OUGD603 - Balearic Downtempo+ - Self Set Brief

For some time now, I have had the idea of setting up a music label based around the genre of chilled out balearic music. Therefore, I set myself a brief of branding the concept. The final resolutions for this self set brief are showcased below. Using some of my own photography, I have also created artwork covers for the first release, keeping in theme with the brand identity.

At some point, I hope to bring this idea into fruition, possibly through a Soundcloud channel at first before expanding into printed vinyl releases.

This however, is still in conceptual stages. I already have so much to manage in terms of Co-Founding the events company 'Revamp' earlier in the year that this will most likely just be a side project for now.

This has however, been a great portfolio piece to discuss during my interview with DJ Mag as it shows forward thinking, ambition and personality in terms of musical taste.

OUGD602 - DJ Mag Interview

I booked a train down to London and sat down for the interview with the Editor in chief, Deputy Editor, Artistic Director and Head of Digital. Being my first job interview, I found it such a beneficial learning experience on how to present my work and myself to clients and employers. Preparation was key to how successful my interview went, I studied the company in order to ask insightful and relevant questions to the employers. These questions were written down in a notebook in preparation. The latest magazine was also studied carefully to be culturally revenant to the styles and content of what they produce. At the interview, I gave them two screen prints to keep, long with the book which I had already sent in the post. A selection of my best and most relevant work was then presented offline via an iPad. 

From my end, the job interview seemed to go really well, the conversation was flowing and I didn't have to refer to my notebook once. I believe that the presentation practice throughout this course and the PPP module has been so beneficial and aided in controlling my nerves when speaking professionally to a group.

OUGD602 - Interview Planning & Preparation

In order to prepare for the interview with DJ Mag, I thoroughly researched youtube videos and online articles from industry professionals who conduct interviews on a regular basis. I then took notes of the vital information which I had learned and wrote the most important points into a small notebook to take to the interview. I planned questions which I could ask them in advance in order to have the most informative and productive interview as possible. 

https://www.thebalance.com/top-interview-questions-and-best-answers-2061225

OUGD602 - Aztec Sculpture Exhibition Visual Response

Whilst at the Henry Moore Institute in the blog post OUGD602 - Henry Moore Institute - Sculpture, I took photographs of many of the Aztec masks and sculptures. Instead of writing about the history of the sculptures and artwork etc... which would have been a pointless exercise, I instead decided to produce a visual graphic response to the piece depicting the way which I see these artefacts within my own modern practice. By doing this, I have attempted to portray how I see these pieces of art within my own head, I have contemporised the artefacts by adopting them into my own practice, taking influence from postmodern design aesthetics and image reappropriation.

After the success of this self set brief, I intend to continue to visit more historical exhibitions and produce similar visual outcomes using photography of the historical artefacts.

OUGD602 - The Futur - Online Professional Talks

I watch Youtube videos, documentaries and tutorials online about design all of the time, but one of my favourite channels is one called 'The Futur'. On this channel, Chris Do talks about the business of design on areas such as how to deal with clients or charge for brand strategies. The particular video below I must have watched around 6 or 7 times, the way he describes about the process of charging money to clients has been so influential in the way I now conduct freelance work. It has given me confidence when dealing with clients and made me realise my value to the customer as a designer in terms of the profitability margins I can increase for a client. I now understand that my work is not just something hat looks nice, it has lasting impact for a company and can have a huge impact on how much money they will earn because of my creative campaign or brand.

https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/how-to-charge-clients-for-design-services/

OUGD602 - DJ Mag Interview Reply

After sending off my editorial test, DJ Mag replied by offering me an interview!

OUGD602 - Visiting Bradley Metalwork Factory

After visiting Pressision printers and Evolution in Sheffield, I realised how much I learnt from understanding the production methods of a product. Therefore, I booked to go and visit Bradley Metalwork Factory to gather a better knowledge of other machines such as Plasma and Laser Cutters which I could possibly use within design in the future.

The machinery which I looked at really allowed me to get a better understanding of how metalwork could be utilised within a creative practice. Some of the painting and decoration methods used also gave me a better understanding of how paint and patterns can be applied to certain materials other than paper.

I hope to use some of these production methods in my practice within the near future.

OUGD602 - Studio Research & Community Communication

In the preparation for life after university, I have accessed studio-index to search for potential jobs on offer, or studios which fit into my design style and personality. Through this platform, I have found and reached out to multiple studios by email and via the post.

I have screen shotted some of the email conversations which I have had through this process of reaching out to creatives within the industry. It is important to have a constant connection with professionals within the industry, this will boost my publicity as an emerging professional graphic designer.

OUGD602 - Millennium Gallery Sheffield

I visited the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield recently, the exhibitions viewed have inspired some metalwork production methods within one of my extended practice briefs. I hope to put this new knowledge to good use by utilising metal within the final resolutions of my upcoming project.

OUGD602 - DJ Mag Editorial Test

After sending one of my books ('Logo, Font, Rave, Type') to the DJ Mag studios, they emailed me back with an editorial test to complete. They sent over the images and text to be composed into an editorial design for the magazine artist feature.

As an added bonus, I also transcribed my interview with 'Posthuman' into an article format to send across. This interview was filmed before the event hosted by Revamp for brief 2 of my Extended Practice module. All of the writing is my own and the images used were sent over from Jon Da Silva at MAM Agency.

OUGD602 - Reaching Out To Creatives - Online Publicity

After the professional talk from 'The Elephant Room' in the blog post OUGD602 - The Elephant Room - Professional Talk, I approached Shannie to talk about work with her music magazine GUAP. We exchanged emails, and as a thank you for the talk, I sent her one of my music books 'Logo, Font, Rave, Type'. This book has been so influential when approaching creatives over the last few months, it has given me the opportunity to send something physical to a studio or creative individual to really stick in their mind. On this occasion, Shannie even uploaded an Instagram post about my book which was great publicity for my professional design page.

OUGD602 - Hovingham Primary School - Voluntary Work

An ambition of mine has always been to travel to other countries and teach children, this was only amplified during our professional talk with Rose Nordin during employability week seen here OUGD602 - Rose Nordin - Professional Talk & Zine Workshop. She talked about the possibility of grants and government funding to plan teaching abroad which therefore pushed me into getting some experience in teaching art. I therefore volunteered at Hovingham Primary School to go and run an art class with the children. I also thought that this would be a great opportunity to fill my CV with work experience.

The art class which I ran at the school was with a set of year 3 students, I decided to share my passion (book design) with the students to hopefully get them enthusiastic about the creative industries. Each of the children designed a page of a book using pen, paint and collage techniques which I then photocopied and turned into a publication with a french fold bind. Seeing the children excited about creating was such a fulfilling experience for me, hopefully I will have inspired some of them to pursue their own careers within the creative industries.