StudioCultureL6

I have chosen the last talk of day one by Peter Saville (UK) to focus my blog post about the talk that most stood out for me over the two days. I have chosen Peter's talk for the topics he discussed and the responses he came out with, to the questions the interviewer was probing him about. The personal feel to the discussion was a indicator for me to choose this talk, the whole time Peter was talking to the interviewer and the audience, it feel like he was being totally honest and drop this large design persona he carries around with him. He is very confident man and sometimes will come across slightly arrogant to people, but with a man who has contributed to the creative industry hugely, he has all the right to be able to express his strong views on many areas of the creative industry, not just graphic design.

Peter Saville was very open when it came to discussing the role of the graphic designer and the labels now given to different designers in the industry. He expressed ' There is a reset in how communication design is used in our economy' , before he went into this deeper later in the talk, I thought at this stage he was right that there needs to be clarity when it comes to the labels assigned to designs. This clarity is being blurred by the ever changing representation of the roles designers take on now, he notes that graphic design is definitely suffering from this. 

"Graphic as a word is very misleading. Graphic is being used in the news, 'graphic this, graphic that'. The irony state of hybrid, the label matters more than ever, there is shared territory but the label really matters to designers. What label do you apply to yourself?" 

Peter goes on to explain that 'Designer is author' and that if a designer is not carrying a label, they are in a 'non-place'. This makes a lot of sense to me when he brought this point up in the talk and he was the only member of AGI to really personally bring this up. The label can offer the designer many opportunities and with a designer not having a label assigned to them, can hinder their future design path. 

Are we:

Designer or Artist? Fine Artist or Painter? Visual Communicator or Graphic Designer?

The meaning of the labels are being analysed and dissected, this is resulting in the role of the designer opportunities changing when advertised. From personal experience of hunting for a internship for this summer, I have discovered that many opportunities relating to graphic design positions will want a design to have web design experience, HTML and CSS desirable and sometimes other design skills like photography. The tasks associated to the role of the graphic designer is growing and adapting as time goes on, this is straying away from the tasks graphic designers would normally do in the 70s, 80s and the 90's. Exactly within the time Peter was creating the majority of his iconic work which made him one of the most famous graphic designer of all time. 

When quizzed on his views about self initiated work, Peter Saville responded with "It is slippery ground" and this related to his views on graphic designers finding the market with that method of work. He went on to explain that if graphic designers 'create and initiate their own project' they are writing their own message through their work. He stated 'if you are writing the message, your are being a philosopher, not a graphic designer".

With the work that graphic designers are meant to design, there is always one intended message if not a few messages included. Saville questions graphic designers being seen as 'connectors' but immediately says "connecting what?"  The question really is 'Does the graphic designer receive the brief, understand the message and have to believe in the message in order to communicate the right things across the intended audience?' In my opinion, the designer has to have some understanding of the message in order to produce the right work with the right meanings attached. Without some understanding of the messages and context assigned to the work, the design will surely be missing the real main points it is being created for.  Saville: "Anyone can make art, if you wish to contribute to the context of art, you will need to find it out, but cannot from the outside"

Fantastic quote he has just made here! True point in my opinion. He is basically describing the problem which can come from everyone having their own view on what graphic design, art and other forms of creative arts really is. With so many people producing art around the world, the face of art is changing constant as every day passes. I can only imagine that Peter Savile is trying to mention that without knowing the real contexts within the creative industry relating to specific areas of art, you cannot produce a true representation of it. With anyone having the chance to produce art, the world is being filled with a large amount of work of mediocre quality. This is the feeling I got from the statements and body language Peter was showing through his talk.

When asked by the interviewer about what he has brought to art, PS said that 'possibly only my awareness to art'. This is very interesting that the only contribution he can state is this, because for a man who has impacted the world of graphic design for many years now, he cannot hide the contribute visually he has made so conceptually he should have more reasons to state. The world 'awareness' is very important to that statement, because awareness definitely affects the way you go about your work and persona towards your work. Without overall awareness combined with artistic contexts, could have been very different. He understands his clients, his audience who will consume his work and most importantly he knows what he wants from being a 'designer'. 

Coming from Manchester most importantly, Peter was invited by the Manchester City council (not the football team!) to become creative director of communication. In 2002, the year of the commonwealth games, he was tasked to create a new identity for the city and improve the representation attached to the city from residents and visitors. In the talk he sounded agitated when he mentioned "people think their opinions about their place are right when they have never visited it".  Fair Point in my opinion, he is right to say that you need to experience the city as a whole before you can come up with a overall opinion of the city. 

On the 26-27th September I attended the AGI Open ( Alliance Graphique Internationale) with a few other second and third year graphic design students studying the same course at the university. The two day event was held at the Barbican Exhibition centre, situated in the Gallery Hall. This two day event would run from 10am till approximately 5.30pm. 

During the two day event, all the leading graphic designers, illustrators and creative thinkers in the industry would come together to put together a conference. This conference would involve discussions and questions which would uncover what makes these creatives tick, what it is that annoys them, what advice they have for young designers in the industry and finally their design route up to the current point in time.

'Dialogue' was the main theme of this years London conference, I felt the AGI members definitely organised a great format for the conference to flow and held a deep personal and inspirational sense. This theme was expressed through every talk, discussion and personal interaction with the designers, they kept reiterating the importance of the new generation of creatives coming through. As a part of the audience, I felt very much included in the AGI environment, the designers touched issues impacting my own development as designer. These issues are as followed:

[1] The fear designers have to achieve perfection with their design jobs [2] The role between client based work and self initiated work [3] The importance to build on your strengthen your weaknesses and build upon the strengths in your skill set.  [4] Follow what is true to you, design work on the basis of your passion at heart.  [5] The different means for designers to be recognised for the work, the levels of satisfaction and recognition designers strive for. How much impact has the work had on the intended audience and client?

By attending the AGI Open and listening to the all the AGI members at the conference, they came across as very down to earth and very willing to help and nourish the new crop of designers feeding through the ranks. 

I learnt from all the designers talking to me at the AGI Open, that I should follow my heart when it comes to the design job I choose, work for the people you want to work for, choose the style of work you want to work in and never feel like you have to take every design job. The first day of the open (Thursday) explored the topic of self initiated work and the designers openly talked about their experiences of this type of work. The thought of self initiated design work has not been one of my main focusses. The only issues surrounding self initiated is that the designer is practically their own client/designer and the motivation and pleasing will be all down to them. Some designers thrive in this care-free, open approach to work and some designers prefer parameters set by the client, the design job has been briefed by. 

I have never thought about the money surrounding the design jobs given to me, as Stefan Sagmeister stated in his talk (27/09) ' graphic design is not the most well paid area of work in the world'. But he struck a cord with my own work philosophy and this is that I am not worried about the money but I carry a large amount of importance to get the job right for the client I am working for.

[1] Personal letterhead / personal information - Address 

[2] Address the letter and CV to the member of staff or info email address advertised on their advert or website. 

[3] State the job position/role advertised or I am enquiring about

[4] Introduction to my application - stating the interest in the role with the studio or agency. Noting where I have noticed this opportunity.

[5] Brief research into the company with particular focus on the values of the studio, what work the studio specialises in and the impact their work has had on me. 

[6] Note one to two examples I have been attracted to and influenced me to put forward an application for the opportunity advertised or targeted. 

[6.2.] Make sure to note the reasons behind choosing the work, what this work means to me and them. Take carefully consideration to the impact the work has had on the audience, community and clients. 

[7] Introduce myself to the studio, outline the journey I have had so far as a practitioner. Note the experience I have for the role advertised, how these skills and work I have in my portfolio can benefit the company and develop my career path as a creative designer. 

[7.2] Link particular skills and experiences I have to certain requirements they are looking for in the advertisement. Bullet point the skills they are requiring for this application. 

[CV Parade - Creative CV's]

Robert Northam - Creative Director / Designer

Victoria See - Graphic Designer

As a part of this studio culture project, I am required to produce a CV and a covering letter ready to approach my three intended studios I would like to work for. I have discovered that I like CVs which are very simple, clean and effective. I have noticed that particular graphic designers turn their CV into a piece of work and express glimpses of their style in this document. 

Robert Northam's CV

What attracted me to this particular CV was the clear hierarchy and the neatness of the bold san serif font partnered with the small second text underneath. The lines at the top of each column is a visual cue and again reiterates the way the reader should follow the CV (left to right). The little bold black marker at the start of each column line will indicate this. The functionality of the CV is high in my opinion when it appears in this format and style. The tight grid structure in place for a CV of this style makes the designer carefully consider the content included as each column can only fit 3 big sections or 4-5 small sections in. With designers having to carefully consider the content they include due to space restriction, this will avoid any unnecessary information be included, keeping the CV strong and relevant. 

Victoria See CV -

I chose this particular CV as I was intrigued to find that similar techniques had been used but unfortunately not affecting me as much Robert's CV above. I was first attracted to the black rectangle boxes she has used to build a shape for the CV to fill between. Not only has she built the shape for the CV to sit in, she has used the top box to include all her personal information, essentially as a header. Straight away this begins a hierarchy for her CV, but this is where the order stops. Victoria has used a 3-4 different san-serif and serif fonts throughout her CV. The header containing her personal information has at least 3 font used, which can differentiate the three individual pieces of information, but can cause the CV to look very unorganised. The small san serif bold headings into the body of the CV should be aligned the 'V' in her personal info header and this will create a cleaner appearance already. The sentencing in this document at its maximum is twelve words, compared to the recommended 6-7 appearing in Robert Northam's CV. The reason behind the long sentencing could be a result of using up the large negative space. With Victoria deciding not to structure her CV into multiple column form, she will notice the negative space will circulate and close in on her content, which in my opinion can make the CV look very isolated and bare. In comparison to Robert's, the negative space in his CV is structure and balances the very short and very long column of text. 

Summary -

Date : [06/09/13] 

Studio/Agency : ATP Media

Duration : End of September 2013 - December 2013

Payment : Unpaid 

Decision: Accepted - with the flexibility of working around university schedule

It's not how good you are, its how good you want to be.

All About Tea Portsmouth - Moving Brands 

This one of the first projects of the consultancy to take on at the Silicon Valley office in San Francisco and this project was responsible for the studio achieving its award winning status. 

Design Week Top 100 Research - Next Brigade - Studio: Moving Brands Co founded by James Bull and Ben Wolstenholme in 1998

'In the beginning we had no money and no resources to fulfil our vision of a multi-disciplinary branding group'.

'Moving Brands found it advantageous to work with bigger consultancies, partnering with the likes of Landor Associates in a mutually beneficial arrangement by offering its expertise to help deliver a more 'multi sensorial' identity for clients'.

'Moving Brands decided to re-enter the Top 100 charts this year after remaining quiet since 2007. It is starting to bleed into other areas, gaining more comprehensive clients on a larger scale'.

'Their Silicon Valley baed office has already produced award-winning work including its rebrand for Portsmouth-based client All About Tea'.

'They are keen to show that its not just a hi-tech consultancy, and has worked on the branding for charity The Royal Marsden, a cancer hospital in the UK, over the past few years'. Moving Brands had faced the real difficulties that consultancies experience when they are first trying to start up and get running. This type of venture involving a up and running consultancy requires initial start up funds and resources to produce the design for the core disciplines you enjoy producing within. By partnering with larger consultancies at the time, Moving Brands were able to get their feet off the ground by working with the large corporate consultancy and this partnership meant Landor could also benefit from the fresh designers in and around their studio sharing their expertise and knowledge with the existing design team at Landor. For Moving Brands, the way of working in the Landor Associate's studio must have given the MB design staff an insight into how they can handle large comprehensive clients on a larger scale. Exactly the same as a junior designer studying the work of an established senior designer or creative director, they are trying to learn from a person who has worked from their position to a position which requires more key design and decisions to be made. Watching how they deal with the pressure, the clients and their own way of working is a learning process for the understudy and this will keep the MB designers in good stead for future design briefs for Moving Brands to tackle. 

In this particular section of the Design Week report, I have chosen print as the area to discuss. The areas to choose from were branding, print, digital , packaging, retail, product design. This area is the most relevant to my interests and areas I would welcome progression within. That is not to totally rule out the other areas and any future progression in them, as I would alway be willing to push my career having a multi discipline skill set.

Print/branding  Emily Penny - Brand Planner (Studio: Together Design) 'As a team of just ten, we fit around the table: we communicate. And its results not only in efficiency but also in a healthy regard for clients as people too. Our clients responds by giving us business year after year and their loyalty is a huge defence against turbulent times'.

'Times of change can be very exciting for design and branding. As publicly funded organisations restructure and redefine themselves, they need to build new brands and hard-hitting communications that have relevance in our new world'.

'Looking forward, we also expect to work with entrepreneurs and start-ups, growing new brands and relationships for the future. We expect to move out of the age of big corporates and move into a culture that values the personal touch a bit more'. - With the economic downturn and the fiasco with the banking crisis, the image of big corporate businesses and consultancies have been put into the spotlight to be scrutinised. With everyone hoping there is not another collapse to the financial world which would most certainly shake the design world as it is preparing to establish its feet again after trouble times, the consultancies must be consider a period of change.

By aiding entrepreneurs and start-ups, this will benefit the industry and economy certainly because these small businesses want to gain a foothold and established studio's can be the chance for them to achieve that. This is what the government are targeting to get the economy over and running again, by giving more support to businesses setting up requiring additional help in start up and establishment. 

'We don't have data to support this view, but anecdotal evidence suggest that for many groups the increases have come about because they have converted freelance positions into permanent jobs'.

'No-one wants to take on new staff now only to face painful layoffs further down the line. But for some the freelances are working so regularly that they are included in staff totals, though recruitment agencies we surveyed earlier this year said the freelance market remains buoyant'. 'The team's loss of 37 people in 2010. The Team's payroll has dwindled significantly over the past couple of years, from 159 in 2009 to 141 last year, but this latest reduction of a further 26 per cent suggests a complete change of focus for one of the key consultancies'.

The Team merged with stablemate Loewy Brand Communication some two years ago as part of a bigger Loewy reshuffle, boosting its numbers is a subsequent readjustment, but time will show if that is the case'. From personal experience in the last and current month, I have found that I have been taken on as a freelance graphic designer for both Rowanvale Books and ATP Media. Through discussions with ATP Media, the same situation could occur in the forthcoming year where a designer could earn a internship with the chance of a permanent design position at the studio. The freelance position is a great way for many consultancies to give designers the experience and opportunity with them, without the permanent attached me to the company. Like the Rowanvale freelance position I have just gained, they have offer a trial book cover project to see how I personal with one of the recent book releases. This is an example of the company wanting the designer to take full control on the project exactly the same as a in house designer would do, although the studio in these circumstances have no obligation to offer you any work if it decides to come in waves. 

The freelancers are now being counted a part of the companies in the staff total numbers, this would be a sign of the amount of work the freelance designers do to contribute to the overall work turnover of a consultancy. There is no reason stated in the article although the sign above must be a consideration to that point made. It can be said that many companies are seeing the benefits of taking on a larger freelancing team rather than permanent staff as it offers more flexibility plus avoiding painful layoffs given to staff when the head count needs to be reduce to improve efficiency. 

The loss of 37 people for The Team sounds like a very large number in comparison to the 4 or 5 people amongst the other consultancies in the Top 100. No-one can fault the consultancy wanting to lay off some of the deadwood taking up valuable resources in the studio and with 37 staff members this is a large amount of cost shaved off the wage bill and frees up a large amount to reinvest. Loewy Brand Communication decided to merge with The Team and now declare the numbers are beginning to rise again after the combination of the two. The merging of two consultancies will only be a benefit to the industry, as they will be able to use the lessons, resources, staff and disciplines learnt by both teams to make a more experience team to have a real second chance at succeeding. From the description of both studios, they were both seeking a new focus which would result in a reshuffle of resources and almost guaranteed particular layoffs which will always look bad in these charts as it will take into account the two set of staff who have let members go to make one full team together.  I can admit I have seen reasons to believe the freelance market is buoyant and my small experiences with ATP and RB suggest that the opportunities are there for designers looking for studio experience or currently been laid off. As the studio's are relishing in this way to cope with rise and fall of the workload given to them, the team of freelancers can be called upon to help out the core design team. The reason for the freelance designer number rising can only be down the recession and the impact that had upon designers looking for studios to gain internships, placements or full time positions. With reduced chances for designers by consultancies, this would result in the designer taking the chances of producing design work for studios and clients would have necessarily taken them on the payroll but cannot on a permanent basis but a open freelance basis. 

"There is no sure way to achieve financial efficiency" (Lynda Relph-Knight) 'There is a long standing fee earning are more than £80,000 per head of staff a year you are doing okay and not squandering your money through bad management, but it does not necessarily take account of freelance help or collaborations'.

'Taking the suggestions of business advisers to heart and implementing years of economic structures have resulted in a huge improvement to many a bottom line. Years of economic strictures have resulted in a huge improvement in financial efficiency as they have headed the words of business advisers'. 

'What is particularly heartening though, is to see so many newcomers to the Top 100 joining the efficiency ranking in their first year. The five of them account for a quarter of the listing and set a a great example for others to follow'.

'These groups are more typical of the design community at large - relatively small, but punching well above their weight. It is great to have them on board, setting an example others might emulate'.

Efficiency is everything in my opinion, firstly the business needs to be efficient in order to perform to right level to make it sustainable. The top 20 consultancies featuring in the efficiency chart obviously found a way to become efficient not just on the design side of the group but also the financial aspect of the group. By taking care of the monetary aspect of the group, the resources can be assessed and use to best suit the sustainability and potential growth of the consultancy. 

The main beneficiaries of the double dip recession by analysing the content of the table and this top 100 research report is the small emerging newcomers who have broken through into the chart with shrewd business models. Design groups have had no choice but to tighten their belts, in carefully consider their resources to improve the efficiency of the group running. The older design groups already established in the industry will understand to run their business in old ways of efficiency although this must change to adapt to new stricter guidelines set by economic advisors who advise this must change in order to survive the troubling financial landscape. By new business models being introduced by consultancies and newcomers entering the fray, they will notice the only way to record some serious growth is to reconsider the climate and reinvest in emerging new disciplines. 

There is a rule of thumb that if you fee earning is more than £80,000 per head of staff a year you are doing okay. Kindleysides have 85 members of staff generating fee income of £181, 671, a rise of £39,233 per head from the previous year. This is a consultancy who is surprisingly 3rd in the overall top 100 behind Imagination and AKQA, although Kindleyside top the efficiency table beating both Imagination and AKQA by 15 positions. (15th and 16th place out of 20 consultancies). We find that the fee income per head in the top 100 exceed this as 16 consultancies this year boast fee income in excess of £100,000. Over 15% of the top 100 is theoretically doing okay basing it on the rule of the thumb.

Design Week Top 100 Research - True Discipline 

Print Sector UK Top 10 - Position 1 - Radley Yeldar 

Consultancy Radley Yeldar - UK fee income (£000) = 7013

This is one of the stand out pieces of design showcased on their website for me. Particularly the way the brand is so versatile to change and really gives the university a multi platform to express its visual voice. Examples include in this post demonstrate the work Radley Yeldar have been able to produce for the university and they are really creating a fresh and youthful representation for future students to look forward to. The town known for its ageing population, the university is making a great attempt to keep the image of its university modern and adaptable, otherwise without change they would risk the image looking very tired and keeping the ageing branding previous designed for them.  

Radley Yeldar understood that the previous branding of the university was becoming diluted and inconsistent throughout. By rebranding the university, it would be more consistent with a distinctive appearance. The university needs to perform on a academic and commercial level and this is replicated with the various changes to the 'B' in the main logo type. The commercial aspect of the brand will be able to demonstrate more abstract and vibrant 'B" whereas the academic sector of the university will offer a more subtle and refined 'B' with a fading of colour (red to orange). 

'Designs must still control the running costs of their businesses while developing new revenue steams, perhaps by tapping into new and emerging disciplines and markets'.

'Efficiency is ensured by fee-income per head. Ideally designers should be aiming to achieve £80,000-100,000 per head. This year's top 100 is £79,255 compared to last years disappointing average of £76, 979'.

'The groups reviewed in the Top 100 generated fee-income of £411m, which is an increase from 2009 of 14 percent. Staff numbers increased by 9 per cent'.

'The main reason that fee-income rose so sharply was the growth of the top two in the table, Imagination and AKQA, which grew by 18 percent and 20 per cent respectively'.

'Foolproof and Flow Interactive jumped from 51st to 19th and The One Off shot up from 58th to 35th'. Firstly starting with the two top consultancies at the summit of the Top 100 chart, they record 18 per cent and 20 percent growth statistics which work out to be fee income of £40.1m for imagination and £37.2m for AKQA. This is a question to ask people to analyse this optimism and new hope for industry and debate whether it is is very much dependent on the money being attracted in by these top two or three consultancies occupying the top.

The surprising aspect of the previous comment I just made was that Foolproof and Flow Interactive blow that statement out of the water. They jumped up in the chart from 51st to 19th place recording growth in fee income as 116% which results to £493,200. They specialise in the digital sector which would explain the sudden surge in growth as this is the sector which is benefitting hugely from this new resurgence in the whole industry. 

'Most UK consultancies showing a return to good fortune last year after what, for some were dire financial in 2009'.

'Seven consultancies - Start JG, Sheridan & Co, Foolproof and Flow Interactive, The One Off, Green Room, Identica and Alloy - saw fees rise by 50 percent or more last year, in more instances on top of an already decent income. But more than a fifth registered growth of 20 per cent or more'.

'One pleasant surprise is that the feel good factor is affecting all areas. Digital design has been tipped as the big earner for the future and this is borne out by the 20 per cent growth reported by digital giant AKQA'. 'Imagination has seen an 18 per cent rise in fees itself and digital design is part of its offer, showing that experiential design remains a great earner'.

'We would like to see more consultancies entering. That would make the charts more representative and year-on-year comparisons more potent'.  Digital design looks to be the area with most promise and growth to expect. The growth predicted could be a result of the recovery the industry is having after dire results in the financial year of 2009. With the results improving in 2010 and 2011, this has allowed more money to be invested in the emerging sectors like experiential and digital design. With the rise of the handheld devices such as the iPad and the increasing use of smartphones, people are absorbing more content online digitally. The number of experiential apps on the market is growing, more companies are pushing the boundaries to enhance the experience for the users.