Day one
Didn't get told to bring my mac so had to go fetch it... good start haha. They admitted it was on their shoulders but no point chucking the blame about. Anyway 2 buses later i sat down to work!
Richard and Adam are really nice guys and great to work with. They are laid back but still work hard. That seems to make no sense but it does to me!
In the morning i designed a postcard and then Pdf the 3 ideas i liked which will get sent to the client.
Developing a spread of people the studio can contact to introduce themselves and drum up business and clients. I will then contact these people and send out a promotional package from the studio to the potential client.
In between great tips and pointers, i started work on a 20 pg Brochure. Hard to start from scratch but i made a bit of progress. The client hasn't quite decided what they want yet so couldnt get a feel for the brochure yet but i learnt things i didnt know for my future practice.
So far from day one i can tell this experience will help because i am learning little things that will help my design practice develop and my ability to work faster.
For example keyboard shortcuts... apparently i have a test at the end of my work experience.
Ollie Shaw was there before me and they showed the task he got set for this, n i got bit scared cos he learnt shit loads of short cuts! my only defense if i don't live up to Ollie is that he had more weeks than me! :D
Anyway first day, pretty good, cheers SBT.
New day, I continued to work on the brochure in the morning but the client still hadn't got back to us on what they wanted. So i completed it to the bet i could and then Richard gave me another brief.
This was a past brief for a leaflet, 'Mind the gap' premiere. i worked on some illustration, but my final design i wasn't pleased with.
Anyway i also got a screen yorkshire poster to design which was definitely more up my street, using the good old Helvetica, (i didn't have a choice) I came up with a variety of layouts and was pleased with one in particular.
Throughout the day Richard and Adam were giving me pointers to improve my design practice and skills, usually small tips but they make a hell of difference! I enjoyed discussing my ideas with them and when they had designs but just were stuck on how to resolve problems, (usually caused by the client wanting something that just looked poop!) asked for my input. It was nice to work in a small studio where ideas could quickly bounce around of each other and get involved in what each of us were working on.
Another day in the studio!
Spent the morning doing the wonderful job of gathering companies to send SBT's samples off to. It was a bit more than just picking random ones out of google. I had to look into the companies to see if they would fit in with the sorts of work SBT design and best way to do that was to see if they could relate to previous jobs done for other clients.
Well that was all fun but i was glad to get back onto some design work. I started a brief that had already been sent to print, Ollie had managed to get that one! never the less it was my favorite brief to work on, was three poster for the National Blood Service. When i had completed the designs and shown Richard his feedback was extremely positive! He showed me what Ollie had done after and said if we had sent both to the client they probably would have chosen mine. Bit late now though! I did like Ollie's to be honest so all is good.
As well as working on the briefs i also got to watch over the designers shoulders, it was good to see how they set up work to be sent for print and the little things that make the studio work like putting together invoices and quotes etc.
I did get to work on another live brief in my week at SBT. It was a leaflet to be sent by email for Hallmark Hotels. I worked on it along-side Richard and sent him the design i was most pleased with to be sent to the client.
My week was up by now. I had, had fun. They took all my work to keep and if any of it gets used they will contact me.
I will be staying in contact with them anyway as i hope to go back around Easter, where in a brief discussion with Richard i could work on my portfolio with them too!
Thanks to Adam and Richard for a great start to my design experience :D
Happy times!
