#vis6034

Inspiration for our Studio B Concept that was favoured by the client and advised that we push further for development.

Where do I start? This module has been one of the most stressful, full on and all together hectic few weeks ever. We have all put 110% into creating projects that help to make our portfolios stand out and that define who we want to be as designers. This has been really useful and I now feel a lot more prepared to apply for jobs/internships than I ever have previously. I have become more confident in my ideas and am now more than ok with trusting my gut instinct when it comes to how I think something should look or on which idea is best. 

The most rewarding projects for me this module have got to be the two D&AD briefs that I took on. I put a hell of a lot of time into making sure that these could be projects that not only would be different and hopefully stand out with the D&AD judges but also that would showcase my skills in advertising for my portfolio. I wanted to create 2 projects that were completely reliant upon the idea which is why I spent so long coming up with a concept for Burger King but also why we spent so many weeks perfecting our idea for Nationwide. Even though neither were selected I am really proud of the work that I put forward and they mark the first projects in my portfolio that I am actually happy with. 

 The thing that I have struggled with the most this module hasn't actually been anything to do with project work. It has been trying to keep up with the pressure of the third year in general and dealing with the unknown after uni is over. I feel that this is normal and from speaking to my friends I know that we are all in the same position but you can't help but feel a little anxious about where you're going to be this time next year. Throughout major study I have tried to forget about the fact that this is the last module as everytime I think about it started to stress me out, However I have managed to come to terms with the fact that I cant stay at uni forever and I am lucky enough to have lined up a number of placements starting in July for me to get my teeth stuck into.  

‘Go big! Get large! Graphics Poster Competition 2018!

Do you want to give us a bit of a background about how 1000 trades came about? Well, Why were in Birmingham? First of all my background is not in bars. But I had a different career in politics but hated it. So I got some redundancy about 10 years ago, took 6 months off and decided that I didn't want to do politics anymore. Got about 4 or 5 years experience in bars and I met my business partner through a former job and mutual friends. He moved his family to Birmingham because he wanted to be closer to his dad who lived in Cumbria and we got chatting and decided that the Jewlerry quarter would be a good place to do something with a bar. Not going to lie, all of our influences are from other places that we've been to mostly London where I used to live. We just thought there was a bit of a gap in the market for a community-minded space with lots of different events going on. But also encourage collaborations with kitchen residences. Things like Phil's art lab where there are lots of different things happening under one roof and selling some good beer and wine at the same time. You've touched on it a bit with the kitchen residences but what is unique about 1000 trades? I think any place like this becomes a place by the kinds of people that walk through the door. You are creating character through the kinds of experiences and opportunities that you give to other people to show their character. so its something that we hope makes us unique, especially in Birmingham. We give people a platform to show their wears whether that be musicians, artists and the people we have in the kitchens. We try to choose people who are on that stepping stone between maybe doing their own thing like a street food stall somewhere to a full-blown restaurant, so they get to run a restaurant for a whole month. So its also about helping independents as well? Yeah, I mean that does give you a warm feeling but its also good for business because the more people you get through the door they have a stake in our success and hope they are successful with me. A bit more personal but do you enjoy your job? Yes! It's obviously been a very steep learning curve and very, very stressful at times. Things like money but its balanced out by the sense of satisfaction you get I guess and that's in vast contrast to what I was doing before which always helps. So as a business or as a person depending on how you want to answer it, what are some of the challenges that you have faced? People go into a lot of places to eat and drink and might be perturbed at how expensive or how they perceive things to be expensive but I suppose one of the biggest challenges with something like 1000 trades is all the hidden costs that the customers don't necessarily think about. Things like rates, taxes, legal fees. For example, we have to pay £2000 a year just for the rights to play the radio or Spotify, so its the challenge of keeping up with money as fast as it comes in. At the moment we have a problem with a developer wanting to  build flats and like most walks of life if you move in next door to a pub even if you have moved in with the full knowledge of being next door to a pub people can still complain about noise and that's happened to a few businesses locally recently. Things like that are always going to bubble and surface, customers don't see things like that but they are the sots of problems that keep me awake at night. And what are the highlights? As you can imagine being able to create something, not in the sense of making jewelry or whatever but I feel like we are creating something tangible which essentially is the key and gives you a warm feeling. What do you think about Birmingham as a place? Yeah, I moved up from London and have developed a bit of a Birmingham chip on my shoulder when other people slag Birmingham off or overlook it. I think its definitely a very overlooked city, it could obviously do better but I think its a great city for doing new things because lots of things haven't been done yet. I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche but I love the people and the accent is much nicer than people think as well.