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OUGD602 — Placement — Analogue — Week 2

On Monday, like the week before, we started the day with a Ted talk, this one was by Philippe Starck, at times it was quite difficult to understand what he was saying because of the accent but it was a really interesting talk about the purpose of design.

See it here — http://www.ted.com/talks/philippe_starck_thinks_deep_on_design?language=en#t-95070



After that, we were each briefed on our jobs for the week. Mine was to begin the concept development for the identity for Revere, the pub company that owns The Elephant and Market and many others Analogue are in the process of rebranding.

I got straight to work on my first concept and worked pretty solid on it for two days. I then presented this to Barry.










After we discussed the concept, it was made clear that even though it looked modern, it looked a bit science themed or atom inspired which wasn't the correct vibe.

I went back to the drawing board and began pulling down reference to back up my directions / styles. I then consulted Jake with these and we refined them further by finding more / better reference.

This time upon working the logo I had a more direct pathway in each style to present to Barry upon completion.

On the last day of the placement, we all went to Nandos for lunch as a send off and upon returning I presented my work to Barry once more.












He was really pleased and impressed with the direction I had followed after trialling the previous ones and them not working, we then went on to discuss how we'd found working together.

I told him that I had felt really welcomed to the studio from the first day and it was great to be so involved in the briefs they were completing, i had learned a lot from being in their environment for two weeks even though it felt so quick.

Barry said he was really really impressed with my work ethics, the motivation I had, the amount I had done and the quality I finished it. He also made hints about the potential of furthering our relationship with another placement and then possibly a job. I was given an unexpected £200 for the graft and I reiterated that I'd stay in touch and hopefully come back soon.

OUGD602 — Placement — Analogue — Week 1

As I arrived, I was greeted by Barry, the creative director of Analogue who I hadn't met yet. He straight away began showing an interest in my work, complementing the quality of what I produce which was an amazing confidence boost and told me that they had not yet taken on an intern and they wanted their first to have an obvious range of skills so they could easily depend on them with producing quality work representing the studio.

After that, I was told how a Monday is constructed in the studio. First, we all gather in the briefing room and watch a Ted talk to motivate and challenge our thinking, this is followed by a briefing on the day's objectives, and priorities along with a week plan.


The Ted talk we watched was by Rory Sutherland and focused on the idea of value and perception. This was a really interesting start to the morning that got my head thinking about what I buy and why. For anyone reading this, I really do recommend it.


https://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man#t-281466





I was briefed for my two focuses over Monday-Wednesday to design the flooring to go around the bar at a new restaurant opening in Trinity called Pintura, owned by the same people that run Cielo Blanco, Jake's Bar & Neon Cactus. My second focus was the children's menu for a restaurant opening in Darbyshire called The Elephant & The Market. I was told that even if from the first glance they sound like boring jobs that they were really going to twist my arm and be a challenge to complete successfully.


I was asked to create three variations of the Spanish tile inspired vinyl designs, to take it further I produced six unique outcomes of the brief. This was something that Barry told me he really appreciated the extra effort in.


I then began to plan out the children's menu for the next day so I was ready to go as soon as I got in.


My first day went really well. I networked with everyone on the team apart from Richard, who was ill that day. Everyone were really friendly, helpful, interesting to talk to and a good laugh too.

I am glad that the hard work I put in was noticed by Barry and he told me. It has certainly given me more drive to push things harder than I would normally to give a great impression and show them what I'm made of.

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The second day I began working on the children's menu straight away. Barry was away in London for the next two days so I wanted to get it all done to an impressive standard before he got back. 

Without being told about the restaurant's theme, I automatically assumed with a name like Elephant and the Market that it was an indian restaurant, and for that reason I began drawing an asian market for the background of the menu. When I showed Jake, he told me that it should be an english market and a lot more simple. This is when he told me that it was more of a pub/hotel even though the name suggested otherwise. This taught me to ask more questions about the brief as I had come into the studio mid phase of the project.

I spent the rest of the day redrawing the market as an english one and then working on characterisations for the elephant.

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The third day was my last chance to get the menu finished in time for Barry's return so I had a lot to do. I spent the whole day developing the idea that everyone gave the go ahead and pushing it further. Throughout the day, I also kept going around the studio to see what others were doing and if they needed any help or feedback. Jake told me on our way home that it was something that stood out to him as when they have had people in the past, they haven't really seemed interested in what is happening in the studio.

I managed to finish the children's menu that evening which I was very happy about. The content still hadn't been sent so I just left a gap for it.



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The next day, Barry told us about his trip to London to a big toy convention where he networked with industry professionals like hasbro, etc in an attempt to find design work for Analogue.


I showed Barry what I had done with the children's menu and he was really happy with it. He sent it to the client and the client loved it so we were both really pleased. The next job on my list was to design the flooring for a restaurant called Pintura opening in Leeds Trinity this year.

I was given large amount of reference of Spanish tiles which they wanted me to be inspired by when designing. After copious amounts of experimenting with a grid structure influenced from those tiles, I came to a strong outcome which I pitched to everyone at Analogue for feedback and comments and they were all really impressed and put me in the right direction to develop it.

This was the final outcome for each part I needed: The bottom of the stairs, the middle of the room, the front of the bar and each side of the bar.



Another piece of work I needed to do for Pintura was the vinyl for a disabled glass elevator. Barry had the idea to make it look like an elevator from the 20th century with big metal shutters, but at the same time, reminiscent of Spanish architecture

I used the same grid structure as the tiles and created a circular pattern with the logo's P this was then placed within a shutter like background. This would be copper foiled onto the glass.



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On Friday, I had two jobs left to finish the week with. My first was to design a pretend event poster for the inside of Pintura with an illustration by Victoria Topping. A series had already been designed for fishing contests, music festivals, etc and my poster was a surf competition. I was given the details and a screen shot of the illustration and set to work. I realised over the week that Barry liked to see a variety of different outcomes so he could figure out what he wanted to see so that is exactly what I did.

The final outcome became this one with a very subtle type finish in the corners to frame the illustration.



The last job of the week was to design a digital newsletter for Universal music. This was a brief that was given that day and was needed very quickly, for this reason, Barry set each of us on it to do one each so they could go back with a variety of different results. The client then chose a combination of mine and jake's for their final. I do not have a copy of the final one but this was my response. It needed to be very swiss modern, stripped back but still visually interesting. I was pretty happy that elements of my newsletter went into the used one as i wasn't expecting mine to be used at all.



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Overall my first week at Analogue went incredibly quickly and I had an amazing time. It was really fun getting straight into the work and being used as an asset rather than getting in the way. I have learned a lot about the industry in just one week as well as lessons in patience, receiving feedback, professionalism and software skills at the same time as brain power to work from 9 till 6 five days in a week (not something I am accustomed to).

I have been told that I will be working on a branding project over the course of my second week which I am dead excited about.

OUGD602 — Placement — Analogue

For the next two weeks I am going to be working Monday - Friday, 9am - 6pm at Analogue in Morley, Leeds.



I thought I would give the placement some consideration in respect to what I wanted to achieve from it so I would find it easier to meet my goals and develop myself and my creative professional practice. Below are some things that I would like to get from the placement.

Friends — I would like to get really close to the people that work at this studio, when I first visited they all seemed really friendly already and on the same wavelength as me, which I find quite difficult to find. Developing a good relationship with the people at this studio may lead to more networking with others that share similar interests at the same time as some good contacts that are already in the industry that may be a good source of advice and help.

Confidence — Being in the final year of university, I am beginning to feel anxious about finishing university and not being good enough for creative employment yet so I am hoping that working this placement will enlighten my creative drive, abilities and confidence so that I can sell myself better and make more educated opinions and comments without feeling that I will say something unprofessional.

Work — I want to be 'used and abused' to an extent of the placement. I have heard horror stories of interns just watching from afar, making coffee, given small poor jobs and then the agencies never using it. I want to be involved in the centre of action and I want to be able to become a part of the team for two weeks making an impact in the studio and leaving a great impression. To leave and know that I have created important elements in briefs would be a great feeling but it would also give me lots of experience in client led briefs within team environments with the added pressure or representing the studio. I think this will be great for exercising my stress levels under pressure.

Collaboration — I have struggled to find someone on the same wavelength as me at university in regards to creating work together. As we are all in our studies, we all want to do what we want to do and are difficult to budge on that, because we want to build our portfolio upon personal levels. I want to use this as an opportunity to collaborate with other members of a close knit team who have one thing in focus, which is creating great work in response to a clients needs.

Enlightenment — For the last 2 and a bit years, people have always asked me what I want to do when I finish university. Until now I have not yet had the chance of a placement or studio time so I have been unsure if I would suit it, and at the same time, even though I know I work well solo, I would be worried to go freelance because of the potential risk of not earning money in dry spells and falling short of rent, etc. This opportunity will allow me to figure out for myself if I would work in a studio environment efficiently with other people.
 

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