Summer Graphic Design Visits

Part of summer project (optional?) was to go and meet a designer or a design agency, ask them to comment and critique our portfolios, and ask them general questions about being a graphic designer.

Earlier on in the holiday, I arranged a meeting with an old friend of the family called Rob Jones, who owns a small, one-man firm in the town called Whittlesey called 'The Creative Workshop', which is a small drive away from my home town. I had a meeting with him, in which I took along my updated (with selected pieces of uni work) portfolio I used used a year ago to get into university with, along several of my preferred sketchbooks. He said that, though some bits could be changed, he liked the style of my work and my way of working, and he told me that the work I would be producing for a real-life client would be nothing like the work I have to do for a uni brief, namely the work is nowhere near as colourful, clear or easy..It's easier to complete and follow a brief than it is to follow a client's specific requests. We left the meeting with him saying that, if he could, he would give me some work to do over the holidays. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he never managed to get back in touch with me. Despite this, I am grateful that I managed to meet him.

One of my nan's neighbour's son-in-law is a Graphic Designer in Peterborough. His name is Tim Lloyd, and he owns a company called 'Lloyd Design'. I had emailed him and asked if I could arrange a meeting with him, to which he agreed. He said that he may not be able to remain in the interview the whole time, due to other projects he was taking on, so it would have to be quick. In reality, the drive down there would of taken longer than the actual interview itself. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet him due to the fact that I could not get to the meeting. I apologised to him, and thanked him for his time.

Finally, I had a interview with a small design agency ion my hometown of March. The firm is called 'Finedesign'. I met the manager of the firm, called Mark Squires, and had a very friendly chat and interview with him. Again, same as Rob's interview, I took my portfolio and a variety of sketchbooks. He liked my work, though he said some of it was quite dark, and he told me that what they do is more bright pieces, in which they use their own photography whilst getting stuck not only into the design but alos the products they are designing for. The also offered me some work experience, but due to other reasons, they were unable to get back into contact with me and offer me further knowledge and insight into being a professional designer.

On the whole, the summer was quite disappointing. I was hoping for some work experience and atleast getting into a real world design brief. Biut unfortunately that's the way it goes sometimes. And it won't stop me now. It's been good getting advise and seeing what could be done differently. You can only go from strength to strength in design, and I own't allow anything to get me down for too long. Bring on tomorrow because it will always have something new to offer.