vigilant

So here are some school questions I thought would be interesting on here:


Is this practicum experience meeting your expectations?
It is above my expectations. They treat me with far more interest and the work I do with more regard than in my previous experiences. The involvement is a level up as well, I take the jobs I work on from start to print, and my designs are seeing real audiences. For example, I did the Eco Village logo out of necessity (cant stress that enough...) and next week it will be an entire section of the giant music festival I am going to. I will take pictures just because it will be one of the first really big things I have had actually out there.

What are the experiences that were expected? What was not expected?

What was expected was to follow around the other designers and learn from observation for a bit, then start easing me into the experence of doing it myself. This happened to a degree but the amount of involvement in the studio is very amped up. All of the screen printed posters for the T in the Park Festival were my designs, and the Connect festival in 2 months is already sporting more than half of mine as well. I think the freedom is what was unexpected. The ability to insert my illustrations and textures and patterns and hand drawn type is unexpected as well.


Were you prepared for this experience?

is anyone ready to leave home and go off somewhere? Not really,
but all things considered I feel like my design was more than prepared. I was told I think to much....haha.

What did you learn in class that has helped?

Illustration techniques defiantly. I have already used Heat transfer and the gesso collage textures in a couple of pieces, as well as delved into my morgue file of textures and type and patterns and doodles to produce at least 4 of these posters.
I would also say because of production class I am not completely lost when they FTP things to clients via AdFast. I know how to use inDesign, which makes Quark a lot less complicated when trying to work on established projects. I am aware of layout, grid and information mapping from 352 which helped to design the Connect map, and display the information in a stylized but organized way. I think Web helped because when working with baseline's own site I can understand their system of updating and organization of posts. Design History defiantly has helped because it allowed for Steven and I to pick the proper Deco time period of design to reference for the Connect Ads this time around. the client only asked for "vintage" so we had to decide what to do given the music being played, the images we had at our disposal and the time we had to do it.

how you would handle the project differently if you were in class?

I would be more painstaking about the poster work I have done. I have about 2-3 hours to design a really good poster during the day, and I have a style semi-defined for me by the previous work created, so I have to be much more aware of how much my time is worth. As I think most designers realize there is a time and a place to be conceptual. If you have a logo called for print in 15 min, then concept (or in depth concept) goes out the door and you just give yourself about 5 min to think, and ten to make. With the posters I can be conceptual, but on some of the day to day work it is neither here nor there that it has concept at all. And sometimes you just want to do a poster that looks cool, even if it isn't under lyingly complex.

How has this experience affected your schoolwork?

I have no idea yet. I certainly hope it will fuel me in my idea for my senior thesis. I have been chatting it up with some designers over here and am starting to formulate a secret plan.....I am thinking mainly how to use my strengths as a designer and show the potential hire-ees that I can work within the real world. with concept!

What are you learning about how a studio is run?

I am learning that lines blur. Friends and bosses and professional/personal lives converge when you spend 10 hours a day in a defined space. I am learning the commitment involved in running a business and how you have to be detail oriented to consider all the financial, marketable, printable, webable, and designable experiences and how to use them and not abuse them.

How are new clients pursued?

they don't right now.

How are current clients nurtured?

they are catered to. They are the first priority (if they are on time with their payments) And we stay late, come in early, and bend over backwards to help them. Extend print deadlines that shouldn't be extended, re-dos, alts, and comp design sometimes as well...

How is filing and billing handled?

The boss man Douglas handles the jobs when they come in, they are assigned a job number, written on the job list and entered into the master job list in the admin computer (hes anal retentive about this...haha) An individual job sheet is made for the job, and every possible scrap of information is compiled into the job packet sealed in a bag. All the emails that correspond to this job are printed out as well and entered in the packet for back-ups. We keep weekly and daily time sheets in 10 min increments to log the time spent on each job as the designers are often working on 3-4 at a time at least. The times for the job are tallied up at the end of the week and entered on the job sheet hard copy. once the job is completed the job goes to the completed job file and the total costs for printing, design time, revisions and any other misc. things are tallied up and double checked, then entered into the master job list as completed but not invoiced or paid. And then an invoice gets sent out to the client. at which point payment is received or Douglas goes and chases up up cheerfully and politely reminds them... At the end of the month(ish) the invoices are checked, and a statement for every job completed at that month is sent out and marked on it is the job number, the major details of the job, when an invoice was sent with a number referring to that invoice, and stating if payment has been received or not. (if it hasn't, it appears in red that it isn't received yet and if they are really late... it notifies them when it will be sent to a collection agency.) It is then marked in the master job list if it has been invoiced, paid, a statement has been sent out, and all those other bits. (the thing is highlighted in green when it is all good and done with) Douglas does the majority of this work himself, but also has a financial director to go over it as well, and then he looks at it a third time apparently before he sends it out.
He also keeps a log of the monthly earned, the hours worked, and the average hourly wage to double check the progress of what they were doing from month to month and year to year.


Critique the work from your supervisors’ point of view.

I know I work slowly, but the work I do is in his words "cool"
I need to improve my familiarity with the shortcuts on the programs, and how to get my good ideas to come out faster. I also need to build up an even more gigantic file folder of stuff to pull from that is ready to be dropped in without a lot of doctoring up first. I am confident in my work, now I need to be confident in how I work.


Critique the work from your clients’ point of view.

I delve quite deep into the piece and sometimes design for designers more so than the public. I need to be more aware of how the common person will take the piece, and their budget restraints. not everyone can afford to buy a designer's 50 hour time chunk.

Are you asked to provide input?

Yes, actually I offer it more than wanted sometimes I am sure. I have gotten used to the guys in the office now and can but my two cents in without getting to paranoid that they are going to call me "daft"

Do you supply suggestions?

I supply suggestions, resources, my own illustrations from my own work, textures I gathered, and they do the same for me.

How do you see the role of the client in the design process?

I see the role of the client as a necessary relationship, one to keep happy and well satisfied with the amount of effort you put into that relationship and show that you care about their work as much as they do themselves. I see the client as someone who can't visualize their own problem, and often cant verbalize what they really want or need, so my responsibility is to solve that problem and make sure they are relaxed because they know I can solve it for them. I think it is important to clearly define the boundaries of this relationship and specify what the
Responsibilities of a designer are, and what the client will have to trust you on, the client isn't the designer and the designer is not the only opinion. To get the client to trust you, the designer must consistently deliver good design, without hassle, and with consideration of the client's feelings. Don't run them over and don't let them push you around.

Looking ahead, what would you look for in your next practicum experience?

Well, all done with practicum after this, but job wise I want a mixture of everything. I want the studio life, with the people around you to work and joke and create side by side with opinions that are honest and helpful. I also want the print side where you can get dirty, have it your way, and create a piece of affordable and desirable art for someone who might like that band too. I want to mix ink and work with clients, I want it to be ok for me to have paint on my shoes at work, but not ok to be isolated. I think it is important for everyone in the studio to have their share of crap work, and everyone to be on a level playing ground both design and professional wise (even if someone is earning more than me, I do not want to be brushed off as though they know better without having to reason it out) I like the idea of running my own studio or print shop, with people who are loyal, and back you up and check your math to make sure your finances aren't all backwards. If I had to say that my education was lacking somewhere with this current internship it would be more hands on working with a client face to face. Most of my contact with clients is via email (save 2-3 actual meetings I have participated in) and I want some face time to get a better understanding where they are coming from and what they want out of the design firm.

What would you change about your current situation?

I would knock down the wall in between the admin computer and the rest of the studio so we can hear douglas whistling rock songs when he thinks no one is listening. I would not live in a hostel for the first month which restricted my working at night. I would probably like to live someplace a bit more permanent with internet connection to better post on blackboard. I would also change everyone elses speed of speech so I don't have to keep going "huh?" I wouldn't change much about the design education, because I am learning more than anything the professional side, the client relationship side, and the business bit of design. This is in addition to the complete freedom of creativity I have when working on these posters and festival guides. I even get extended time tables and for-warning on deadlines to work even cooler things out, so no complaints there. I would not change a thing about the living here though, I mean, where else could you dress up like a cowboy in the rain at a BBQ for 4th of july and draw pictures of fireworks while drinking instead of actually firing them off because they are far too expensive and dangerous in the UK.

I think I will be working differently in class in the future by keeping a log of the time I spend on a project, and try to amp up the quality and downplay the time spent on design projects to make me more marketable for jobs in the future.