You are Here: Talk notes

Helen Parker (Blink Art) & Greg Burne (Big Active)

• As a communicator, think about how you best absorb information. Online/social media, humour, moving image, quick and immediate - these are all the things that are working most effectively. 
• Looking for someone with: individuality (of visual references), ideas people, think about things on a deeper level, professionalism and organisation/motivation (good deadline keeping). 
• Instagram has peaked as a form of promotion - media is becoming more niche ...try to get onto online blogs/publications? think about your audience and where people will see things. 
• Important information for dealing with clients & contracts:
• Non-disclosure agreement should include nothing about rights. 
• Do not deliver any work before getting purchase order. 
• Cost for amendments e.g. 'this cost includes 2 rounds of amends' 
• Am I the only person up for this job?
• What is it about my work that you like? 
• If its a good opportunity for promotion - specify being credited on social media or in publication etc. 
• To make a job worth it you should have 2 out of 3 factors ticked:
• Money - how much are they paying you?
• Creatively appealing - are you excited about the project?
• Promotion - will it be good promotion for you? 

The Dots

• Good place for freelancers to network, follow: 'The dots: tips and insights', and 'the dots: portfolio masterclasses'. 
• More informal than linkedin. 
• Run portfolio masterclasses in London. 

Ricky Richards

• Pronto projects - latch onto cultural events e.g. Jean Jullien's logo for charlie hebdo.
• Influence of input - by looking at things that aren't generic/unique visual references, your output will be more original. 
• What is the best use of your time? - is social media promotion going to benefit you that much, or is it better to spend an hour a day emailing ppl you would like to work for. 
• Do self-initiated projects - make opportunities come to you. 

B&A (Mathew)

• Submissions to an agency:
• Tailor them to the agency - work/contexts that suit them.
• Do your research. No 'to whom it may concern'. 
• Send easily downloadable files.
• Online promotion
• Dribble & giffy for moving image
• Behance
• Portfolio - only put work in there you would like to expand upon or do again. Nothing that has been exhausted or does not reflect your current way of working. 
• Always do self-directed projects and put them in your portfolio, because client work can sometimes be directed in a way that can remove a sense of you as a creative in the final product...
• Place importance on/like: ideas people with a confident/consistent personal style. 

Its Nice that (Lucy) and Nobrow (Harriet)

• Nobrow
• See a trend in women and illustrated non-fiction. 
• Accepts submissions (of ideas) without an agent on website. 
• Looks on Instagram to source new talent. 
• Looks for someone with personality and a confident style, as well as immediacy of communication/ideas.
• Its Nice That
• Do not really look at submissions because they get so many - better to email and lead with an image (grab attention), with a link to your website. 
• Offer internships. 
• Apply to Its Nice That Graduates.
• Sources new talent on Instagram and looks for someone with personality and a consistent visual style. 

'We Are Here' Catalogue - Aims, Problems and the Final Outcome

Last term I put myself forward to be a part of the team organising the 'We Are Here' event at Hanbury hall. I felt that I had never put myself forward for a role like this before - organising group exhibitions or engaging more with being a part of the university - and, so this being our graduating year thought this would be good, if not final, opportunity to do so. 

Over the last couple months, being a part of the team has involved taking part in group meetings to decide things like - the name of the event, pitching ideas to the year group, invitations etc. My primary role within this, however, has been to design and print a catalogue, with Louis Byrne, featuring examples of everyones work and details to act as a 'group portfolio'.

Initial aims : To make something small and portable that visiting professionals would feel willing to pick up and take away. It had to be easy to digest and engaging - but still include an example of everyones work, their contact details and their individual interests in the creative industries.

Key problems : How do we fit and present over 50 peoples work and details in a small/portable publication, whilst still making it not so formerly laid out and simplified that it becomes non-engaging?

Design Research / Inspo :

Idea 1 : At first we planned to format the catalogue so everyone would be placed into categories representing different areas of the creative industries , namely - adult publishing, character & narrative, children's publishing, editorial & reportage, and product & retail. 

At the start of the catalogue there would be a list of everyones names and corresponding contact details. Each person would then have the opportunity of a max of 3 images to put in the catalogue with the choice of 1 image in 3 dif. categories, 1 in 2 dif. categories or 2 in 1 category. 

This idea, however, was not carried through as there were a number of problems came to light with formatting it in this way ie. professionals having to flick back and forth to find peoples contact details and some people not being sure/having a lot of different potential interests in the creative industries. As well as there being a lot of content to handle and design - which would be difficult both in terms of time restrictions and keeping the publication a manageable size. 

Final Design: 

• Every person has their own A5 space in which they could place images in a number of different formats (providing more variation). 
• The people are ordered alphabetically. 
• Underneath are their corresponding contact details, limited to: email, website and Instagram. 
• Next to every person are coloured blocks representing which areas of the creative industries they are interested in pursuing, corresponding to a key at the bottom of each page. 
• To echoe the branding and title of the event, the final publication is formatted like a map - long, thin and folded. 

Submission of work:

To gather everyones work for the catalogue we made a shared google drive and sent out a document stating the guidelines for submission: using estudio, a year group email and the facebook pages and messaging groups.  

Final Outcome:

• I am happy with the final outcome in terms of its formatting. I think it represents everyones work and interests to the best of our ability, whilst still keep the publication manageable. 
• I wish we had got it professionally printed! Not having made a big publication like this before I forgot to put in a gutter meaning all the pages were off-registered and binding it an absolute nightmare. 
• We should have left more time to send it off to a professional printers, but with COP so close to the Hanbury event, other work got in the way. 

What I learnt/moving forward:

• I am not scared to voice my opinion within the setting of a group/collaborative project. I think this is a strength, as long as I keep it constructive. 
• I really enjoyed making a publication and working within the team to put on this event. It's made me think of looking into pursuing other roles within the creative industries - such as working for an online/print publication or a gallery/event space. 

You are Here: Hanbury Hall 26/01/18

Key Points of Reflection

An obvious point was made clear to me, in that everyone depending on their role, have different perspectives on the future and development of the creative industries. For example, Greg Burne from Big Active sees a decline in the use of instagram as a promotional tool for independent artists, whether Nobrow and Its Nice That identify it as one of the primary ways they source new talent. This just underlines the importance of adjusting how you represent and promote yourself to your own personal ambitions, there is no set step-by-step guide to being successful or creating opportunities. 

One common point of discussion, however, was that agents and clients alike look for someone with personality, passion and a unique approach to visual communication. Many of those who spoke, particularly agents, valued the ability to generate original ideas over style or technical ability. Ricky Richard's talk particularly resonated with me, especially two  points he made: one concerning your input influencing your output ie. if you look at less generic visual references outside popular culture your creative output will be more unique; the second he talked about emphasised the importance of using your time effectively - will labouring over your online presence really bring you much opportunity, or is it best to email someone you want to work with everyday? I would say, going back to the previous point about tailoring to certain industries, is that it depends on who your looking to work for - your personal ambitions. 

Something I have definitely taken away from this experience is that there are many more creatively satisfying jobs other than being a freelancer. I could see myself working within an agency or for an online blog such as Its Nice That. I also think starting from this point, in which I would be able to network with clients, art directors and other leading practitioners, I will put myself in a much better position to then become freelance in the future. In light of this I would like to start looking at possible internships such as for Its Nice That or Penguin Random House. 

Hanbury Hall Research

Big Active

Big active is a creative consultancy that specialises in art direction, graphic design and content production, as well as representing other practitioners such as Anthony Burrill. They have offices in both New York and London. Mat Maitland and Gerard Saint deal primarily in art direction and digital design, Maitland working with clients such as Lana Del Rey and Elton John. Greg Burne works with motion, and the representation of other image-makers. 

Blink Art

Blink art is a creative agency representing photographers, illustrators and set designers working across print, animation and film. They are part of a larger company called Blink Productions that specialises in the making of feature films, music videos and television advertisements. Being a part of Blink productions means they can facilitate cross-collaboration, pairing artists together with animators or producers to make animations or films. Key people to know may include, Helen Parker: Head of Illustration, Sammi Lynch: Creative Assistant, and Katy MacGregor: Agent and Producer. 

Anthropology

Anthropology is a popular retail store specialising in clothing, accessories and homewares. They are part of URBN, who own a number of global consumer brands such as Urban Outfitters. Originally starting in the United States, Anthropology opened their first UK store on Regent Street, London in 2009. Since then they have continued expanding across the country most recently opening up shop in Leeds. They are passionate about collaborating with upcoming and established artists to create new products and shop displays, as well as curating exhibitions for their gallery on Kings Road. 

Creative Presence : Give - Aways for Hanbury Hall

For Hanbury hall I have made a series of business cards and a small A5 publication to act as a mini-print portfolio. Because I have not yet managed to developed a logo I have used a photograph of myself to brand these promotional materials. I think this works well to personalise the business cards, but when possible a more cohesive logo would be better. 

The business cards I think work well - the different backs give variation and these images do well to sum up my practice. The mini-print portfolio provides a greater overview of my practice - but once I set up a website I think these kind of materials will become void as I can just direct people to a more professional digital overview of my practice. 

Business Card / Branding research

In the run up to Hanbury I have been thinking about how to best represent my practice within a professional context - creating a pinterest board gathering images of business cards, promotional materials and creative branding/logos. 

Things that work well: 

• Simplicity - reducing down your practice to one simple image or symbol. 
• Being quirky and inventive e.g. Jean Jullien's hand business cards. 
• Well-crafted - business cards that are embossed or have foiling etc. - I think this would also do well to represent my own emphasis on crafting within my practice. 
• Using multiple different images on the back of the cards - adding more variation.