Summery Statement......

When I presented my design strategy presentation, I said that my post-uni plan was to try my hardest to become a successful freelance illustrator, specialising in illustrated lettering. I was planning to move to London and work in the pen department at Selfridges as a retail temp whist I pursued my dream, trawling agencies periodically with my portfolio. I also have two placements in London arranged,  the first with Jelly London, an illustration agency based in London, who have encouraged me to go freelance, and who I have had a placement with earlier on in the year. The second is with Tigerprint in London, after having a  weeks placement this easter at the Bradford studio. The placements I had this year really helped me to start to visualize where I saw myself fitting into the industry. This year I have also taken part in all of the pop up shops as well as manchester print fair. I plan to continue engaging in events like this and trying to sell my work independently online. Coming joint first place at Inspire Create and getting a placement off the back of the Creative Milkround event really helped to boost my confidence at the start of the year when I was really doubting my work and employability.
Coming third at the Sh Awards the other day was a completely unexpected surprise, an I now have a 6 month paid placement up north which is a fantastic opportunity. My future plan hasn't necessarily changed, as I still in the long run intend to be a freelance illustrator, however the next year is starting to take shape a little differently than I had planned a month or so ago. The dates have yet to be arranged for the Sh placement, but it means I will probably be postponing moving down to London and possibly postponing my summer placements if necessary. I am planning to create mail outs for the illustration agencies I was planning to target, and try to visit some London agencies prior to starting my placement. I am pleased that I will be able to be earning in the industry I want to work in whilst pursuing my goal, rather than in a shop! I really hadn't thought I was very employable to a studio role, but this recent placement has made me rethink the way I market myself; I am now making sure I market myself as a designer and illustrator equally so as to keep as my doors open as possible!

Horrendous photograph

Full article : http://www.brassagency.com/blog/sh/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Sh%20post

Design Strategy Presentation pdf

PDF Portfolio

Design Presence

Email about my card designs!

Two of my card designs that I completed on my placement look like they might be printed....

New Live brief

E-mail about live brief

E-mails from live illustration brief

It's nice that Graduates competition submission

woohoo!

I came third place at the Sh awards last night which was a real shock! I have won a 6 month paid internship which is just amazing!

Sh awards shortlist

 I received an e-mail informing me that I made the shortlist of 16 applicants for the Sh Awards. 

I had to prepare a 15 minute presentation to present to 6 creative directors which I did this morning! I was really nervous but I think it went really well. and although I don't see myself winning the placement, the various creative directors all seemed interested in hiring me in on a freelance basis, and took my business cards as well as offering me some fantastic advice on interview technique and the layout of my portfolio which actually has inspired my end of year show piece! I look forward to the award ceremony next thursday where our work will be displayed and we will get the opportunity to network with the professionals and the other candidates.

Tigerprint placement

I have just finished my week with Tigerprint at Hallmark House on the outskirts of Bradford.
It was really really great and I learned such a lot. It was really interesting to get some experience in an industry like that as I felt very ignorant about how it works before I went. It went really well and I had some of my concepts for valentines day pitched to Marks and Spencer on the last day - just waiting to here back at the moment on how it went! Janine has been in touch with the London studio who have seen my website and are interested in having me in in the summer. She is going to send them what I have done this week and take it from there. There is the possibility of a freelance contract with them at £8 per hour, which would either be working in the studio on all kinds of different things, or more flexibly being commissioned on a freelance basis as and when they want designs in my particular style. I cant blog any of my designs as they are now owned by Tigerprint, but if they use any I will be paid per concept.

Business cards - rounded edges

Linkdin Profile created and contacts gradually building!

Sh Awards submission

Tigerprint Placement

Just downloaded the placement pack from Tigerprint and I'm getting so excited now!!!

something that made me happy

I got my first live brief from Three Blind Mice today who are the sister studio to Jelly (who I did my placement with). They said they would keep me on their books when the right job came up. Its a small lettering brief for a pitch for a program for channel 4 and I'm not sure I can blog it but its a start! 

The most exciting thing for me was when Roz from TBM e-mailed out my contact details to the guy on the brief and accidentally sent them to me - I liked how she called me a 'lettering artist' - it made me feel like a REAL PERSON.

Manchester print fair

I have decided to submit some work to be sold at Manchester Print fair.

Happy Mothers day

Etsy

I have decided to sell my print that didn't sell in the pop up shop on the Etsy website.

Milkround Yesterday - Hallmark/Tigerprint Placement

I went to a networking event yesterday at leeds university called Milkround. I booked one-on-one tutorials with some of the visiting professionals including Hallmark and Tigerprint. Hallmark offered me a placement which was great but informed me that if I did one with them I couldn't do one with Tigerprint as well as they are a branch of Hallmark. I didn't ask Tigerprint for a placement during my interview, however I think that they would be more suitable as they have a London studio, which I discussed with them. They seemed positive about my work, and Hallmark were happy to get me in touch with Tigerprint afterwards so I could see if they would like to offer me a placement. I  e-mailed them straight away and they said they would! Woo.

They also said that they would fund travel and pay me for any live work I do at £150 a piece which is fantastic! They also said that if I want to go freelance afterwards then there was the possibility of a freelance contract at £8 an hour.

I am now in the process of discussing dates...

Price tag design for pop up shop

Pop up shop

My prints that I have framed for the pop up shop.

New Stationary

I have redesigned my business cards and stationary using coloured stock as the colour palette both to introduce some colour to my personal branding and due to the fact that it is cheaper for me to produce.

Card shape variations :

New logo

I have revised my personal logo by hand drawing it as I feel that it works better with my work like this.

New e-mail signature :

New web header :

Portfolio type samples

I have spent today putting a bit more time into my portfolio in preparation for Milkround on Wednesday. I have made up these two pages for the end of my portfolio to showcase all the different styles I have done all together in one place and in monochrome just to make it clearer. I got the idea from looking at Alison Carmichael's illustration portfolio when I was at Jelly.

Personal branding cards re-design

I have been unhappy with my current business card design for a while so I decided to have a go at sorting them out before Milkround on Wednesday. I reflected on my practice and realised that although the type of my logo is custom type, the overall aesthetic of the card could reflect my practice better than it does at the moment. I decided to hand write all of the information on my business card as well as some of the details on my CV and invoice.

I think that these ideas work a lot better than the previous ones.

I chose to include the decorative line from the logo so that it can be used as part of my professional identity across multiple elements.

I also hand drew the logo which I think is almost unnoticeably different, however the aesthetic fits in better with the other type and reflects the style of my work even better.

Invoice variations :

CV :

My CV needs some more work content-wise, but I plan to talk it over with John at some point this week.

I have decided as part of my visual identity I am going to print my CV, invoice and business cards on different coloured stocks, as my work is fairly colourful. This is also a lo-fi way of making my business cards colourful.