Evaluation.

I thought I'd do a mini evaluation because I feel I've got so much out of PPD this year and just generally in the past three years. Before doing PPD I hated presenting and I'll admit, I'm still not the biggest fan but I'm now able to stand at the front of a room and present without notes and feel confident in what I'm talking about so this is good progress! This year in particular I feel I've finally found where I would like to be within the industry, this is in a small graphic design studio, somewhere in the North of the UK. I've confirmed that I'm an image based designer throughout the DP module but I'm in no way looking to become freelance so I want to try and utilise this in my own time by selling things via my Etsy. I've applied for one job so far but I'm not too concerned because I'm taking a couple of weeks out to have a rest and gather my thoughts before ploughing into 'the real world' and then I'll be applying for anything that interests me! Initially on the job front, I was really worried because I'd read an ad for a job and think nope, that doesn't suit me or nope, I don't want to live in London but now I'm finding the location and the jobs that suit me so that has given me confidence. If I don't find a job straight away, I'm going to look at doing more work placements/internships so that I can gain more experience in Graphic Design that will hopefully go toward me getting a job. Overall, I'm feeling confident about my future and this has definitely got a lot to do with this module because it's given me the confidence I needed to talk to new people, in particular other professionals and decide exactly where I want to go. 

Design Presence; portfolio.

This is my final portfolio that I'm going to print for the end of year show. I changed the format to portrait after advice I recieved a while ago from Joe when I had my surgery. I prefer this a lot more since I made the changes for various reasons I discussed with Joe that it could be better. Although it appears minimal still with the space around some of the images, it's visually better because the images can be a lot larger with being on two pages. Each project has been allocated two pages for this reason. I've also included less text because the projects should be able to speak for themselves and a lot of text distracts from the imagery. I've included my favourite and most successful projects because I feel in interviews I will be able to speak about these most confidently and they also communicate my skills most successfully. 

Design Presence; business card.

I've ordered my final printed business cards in time for the end of year show so they should arrive on the 10th. I have however printed a paper sample for the purpose of submission. The final business cards will be 400gsm on matt coated stock with sqaure corners but look exactly like the example above. The colour could differ slightly because obviously they will be printed more professionally. 

Design Presence; samples of work postcards.

As well as my samples of work portfolio I've also decided to create postcard samples that I could actually send out to people whilst I'm looking for placements and studio visits. This is a nice element to have because people are more likely to take note if I send them something physical. I've chosen my best pieces of work that I'm really proud of so I feel confident in sending them out. I've printed them onto cartridge paper to fit with the hand rendered aspect of my work as this is quite tactile. 

Design Presence; letterhead.

I've created a branded letterhead as I quite like sending letters so this could come in handy at some point. 

Design Presence; samples of work.

I changed my samples of work portfolio to suit my new physical portfolio. The general layout has stayed the same but I've included less information about the actual outcomes and just left a sentence about the brief because really the work should speak for itself. The only difference between this and my actual portfolio is that this is landscape but this makes sense because this is more likely to be viewed on screen than anything else. 

Design Strategy; looking for jobs.

http://www.thedrum.com/jobs/

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.linkedin.com/job/home?trk=hb_tab_jobs_top

http://creativeboom.co.uk/

These are a few of the websites I've been looking on for jobs. I'm slowly finding jobs that I find appeal to me and my skill set and check these on a regular basis. I've applied for one job already off the back of this at UK Greetings. Going to really get into applying for jobs once I've had a couple of weeks break after uni. 

Design Presence; website.

http://cargocollective.com/kirstyaldersondesign

I've also updated my website with my most recent and favourite work. I've kept this more image based because this is the type of designer I'd like to be so I really want to showcase this skill in particular to potential employers and they are more likely to visit my website than they are my behance. I'm going to update this with some more image based work over the summer as I'd like to draw more in my spare time. I still need to link my domain to my cargo but I will get round to this eventually! 

Design Presence; behance.

http://www.behance.net/kirstyalderson

I've updated my behance with my favourite and most recent projects. 

Design Presence; samples of work.

My samples of work portfolio will be sent to people if they require a few examples of my skills and the work I've done. I've chosen some of my favourite and best projects for this and based this on my actual portfolio. 

Design Presence; personal cv.

I finally got round to updating my CV with new experience and the relevent references so that I'm able to send this through when applying for jobs. I've kept the general design quite simple because I want it to look professional but have my own twist on it with application of colour and my branding. The fact there is quite a lot of white space actually fits in well with my branding too. The reason the image is so small is because I want to keep personal details private on my blog. 

Design Strategy: evaluation.

I thought I'd write a quick evaluation after reflecting on my ppd presentation I gave the other day. I've always been the sort of person that doesn't have a set life plan and likes to take each day as it comes. To this end, up until a couple of months or so ago, I had no clue where I was going next after university and it scared me that this didn't seem to concern me at all. I feel the design strategy has really given me that kick up the bum that I needed once I started doing my research properly as well as my experience on my work placement. I've had the puzzle pieces all along, they were kind of just in a muddle so nothing in terms of my career aspirations was making sense in my head. I have specific design interests and I'm aware of the type of atmosphere/place I prefer so these two things alone direct me to certain jobs and design studios. Once I started applying this I've realised I'd like to work within the north and in a small graphic design studio, hopefully being able to utilise my image making skills. Since finally figuring myself out I've actually found a couple of jobs where I think, yeah I'd like to do that, finally! I feel the PPD modules throughout my whole time at uni have helped me gain confidence with the fact they have encouraged me to talk to people and now I have some great contacts. Everyone always says it's not what you know, but who you know and I'm really beginning to believe this, especially after seeing opportunities people have gained in their presentations. This year I wanted to figure out who I am as a designer and where I fit in and I think I've definitely achieved that goal. 

Design Strategy; contacting Chris.

Chris was one of the people I emailed to get some feedback on my portfolio. Due to my work being specifically image based I thought Chris would be perfect to talk to because he works within children's illustration. He replied quite promptly and it was really nice to hear from him as I've spoken to him previously. The feedback he's given me is really good and in depth so it's given me a lot to think about both with my portfolio and also my design work in general. He directed me to a site of an agency he works with too and this will prove quite useful because children's illustration is something I could conider going into based on the style of my work. It was really good to hear what Chris has been working on too and that he's keeping busy! Hopefully we'll continue to keep in touch. 

Design Strategy; PPD presentation.

Design Strategy; contacting Lucy.

Lucy was someone else I contacted for feedback on my portfolio. I've only recently came across her work and love it because it has a very hand rendered approach to it so this is something I can relate to. Lucy's feedback is really useful because it's very much about someone seeing it for the first time and this is how it will be when I go to interview. Although she wasn't sure how much she could comment, the feedback is definitely going to be taken into consideration because it's things I hadn't really noticed myself. The feedback I'm getting on my actual illustration style wasn't expected but is very much welcomed because obviously I want to continue to improve this and these are people who are out there doing it so they know the industry better than I do. I'll definitely continue to follow Lucy's work. 

Design Strategy; D&AD New Blood.

I've booked tickets to go down to London to D&AD New Blood this summer. I've never been in previous years so I'm pretty excited to go. I feel this will be a great opportunity to network and meet new people so I will definitely be taking my business cards with me. 

Design Strategy; portfolio.

This is my portfolio with my new branding applied. It shows the success of the branding because I feel this fits in more with the style of my work now. I still need to get around to changing my portfolio based on the feedback I got from surgeries but I'm waiting on email replies from freelancers first to see if they have any other great tips. My portfolio is quite small at the moment but I feel this will improve at the end of the OUGD303 module as I'm really pleased with the work done so far and feel it's going to represent me better than other projects. 

Design Presence; Etsy.

I've been talking about setting Etsy up for so long and finally I've done it! Since I've really got stuck in to image I've been designing a lot of artwork that could easily be turned into something such as a greetings card. I've decided to utilise this in order to make a bit of money and further promote my skills and name. I've only got two cards in my shop so far but I'm hoping over summer I will find time to create more designs and fully stock my shop. Particular calendar dates such as christmas will be good things to focus on because I imagine a lot of sales could be made. I've not really made a massive effort to promote this shop because it's something for me in my spare time really at the moment instead of being an integral part of my practice. 

Design Strategy; the master plan.

*The dream*

Move back home with my parents

Get a design job 

Buy a car

Save up to get my own place 'Up North' 

This is my plan for after uni. Although I have an idea of who and where I would like to be I can't garuntee that it will run as smoothly as I hope. I'm moving back in with my parents as this is realistic for the time being until I get myself on my feet. I don't feel this is going to hinder me though because my home town has great travel connections which will make it really easy for me to commute initially when I get a design job. Ideally I'd like to be based 'Up North' when I do get a design job but I'm also open to comprimise. I've always felt comfortable in the North and I'm learning what a good design scene it appears to have based on researching various studios. I'd also still really like to illustrate in my own time because this is something I've always enjoyed. I'd love to have my own car eventually too. This will give me a lot of freedom and may open up opportunties in terms of work. My main goal once getting a design job is to move out and gain my indepedence again. It's obvious it will take me a while to save up but I feel i'll be in the best possible situation to do so by living with my parents. I definitely think how I feel about a place/location is going to impact on where I apply for jobs a little bit but also think it's important I'm happy. 

Design Presence; Linkedin.

After being encouraged to join and hearing how great linkedin is, I've finally set up my account. I feel this will be a good tool to have because it's in a way promoting my skills and abilities and I can also connect with people I meet at various events. I've also found the job section quite useful because some of the opportunities advertised are to my taste so I will keep checking this. The next step is to get involved with group discussions that interest me as I'm sure this will extend my contact list.