B&W Studio visit & placement

I visited B&W Studio on the 18th (bit late posting this) despite initially getting lost and being directed to a huge mill directly in front of me. I created a short pdf portfolio featuring some of my work prior to the visit as suggested by John just incase Lee requested to see some of my work and I also took the business cards I got printed with Moo. The studio is in a great building - they are the only current residents of Castleton Mill.

He gave me some really insightful feedback regarding my work - he liked my design a day project and the work devised for the moving image project (OUGD202). He suggested more emphasis should be put on the more creative and self initiated work that showcase individual and distinctive skills as it provides an opportunity to show off what you can do.

I was offered a placement! I'm really chuffed as I love the work they do at B&W. He said to email him with some dates I'm available over summer.

Portfolio PDF

I created this portfolio PDF for my visit to B&W as suggested by John - in hindsight I should have spent more time on this and added more projects as I needed to take into account not being able to access the internet to show my website. I included my favourite projects as of yet, including the recent project done for the product / range / distribution brief.

Contacting B&W

I sent a few emails last Tuesday and got a reply off B&W studios who let me come in for a visit! Perfect timing that my website was down at the time however, but I also sent them a link to my design a day project which they seemed to like, really chuffed.

I ordered some business cards from Moo so I will take these with me and ask them as many questions as possible - it's one of my favourite studios so as much insight into their practice would be great.

When my website was back up I sent them the link once again and I have organised a visit for this Thursday.

Contacting studios

Here are the emails I have sent out so far, with a plan on contacting some more throughout the summer. I had help from Jane with the wording but made sure I included links to my online portfolio and my design a day. Looking back on these, they seem quite lengthy and people might be put off from reading them - I'll need to think about refining these when contacting other studios.

PPD Group tutorial

Design by Day

Design by Day

Design by Day are a Salford-based creative agency who seem to specialise with web design. However, their portfolio also showcases print-based solutions along with motion graphics. I am interested in web design and have used digital design in some of my projects but would love to explore it in more depth. As this studio is based in Salford and Warrington is around a 20 min train journey away, it would be a great studio to do a placement in. They currently offer an intern programme but the deadline is fairly soon.

Contact

0161 832 4471
hello@designbyday.co.uk

Studio 306, Islington Mill
James Street, Salford, M3 5HW

SB Studio

SB Studio

SB Studio are a small brand consultancy with offices in both Liverpool and London. The work immediately attracted me to this studio due to its diversity and range but its location in Liverpool is a close connection to Warrington. They pride themselves on being a small, independent team whereas the clients differ substantially in size. Their work spans across a range of media through publications, web designs, brand identity and so on.

http://sb-studio.co.uk/journal/#!/internship-programme

Contact details

+44 (0) 151 709 5636
north@sb-studio.co.uk

B&W Studio

B&W Studio are an award winning graphic design studio specialising in branding and identity, working primarily with publication design and print based media. Their work is clean and succinct - work I would love to produce. The identity for Packaging Formats (below) in particular works brilliantly across print and web and the yellow tape is a great brand signifier. Would love to have a placement here.


Contact details

+44 0 113 245 4200

Lee Bradley
lee@bandwstudio.co.uk
Steve Wills
steve@bandwstudio.co.uk

2nd Floor
Castleton Mill
Castleton Close
Leeds
LS12 2DS

Logo application / Spreading the word

Now that I have altered my logo design, I needed to start applying this throughout my 'online presence'. I used black on white / transparent throughout to keep it consistent.

Online portfolio - www.joewarburton.co.uk

I started to refine my portfolio, deleting old projects I didn't think were as relevant as new ones. I am looking forward to creating more work as it seems a little sparse at the moment.

Tumblr (inspiration blog) - www.joedesign.tumblr.com

I have been running this blog for a while now as Tumblr is a great way to source and showcase my inspiration. I occasionally post my own work and also reblog designs from my design a day blog.

Twitter - #joewarbo

Twitter is a great way to stay updated with design studios. I don't post as often - mainly because I rarely have anything interesting to say - but I do occasional post links out to my work. 

Behance - http://www.behance.net/joewarburton

Alongside my portfolio, I decided to create a Behance page as it is a great way to connect with other like minded creatives. I will update it throughout the third year to try and keep it up to date. 

Design a day - http://joedesignaday.tumblr.com/

I started my 'design a day' project in January and have tried to commit to it since. I try to link these designs to my main blog and post them via Twitter. I need to find a way of integrating my logo into the layout, however. 

Behance

I created a Behance page a couple of weeks back and began adding projects. I tried to utilise the same brand aesthetic I've used elsewhere online - black and white with a red/orange (#c62d2d) for links etc. I hope to continuously add projects when they arise. 

Web design workshop

An insightful seminar regarding tips for when designing and developing for the web.

Purpose

Promotion - exposure - why?
Point of contact - social networking
Selling merchandise
To persuade and inform

Audience

Industry professionals - networking
Other creatives for potential collaboration
Interested individuals / companies

What to include?

About you - be brief but insightful
Portfolio of work
Contact information - be professional
What the audience needs
Style of work / capabilities

Websites must have:

Functionality - does it work (dead links etc)
Usability - does it work well? (navigation)
Aesthetics - is it well designed? (layout and flow)

FOCUS ON THE LITTLE THINGS

The workshop that followed ensured we outlined what we intend to showcase on our site and gave us a chance to envision what design we had in mind to then receive feedback from the group. Sods law that a fire alarm went off mid way but it was a really helpful session. Looking forward to coding my own website now.