more examples of he work:

menu for 'cup'

Hand-made power point

'Ascension' T-shirts

Hamish Muir

The first lecture of December was kicked off by Hamish Muir. A throughly enjoyable lecture as we actually learnt a little bit about Muir, we learnt his places of study, his initial thoughts on art and design and went onto see the development in his work over many years in the industry.

After breaking graduating from a postgraduate course at Basel School of Design in 1981, Muir ventured back to England. Later on in 1985 he met fellow designers Mark Holt and Simon Johnston, who like Muir had influences of working within the design industry outside of the U.K, the 3 of them went onto to form 8VO.

It was the first part of the lecture which I enjoyed the most. The majority of the group's early work was collage and hand drawn type which was then photographed...this all happened long before the introduction of computers and mac's into graphic design. Seeing the earlier work by Muir had definitely helped me a resassure myself and my practice, it was invaluable to see how handmade work had such a prominent place in the design industry and hopefully still does. Below are some images of Hamish's work for the Hacienda and Factory records, which was produced as part of the 8VO group.

Taken from http://www.hamishmuir.com/

YCN

Last week during our Tuesday lecture slot, we were briefed with a series of competition briefs. Some of which were taken from the new YCN book so Alex from the agency came in to have a chat with us. YCN began as a student award foundation and each year they publish a book which is full of winners/commendations from the previous year's briefs and a selections of new ones from vast aray of companies. The first ever brief was sponsered by Ben and Jerry's which paved way for companies such as Google, Sainsbury's, Orange, BBC2 and Sky to name just a few. 

It was very interesting to see how the company has since developed and the introduction of A is for Awards campaign. Pictured above the new award will be presented periodically to emerging talent in the art and design industry. A similar, smaller verison in white will also be awarded to those commended in the live student briefs.

I didn't really absorb much information during this lecture (I began to day-dream) but one point which Alex made has stuck with me was 'Think about your studio practice when answering the briefs.' It wasn't until this final year which I have begun to do this and I think it's a sound piece of advice as there is definitely no point what-so-ever doing something you just cannot do and failing. This is something I am going to focus and improve upon, by concentrating on my strengths I think any potential I have will be more evident within my work. I am really looking forward now to answering the Fedrigoni Paper Promotion brief- as I quite like paper, I think I might have mentioned that fact before!

Libby Scarlett

A little bit of a late post...but I thought it was something I had blogged. Libby Scarlett is a former student who came in to talk to us 3rd years about how she survived her final year. The main point of the lecture was a look at journals and what to include, with a strong emphasis on us recording everything we do as we go along. (and I'm really trying hard to do this and keep up with the year!) Libby's journal had a really beautiful aesthetic and was so well executed, something I would like to replicate with my final journal.

I really liked the idea of the postcards in the box, a much nicer idea than the standard file format I usually use! We are frequently being told, that it's the content rather than the appearance of the journal which is most important and the method and language we use to contextualise the past year. But surely theres something wrong with making something look pretty...

Libby's lecture was a great inspiration especially with regards to dealing with the final year and the journals. I also really enjoyed seeing how she developed her blog and website, it has clearly helped her self-promotion Libby also reassured us that keeping the blog is definitley the way forward to mapping out thoughts, feeings ideas etc based around this final year!

"People really like it when you send them something nice..."

Graham Jones- Self Promotion  

Today has been such a long day- found myself sat in the studio at 9am!! Although I was sat there for a while I didn't seem to make much progress hence why I am still working now. Anyway in the afternoon Graham came to talk to us about self-promotion, "self-promotion is one aspect of graphic design which cannot be taught." I really enjoyed this lecture, self-promotion is basically all about marketing yourself within the industry and getting yourself noticed. It seems a little daunting at first but rather exciting regarding the routes good self-promotion can take you down. Graham began by discussing the primary tools of communication needed within the industry, which include an identity, a portfolio, a website and printed literature. Graham then talked about the early stages of his career at VIA before going freelance about 5 years ago. I tried to take some pictures of the identity for VIA but they turned out really blurred. So after discussing the basic points of self promotion we had a look at Grahams work including his identity and the typographic work he produces for many clients. Below are his buisness cards, printed on a variety of stock as clients tend to like something they can see and also touch. I need to think TACTILE!

"Finding clients will be the main battle of your whole career: not only to find clients to start you going, but constantly finding clients to keep you going" It was made very clear to us that attention to detail is very important, Graham's work above is a very good example if this choosing the correct stock to print on, a personal touch to the design and even the odd gifts you could send out to people because "People really like it when you send them something nice." It's very important for us to get established within the industry very early on in our career, to catch clients attention and maintain it further into our career to keep getting jobs. "You have to tell your clients that you are available and willing for more work."

Graham gave a very inspirational lecture, it all seemed a little daunting at first and I must admit I am still felling rather nervous towards the subject of self-promotion and making myself known to complete strangers. I know though its something I have to do and a fear I must overcome in order to become established. Graham made it clear to us each individual point we had to consider when creating our own identites and was definitely really helpful, and a nice break from the ever ongoing silence brief! He rounded off the lecture by showing us some of the work he has done such as logos and the work done for his freelance group 'LooseCollective.' Here are some images of his work

"Always Make Tea"

So on Tuesday afternoon we were introduced to Nicola Rowlands. One of last years first degree graduates (or however you would say it.) Nicola talked about placements, her journal, her life after D&AD and gave us some general top tips to make 3rd year that little bit easier.

*Be nice to your teachers
*Be confident
*Be genuine
*Go out on a limb - but don't be too wacky
*Get your work out there
*Don't put all of your eggs in one basket- Keep an open mind
*Don't blend in
*Be aware - watch TV, read the newspaper
*Be yourself and not someone else
*Keep in touch
*Always make tea

I really enjoyed her light hearted approach to the lecture, there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel and for a slight moment 3rd year seemed to be not that scary. I have looked at her website and blog (see link) and they are amazing! The blog is jam packed and totally up to date...something which I am working on, I would love to be that organised :) ah well! Nicola's work is brilliant, I loved her hand drawn techniques and all the different elements within her designs. Her creative style is so individual and really reflected in her lovely personality, all of Nicola's hard work has definitely paid off and can be considered to be an creative inspiration for us D&AD'ers!

"It's just hippy nonsense..."

Johnny Hardstaff Lecture

On Tuesday we were introduced to the world of commercials by Johnny Hardstaff, a renowned director in the field! He began the lecture talking about the start of his career and his lack of software skills in the beginning, which immediately reassured my anxiety of being a little scared of the majority of the software we use on this course!! I was deeply enthralled by the number of tiny images and doodles which filled the pages in his sketchbook, he told us when he graduated he, "didn't know what to do-so sat and doodled."

I am not a huge fan of moving image and other digital work and I wasn't really familiar with much of his work, but by the time the lecture had ended,I felt much more comfortable within my own practice as I saw what having very little software skills has led to for Johnny within the industry. Overall a very enjoyable, interesting and thought provoking lecture!!
work for sony: