Within the industry there is many of design houses. These are basically small groups of designers that are more than likely to have the same type or a very similar style. I am going to look into more of the Graphic Design side of the Industry within design houses. One Design House I have found is called 'Graphical House', who are located in Glasgow. On their website the description of their studio is, "Located in a shop unit within the heart of Glasgow's creative quarter. the Merchant City, our studio is both an exhibition space and 'goldfish bowl' for passers by."
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| Image of 'Graphical House' Studio [1] |
I also went on an educational visit to Newcastle, in which we visited 2 other small design houses (however they ca also be recognised as agencies). The first design house was called 'El Roboto'. This design house was located up many flights of stairs, and in a small studio space. The description on their website is, "[el-roh-bot-oh] a creative agency that provides, brand, print and digital design solutions for lovely people all over the United Kingdom and Europe." I really liked their design studio, it looked very fun and relaxing. Although I am very sure there is busy and stressful days. They had a load of design books, cool toys and image over the walls. This is a good way to have design inspiration around you, incase you have a mental block. One thing I really like is their logo, it is very modern and simplistic, which is the style I most prefer.
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| El-Roboto Logo [2] |
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| 'Sweeteas' Packaging Design [3] |
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| Dirty Hands Co Logo [4] |
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| dAt bAr Design [5] |
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| dAt bAr Interior [6] |
All of the design houses I have looked at seem to focus their work towards a younger audience because the work they produce seems very appealing to myself. So far I have not come across a design house that does not look very appealing, they all look interesting, fun and the type of place I would like to work within.
Freelance
Freelance is just working for yourself, you being your own boss and finding/managing all the work yourself. It can be a hard route to begin with as you need to build up a strong portfolio for yourself and get your work out there in order for clients to contact you. When you are freelance more than often you will acquire an agent who will help you to find work by acting as a sort of a 'middle man'. Although you will get more work through using an agent, it will more than likely be work you don't really want to complete, you will have strict deadlines to meet and the agent/agency takes on average 35% of all of your earnings. But remember that any work is better than having no work. If you don't find work through an agent/agency and want to go it alone. Remember that there is a legal structure. You will have to set up tax payments for the money you earn through your own work, forgetting to do this could ruin you as you will end up being in a lot of debt, and that's no good for starting your career. Also when you get work in, pricing jobs appropriately is very important. You need to know what work you are producing and how long you have to produce the work. Work out how much you want to earn per hour/per day/per week. For example if you are asked to produce a poster for someone and they give you 3 days to complete it, and say they will pay £60, You know that this will not be very cost effective as it will mean you only earning £20 per day. That type of work should be completed within one or 2 days to be cost effective for yourself. You must also know what to ask for from the client, such as any particular things they want within the design. Like specific colours, typefaces, logos, how they want the work submitting to them, etc. As a freelancer you will need to be highly motivated in order to go out and find work, if you have no motivation to get up and design, then freelance is not the choice for you. As a freelancer it is important to get yourself known, so creating business cards, postcards or little pieces of design that you can send out in little self promotion packs can be helpful.
One freelance designer I have come across is called 'Bryan Kidd', who is located in Brighton. He has been a freelance designer for the last 15 years and has worked on many projects. One project he produced which caught my eye was the 'Brighton Digital Festival'. I really liked the logo and branding which he created.
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| Brighton Digital Festival Logo [7] |
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| Brighton Digital Festival Banner [8] |
Networks
Networks are basically people who you interact with to exchange information and help develop professional/social contacts. It is important when networking that you make yourself fully available to your clients. If you have good clients that love your work, keep them happy. If you keep them happy then they are likely to network you further, by telling their friends, who may contact you for work, and if they are happy they will tell their friends, and so on. It is also important to mix amongst fellow designers. You's will all be able to help each other, for example if a photographer needs some help with something graphic design based or vice versa, then a network is established and you are supporting and introducing yourself to new markets. Although you can help other markets, remember to support your own, in my case I would be supporting graphic designers. Use any opportunity to expand your network, as a bigger network can never be bad. A creative CV is another must to get your network started. They don't want your plain old black type on some white paper, let your creativity loose, show them what you are made of. This will be your first foot onto the networking ladder.
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| Creative CV Example [9] |
Collaboration
Collaboration is another part of networking which I have touched on slightly already. It can be helpful to collaborate as you can share ideas, give each other tips/hints and share each others styles. Below is a collaboration by 'Thibaut Malet' & 'Zics' of a piece called 'Wooden Spray Cans'. 'Malet' is a product designer, who created the woodwork sculptures of the paint cans, and 'Zics' is a graphic designer/illustrator who created the typography.
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| Paint Spray Cans Collaboration Project [10] |
Exhibitions
Exhibitions are an ever-growing side to the industry with people selling their work. Some artists devote all of their life and work to creating exhibitions. The good thing about exhibitions is that the people who are wanting to buy your artwork can buy the original pieces. On top of selling the original pieces of artwork, the creator can also sell prints of the work on top of that to make more money. However buyers like the idea that the artwork is solely going to be theirs. On top of that, as the artwork is the original it can be seen as a limited edition piece. Exhibitions come in all different sizes, you can have exhibitions that focus onto certain areas of the industry such as graphic design or illustration. Artists also create installations at galleries, such as one I visited recently at the 'Baltic' in Gateshead. It was by an artist called 'Daniel Buren' and was called 'Catch as catch can: works in situ'. In this exhibition none of the work was for sale, he was just commissioned to create the installation and talk about where his ideas came from. You will be able to see that Buren has used lighted artwork in the areas of exhibition space with no windows, and he has used sunlight to create an in situ/moving artwork within the exhibition space on the top floor. All of his work was fantastic and without seeing that exhibition I wouldn't of known of his existence. Which proves how having exhibitions is a way to get yourself known to new people and even possible commissions.
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| Daniel Buren - Catch as catch can: works in situ [11] |
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| Daniel Buren - Catch as catch can: works in situ [12] |
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| Daniel Buren - Catch as catch can: works in situ [13] |
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| Daniel Buren - Catch as catch can: works in situ [14] |
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| Daniel Buren - Catch as catch can: works in situ [15] |
There are many competitions out there for you to enter, from being a beginner in the design world, to experienced/well known in the design world, there are plenty to choose from. Obviously some are going to be bigger than others. Bonuses of entering and winning competitions can get you National/International recognition, it opens up plenty of possibilities/new opportunities to advance yourself in the design world, you and your work will be exposed to a much wider audience which could be potential clients, your work is often exhibited or published creating more opportunities, and there is potential prize money for winning competitions (now that is just an added bonus). The best thing I believe to get from a competition is the exposure of yourself to others as this will help to get you noticed and bring in potential clients.
D&AD (Design & Art Direction)
The D&AD Awards recognise excellence in the design world. It is the toughest and most well known design award to win. Anybody can enter but that does come with a fee, in which the fee for entering goes towards the funding of D&AD and in the graphic design category, the fee can range from £105 - £170 for a single entry. The work is judged by 25 specialists which helps to expose your ideas to people who are top in their individual field. If you win then you will receive the D&AD pencil, a place within the annual, a membership for the annual and also a gold, silver and bronze pencil if you are the most awarded of the year. But don't forget more importantly than all of that, you will become a lot more known to people and bigger clients are likely to contact you for work. Winning competitions is always great exposure for yourself.
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| D&AD Logo [16] |
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| Gold, Silver & Bronze D&AD Awards [17] |
Another award I have found that you can win is called the Design Week Award. This competition is funded and hosted within the United Kingdom, but recognises design work internationally. The award that is handed out changes each year, but always includes some sort of light to link with the light bulb in their logo. This is not as well known as D&AD, but remember any competition is worth entering and trying to win. I myself would love to win a competition, but I am yet to enter any of my work into one. I just need to believe in the work that I produce, and soon enough I will enter one.
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| Design Week Award [18] |
As you must be able to tell from reading the blog, the area I would most like to fit into the Industry, is in a Design House. I believe that you have more creative freedom when working within a design house, as if you worked more corporately then I believe your creative freedom would be tied down to what they wanted you to create. However as well as wanting to work within a Design House at some point in my career, I would also like to work in Advertising/Marketing as I find that part of the Graphic Design Industry very interesting. I would love to see another Designer working in an Advertising/Marketing role to see what life is like for them and to get an idea of what it could be like for myself.
Image References:
[1]http://www.graphicalhouse.co.uk/information
[2]http://design.el-roboto.co.uk/about_us/how_we_work/
[3]http://design.el-roboto.co.uk/articles/portfolio/branding/i/sweeteas/
[4]http://www.dirtyhandsco.com
[5]http;//www.dirtyhandsco.com/Dat-Bar
[6]http;//www.dirtyhandsco.com/Dat-Bar
[7]http://www.bryankidd.co.uk/portfolio/brighton-digital-festival/#.VHeFsYusVHw
[8]http://www.bryankidd.co.uk/portfolio/brighton-digital-festival/#.VHeFsYusVHw
[9]https://covunicareers.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/creative-cvs/
[10]https://www.behance.net/gallery/20997941/Wooden-spray-cans
[11]Own Image
[12]Own Image
[13]Own Image
[14]Own Image
[15]Own Image
[16]http://blog.making-pictures.co.uk/making-pictures-partner-with-dad-student-awards-for-photography/
[17]http://www.dandad.org/en/professional-awards/
[18]http://mra.co.uk/news/design-week-awards-mra-nominated
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