OUGD602: Portfolio Surgery with Andy

I had a portfolio review with Andy Lodge, and we discussed my work and what I wanted to do.

I showed him my dribbble, I said I was worried that I might not have enough digital work to say that I'm a web designer, but he said that it was good I had a range and showed I can do more than one thing. He also mentioned you don't usually see someone do screenprinting + hand rendered things as well as a lot of web work so that is good.

He also said that I need to take a holiday before I start full time work as I seem stressed and unenthusiastic when talking about my work. I was planning on going straight into a job, but I see his point. I do feel as though I should take a break as I worked entirely through both Summers at placements/pub and I have been feeling worn down lately when it comes to work. I have a couple of friends who both want to go on holiday so I might get a couple in after the show and while I still have my tenancy in this flat, somewhere in Europe.

OUGD602: Networking - MUSIC

I have been interested in the Manchester based agency Music for quite a while now, as their work is so creative. They are very ideas driven and create a range of things in different mediums, which is how I would like to work. I think they are special a they don't seem to follow the rules - even their website is just based around '10 things you should know about Music'. And they have a calendar which tells you facts about them, and their concepts sets them apart from other agencies. You can really tell they have a lot of enthusiasm for what they do, and it is inspiring to see.

Sarah Goldthorpe has been speaking to them, and they've arranged a portfolio review to be held at their agency for us to go and speak to them if we are interested. If you was interested, you needed to email them and let them know. I am very interested so dropped them a line.

They replied the same day which was really nice of them too

OUGD602 - Final PPP Presentation

Here is my final PPP presentation

Here is the video I showed during it


YCN Topdeck Website from Danielle Harrison on Vimeo.


Here are my notes

1st Year

At the beginning - before I came onto the course I was into using hand rendered techniques such as lino cutting, developing my own photos and paper cutting. 

Here are some of the letters I did for the Summer alphabet, which is the complete opposite of what I would do now. 

I was really interested in sustainable design, editorial, packaging and printmaking. 

Although I am still interested in most of this, none of it is a focus for me. 

The one thing that hasn’t changed throughout the three years is how much work I take on and commit myself to, which has made the past three years a huge challenge for me, but I feel I have made the most of it because of this. 

2nd Year

1st Placement

My focus shifted completely at the beginning of this year, and this is due to me spending the entire summer at a digital agency at home. I spent 3 months there learning how to code and it really opened my eyes to the world of web design. 

Although it wasn’t paid, and they weren’t very helpful and it was a very small team, it pushed me to teach myself a lot about HTML and CSS and I’m grateful for that opportunity as it got me interested in web. 

Networking

This is also the year that I started networking. I started going to events revolving around web design which I now go to all of the time and I have met a lot of friends through doing this.

Some of the people I have met lead to me getting a place at the Work in the Web workshop I attended this year. Going to these is one of the most valuable things I have done while being here as I’ve met some great people in the industry and sometimes we meet up outside of the events as well, so they are more friends than just contacts.

I feel this was the best way for me to get talking to people in the industry as my biggest weakness is emails - I just don’t like them as I find it hard to word things and I get really worried about what to say. This is something that I still struggle with! 

Work

In 2nd year I spent a focused on figuring out more what I wanted to do, so I practised more web design, tried to do more illustration and branding and tested out packaging since this is what I wanted to do when I started. Although there isn’t anything I would put in portfolio from this year, it was valuable for me to learn what I did and didn’t want to do and helped me realise where I wanted to go. 

I designed and built a few websites as I wanted to get better at that, and although I don’t like what I produced, I am better because of the practice now. (igloo)

I wanted to try packaging again to see if I liked it at all anymore and produced this bacon packaging for a competition. This was a strange one as I think it is the worst work I have done since being on the course, yet it won the competition I entered it in (Starpack awards). But, it made me realise my focus has shifted entirely away from packaging.

The one project that I like from this year was a collaborative one, which I did with Sarah, and we are really proud of what we achieved with BEAR

Placements

Over that Summer I worked at Numiko and 26 and gave me a lot of insight to the type of company I want to work at and what it is like to work in industry.

Being at 26 made me realise I could do more work during 9-5 than if I had spent the entire day trying to do it and not being that focused which I spent most of the first two years doing. I was so much happier working within this time frame and a lot more productive. 

I feel the first two years of my degree I almost worked too much, and didn’t spent enough time relaxing and doing the things that I wanted. I didn’t realise that I could manage my time better and do both, and didn’t have to feel guilty when I wasn’t doing my work.

3rd Year

Approach to Working

So this year I have taken a different approach to the way that I work. Since I had time to do the things I love over Summer, as well as have a full time placement for four months, I decided making time do still do all of these things was a very doable thing.

I’ve finally realised there is more to life than graphic design - health & fitness, food, family, friends, nail varnish, sex and the city

and I make sure that I make time for most of these on a daily basis

Since doing this I have been more productive than ever with work and I am a lot happier with the work I am producing

I still haven’t mastered time management, in fact I have turned into a Procrastibaker now and there are still days when I am not productive but I am definitely getting there with the work/life balance

I am interested in gluten free, sugar free and vegan baking, and these are some of the things that I have made

That’s enough about my life this year, in terms of work

I wanted to focus this year on work that represents my skill set, the kind of work I want to produce, and the sectors that I am interested in and care about for my portfolio

Pieces that represent this:

Primate Project - web design

I created a fictional brand called The Primate Project where the aim was to adopt monkeys and donate to them to help preserve their habitats and life. Although I’m not keen on the website I designed anymore, I think I will still include it in my portfolio as it shows off one of my interests - animal welfare. It’s always been important to me to do work that shows the kind of person I am and I’ve tried to push that more this year.

Flick - app design

Flick is an app I designed for the practical side of COP and COP in general has made me more aware of app design and I’m more comfortable doing this now I have done so much research on it and feel like it is one of my strongest areas of design. 

The app itself suggests movies for you to watch based on your mood and preferences using a card based interface. 

YCN - Web Design/Animation

I did the Topdeck brief for YCN this year - it’s a tour operator providing trips around the world, and the brief was to replace brochures as the main form of communication and introduce the brand to a UK audience. 

This is my most substantial brief of the year, and I did digital, print and environmental work for it but the website was my favourite part of the project.

This is the animation I created for it, showing how a user would search for a trip on the website

Secret 7 - illustration

I entered Secret 7 this year, and I produced this design for Diana Ross & The Supremes which is from an era of music which I love anyway, so it was fun to produce something for that. I think it shows the style of illustration I like doing as well as one of genres I like to listen to.

My focus for the rest of the year is to create my own website, work on the last couple of projects I have going and try and secure a job that I want.

Future

Since I have spent the past two Summers working full time, I would like to take a little bit of time out, like a month or something and go on holiday as I’m so tired right now. 

I want to stay in Leeds as I love the city and have a lot of friends who live here

However, there isn’t any agencies that I really like here so I think I will end up in Manchester as theres a few that tickle my fancy there

These are Code ComputerLove which I have an upcoming placement at, MUSIC which I’m going to the portfolio review they are holding and LOVE which do lots of different work.

Summarise

Focus on digital design but I do enjoy print and other areas

Getting better at the work/life balance is key for me - Balance is Key

I want to stay up North

Thanks for listening