Reflecting on My Presentations

 Over the past three years on this course I have had to present about myself and what I have done over the year.

My style of presentation has grown and my confidence has changed dramatically








In my first presentation I was really nervous but after I finished I received great feedback. I made me feel so confident about my presenting skills that after this point the more I presented the better I got and now I feel that presenting is one of my strong points.

In this blog post I am exploring all of my presentations to see what has changed and developed to reflect on myself.

The clear slides was my level 4 presentation, my level 5 is purple and level 6 is blue.






One thing that really changed was me putting myself online. I have many more platforms then I used to and instead of being stubborn and ignoring them I have pushed myself to explore new platforms, connect with people and post more often. My branding and tone of voice is also more consistent throughout.

Going to different places and talking to people has also been a theme over the past three years. That is something that has not changed about me. My willingness to learn and the love of being around people I find interesting.

In my first presentation I talked about how before University I went to do a placement at 72&sunny and how beneficial it was to me. Now in my final presentation I talked about going back to Amsterdam to go back to 72&sunny were I got to see how they had changed but also show how much I had grown in confidence and skills since they last saw me.

In my second presentation I talked about how I was going to America in the summer.

In my final presentation I talked about how I made an impact at the camp and bargained my way to going back again this summer to do a paid placement in the creative team.

My presentations have all got links but show a clear journey of my interests, confidence and where I aim to be. Even with all of the stress and nerves I always end the presentation being confident and proud that my voice has been heard and I have been able to share my journey with others in a successful way. In the future after uni a personal goal of mine is to be able to other presentations to a bigger crowd making me more confident and sharing my stories.

Looking for agencies

After my placement in September I am moving to the midlands area, I want to look at possible studios I could be interested in working at.

Littlefish

Littlefish Creative, based in Leamington Spa, is passionate about graphic design, web design, brand  design, illustration and anything else creative. Their biggest strengths lie in logo design and branding for everyone from major players to start-up businesses.

The do Brand Identity, Print and Web design for many clients.

Ghostds

Although the disciplines we cover are varied, one thing that is consistent throughout is their belief in building strong and lasting partnerships with our clients. Sounds simple and obvious They know, but doing it properly isn’t easy. This is why we invest time and effort to make sure we really do understand your products, customers and markets.

I like that there is variety within the work and that it is a smaller company.

Mustard Design

They describe themselves as Creative and cost-effective, strategic and experienced, analytical and intuitive. Located in Stratford upon Avon this studio does many areas of design and show many big clients.

I like the look of this company as it looks professional and shows a clear way of how they work.

I want to apply for a job once I have finished my placement over summer as I want to spend time researching and making sure these places are the right fit for me. I can also make connections on linked in and keep building my portfolio to show to these places.

Talk by Abbie Meakes Graduate.

Abbie came to talk to us about what she has been doing after being left the course for two years and share some advice.

• She began with telling us that is is important to make your portfolio different giving it an edge. 
• Don't be worried about finding a job straight away, give yourself breathing space between graduation and a full time job
• Show that experience could be competitions

Her first job was at the UYR in Leeds but she didn't feel it was her type of job, she gave us some advice on what you should look for in a job to make sure it is what you want.

• Look at the vibe and culture
• Look at the turn around time
• Are people there progressing

What could you ask at an interview

• Is there progression opportunities 
• Is there collaboration

You could use recruitment agencies such as Craft, Type and Book.

She now works at 'We are Vista' which does events/designs for big clients and she is a lot happier there. She states that even working with a big group of people you still get your work out there and the longer you work there the more work you can get involved in.

Her main advice that I felt was beneficial was Don't rush into anything!

Creating an Online Presence

How I am presenting myself online.

Linked In - I am trying to gain as many connections as I can so that I can talk to others and communicate easier, this also promotes my website.

Instagram- I think it is important to have a separate design account so that I can post more regularly my design work with a less serious tone and also show people what inspires me and what I've been up to! This also promotes my website.

My Website - My website is the main thing I send people to as it shows my best projects in detail in an easy layout as well as showing about me and videos. 

Online I try to be consistent with my colour schemes and profile pictures making it noticeable the link together. Having this online presence means that it is easier for people to contact me and see my work.

Its Nice That (Inspiration)

Its Nice That posted this article which I just loved. Apple has began creating emojis to represent those with disabilities. This is the sort of creativity I love as it makes a positive impact on peoples lives making them feel more included and represented spreading overall positivity. I took inspiration from this In one of my briefs but also just in my day to day design when thinking of audiences and how to make everyone feel included.

Visiting Professionals in Amsterdam

As a part of a collaboration with two other Graphic Designers as a collective we wanted to challenge ourselves to talk to people and network before we leave university and form a collection. Me, Thea and Joe are all passionate about Print and want to talk to professionals who have made it in the industry to find out their opinions on print.

Together we organised a trip to Amsterdam were we would visit design museums and talk to as many creatives as possible and overall our experience was positive.

Here is a brief description of the trip without giving any of the interview content away as that is for another brief.

Thomas Gravemaker

Thomas is experienced in letterpress and graphic design. He has worked for many publishers in numerous places. He works on book and exhibition design, catalogues and publicity material. He is very passionate about letterpress and was happy to let us interview him and gain some of his knowledge. He gave us a tour of his workshop showing us his most special type and current works giving us some samples to take home!

He is described on his website as:

"Thomas teaches the craft with precision, craftsmanship and enthusiasm!"  

And after meeting him I completely agree. One thing that I loved most about meeting him was when he noticed me admiring his shelf of Penguin Books, he could see I was a fan and showed me some of his collection telling me about how he came to own them all. 

Overall Thomas was an great creative to meet as he was so friendly and warm answering all of our questions. He told us many things that he had learnt throughout his many years and shared his passion. He said his doors are always open if we wish to return.

Grafisch Werk Centrum Amsterdam (GWA)

We visited GWA to interview one of the women who worked there but was also able to interview a man who is an architect at the same time. They were very lovely letting us look at everything in there workshop and take pictures. They also allowed us to use there workshop to create something ourselves.

We decided to use the wooden type as we have never had a good selection of that to use before. They helped us use there materials and machines and gave us everything we needed for free.

It was a very good experience, they were very nice as they answered all of out questions and laughed with us when we discussed our collectives name! They also told us about special workshops they have and how they encourage people to come and use their facilities as

'Its all about spreading knowledge and keep the beautiful craftsmanship alive'

72&Sunny

I was the person who organised the 72&Sunny visit. This was because I did a placement with them back a few weeks before I came to Leeds. As I have kept in touch and sent her one of my little contact books Wendy Dupart said we could come and interview some of the people who work in the studio! 

72&Sunny are a big company who work for big clients, back went I did a placement a few years ago there were maybe 50 people working there, since then there are now over 100. They also have offices in New York, LA, Singapore and Sydney. 

We got a tour around the office however we were unable to take many images as the environment includes lots of current work that could not be seen. We were able to interview many people with all different jobs within the company, this was really interesting because they had different perspectives and also were from different places and cultures. 

They were all very friendly but it was also a very different environment to the workshops we had visited as this studio was very fast paced with many people coming and going.

Overall I was very happy to visit Wendy again and to be able to show her personally how far I had come since meeting her before I came to university!

Other
Also in the trip we visited the Stelijki Museum were we were able to look at works by famous artists and designers. It was very interesting to see how dutch design was different to other.

Overall I was very happy that the three of us organised a trip that was very influential to our practice and gained us connections in another country with great facilities!

Excitement about my placement

What I am looking forward to within my placement!

• I am looking forward to designing for an audience in a different country and working alongside people from all different places and cultures
• I am excited to learn from others who have done this job for years and also to put my own style to it
• I am looking forward to using my skills to complete my role in a professional setting
• I am very happy to be doing this design for such a great cause and wide audience

Overall this summer will be a very good experience for me professionally. I will have to do preparation before I go and create ideas to show my team before I arrive.

I was unable to do this placement before summer as It is 2 and a half months ling which would have interfered with my degree work and also the placement is only available during summer.

A summer Placement

This is the story of how I got my summer placement!

When we were told we needed a placement I knew I wanted to do one that was paid and also that was a lot of time.

I have worked for Easterseals before but not as a creative. I showed my skills as a creative while I was there last summer in hopes of being acknowledged as having a creative job in the future.

I had a 30 minute Skype call with Devin Laming, I discussed why I felt right to be in there creative team and what skills I could bring to them. This is what he said he was looking for.

• To do  photography, this means making sure all campers pictures are taken during numerous activities. 
• To design the memory book which will feature all of the campers and show what they have done while at camp, this will be bought by parents and families.
• To create promotional videos for the camp Youtube Channel
• Other creative tasks that may need solving

The camp are needing a team of people to do this and I applied to be part of it. We will work alongside a mentor who has previously done these jobs.

After the interview I sent Devin emails showing him my website and previous work, he was very pleased and felt I would work best doing memory book and video creation this summer!

This is my contract is shows that I will be working at the Camp in California from June - August with my official role and title as YearBook and News editor Co-ordinator. This means I will have a quite high role within my design team! 

Creative Convos Week!

Day 1
Dines from Studio Blup visited us to tell us a little but about how he got where he was today! Here is some things that stuck in my mind about what he said,

Commit first - figure out later
Be prepared
Know your Goals
Offer your work to people

He was also very kind to listen to everyones Ideas, I talked to him about me raising awareness on how to communicate with people who have disabilities he really liked the idea and gave me some feedback that I should talk to people and gain as much knowledge about the subject as possible!

Overall I was very impressed with his clients and found him very friendly and relatable. He gave us all time to talk to him and great, positive feedback.

Day 2
Rose Nordin from Rabbits Road Press did a presentation on publishing and art funds, this is what stood out to me within her talk,

Talking to people will open doors
apply for art funds and Artists residencies as they will
help you travel.

She did a Lexicon Zine activity with us were everyone created a page in the zine by collage. My word I created was Book using shapes and cut outs from magazines. By the end we had two zines created by 60 different people!

Overall Rose taught me about what artists residencies were and how zines can help you in your career.

Day 3
Eve Warren and Chris Shuttleworth from Robot food come to do a talk about there path from graduation to robot food.
This is what stood out to me

Create Memorable designs with unique selling points
Fill the gap in the market with something unique
Be aware of the environment

They then told us about a project they did as some time off in Robot Food which was the Design Sprint. They were split into teams and given something to redesign within 5 working days.

Overall I found these two very interesting seeing how they all work together as a team and how they did the design sprint as a break but also a friendly competition. It has shown me that it is important to think outside of the box and be different.

Day 4
Shannie Mears and Will de Groom from the elephant room come to tell us about there journeys and this is what stood out to me

How important it is to represent culture
Create a role that is right for you show what you are good at 
Connect and collaborate with all types of people
Be memorable
Do not undervalue your worth

Overall they were very friendly and approachable people I felt they were very good at advice and helped us see the bigger picture and how we have to be ourselves and work with others.

 Day 5
Abraham Asefaw from The pop up agency came to tell us a little but about his journey and projects, this is what stood out to me

Don't forget the business side of things
Try all ideas 
Have clear goals that you can revisit.

He then did an activity with us where we in groups came up with an idea and promoted it using 140 characters and emoji sentence. The funny thing about this task was that all of the groups concepts related to creatives. 

Overall Abraham was a great way to finish off the week, he was a very interesting man and it was amazing to see his business idea and how much money he was able to earn from his time. He was very passionate and gave us advice in moving forward!


Overall I was very happy that I attended this week as I learned a lot for all different creatives, I especially liked the hands on aspects of some of the talks and how we were all able to ask questions and talk freely. This was a very well put together week and it would be nice to do more things like this!

Creating a Website

For my website I wanted to use the branding I came up with and make it consistent. I placed my logo on the site along with my red and blue colour scheme. After feedback from Alec I decided that my website would be clear and consistent but with a little bit of mystery!

The titles and images of the projects show small parts but don't explain what they are therefore to understand what the project is you need to click on it to find out more. I am only putting the projects on the website that I feel most proud of and resemble me most as a designer.

I also have other sections like About Me which tells the audience about myself. I think this is an important statement to have as it will put forward my personality and let people see what I am interested in. I want to seem approachable and positive.

I also have a section on my website that is for videos, because that is something I enjoy doing and want to promote more as I haven't had much opportunity to do it. 

Overall I am pleased with my website design as it shows my work and personality and lets people be able to contact me easily.

Little Book Success

After sending away my little contact book to a women who works at 72&Sunny in Amsterdam she replied. The idea for sending this was for project which involves me and two others travelling to Amsterdam to meet many creatives and interview them about Print. Due to my contact book Wendy agreed we could come and meet her! 

An overall Success!