Personal Devlopment III//Propaganda Studio Visit.

www.propaganda.co.uk

Yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a studio visit to the branding design studio, Propaganda, at Calls Wharf in Leeds.

A fan of Propaganda, and particularly their established creative make up brand, Illamasqua, for some time, along with their incredibly talented designers and excellence in marketing, it was a real privilege to go along to meet Lee Bennett, the Design Director of the studio, and to be able to showcase my portfolio and have a talk about the industry, and my potential place within it. 

He offered some really great advice, and being totally personable, I felt (perhaps for the first time on a studio visit!) completely relaxed, at ease and confident about presenting myself and my work. 

A really great opportunity to get some really great insight, Lee suggested promoting more of a brand development throughout my portfolio, to showcase my thought process, and also to expand upon evidence of my software knowledge and application of design (e.g. stop motion, web design, exploring more diverse processes). 

Feeling really motivated, I can't wait to get involved in the industry now!

Personal Development III//Freelance Recruitment

In light of my recent decision to move to London, along with being offered a temporary internship, I have started to consider the "long run" of living in the city, and, of course, the affordability.

Having met up with a friend in Shoreditch last week, who is a member of the (Advertising) design community, he recommended signing up with freelance recruitment agencies, which I felt was a great idea to ensure my presence is known and I have the potential to gain not only income, but further company contacts and networking credentials within the city.

So far, I have signed up to a few sites for profile building and job searches (see screenshot examples above and below), and will readily pursue this further within the next few weeks and months.

Personal Development III//Tumblr Edits

www.sophiewilsondesign.tumblr.com

I spent some time this morning working on refining my existing tumblr blog for personal work, to ensure consistency throughout my personal branding as I actively seek more freelance work and design opportunities upon graduating from University in just a few short weeks.

Not only does this new layout allow for a header/logo bar, but also increases the pixel width of my images, allowing for the highest level of detail to be seen in my work- perfect for mock ups and detailed design, such as my recent web design work for photographer, Jessie Leong (see image below).

Personal Development III//James Maxwell Business Cards

Yesterday morning,  I received the moo printed luxe business cards for James Maxwell through the post, and was able to go on to cut down the designs (with the corner trim).
I was really impressed with the duplex finish by moo (the cards seem to be getting better and better!), and I hope that James will be as pleased with the results too.

Personal Development III//PPD Presentation

In light of my recent internship offer in London, I have made (very slight!) changes to my Personal & Professional Development presentation, to be made next week.

In the midst of real excitement for the future and career prospects, I'm really looking forward to seeing where my peers also currently stand, as well as presenting myself.

PPD//Updated CV

After my interview in London earlier in the week, and considering my experience within the industry to date, I reconsidered my portfolio, and added the 2012 event of my freelance design work being featured in Stylist Magazine as part of an Etsy stockist feature. Hoping that expanding upon, and broadcasting my professional print exposure and experience that it will open up to even greater opportunities.

PPD//Further

www.furthercreative.co.uk

I'm really excited that, yesterday, after my internship interview on Tuesday, that I've been offered a four week paid internship at Further in Holborn.

Due to the length of the placement, I have also decided to take the plunge and move to London (for a minimum of six months), also having a potential job lined up in August (working as a design assistant for a freelancer whose work I really admire, in Notting Hill), I feel really inspired and motivated to work as hard as possible, and to try to be as actively involved in the design industry as possible.

A very exciting time... I'm really looking forward to trying something new.

FMP | Small Town Ink Event

www.fedrigoni.co.uk

After visiting the Fedrigoni showroom in Farringdon yesterday, I was really excited to hear about the Small Town Ink event (of which Fedrigoni have supplied stock for) happening at Leeds University next Thursday.

Continuing on with the celebration of traditional print methods in Leeds and throughout the UK, The Print Project will be demonstrating letterpress with workshops, exhibitions, and talks throughout the day. The free event is accessible throughout the day, and I'm certainly looking forward to the experience!

FMP | London Visit

Image Source

Today I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to take a day trip down to London for an interview for a design internship at branding studio, Further.

To make the most out of the day, I also arranged a trip to the Fedrigoni showroom in Farringdon, a visit with an old friend and Advertising Agency designer, Jack, in Shoreditch, and a detour to Covent Garden to pick up some Laduree macarons for photographing for my recent 'La Petit Macaron' brief.

Not only was the interview a great opportunity to get formalised feedback from an industry designer (and the potential to gain further work and contacts), but it was great to meet up with Jack and gain a real insight into the day-to-day working life of London, and the ups and downs. But above all, it's given me a real sense of confidence and ambition, and the real hope to be able to work in London in the near future and build my design portfolio and profile to it's full extent.

Personal Development III//James Maxwell Business Cards

Over the past couple of days, not having spoke in a working relationship context for some time (since the end of last year, when we briefly worked together to propose a range of branded stationary outcomes to help promote his personal and professional practice upon graduating from University in S / S 2013), James Maxwell got in contact to discuss printing and finishing business cards to be able to present at his graduation show.

Originally, creating a set of four cards which worked both as separate entities, and as a collective set (demonstrating James's multidisciplinary background), we decided to strip this back, both for practicality and financial reasons, James deciding to title his practice as 'Interior Architecture', and going for a monochromatic duplex print finish, which has been ordered through trusted printers, moo (www.moo.com).

Despite being happy with the quick changes made (to go on to cut and finish the cards when they arrive with me in around a weeks time, to then go on to be sent to James as a finalised design), coincidentally, down to James's design choices, the card is incredibly similar to that of Alex Warren, the Architectural Designer I am currently working with. Although James is okay with this, I will personally choose to not include it in a professional portfolio context, in order to show my own design portfolio variation, and to take away from any potential, and expected, comparisons.

Personal Development III//April 2013 Portfolio & CV

In preparation for a couple of studio visits over the next week, I decided to re-vamp my portfolio, along with my CV, taking the feedback from various other portfolio reviews since the New Year as well as creating more of a 'Work in Progress' section, to showcase some of the forthcoming design projects to come from the Final Major Project (which, unfortunately, at this stage, are not yet complete enough to add in full into the portfolio), but hopefully will provide a prompt for more insight, and a motivation for me to get a real move on with the design brief progression.

I'm looking forward to discussing my work with the studios, and hopefully having real confidence in my aims, ambitions, and design direction upon graduating University.

Personal Development III//PPD Presentation 2013

This afternoon and evening, I have been working on the development of my Personal & Professional Development Presentation which I will present to the tutor group in a couple of weeks time.

Despite the fact that some particular elements are liable to change, in particular, plans for employment and my involvement within the industry, having applied for several positions in recent weeks and months, the integral message of the presentation will stay the same.

I hope, working on it at this early(ish) stage, will give me good time for reflection and consideration of the presentation, and ensuring that I get all of my most significant and profoundest hopes and reflections across to my tutors and peers alike.

Personal Development III//Jack Tyson

Over the past couple of weeks I've been very fortunate to work with global (but currently Leeds - based) make up artist, Jack Tyson, developing his own, unique face chart to use for make up and model sketch ups before commissions and shoots, as is common place within the industry.

Jack wanted a high end, and slightly androgynous look, with large, yet reasonably soft features to create a balance and neutrality that would suit a wide variety of models that he works with (both male and female).

The design was really stripped back, and after various developmental stages, and working from the hand rendered illustration into a vector based design, we're both really happy with the results, and look forward to hopefully continuing to work with him in the future. A very happy working relationship.