Wednesday 22 May 2013

My online presence

Here are the links to my online presence. I have created a customised Cargo website, Behance, Twitter and an Etsy store to sell greetings cards.

http://www.designbykirsty.co.uk/

http://www.behance.net/designbykirsty

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignbyKirsty?ref=search_shop_redirect

https://twitter.com/designbykirsty



Mail out



I have designed a mail out PDF to send in emails to studios. I have kept it pretty simple by using my creative CV and just images of my work. I didnt want to write about my work so it would spark more interest. There are a few images from different briefs, most o which are in my updated portfolio.

Creative CV/ May 2013



Business cards/ Ready for print

Here are my business cards ready for print. I have made them 85mmx55mm and they will be printed onto grey board.


Portfolio/ May 2013



This is my up to date portfolio.

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Robot Food/ The First visit

I went to eventually visit Robot Food for the first time on 14th March. I was quite nervous and was actually trying to think of excuses in my head not to go. But that didnt work, I wanted this too much. I went to see them at 2pm and took my portfolio with me. When I got there Simon (the guy I was tweeting and also the Creative Director) introduced himself and took me into a smaller room. I was then introduced to Mike, who ran the studio with Simon and then the Senior Designer! I wasnt expecting to be showing my work to THREE people! I could have died! I made a joke on the fact I was under a bit of pressure and wasnt expecting there to be 3 of them, they just laughed.

They started telling me how they were looking to take on some Junior Designers in the future and wanted to start looking at potential candidates work! (At this point it felt more like a job interview!). I started to tell them a bit about myself and then started to talk about my work.

I found it a little bit harder than even the second time of seeing Mike at The Archipelago because there was 3 of them and I really wanted to impress them. They had already said that they liked my work so I felt a little under pressure. I started talking through the first project, which was the chocolate brief I had been tweeting them pictures of. They made a few comments about aspects of the design, but really liked it. They said it was something they had not seen before and the concept was well thought out. I then moved on to my Natures Little Critters greetings card brief, I explained the concept behind it all and they really liked it. I was worried that they might have thought it was a bit random but I explained why I had put it in and also the fact I love illustration. They said it was good to see that my portfolio isnt all the same and the fact I had included it showed I could maybe give something extra that someone else couldnt.

I then showed them the Heinz Salad Cream YCN brief that I won an award for. The first thing that Simon said was that hes seen a lot of them, so I jumped in and told him I had won. That seemed to gain a good reaction. I tried to explain as best I could about the concepts behind my work but I didnt know how much to say. So I just said to them how much do you want me to go in to detail and they just said they wanted an over view of my work.

After showing them mine and them telling me they were really impressed, they asked if I wanted to see some of their work. Obviously I said yes and Simon went to get their portfolio. He went through each project briefly and I asked questions about things. Their portfolio was huge but there wasnt a single piece in there that shouldnt of been. All of their work was amazing.

They then took me into the main studio area and let me look at some stuff they were sending to print. I couldnt help myself but read all the text and look for typos (luckily I didnt find any and they didnt mind me looking) its a habit I have.

I was there for a while and then it came for the time to leave, before I left I thanked them and they told me to stay in contact and that if I needed any help just ask. Simon then said that he wants to get me in for work experience, at that point I had a smile bigger than the Cheshire Cat! They could see theyd made my day and told me it was nice to meet me and see my great work. We then said bye and he said again make sure I stay in contact.

Probably one of the best days of uni up to date!

Robot Food/ It started with a tweet


I found Robot Food whilst Googling packaging studios in Leeds and had a quick look on their website. I absolutely loved their work and actually got quite excited! Not to mention the fact they re branded Jammie Dodgers! There was one particular piece of work of theirs that I really liked so I decided to follow them on Twitter and tweet them.


This is the work I tweeted them about, I really liked the logo design and the simplicity of the packaging. 


This is the first tweet I tweeted them :)


This is what they tweeted back.


My tweet back. Then I got clever and tweeted them a picture of my chocolate packaging from the module before Christmas.



They liked it and asked to see more, so I gave them what they wanted!


Heres the second picture I sent them, I didnt want to show them too much. So just a few sneaky peaks of parts of the brief.


They really liked my work and invited me in to say Hi. WOW. I couldnt believe id sorted myself a studio visit by tweeting.

I tried to keep in contact over the few weeks before visiting them as I didnt want them to forget me. So on an evening id gone for a walk to show my boyfriend where the studio was and saw one of their stickers stuck to a concrete post, so I took a picture and tweeted them.



I tweeted them to arrange a day where I could go and visit them and take my portfolio.


Sorted out a time and date.


They told me to bring some more work with me, very exciting as it meant they were interested!


Unfortunately I had arranged to see them very close to the dissertation deadline and had to ask to rearrange my visit as I was far to stressed out to go and see them.


Luckily they were fine with it and told me to let them know when I was free. Phew.


Finally sorted my life out and tweeted them again in March to see if I could still go in. Of course they said yes and said they were looking forward to seeing my work :)


Sorted out another date and made sure I stuck to it this time. I think the reason I had cancelled on them last time was because I had arranged to see Mike at The Archipelago on the same day and had overwhelmed myself. I was also very nervous to go and see them after seeing the amazing work they produce as a studio.



Just checked if we were still ok to meet.




















The Archipelago/ Second visit


I sent Mike an email in the New Year to arrange a second studio visit so I could show him my portfolio.


He gave me a day and time and said it might alter slightly as he was very busy over January and February. I really appreciated the fact that he was finding time to see me.




Mike emailed me to change the day of our meeting to give us more time, which again was much appreciated.




I thought id best check that I was still ok to go and see Mike incase he was busy.


I went to go and see Mike and I took my first ever portfolio with me. I felt so much more confident knowing not only was Mike so lovely and easy to talk to but I finally had a body of work that I was proud to call my own! I turned up and we had a quick catch up on life and uni then he asked to see my work. I got it out and I started to talk through it. It was so easy and I was so confident! I proudly showed him my work and after he said how much my confidence had grown and he was really pleased to see all of my great work. I was over the moon. We then spoke about the portfolio and the layout of the work, as I wanted to be sure that it was perfect, he said he really liked the layout and the portfolio looked great. He told me to get in contact with more studios and show them what I can do. I am so proud of myself to have gone back and shown him my work even after the disaster of the last visit.









The Archipelago/ Keeping in contact


After visiting Mike at The Archipelago and getting on really well with him, I decided it was probably a good idea to stay in contact, as he did mention I could ask him for help at any time. I sent him an email to see if he could suggest any other studios I could contact to also go and see.


He gave me some good advice and tried his best to help. He kept telling me to stay in contact which has given me a lot of confidence in doing exactly that and taking the opportunity to go and see him again when I have a portfolio together that im proud of.


I was very interested in what Mike was working on and was sure to ask him if he was working on anything interesting or exciting at the moment. It was important for me to show him I was interested in him, his work and his studio, because he showed a lot of interest in me. I was building a very strong bridge!


Its good to know what hes been up to and what he'll be working on as it gives me an insight into the types of briefs professionals can get up to.


I emailed Mike just before Christmas to see if it was possible to go and see him in the New Year with a portfolio of work. I wanted to go back and show him what I could really do.


Of course he said yes and told me to get in touch in the New Year to sort something out!






Thursday 11 April 2013

The Archipelago

http://thearchipelago.eu/


The founder of The Archipelago is Mike, who was also the founder of Studio Mik Mik. The Archipelago is a new studio that Mike recently set up and is based at The Tower Works in Leeds. I had been emailing Mike through Studio Mik Mik while he was moving into the new home of his new studio. Once he had moved in I went along to see him. He asked me to take some work with me to talk through, which at this point I panicked because I didnt have a portfolio. I put together some random things, which to be honest I wasnt even proud of, but it was all I had.

When I got to the studio I met Mike and he was so friendly and welcoming. I sat down and he got me a drink. I was very nervous because this was the first time I was showing anyone my work and actually talking through it and it was stuff I wasnt even proud of!

We talked for a bit and he told me a bit about himself and how he got where he is today and then we looked through my work. I got my good old Toshiba out and opened the PDF. I started to go through my work and didnt really know what to say, then I froze and just had to stop. It got a bit too much for me and I just told him I dont like the work ive bought along and I panicked when he asked to see some. We didnt look at any more. 

We started talking about university and how I didnt really know who I was as a designer at that point in time. He was telling me how he was exactly the same when he was at uni and he told me all of the things he had studied and was interested in. I think hes done most things and hes only just figured out who he was as a designer, 10 years later. This made me feel so much better, he gave me so much useful  advice and gave me more confidence. I didnt need to know who I was just then, I had third year to find out and even the rest of my life.

Mike told me to stay in contact and go and see him again when I have a body of work that im really proud of. We ended up talking for just over 2 and a half hours and I learnt so much!






I emailed Mike to say thank you again for his time, advice and reassurance! We had a bit of banter after him telling me there was nothing worse than receiving badly written emails, because he sent me one with a typo! :)






Wednesday 10 April 2013

Studio Mik Mik

http://www.studiomikmik.co.uk/


I contacted Studio Mik Mik a while ago and they responded pretty quickly. I really loved the bird illustration on the website home page and also their logo. There was just something special about them.



I got a great response from Mike who explained that he had studied at LCA back in 2001. It was great news because we had something in common and he seemed lovely.


He asked me to stay in contact and pop by in a few weeks time.


I then sent him an email a few weeks later to see if it was possible to go in and see him. At this point I felt very comfortable emailing him and being myself.


We tried to arrange a time for me to visit a few times, but one of us was always busy. But I didnt give up, we kept re arranging until we finally sorted a day and time.








These are all of the emails leading up to my visit. It has given me a lot of confidence emailing Mike before I visited his studio as I felt it broke the ice.