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! :)

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.

Everyday Something

http://everydaysomething.net/

Everyday Something are based in Bradford, I chose to contact them because I liked their work and also they were close by. 

They got back to me pretty swiftly and asked me to send them some of my work. I didnt really have a portfolio together at this point in time so sent them some random bits of work as separate PDF files. Totally wrong move as they never got back to me!

Box Head

http://weareboxhead.com/

I really loved Box Head designs work, they designed a lot of logos that were really simple and worked really well. I contacted them telling how much I liked their work and who I was and what I was up to at the time. They are based in Leeds so it would have been easy to get there for a studio visit. Here are the emails that we exchanged.

I forgot to get back in contact, which is very annoying considering he said I was more than welcome to pop in! I was so rubbish at sorting these visits out and the thing that most effected it was fear. When they said yes to me going in I panicked and got scared, dont think I was quite ready for all this!

Mash Creative

http://www.mashcreative.co.uk/

Following the disasters of the last few emails that I sent to studios, I figured I should really start to buck my ideas up and write better emails. I didnt want to come across as too 'matey' in case they thought I was unprofessional, but at the same time I wanted to be remembered.

I first used this tactic on Mash Creative. I really loved the work they produced but couldnt really put a finger on why. To be honest at this point in time (which was a fair few months ago) I didnt really know who I was as a designer, so I was contacting studios on the bases they did Graphic Design. Whether I really loved their work or not. As time has gone by though I have begun to specifically contact studios on the bases that I have something in common with them, which has made such a huge difference!

Analogue

http://www.madebyanalogue.co.uk/

I chose to contact after seeing one particular piece of their work called Cavey, which was a branding brief. The work was very playful and much like the design approach I like to take. They used a lot of colours and the whole thing felt very interactive.

I didnt get any response from the first email, so I decided to send another. Looking back, the second one was so cringy, no wonder he didnt reply!

After this I went and hid under a rock!

We are life

http://wearelife.co.uk/

I decided to contact We are life because of their logo and branding design. I really liked the array of clients they had worked with. They are based in Manchester which is also an easy location to go and do a studio visit. 

Unfortunately the guy who I had addressed the letter to was actually a freelancer who was just working at the studio for a short period of time (I didnt check) and the lady who owned the business emailed me back saying they couldnt accommodate studio visits as they had moved to a much smaller studio space.