Glug- How to use your noodle to stop eating pot noodle

Today I attended my first Glug event which took place at University. Glug consists of several creative professionals coming in to talk about their career, how they made it in the design world and tips for young creatives or anyone looking to start a creative career.

I found the overall evening useful as it reminded me of things that I need to know as a designer in terms making a career out of my passion, it was also useful to see how different creatives approached the creative world in their own way to suit them and their design practice.

A lot of the things mentioned by the creatives I already knew but it was good to be reminded of some things, especially moving into third year and getting close to graduating.

Notes from Glug event:

Hashtag of the event: #passion2paychecks

The Glug rules:

1. Booze=good

2. Celebrate the new

3. Notworking is fun

4. Something will fuck up

1. Bobbi Rae- @bearcubs

Illustrator, designer, artist

• When working with someone else, you need to compromise with ideas and be open
• Client rate should go off cost of materials and how much time you have spent
• Your time as a designer is worth a lot
• Putting contracts in place when working for a client is very important in terms of getting paid and whether your work is used and credited
• Contracts can be a super simple document

It was great to see actually see Bobbi talk about her design practice as I was already following her on Instagram before the event as I love her work:

2. Steve Clarkson- Found Fiction

Creative writer

• Started leaving their stories in envelopes everywhere out and about, eventually the stories started getting reposted and more people wanted to submit their stories to Found Fiction. 
• Found Fiction eventually became worldwide- just by these envelopes! 
• Later on they received funding from Leeds Inspired which they used to put on more events and get themselves out there as much as possible

Found Fiction website homepage

3. Martin Farrar-Smith- @eighty_ten

Designer, copywriter, brand strategy 

• The worlds first global small agency (eighty_ten)
• Building brands that change the world (Samsung, WWF, Brewdog and craft beer)
• What he's learnt over the past 15 years: find a hero, don't be a dickhead, trust your fucking gut, get second opinions, working from home is great but it's not for everyone, make it personal but don't take it personally when you get critiqued, get writing and social media is a tool not a weapon.
• Make time for yourself and keep inspired
• Useful design resources: 99u (which I already love), Brand new, BP&O, Site Inspire, Forge- a medium publiction

4. Jordan Yates- @jygraphicdesign

Designer, illustrator, animator

Expectations vs Reality...

1. Creativity

Expectations: Creativity just happens

Reality: It brews and takes time

2. Burnout

Expectations: it's fine to burnout, it's okay

Reality: It's shit, sometimes you just need to take a break and do something else, go for a walk, make some food, see a friend!

3. Confidence

Expectations: You feel amazing and better than everyone else

Reality: We as creatives need to support each other

• Don't follow other peoples expectations, follow your own reality

Cohorted Placement- Update

During my time at Cohorted, I feel like I have gotten a real taste of what working in a studio is like (even though every studio will be different) I feel like I have really enjoyed working in a studio environment and it is very suited to me. 

As my time at Cohorted has begun to come to and end as my original plan was to leave in September before university starts again (before my actual contract with them ends in November), I felt like it was important to let my manager know now and have a quick chat with him.

The chat with Anthony was very quick and brief as it was quite a busy day but the main things that he mentioned was that it would be a shame for them to lose me as one of their designers completely and that the company can work around my uni schedule and do half days for example.

This chat got me thinking about several different things, which is why I felt like I needed a follow up phone call and chat with Anthony in order to get some answers.

Things to mention and ask:

• Would I be able to do a couple hours a week even? What would be the minimum per week...Since I’ll have uni deadlines some weeks etc
• Need to mention to him that I’ll be in uni at least 3/4 days a week and at least 4 close to deadline
• Would this just be until November when my contact ends?...If he says I could carry on afterwards then ask whether it will still be an unpaid internship or will it be a paid job properly working for them from then onwards 

UPDATE

This morning I arranged a phone call with Anthony to go over some questions and thoughts that I had.Notes made from phone call:

• Anthony said the opportunity is there to start working full time and paid for them after university

• They can work around my uni schedule and be as flexible as needed- I told him Wednesdays would be the only definite day off weekly and he said I can do half days etc

• He also mentioned that they need me as much as I need them, as the company is growing bigger

• They wouldn’t wanna lose me completely and said he wants to introduce me to more of the design content for the brand moving further, as the quality of my work is good.

• Anthony mentioned that I have the opportunity to start adding more of my own creativity into the design content for Cohorted- as I now know all the basics, rules, and aesthetics that Cohorted use for their branding. Moving forward I will be focusing more on design for print (booklets and packaging) as most of the work I've done so far is design for screen.

I was really happy to hear that they want me to continue working for them as a paid job after graduation as I feel that my biggest worry for after graduation was struggling to find a design related job in a studio, so its a massive relief that I have something secured. But I will of course still keep my options open for other jobs and freelance work.

I spoke to family and friends about this and they all agreed that I should keep this placement throughout university where I can if it means I have secured a job for straight after graduation. Also, third year of university is still my biggest priority so it is convenient that they can be flexible with my uni timetable.


Furthermore, the contract for my unpaid internship is till November, so at some point when I have my next chat with Anthony and ask whether I would start getting paid after that as I think that is fair.

A selection of the work I have done over the past month:

Some examples of my work used across socials over the past month:

Cohorted Placement- June/July

Over the past month at my placement with Cohorted, I have learnt a lot more than I initially thought I would and have also discovered a lot about myself as a designer and what I want to achieve.

At the placement my main role is to work on the social collateral for each months products, beauty boxes and promotions as well as design for marketing emails and additional socials. Over the past month I have created work that will go out for July (this month), August, September and October. This includes designing sneak peek videos and social graphics, email designs for sneak peek, last chance to subscribe, competitions, social material for last chance to subscribe, after effects videos for each months offers, past beauty box offers, competition material, Instagram highlights and more.

The first two weeks of my placement I was a lot more intimidated when working on specific design collateral, but as the weeks has progressed I have become a lot more confident when designing and experimenting. Also, a lot of the same templates and aesthetics are used for each months collateral so that Cohorted can maintain a consistent aesthetic throughout their branding.

What I have learnt/gained so far:

• Working on a lot of animation, gif and video designs for the Cohorted socials (Instagram, Twitter) and the Cohorted website has been great as this area of design has always been a weak point for me as it has always intimidated me. Being able to create videos and gifs has pushed me out of my comfort zone and I am a lot more confident in this area of design now.

• Using different graphics and templates for different offers and promotions has helped me gain more understanding of what the consumer is looking for and what is appropriate to certain target audiences.

• I am a lot more confident using After Effects now as well which is great as the programme is better than Photoshop for example for creating videos that are seamless with more complex effects and transitions. I will definitely be using After Effects more in third year as something animated and interactive is a lot more exciting than flat Graphics. Motion Graphics has also always intrigued me.

• The importance of collaborating with the marketing and social team within the company when creating work. Collaboration plays a huge part in my placement and is also something that I value and think is important in general for successful design.

• I've learnt that work needs a lot of tweaking and adjusting before finalising it to be scheduled to get submitted. Creating work months in advance is useful as there is a lot that needs to be designed each month and so that as a team we can meet deadlines without stress.

• How to use the programme 'MailChimp' MailChimp is a programme which allows you to design email templates which include flat graphics, links/working buttons and moving gifs. Each monthly collateral has a selection of email that get sent out to Cohorted subscribers, the same templates are often used every month with the graphics and content changed according to the specific beauty box/offers.

Furthermore, I'm not allowed to post work that hasn't yet been scheduled and submitted for company privacy agreement reasons but I am allowed to post work that has been used.

A selection of the work that I have created for July that has been scheduled and used:

• July Beauty Box Curation Instagram highlight (consists of a start graphic, a graphic of each product in the beauty box, followed by an end page)

Start Graphic

Two of the product graphics that I created (out of the 11 products)

End Graphic

• Cohorted x Adexe giveaway graphics:

Video shown working:

Midway progress of these graphics (social graphics and gifs):

• BDK Parfums competition graphics:

Footer Tile

• July email designs- preview screenshots for mobile and desktop versions:

Cohorted x Adexe competition:

Review and win:

Midway progress:

• Graphics for July's Beauty Box used on the webpage when purchasing the box:

Graphics for viewing each product on the website (4/11):

Everything Goes Soirée- Designs

The 'Everything Goes Soirée' is an end of summer party that me and my family are throwing at the start of September. The theme 'Everything Goes' means that the guests can dress up in any fancy dress they like or even mix several themes together , bring any food and drinks they like, and any entertainment, everything goes!

The party required a poster/flyer which would be sent out to family and friends that don't use Facebook (as they aren't be able to see the event page), the poster up will also be up at the party in a larger scale. Furthermore, the Facebook event also needed a banner photo which uses the same design.

The poster/flyer must include all the key information:

• Date
• Time
• Address
• Name of the party
• Small description 'Food, music, fun, party tricks, dressing up, anything you want... everything goes!'

I started with looking at some event posters which I found interesting and relevant. I liked the first two posters below because of the way they use a main piece of imagery to dominate most of the page, with the information at the bottom quarter. I also found the use of bold colours really eye-catching which relates well with party events, poster number 3 also uses an interesting limited colour palette which I enjoyed.

Furthermore, Poster 3 and 4 were my favourites due to their funky and fresh aesthetic. I particularly loved the image used in Poster 4. Poster 3 is also successful as it clearly communicates that it is for a summer festival through using appropriate imagery.

For my poster, I considered layout of the text and imagery in similar ways to these 4 posters, as well as using one strong piece of imagery to dominate most of the page and give the overall poster a funky, eye-catching aesthetic.

Poster 3

Poster 4

Below shows the initial designs which I created for the poster. For the image, I created a collage which relates to summer through collaging a selection of random summer images together, the randomness relates with the 'Everything Goes' theme. I also love collage as a technique as it gives everything a fun, quirky feel.

Below shows the main initial designs. I felt that a Sans Serif typeface was most appropriate so that all of the information is legible as the main aim is to provide the key information about the party, with the image being the main focus. Furthermore, I felt that the design which used the typeface Impact was more successful as it looks more eye catching and poster appropriate.

The design below experiments with scale of the image, as I felt that the yellow background wasn't really working and I wanted the overall poster to look busier.

The designs were then developed through experimenting further with colour, scale and layout. Below shows a few colour variations, I wanted the colours to represent summer and fun so I focused on brights and neons.

The final poster uses the collaged image in two different scales and colour in order to look more experimental and exciting, a busier and bolder design is more appropriate for a party event as it is more upbeat. I also chose this colour palette as most of my friends and family liked it is most, I agreed. Furthermore, the key information is in a larger, bolder text with the other information alongside it in smaller scales to fit the page layout and imagery.

Final Poster

Section of the poster used for the Facebook event page banner:

iPhone

Laptop