Evaluation

So this is it :) time to step into the real world and put all the skills I've learnt to test.

Since Christmas I have been contacting companies such as Thompson, Elmwood, Love, Music, Gratterpalm and Brass, sending them my pdf portfolio sample aswell as a short summary of my design practice an interest within their company. From this a gained a few studio visits at Thompson and Love where I was offered 2 x 2 month paid placements for when I finish. To gain a placement with Love I had to do a project for them in which I had to go back and pitch the idea to them.

I was offered a placement with Elmwood before I leave to go to Manchester so I will be working with them for 2 weeks, I'm really looking forward to this as they were really enthuasiastic about my work and ideas and I think it would be a really good company for me to work in.

Winning the SH! Awards 2012 was a huge turning point in my future, it really gave me a confidence boost and made me realise that I have something unique to offer companies, also it was really nice to have such great feedback on my presentation skills and how I communicate my ideas. It was a great way to gain recognition throughout agencies in this area and make them aware of what I have to offer. I have won a 6month paid placement which next week I am meeting Andrew from Brass to sort out where I might do my placement at.

I start my journey into industry straight away with a two week placement with Elmwood starting on the 18th June then I go to Love in Manchester on 2nd July for 2months. From here I will then either start my 6month paid placement with a local leeds agency or go straight to Thompson for 2 months. So I have the next year pretty much planned out :) YEY! Hopefully in the meantime someone might take me on full time... if not I will have heaps of experience in a mixture of different studios and agencies which will put me in good stead to getting a job. After working with a few different companies it will show me what kind of job is best suited to me and my practice.

Meeting companies and showing them my work has helped me to realise that I can do this as a job and I could have a strong future in the design world ahead of me. It has made me a lot more professional and comfortable in speaking to companies aswell as confident enough to go for opportunities and not let them pass me by.

I WON THE SH! AWARDS 2012!

Out of 70 applicants and a shortlist of 16 I won the Leeds Media Sh! Awards 2012.

Work submitted for the awards night:

Open publication - Free publishing - More future

I submitted a selection of projects as my practice is shown better like this and can't be represented by one project alone.

Final Crit

Really great feedback from the final crit.

Had some lovely feedback for the Angels Share Whisky Brief 1 - although I'm still not happy with this as the packaging is pretty weak I'm going to re do this at the weekend.

Lauren Carande Brief 2 - the branding is really strong just need to re do the packaging abit better and make sure the final tags for Lauren are crafted well. Make a proper receipt. vinyl cut bag sticker.

SOM - really strong branding and story need to show interactive elements / digital / web etc. well crafted well finished.

Mine and Jonny's project 'Crossover' Brief 4 definitely got a lot of praise and attention from the other students. We're so glad other people love this project as much as we do. Just need to make sure we do the project justice by photographing it well.

Waterstones brief needs to be taken to a stage where it can be presented.


Overall it was really nice to see how people have improved over the last few years on the course, there was some really strong work and it was clear to see where people were heading with their practice.

2 month paid placement with Thompson

Officially got a 2month paid placement at LOVE

WAHOOOO!

I start on the 2nd July for 2months... get paid fix amount everyday :) pretty good!
Really excited to work for a studio I've loved for ages, can't believe Ive got this great opportunity :D

I've also found a room to rent just outside the city center for 2 months, I'm really looking forward to moving out of leeds for abit and it will be a great opportunity to see where I would like to be based in the future.

Placement at Vast

Just finished a 6day placement at The Vast Agency -Leeds.

It was such a great experience and much needed to polish up on my design and styling skills. I find I have good ideas but find it difficult to execute the idea as well as I can invision it. So Vast was an excellent place to go to really push myself. The first 3days I felt abit out of my comfort zone working closely on a logo design I really had to look carefully at the crafting of the letterforms and colours etc which I feel I especially struggle with type so it took me a while to get something I was happy with. This was really good for me as I can sometimes leave a logo half done... thinking it looks ok but really it could be pushed and crafted so much better. I feel I understand a lot more about this now and this will really help me with future work/ placements. The guys at Vast were really lovely, we had a good laugh and they showed me their extensive range of beautiful bespoke lookbooks which really helped with my design context publication.

Whilst there I also did abit of work on a lookbook collecting material samples for a swatch book, colour matching and then adding them to the collection. It was really nice to get hands on with a project and was nice to break up the day with this kind of work. I also helped make some mock-ups to send out to companies including promotional concepts for a well known supermarket brand.

On my final day I worked on a crest logo for some Vast promotional work... can't really discuss the nature of the work but I really loved the design that I produced... much more my style of work and Phil and the team were really happy with my design.

Phil said I'm welcome back anytime and to keep in touch so that's really nice to know and I'll be sure to be in touch with them to let them know whats going on :)

Thanks guys!

Feedback from interview for the Sh! Awards.

It was so great to meet all the judges at the Sh! Award interview and get a good range of feedback from all different companies. It was really lovely to hear such positive feedback and was nice to see some friendly faces in my group Chris Jackson and Andy Lodge. I took through my portfolio so far to show them and they really loved the concepts and thought the branding for each project was really strong graphically but the story behind each of the briefs was really creative and captivating.

A big thumbs up :) was such a great experience.

2 Week placement with Elmwood

Saw the guys from Elmwood today



Sorted out a 2week placement for 18-29th June just before my placement at LOVE!

Crit

Tutorial with Fred

Design Strategy / PPD Presentation

Open publication - Free publishing - More future

Notes:

Design Strategy Presentation
Stephanie Oglesby

1.     This quote is something I am starting to realise more and more recently. How important it is to have a goal. To focus on the bigger picture and understanding why I’m here doing this course, this has really allowed me to enjoy my final module and has made it both rewarding and exciting.

2.     My Rationale is: A conceptually driven practice investigating retail branding through retail outcomes focusing on Print Promotion.

FMP:
Has meant my practice has grown to cover these key aspects, the fully branded experience, creating high concept brands and tell the philosophy of the brand through creative outcomes. The importance of consumer interaction to gain attention and give the consumer something back.
The ability to work with a full range of clients and brands. Through all retail sectors.

My work is:
-consumer interaction
-range of brands
-creative concepts

Understanding how to create fresh brands and design for existing ones to keep them fresh.

3.     This Year has been a mixed bag of emotions, focusing on who and where I want to be at the end of my degree and into the future has really helped to guide me.
I’m now more focused than before and more confident to speak about my work.

4.     Lauren Carande Live Work:
Ability to work with a fresh creative Fashion Designer on a live brief, getting me ready for industry and creating contacts with other creative’s within the industry aswell as printers, stockists etc.
Working tight to a budget has really made me understand costings and abilities of projects it’s been a real eye opening. Working with Lauren has been great as she really knows what she wants and is really into her work so it’s been a positive experience. Also she has promoted me both on her website and End of Year show so that’s a great way to get my name out there.

5.     Live work for Jigsaw –Harrogate
1^st birthday ..Invites/ buntin and in store promotion
Again great coverage, well known brand to add to my portfolio. Good to work with brand guidelines.

6.     A continuation of my branding to date. Previous were too impersonal and did not suit my work style (SI SCOTT)

7.     Getting my work out there:
I have posted work both up on Behance aswell as creating my oen website www.stephanieoglesby.co.uk.
PDF sample to send to companies (great to email out)
Printed Portfolio of work so far (great for studio visits and interviews)

New logo just finished so will be sending off for business cards VERY soon from my new contact at IST.

8.     Contacting companies…. So I would to stay up North I’m happy here, I’ve got a really great social group as well as my family and some amazing companies up here. London isn’t for me right now, but would want to do it at some point in the future when I have more experience. 5-6yrs. I don’t want to work for any HUGGGGE companies and like those that deal with a mix of clients in the retail/ fashion and culture sector and a very CONCEPT DRIVEN company.

9.     Andy Lodge was great giving me confidence to get out there and contact companies…. Which was a much needed push! From his recommendation I email Sarah Walsh at Thompson as he thought she’d really like my work as we are similar styles and idea machines. I popped into Thompson in Easter and got some great feedback, she really loved my work and wanted to sort out a placement for me once I had finished UNI.

Their work for brands such as Harvey Nicks and Paul Smith aswell as working with the culture sectors is a brilliant range of clients for my practice.

10.  G last yr, great insight into a big company, filled me with a lot of confidence to know that I CAN DO THIS as a job! Although the projects weren’t creative enough apart from Pitches for projects which were great to work on. It was a great atmosphere with a good mix of people and I enjoyed having feedback, meetings and crit style chats as it is based on the way we work on at uni! Here I went on photoshoots, copywriting and motion graphics course. Contact through Sarah Craven to Mike Hughes at LOVE creative in Manchester.

11. I’ve loved LOVE for a long time through my contact I was able to get in touch with Mike – Creative Head and show him some of my work, I had seen the 2 month paid placement advertised on their blog so I wanted to see whether I could be looked at for this opportunity.
I went in to show them my work and they loved the creative concepts and thought they were really strong, fun and imaginative. That’s what they look for in people…strong ideas. It was great to talk to them as I realised it doesn’t matter if I’m not as great as everyone else with finished designs / styling as long as I have good ideas and can visualise them appropriately.
They asked me to apply for their 2month paid placement scheme and sent me a Waterstones brief over to do about consumer interaction and store experience which is a perfect brief for me.

12. Vast 2 weeks work placement starting 14^th May … Fashion lookbooks mainly, will really help me to polish up on my styling skills and strong use of type and layout. To be more professional and multi-skilled, making me work to  higher standard.

13. In my future careers its really important for me to get a mix of working for studios that work for different Fashion brands, a range and mix of cliental.

14. Aswell as working for In House teams such as Toshop, Urban Outfitters as I think it would be great to see the difference in working for one brand alone and then many brands at once. I think it’d give me a great insight into the industry.

15. Jobs Available HQ / Creative / Graphics / Marketing Events
Full scope of jobs for fashion retail.

16. Art Directing. This is where I want to be heading and to reach by my 30’s I think my work is best suited to concepts working closely with a client and find the people that’s best suited to the creative style we wish to create.

Contacting companies

I have noted a few companies that I would like to get in touch with through the Easter holidays to possible get a visit or placement with them.

My Branding

Open publication - Free publishing - More branding

Design Development for Logo

Chosen Logo

Re-branding

After speaking with a few people about my branding I've had mixed opinions. I've started to really dislike it, I would rather not be known as 'OGLESBY' but I'm fining it difficult to make a good interesting and unique design with my initials or name. Although John really liked the fact I had created my own typeface and totally branded myself uniquely Si Scott thought my branding was cold and didn't reflect me and my work as he said it has a warmth to it.

Sooo... I've come to the point where my old branding isn't working anymore.
What to do...

I want something quite stylish, sophisticated and simple. Preferably just my initials or at least highlights my initials in the design ...SJO aren't the best letters to work with but i'll give it a crack.

This is one of my Easter tasks in preperation for the Design Strategy Presentation and also the making of business cards and to add onto my website that is in working progess.