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OUGD602 — Networking - Nathan Hughs, Tim Pulleyn & Mark Windsor

I have recently been part of the Halleycat Event team as their graphic designer. This has been a really enjoyable job and has given me the opportunity to meet some interesting people with creative backgrounds in the cycling world.

Halleycat is one of the UK's most iconic fixed gear cycling events. It is held on Halloween and consists of a series of different competitions and a ride through the city.

See the project's development on my Extended Practice blog - here.

I organised to meet up with Tim & Nathan (the two event organisers) over a beer at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds and to then go on a ride with them.

Tim Pulleyn works in digital marketing and runs The Broken Line - a online cycling blog.


Nathan Hughs is the founder, product designer & maker at Restrap - a Leeds based cycling accessories + clothing company. Nathan was a speaker at the Bespoke event hosted by Creative Networks last year.


A friend of them, Mark Windsor was also there whom after introductions, I realised was the founder and product designer at Full Windsor - a company focused on designing products to create solutions for cyclists such as more effective multi-tools and clip on fenders.


We all discussed the event, what else needed to be organised, designed and produced and before we knew it, we'd missed the bike ride which we were going to tag along with. Tim then went home but I was invited to another couple of drinks at The Social with Nathan & Mark.

After all of the Halleycat stuff was discussed and sorted, we had a really interesting conversation about the design industry and what the best way was to journey through it. Nathan and Mark had some really great advice about how to get myself out there, how to network with the right people and again, how to keep in touch afterwards. Speaking to a couple of people who have had years growing in the creative industry was really useful and interesting.

OUGD602 — Studios - Analogue - Part 3

I was happy to receive an e-mail this morning confirming a two-week placement at Analogue between the 19th - 30th of January during my assessment break.

I am really excited about this and I can't wait for it to come along. I have a good feeling that I will learn a lot about the creative industry in those two weeks and I will hopefully provide a substantial amount to the studio in those two weeks.



OUGD602 — Studios - Analogue - Part 2

Upon arrival, Billy, the Digital Director of Analogue welcomed me in and introduced me to the team behind the studio including Jake the Design Director.

They showed me into their briefing / meeting room and offered me a beer before they avidly started to ask me about my work. It was great to have a couple of professional creatives speak so passionately about my work and how I create at the same time as giving me some great feedback on my current projects I am working on.



Because of following Analogue's work since I moved to Leeds I was really interested in how they approached briefs, how they worked together and what they were doing behind the scenes at the moment.

Overall they were really friendly, interested in the way I work, the course I was on and where I was wanting to go in my career.

Towards the end of our conversation, Jake was called into their working area to deal with a client they are working with in China (Pizza Express). Billy then asked me if I had done any internships or placements yet and if I was interested in doing one. I told him how I have spent the last two years in hiding developing my creative practice until it was professional enough to represent my abilities and interest but I am currently looking for a placement for this year. He went on to tell me that they haven't ever had a placement student before as they haven't really been interested in doing it but Billy & Jake have discussed it between themselves and they would be really interested in taking me on as their first.

They told me that Easter would probably be the best time for them but they needed to get the go-ahead from Barry, the Managing Director before-hand. He told me to e-mail him the dates I was free this year and he would work on getting me in there.

This felt absolutely amazing and I was so happy I was called in to see them. The studio itself is an amazingly inspiring working environment and the team within it are friendly and down to earth. Everything seems to have fallen into place perfectly.



OUGD602 — Studios - Analogue - Part 1

I have been a huge fan of Analogue's work since my first year of the degree programme. Their branding work is outstanding and has always been an inspiration to my hard work ethics.

I was nearing on getting in touch at the end of last year but they moved their studio and I didn't want to catch them while they were busy with that. However all of that changed today.

Instagram is such an amazing social networking platform for creatives in my opinion, it allows you to show your work and life through the format of photos taken on your phone. Very recently, I took the attention of the digital director at Analogue who proceeded to 'like' all the photos involving my current project for the Halleycat event (found here).

I bucked up the courage to ask him for his email address on a photo he had 'liked' and he immediately invited me to the studio for a chat.



This gave me a massive confidence boost and sent an email right away. This lead to the invite to go to their studio on Friday 10/10/2014 at 3:45 for a beer and to talk about their work and my work too.





This is huge for me because of how much I love their work and how long I have too. Can't wait to go and see how they work and the space they do it in too. I might even get some advice on my work and possibly a placement too.

OUGD602 — Networking - Luke O'Brien

I have developed quite a large following on the social network Instagram. I find it great because it is completely image based and rather than seeing immature bickering on Facebook it purely consists of nice looking pictures of what people are doing / working on.

Luke O'Brien is a BA Graphic Design graduate from LCA and has followed me on it for a while. Tonight, when I uploaded progress on the branding I am doing for this year's Halleycat he added a few comments and then gave me his number to keep in touch.




When I sent him a text to give him my number too, I asked about where he was working and we conversed for a bit until he told me to hit him up if I ever needed anything.



OUGD602 — Presentation - Introduction To My Level 6 Practice.

 

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