Studio Visit — Joel Baker

Over Easter I got in contact with a few people I knew who graduated from Chelsea last year. The first of which was Joel who was really helpful and explained a lot of things that have made me more confident in graduating next year.

Issues we discussed
— My current portfolio, strengths / weaknesses
— Applying for jobs
— Working freelance 3 days a week and 2 days in a studio
— Represent Agency
— Contacting Studios / Mailouts
— What other people he knew had covered
— Current projects
— Branding! —> Needs to be something you can give to the brand that they own

Visit to ~ Dave Towers (Rapier)

Rapier is a creative advertising and branding agency located a few miniutes away from Waterloo station. Dave Towers is their head designer at Rapier who I was introduced to through Johnny Watter's (thank you John for the initial introduction).
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The main questions I asked Dave were based around the role of a head designer and how designers integrate in a creative advertising agency. He told me it was hard work getting involved in the ideas process at an advertising agency and often designers were there simply to visualise the advertisers ideas through scamps etc.
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He also talked me through his 'Dave on the Dole' project he did when finishing his degree to network and hopefully get a job. A lovely idea and something to consider when expanding my connections to the industry. He said a bit of print should never go a miss, as emails and phone calls can often lead to dead ends and show a lack of creativity.
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We also had a general discussion on type and what I wanted to do when I finish my degree, as well as discussing the London Underground typeface - a massive help for my dissertation research and he said he would be happy to give me a few quotes.
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Other bits of advice were - spend as much time in the library/ reading as possible, meet as many people as you can, work your arse off and always enjoy what you do!

A few samples of Dave's work ~ Source

Qubik Visit

Took a last minute visit to see Joe before the presentations at the start of summer, and he talked me and Oli through some of his recent work. Really worthwhile visit and enjoyed speaking with him, someone I hope to stay in contact with!

Notes
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Doesn't compromise his own work, shows a lot of integrity
Self taught with typography
Does lots of personal projects
Creates masses of ideas, shows a select few to clients
Big list of typefaces
Works from home
Potential placement a few days to a week
Would like to be in Joes situation after working in a small studio for a while

A few samlples of Joe's Work ~ Source

Bread Collective

Bread collective is built up of four different creatives working in two different studios in London. They all work freelance and different jobs are distributed amongst them based on their specific skill sets. They also work on projects with their local communities.
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My first visit was to see Victoria & Owen in Hackney, to speak to them about what they do and how the studio operates.
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As they are both relatively young I felt it was appropriate to speak to them about what they have done since leaving university and what advice they have to offer. The main pieces of advice that they gave me was be proactive, work hard and enjoy it. They also taught me the importance of taking advantage of non design opportunities, Owen worked at a clothing shop during his degree and through speaking to the right people ended up producing t shirt designs and eventually becoming a full time designer for the brand.
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The work the studio produces ranges from big and small clients and I feel it would definitely be somewhere I would be very happy working. I found it easy speaking to them both and they said they would be very happy for me to come and get involved in a few projects before the end of summer and when I finish my degree.

A few samples of their work ~ Source

Give Up Art

Give Up art has been a studio I have admired for a long time, initially because of its links with the music industry, but also because of its bold use of colour and minimal design it has been a large influence on my own practice.
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The studio consists of him and his wife who covers the accounting, and he shares the studio with other designers and illustrators from different backgrounds and practices. Before he started up GiveUpArt he was working on a magazine and only did the odd project for music producers and labels.
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The first area of discussion was the role of an art director, something I knew little about but have always been intrigued to know more about. He explained the role he plays as an art director and how he draws together the links between different creatives to create projects for different clients. Explaining the importance of making strong connections with photographers and other creatives and the positive effect this will have to the process of art direction.
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Next we discussed creative freedom within briefs and finding a balance between earning a living and creative satisfaction. The design he created for the early Tempa recordings and Skream album he said he was only paid around £20 and given some free vinyls, but created a piece of work that was substantially beneficial for the studios portfolio. This lead onto an extended conversation on music in general, always a good sign!
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Finally we spoke about internships and coming into the studio, he said he would be happy to have me in and that I should email him with a more up to date portfolio closer to graduation or maybe over a break in my final year. It would consist of two weeks unpaid and paid from then on depending how the two weeks go. He also said it would be better to wait for a brief I could get  a bit more involved in.

A few samples of GiveUpArts Work ~ Source

Dave Towers

One of the designers that I spoke too over the summer break was Dave Towers, the head of design at Rapier a huge advertising firm in Waterloo. He was telling me about his method of promoting himself after finishing his degree and it sparked a couple of ideas of my own!

"This was my self promotion magazine when I left art college. Created on an old 3 colour photocopier (red toner, blue toner and black toner - artwork masked off by hand and passed through the machine 3 times). It was printed onto brown paper bags, P45s, old billboard papers, forms from the Job Centre or just about any used paper I could get through the manual feed tray.
It documented my "quest" to gain employment."

I was planning on doing some promotion advertising free labour for a week, as a way to get into studios and gain some experience during my final year. One of Dave's main pieces of advice was to network as much as possible so this may be a good route to take!

Initially I thought about doing something to exploit my layout skills but I after my feedback session with Fred last year being more conceptual is above all my main aim for the year!

Check out some more of Dave's work here