Thursday 15 November 2012

13/11 - John's set of Tasks

My chosen areas of practice as of now


  • Type
  • Packaging
  • Editorial

My main strengths as of now


  • Illustration - Vector based
  • Typography
  • Idea generation & organisation



My identified weaknesses as of now


  • Finishing
  • Photography / Photoshop
  • Presentation skills


A set of main goals for the year

  • Produce a brief to a professional standard
  • Start to network with current professionals
  • Improve Photoshop skills


3 wishes for the year

  • Complete CS Mastery
  • All of my chosen design studios contact me to come in and intern
  • Lifetime supply of Bakery 164 goods

Sunday 11 November 2012

6 Tasks

Task 1 :  Identify 5 companies/studios which you consider potentially synergetic to you personally.
Write a short explanatory paragraph and reasons for each.


What grabbed my attention with Studio Mik Mik was the bright and vibrant execution of briefs, I would't say that I was particularly good at executing tasteful, minimalist design, I prefer energy, interaction and getting the audience engaged when I go about solving briefs. The website also appears to be friendly and they have a focus on eco design, which I am interested in.

Rhythm Kitchen
Yo Yo Cafe Bar
Clarabella





I found this company whilst searching for Packaging Design I liked for a previous task, the packaging that I found was this:

08 14 12 tesco5

I think that this carton is designed really well, It communicates the exotic and fresh flavours of the juice,  it stands out from other cartons that just feature images of the fruits used in the juice and it looks affordable. Further research into the company and I thought that their website was a really good interactive experience and they have a varied and interesting client list and take on a range of design specialisms.



http://www.designbridge.com/

Design bridge looks like a much bigger design machine than the previous two companies but the clients and execution of the briefs featured on their website look very interesting and exciting. They take on a lot of packaging and branding work which is something I am really looking forward to getting stuck into and haven't done to a good standard yet.






http://site.laboca.co.uk/

I found La Boca after a PPP session in Level 4, they have an incredibly varied array of work and aren't afraid to be experimental with the work they produce, it would be very interesting to work with people that aren't afraid to try new things and don't try to follow trends. They use a general style but, by no means stick to this if the brief needs otherwise.







The Consult are one of my favourite studios out of this list, I think that their creative solutions to briefs is spot on. I think that there is a great amount of personality and friendliness in the work that they produce. They are local to Leeds which would be very useful for experience purposes and they appeal to me more than the bigger ad-based companies.






http://www.bigfish.co.uk/index.php

This company have done some of the best packaging, I think, around at the moment such as Clipper tea and Dorset Cereals, they also do lots of branding design and I think that working there would give me the opportunity to solve an exciting range of problems and improve my design and ideas for solutions.










 At the moment I would say that http://www.theconsult.com/ would be my top choice because they do a wide variety of work which suits me as I am unsure of what my strengths are or what I would be comfortable specialising in. I feel comfortable when I look at the work they produce as I think that it looks professional but I could produce something of similar quality, whereas with some of the bigger agencies seeing really technical, digital work is very daunting and I feel that I would get lost and be under skilled to produce work worthy of their clients demands. The work, I feel, has a very friendly, personal and hands on approach which is something I always want to push whenever I design.
The fact that they are a local agency as well makes me think that they would have the time for interns whereas, stereotypically, I think that a London agency may be too busy to give time to students, although I am probably making an incorrect generalisation.

The location and work they are producing are big factors that are making me lean towards this company, but also the range of briefs and friendly aesthetics and 'feel' of the website is very appealing to me.



8 Methods I could utilise to contact them:


  • Poster/ creative product in the post
  • Series of letters that are clearly labelled (1 of 3) that combine to deliver a complete message
  • Go in in person and ask for a look around
  • Phone
  • Creative letter that they would have to open
  • The focus of their work is branding and editorial, so I could send work that utilises these practices to communicate who I am, what I want and how they can help.
  • An attention grabbing email designed to inform and entertain.
  • Post a box that has the details I want to deliver printed on the inside of the box so they have to disassemble the net to read the information.