Business cards

My business cards came!

I'm quite happy with them and glad I went for the spot uv rather than the cheap option of just CMYK colour. Also a lot of people seem to be getting foil business cards which look so good but I'm happy with the spot uv. I stuck to the grey and white because I tend to use these shades a lot within my work and I think it looks smart.

End Of Year Show Proposal Boards

For the Ska banner I wasn't sure whether to include photographs as well to show more of the story of the brief or whether to just have the banner as a promotional piece as this would hang outside of an exhibition space. 

For the fashion branding I wanted to include photographs of the range I have produced but am aware that I most likely going to need to photograph things again. Also Anna's look books have arrived now and I'd like to include them because they are quitea big part of this brief.

Business card designs

I keep changing my designs but here are the final artworks

Website

My website is now live, not all briefs are on yet but I wanted to get it up and running.

Visit here:
www.sophieherring.co.uk

Design Stratergy

Urban Outfitters

Job sites

With the help of twitter I've found a few good job sites which seem to advertise and list a number of good jobs all in the creative sectors. I am checking these sights regularly to see if theres anything suitable to apply for. Mainly I'm looking at internships and Junior Designer roles but don't know if I have enough experience to carry out that role.

Studio Spaces

I've been looking at studio spaces in Leeds becuase I'm definitely staying in Leeds for now at least.

I've been looking at Duke Studios, I visited here on my placement and its really taking off, it's got facilities like laaser cutting and photography studios and is very central.

 

 I was also looking at Umbrella Creative Spaces,they are a bit further out but the rent price for a small
space seems reasonable. The only thing which could be a negative with this is additional costs for trravel etc.

Design presence- progress crit

photo of sticky notes

Boxhead

Hazel and I spent a week at Boxhead. They said the were very busy and got us to work on some signage they were producing for the Bivouac. It was a small, friendly studio and although I felt nervous about not being able to do what they wanted we got straight into the briefs.

 We worked on signage which was to be lasered into wood so took a trip down to Duke Studios to test out the laser cutter. It was good to go out and work on different things and see briefs take shape to be used in real world rather than just college work which sometimes has no purpose.

 I liked how David sent us out to gather some first hand research for a taxi brief. It was refreshing to see that they actually carry out the design process rather than just going straight to a mac. So Hazel and I took the camera and visited some taxi waiting rooms.

 We created some intentionally bad designs for the taxi brief, it was fun to work on but actually proved to be difficult creating bad designs on purpose going against what you know.

 At the end of the week the team kindly gave us each some posters and we returned the favour with a polaroid camera they had their eye on.

It was interesting to see how such a small studio works and the roles they play and they really created a team. It made me aware of how I would like to be part of a small team like this and have a role.

WeareBoxhead

Just found a tweet of Boxhead on twitter saying they are looking for an intern next week!

I thought I might as well give it a shot even if I'm scared!!!

I started re-doing my portfolio sampler again the other day anyway so it was a perfect time to get it done. I haven't inlcuded all of my work but tried to show what I'm about.

I sent them an email with just a small message on saying what I think I could bring to them but didn't want to be too cheesy.

The Netherlands

I've  been looking at a few design studios in the Netherlands and found a couple that I really like. One is even looking for an intern which I really want to apply for which is Silo. They have a lot of identites, print and publication work that really intersts me and also a lot of work for the arts and culture sector with work for exhibitions etc.

I attempted to translate the advert for an intern and what I got from it was:

Aware of adobe programmes
Heated with creative vision (this may not be correct)
Good work, functional and comprehend (again, something not right)
And then something like show your motivation and cv to...

So I'm thinking of re-doing my sampler of work and possibly attahcing a CV to the back of that as soon as possible and maybe sending some kind of physical sample through the post. I want to create a newspaper style publication like I was talking about before just because I think it would be an interesting way of sending a portfolio.

YCN

I was searching for design internships and came across YCN one, I didn't even know there was this section on their page! I was looking through the list and really like the sound of this one actually for YCN. It is for a minimum of a month and based in London and I hopefully fit the requirement list, I need to sort out my CV and sampler as soon as possible and get applying.

Website

Building my website slowly but surely. I'm taking what we did last year with Simon and using the basics to  create a template and pages from this.

I've got a home, about, work and contact page. I'm using my branding from my business card etc to carry through onto my website but have the option of more colours so I've used the web turquoise I used in my PDF because I want it to be an inviting site with colour.

Advice

I found this on D&AD, just some advice on portfolios.

It's all about your portfolio -
Somewhat controversially I’m going to say no-one really cares about your degree – apart from your mum. It’s all about putting work in front of Creative Directors that will make them wet with excitement.
Brace yourself -
Take time to make your ideas easy to understand and practice going through your portfolio so you can talk through it with confidence when it matters.
Sell yourself -
You’re the product, after all. So show what you’re capable of by applying the approach you’d take for a campaign to make them want you.
Be exciting and entertaining -
Creative Directors get more emails a day than you can possibly imagine, so do something to grab their attention.
Be flexible -
It’s important to offer that little bit extra (sitting around me at this moment are people who outside work hours are everything from renowned musicians to taxidermists). Put it in your portfolio so agencies can see the other skills you have to draw on and so you have something you can talk about passionately for hours.
Keep on blogging -
Blogs are a great way, especially as a copywriter, to develop your skills and let your personality shine through – giving insight to how you think and what your capable of. It’s essential to show where you get your inspiration outside of ad land – navel gazing isn’t creatively healthy.
Be a slut -
See as many Creatives for crits as possible to get your work out there. Try to find a team who’s opinion you value to be your mentors – not only can they help you improve your portfolio but they can also refer your work to their contacts. I always made an effort to go to as many industry events as possible, and still do, always having a bit too much fun than is sensible.
It’s not the end of the world if you’re single. Having a creative partner is great but it’s still possible to get a job as a singleton. A lot of digital agencies in particular, have teams of people from across disciplines working together to crack a brief rather than a traditional team. It’s tough but since getting a job on my lonesome, I’ve found it quite liberating and feel confident generating ideas on my own, Plus, I don’t feel dependent on a creative partner or have ‘the fear’ of what will happen if we decide to go separate ways.
Restrictions are fun -
Embrace the brief – part of the satisfaction of cracking it is knowing that you formed something creative despite the restrictions.
Oh, and most importantly remember: