Task

1. Identify 5 companies/studios you think have a synergy with you, and why.

Room For Design

They are a small studio and working in this kind of environment is something I've started aspiring to because I prefer the comfort factor. They have a substantial client base with some being known to me so this gives them a good reputation. Due to visiting I can comment that the general atmosphere within the studio is automatically inviting and the room they work from appears to have a good creative atmosphere. Due to them being multidisciplinary they under go a range of different projects and I personally like having the opportunity to do different things within my own briefs but with a focus on image. 

Tigerprint

They are everything I love about image based design. Bright, bold, colourful and exciting works seem to come from this studio. Although I'm not familiar with the working environment of Tigerprint, I am aware that they take on freelancers for projects and the area teams are quite large so this would be a good opportunity to meet more like minded people. Tigerprint is restricting in the sense that for me although I love the image side of the company and this element of my own practice, you would be creating artwork the majority of the time and as explained above, I like to mix it up a bit.  

Paperchase

I've always been a huge fan of Paperchase and although they aren't strictly a design company they will have their own in house team. I feel a connection with this company and my own practice due to the style of work that is being produced. Much of the designs are hand rendered or have an element of this to them and I've really got a thing for surface pattern at the moment which links to the fact Paperchase's ranges tend to be made up of surface pattern designs. I connect more with the product side of this company rather than the advertising again due to my love of image based design. 

Paul Windle

This studio create some of my favourite characters so this automatically made me quite fond of them. The team is relatively small so again this is the sort of environment I enjoy because I feel as though you get to know people more. They have both digital and a hand rendered element to their work which is again something that links to my own personal practice. Each team member has a specific skill they are assigned to so this is good in the sense that it creates creative focus so the best can be made of the designers strongest skills. 

Young

For me, Young is a little bit different because it's an illustration and animation studio. Although I have no interest in the animation side of the studio, I was quite drawn to this because it's unique. The illustration maybe isn't quite the same as the sort of things I like to design but I still really like it because it's bright and bold. Both are characteristics I like to interpret into my work too. Really, It was nice just to find a studio that actually has a focus on illustration because although I love talking to illustrators, I don't think freelance is for me. 

2. Top choice and why you think they suit your practice/future practice.

I can't really choose just one because I have two in mind that have both pro's and con's based on my own practice. The first is Room For Design, because they are multi disciplinary this would give me the opportunity to be doing different things all of the time and progressing a range of my skills rather than just one or two. It would also give me the experience in different things that could be noted for future opportunities. The biggest thing however is the fact it's a small and comfortable working environment. My practice is obviously going to be about building relationships and in this sort of environment you are definitely going to be able to do this. My image skills being really strong could also be really relevent because I'd fit in with this skill alone. 

The second is Tigerprint because they do the sort of thing I love all day everyday in the relevent area of the company. Although image making is already a strong skill I'd be able to further improve this and 'perfect' it. Image making is something I really want to stick with throughout my career if I can do well off this and the Tigerprint studio allows this. 

3. Is your choice based on- location, direction of practice, the brand philosophy, the client base?

Both choices take location into consideration because I know I will more than likely be living at home so I look for places that are accessible to me but this is definitely not the most important factor. The direction of practice is also influential for both of them as explained above because of the skills I would be able to utilise and develop.

4. If it's none of the reasons for choosing, what is it specifically?

With Room For Design, there's also the fact that I've met two of the guys from the studio and they are really nice people!

5. When studios are identified, list 8 methods you could utilise to contact them.

PDF portfolio sent via email

My actual portfolio sent by courier to see the real quality

Telephone

Email

Mail out (something creative and unique!)

Skype

Mini PDF of samples to give a feel for my design practice but not give everything away

Letter

End of module evaluation.

Throughout the module I have capitalised on existing skills but also learnt new ones that are going to be very relevent to my practice as a designer. I have also gained a lot of knowledge on areas that I was aware of but had linear understanding of. I'm going to evaluate below each brief induvidually because each has been so relevent to my growth as a designer but in many different ways. 

Black and white print

Originally, for me, the main focus of this brief was to gain a greater understanding of print processes but also apply these processes within my design work. I feel i've got so much more than anticipated from this brief because of the depth of development within the pattern design and also the product range became quite significant. This has however, not over-ridden the understanding of print processes because I found how each of my induvidual products would be printed and although I'm not able to apply all of this yet, It will be really useful to have this understand for the industry. I had no problems as such with this brief because everything was really straight forward, the techniques, processes and stock used were all so well considered that nothing seemed to go wrong. I changed the brief slightly so that the products had a realistic context (being sold in paperchase) but feel this didn't hinder the brief because it extended my research and my knowledge of the retail sector the products fit within. 

Strengths: The development undergone throughout this brief has been a definite strength because it has informed the final product range and in particular the visual aspect of this. The fact the product range works together is another strength because each product was created induvidually so it wasn't really until the end result that I saw whether it was successful. 

Weaknesses: The products weren't made for the purpose of submisson and really, if I'd have taken more care crafting then this range would have been quite nice to submit. 

Penguin Design Award 2012 'The Wind in the Willows'

I think this is one of the only briefs that stayed very true to what I originally wanted to get out of it. Initially I didn't have any idea what I was going to do with this brief because it was a new area of the industry to me. This put me off starting the brief for a while but I found once I got into it and just went with the flow of the design process, I was really pleased with the work I was creating. The design process I used meant that I focused on the competition half of the brief initially which was the book cover design because I knew that once I had this, the rest of the products would come together because they would be based on it. I still realistically have time to go back and re-visit the bookcover design for the purpose of the competition because I can't submit my entry until next year. There were no problems during this brief as such, things just seemed to take a lot longer than I initially anticipated. 

Strengths: The character design is really strong because they all stand out induvidually from each other and have their own characteristics but at the same time when they are put together they work as a set due to the illustration style. This was the first time I'd properly vectored characters too so this skill is definitely a strength. 

Weaknesses: Again, the crafting of some of the products has been a weakness because although the majority are put together really well, not all of them are and it would have been nice to submit these as a range together. Although it's not necessarily a complete weakness, I got way too into this brief which meant I neglected some others for a while. In future I need to prioritise all briefs equally. 

Illustrative type

I initially got really stuck with this project because I didn't know how to stylize the typefaces in order to make them fit to the particular film's I'd chosen. Due to the fact the whole type sector was relatively new to my personal practice I just didn't know where to start so for quite a while I put this brief off instead of trying to plough through it. In the end I spent a lot of time sketching typeface ideas and relating back to my visual inspiration because I knew I had to push on with the brief and didn't want this to hinder my overall module. I actually surprised myself because once I came up with ideas for typefaces the rest of the elements just seemed to come together quite easily so in future I'll definitely just encourage myself to stick at something until I feel i'm making progress. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to drawing too so although the typefaces took me a while I feel as though it was well worth it. As well as achieving everything I said I wanted to from the beginning I also learnt a bit more about the film industry in terms of merchandise and I've realised I quite like this area so this may be something to extend within future projects. Theres so much research and so much to learn that I just find it really engaging and interesting. The overall outcomes do what they were intended to but I feel the product range could have maybe been larger in terms of the elements I found within the merchandise range. This isn't a huge worry though because the focus was on hand rendering, branding and type and not product range. 

Strengths: My hand rendering skills seem to have definitely developed. I have my own unique style when it comes to type and illustration now which is something I can continue to capitalise on throughout the rest of my practice. My persistancy not to just give up on a brief must be a strength too because I feel what I have achieved in the end has been worth it. 

Weaknesses: The product range is a weakness but I think this is more of personal thing because many of my other briefs have considerably more so I know I can achieve more. The general development of the brief isn't that consistent and comes from the typefaces mainly and this module is very heavily weighted on development so I maybe should have thought more about this. 

Coca Cola

This brief was the final one that I started and has definitely been neglected because I spent the least time on it. Despite this, I have still really enjoyed the brief and feel as though there are many positives that have come out of it. This was another brief that once the character design was done, the rest of it just seemed to fall into place because everything needed to be consistant. Due to the fact I was using an existing brand and think this is another thing that made the brief so successful because I already had certain elements given to me such as a brand colour and logo so it was just a matter of what I was going to do with this. Initially I was panicing a bit about this brief because i'd left it so long but as soon as I started designing I relaxed and really got into it. There was a lot of existing material that I had access to in terms of the brand and previous advertising campaigns so I used this to my advantage and used it for inspiration. I feel that my dissertation has helped me relate to the brand better because a lot of the research i've done is balanced so i've seen both sides of it which means I can speak to the audience properly with the designs. I've enjoyed this brief because it's allowed me to explore branding in a different way by being able to research and existing brand and it's values and also what makes a brand so successful. I feel i've got everything out of it that I originally intended to which is also very good. Initially the brief wasn't meant to be completely digital based but I feel this has been another plus because it's made me consider context more within all of my briefs and how things will work in the real world. 

Strengths: Consistant design has been a strength throughout this project because I've taken one element and applied it throughout everything in order to create a successful campaign. The ability to apply research properly to a brief is another strength because the Jean Paul Gaultier campaign definitely inspired my own. 

Weaknesses: Time management has been a definite weakness with this brief because it could have been so much more if i'd given myself more time on it. This has definitely been a lesson learnt though and will make sure I don't do it again.