PDF mail out for studios.

Work in progress..

Im still in the process of finalising my projects to include within my portfolio, re-printing them and re-photographing them so these are the only ones which i am happy enough with to currently include,
When i have re-printed some of my second year work and finished off some FMP projects they will also be included in my online PDF.
Sorry.
But here it is, as it currently stands.

PPD design strategy presentation

2x Elliot.

Emailed one of my favourite UK based design studios asking about a potential placement for when i return from Amsterdam. Would be great if i get this, i have been a big fan of their work for ages now and their design and focus area within design is very similar to what i would like to be doing after uni. I noticed that they were taking on placements in September on their website so i wasted no time in contacting them. However i am still waiting on a reply.

Here is some examples of their work.

http://www.2xelliott.co.uk/

Ok200 - potential studio..

Seems to be number 1 on the list of studios i would like to work for post uni,
My main goal is to move over to amsterdam for a few months, and try to get a placement at this studio sorted for when i do. I still remain to be heavily influenced by Dutch design and working over there could be a fantastic opportunity for me.
Out of the studios that i am in contact with, Ok200 would suit me best for a placement i feel. The lads who own the studio are really down to earth, they were a great laugh when we went over there and the overall vibe in the studio seems to be really laid back and just fun, also their design aesthetic and sectors within design that they work for and very representative of my work and what i would like to do after uni.
I just need to ask them for a placement really...
Which is harder than it seems because i dont want it to seem like i have only been in contact with them all this time to get a job out of them.

Here i some exampled of the work they produce.

Amsterdam - continuing contact with studios

As part of my dissertation research i conducted a survey asking professionals for their responses. This acted as a great opportunity to continue contact with the studios we visited in amsterdam.

Ok200 replied asking me to send them my dissertation when i had finished with it, which i did and it seemed to go down quite well, even though i contained negative connotations about some of the work that they actually produce.

Bambooman - a great opportunity.

I emailed a Leeds based producer asking if he needed any artwork designing as part of my FMP, to which i replied with this.
Basically he gave me permission to go ahead with designing things for his new upcoming EP, and if he liked what i produced then he would potentially use them.
So i went ahead with it. This could potentially be a great opportunity to me in getting my design work out and seen by thousands of people, and maybe get some steady work coming in from this.
I am still working on the project but so far i am really happy with what i have produced. Here are some previews. Even though he only asked for one album cover i have designed like 4 and put together limited edition prints, promotional posters and tour flyers. Hopefully he will be happy with the end result. I will send them over to him when the project is finished to see what he thinks.

Amsterdam - thank you

When we returned from Amsterdam Me Chris and Yaf designed a thank you letter to send back to the studios we visited. Just to say thanks for taking the time out to show us round their studios and explain what we learnt from the trip. And how we hope to stay in contact with the studios throughout the course of our studios and hope to get back out there and visit them again. Here is the letter we send. 

From sending this, the feedback we received was great. The studios were all very grateful for this, sending us lovely emails back and OK200 even uploaded the design onto their facebook page, to which we received quite a nice amount of likes.

PPD task 2

Identify 5 companies/studios which you consider potentially synergetic to you personally. 

http://www.ok-rm.co.uk/
http://www.mainstudio.com/
http://www.ok200.nl/
http://www.studio-laucke-siebein.com/

Identify the top choices and Why you feel that they may have synergy with your practice now, or in the near future.

Is your choice based on:

My choice is mainly based on location as 3 are located in Manchester which would be close enough to commute for a placement or 1 day a week. 1 is located in London which shows my aim to eventually move down there when I get out of the north mainly due to the high amount of jobs available down south. My last choice is based in Amsterdam, which doesn't make much sense but I still keep contact with them and would one day if I had enough money make the trip again if its worth it.

All of the above studio's have a simular style of working, maybe not entirely the same brand philosophy but there are a lot of similarities running through them all. If anything they are all slightly modernist aesthetic studio's who focus on print and minimal, logic, clear design.   

What if none of those is your main reason for choosing to follow this organization, what is it specifically?

All the studio's above are fairly small in size, they are seem to have a lot more individual input into their projects and this really shine through onto their design practice instead of being a large advertising agency. They generally work with print and photography a lot and extend their projects onto web and digital platforms. I am planning on contacting them because I find similarities in their practise which overlaps into my own. I am contacting them all to either get feedback on my current work asking for advice how I can change my own practise to suite them for potential future employment, I am also asking for internships and short work placements.

They should listen to me, because i'm not going to leave them alone until they do.

Amsterdam - the trip

The trip was great, highly influential. Just seeing the approach the dutch have towards design and how much design work contrasts with the strict rules british design seems to run by. The work produced is in a style which i can see being very influential to the rest of my design work. And hopefully i will be able to keep in contact with these studios we visited and get a job over there for when i finish.

Amsterdam - studios

Managed to arrange visits to 3 studios out in Amsterdam,
These are the 3.

Ok200 - newly established studio, heavily experimental.
Lauke Sieben - One of the leading studios in Amsterdam, highly established with am impressive list of clients.
MainStudio - A one man based studio who's work is heavily type based, focussing on mainly book work for the culture sector.

Amsterdam - contacting studios

Planning a trip round some amsterdam studios,
Been heavily influenced by Amsterdam design for a while now so it would be great to see how these studios run 1st hand.

Emails to studios about visits.

business card

new business card design.
Not really too happy with the way they turned out though, due to the fact that they are all hand made a lot of them look scruffy and not good enough to hand out to professionals.
May have to re-design them and send them to be professionally printed.

 

Tumblr

Online Presence: tumblr..

My tumblr seems to be quite popular, got a fair amount of followers and get a decent amount of reblogs. Not as many as i would like but i guess you have just got to keep at it.

Its a good outlet to upload unfinished projects and little tests whilst working on projects and not just keeping it to final outcomes for briefs, Its a lot more of a casual way to help promoting yourself.

Just got to make sure i keep up to date uploading images a frequently as possible in order to maximise my following.

website

still continuing to update my website, however im not too keen on the overall layout of cargocollective site. I dont think im going to use this as my official website, probably going to set up an indexhibit page at some point.
Allot of studios i have been looking at use the indexhibit style webpage and the overall layout/look of the site come across as a lot more professional.

here are some examples of websites that i feel work well, and would suite my style of design. All built with indexhibit.

http://www.2xelliott.co.uk/

http://kasper-florio.ch/



http://open-play.co.uk/work



http://www.michael-boswell.com/index.html