Graphic Designer

Today we had a graphic designer from Brond come in to talk to us about his work and a bit about the industry. His company is made up of two main designers including himself and they bring other people in for specific jobs if needed.
Most of their work comes from referrals or by approaching a brand, suggesting improvements to start a conversation going which may lead to development and to a pitch.  
He used to do product design at 14 and some graphic design work in his free time, then did A levels and foundation Art, he decided to go onto graphics as he thought it was more free than product design. Using interests that he had, he began finding himself jobs by asking companies that he was interested in such as O'Neil if he could show them some ideas, he did say that often first ideas were rejected but it opened the door for conversation and often lead on to him being able to do some design work for them.


Some advice that he gave us was that you need to develop skills quickly and always try to keep learning, be yourself, be original and be interesting. Working through holidays is a good idea as it is making you continue to learn and the more experience you have the better you can become and feel more confident about what you are doing.


What to consider when looking for a job.
prepare /presentation skills / keep active 
really try to involve yourself in creating networks and contacts, meet people.
when you are producing your work know why you are making small decisions such as changing a font or color.
note down when you have sent your CV's and follow them up, employers might be looking for someone who is showing a real interest in wanting to work for them and might be more likely to consider you over others. Show energy and be a good communicator.
Ask open questions
Do you take people on? rather than have you got any jobs 
Be flexible, if they invite you somewhere such as to a design show etc make sure you are able to go to make a good impression.


Interviews
show energy and enthusiasm be open and understood, show skills and ability, have the right attitude and make an effort.
When asked questions such as why have you done this say the obvious then expand on it. 
If you have older work in your portfolio which you look at and think I could have done that better, then do it if you are thinking this then what is the person who you are showing it to going to think?
The interviewer might not be creative so explain to them why you have done something and why it works, why it is good.
Go to interviews with a question to ask even if it is simple as it will make them more relaxed and be better interaction.


If you are considering a brand update...
Look at the current design, make notes on it what is it telling you, colour, text, illustrations
consider how it could be changed, pick out the words that you don't want the brand to be saying and change them from the way they are currently linked to the design.


Unique
Everyone has a different life experience and outlook, make good use of this people will probably want to hear your opinion be engaging with a group discussion.


One way in which he designed a logo on request from a company was to first make the designs in black and white and create separate colour pallets and also to have the designs with different font changes such as upper and lower case bold and medium weight, under each design he wrote a few notes on why he had made the choice of colour, type etc so he could explain this easier to the company.


He said that it is important to have loads of interests, and not to guess but to use market research if you are unsure of something as knowledge leads to good design.
If you have an idea for a design write it down and if it doesn't sound good then it probably won't be