David Sedgwick Vs. Mike Rigby

In the three years of studying Graphic Design at Stockport College we have some a fair few practitioners come in from the outside to speak to us about different things such as; their work, life after graduation, how important placements are and what it's like working in the industry.

Deciding who to do my last design comparison on wasn't an easy task considering the amount of designers I've seen over the last three years. When thinking about it, I decided to choose two designers who stood out to me more than the rest. One of these designers was Dave Sedgwick, Dave is my favourite designer to date and the other was Mike Rigby, I chose him because of the impact of his talk with us.

Dave is an ex Manchester Metropolitan student during his time there he worked as a freelancer to get a bit of extra money in which is always a bonus. David has been on placements with Flux Magazine in the Northern Quarter, Splinter in Liverpool and Dinosaur.

Mike is an ex Preston University student. Mike has worked for companies such as, Imagination, Chase (Manchester,) Moon Design, Pentagram and Landor Sydney.

When Dave did his talk he spoke about how serious we take things. This to me is something that stood out and was very striking. As we are students the majority of us are very laidback people who don't think that far ahead, but as we are all trying to make it into the design industry this is something that we should do, the people who are more serious about it have that advantage straight away. Dave's tips was that 'we should be more determined to be successful and being more involved.' Certain things Dave did when he realized this was how he researched into design companies so he could try and get portfolio viewings etc.

When Mike did his talk he approached it very differently to how everyone else. Mike did his talk about the good and negative points about being a designer. Some of the good points about working in an industry like that are; easy to work for yourself, easy to work abroad, all the free parties and people in the industry are very helpful. Although as we all know with everything there's bad points to it, the negative points about being a designer are; long hours/unpaid overtime, poor quality of work and the pressure on you.

Overall these two designer's did their talk differently. For instance Dave did his talk in a big lecture theatre, this resulted in there being more people in the talk, more pressure on us to ask questions, whereas Mike did his talk in the classroom which I found was more relaxing and when at the end we asked questions it was a lot more relaxed we didn't feel like the question was going to be daft and embarrass us or something like that.

In the end both designers did their talks very different, but both was very enjoyable. It didn't matter to me where the presentation was because each talk is interesting and their is always something, big or small, that amazes you with what is said in each presentation.

Dew Gibbons

Whilst in London a few of us went and visited Dave from Dew Gibbons.

Dew Gibbons is a brand design company.

Whilst there Dave took us on a tour of the whole office area (consisted of three floors,) he went through a slide-show of the work the company create, he shown us what awards the company has won as well.

Dave also went on to talk about what it's like moving away from where you've grown up and moving into a whole new area of living not knowing anybody. He mentioned the average salary for a young designer to be on in London and how it works up with time.

Whilst visiting Dave I was really impressed. Soon as he answered the door we felt welcomed, he greeted us shook our hand etc, really warming. I was really impressed with the quality of work the company has created the amount of awards they've also won as well is something special.

Even when we met all the other staff who worked there, they was all warming and welcoming saying hello, shaking our hands as well, none of them was stuck up which was something I like seeing. At the end Dave gave us his card saying how he would look at our portfolio's and give us some feedback if we liked to do so.

Overall it was a great experience, and I'm glad I went and visited Dave when I had the chance.

Mike Rigby Talk

On the 26th November (2009) Mike Rigby came in and gave us a talk about his experience's too date about being in the industry, also too give us some tips on about how to be successful in the industry.

Mike studied at Preston University for four years, since University he's worked at companies such as Imagination, Chase (Manchester) Moon Design, Pentagram and Landor Sydney.

Why Design?

It's interesting also challenging, it's not like any other job, especially being in a call centre stuck in an office 9 - 5.

Great education. No two jobs you get in the industry are the same, so you can always expect something each time you get a new brief.

All the award ceremonies you get to go too, I mean how many other job's do you get that in - obviously apart from being a sportsman/woman.

All the free nights out, and free christmas parties, who would complain about that?

Strong design community - everybody knows everyone.

People in the industry are very helpful.

Easy to work for yourself.

Easy to work abroad.

Positive Impact

Communication you produce with your work.

You produce better design than what's already out there.

Negative Impact

Competition from other deisgners.

Long hours/unpaid overtime.

Pressure on you.

Poor quality of work out there.

Initial pay isn't good.

Client interference - restricts you on how you want to design something.

Placements

Mike had a couple of placements, one was at Imagination in London and the other was at Chase Manchester. The good thing about going on placements is that they speed you up, working on real live projects, networking and yet again free nights out!

One tip that Mark gave us all was if given the chance WORK ABROAD!

Container Plus Talk

On 02 November 2009, an illustrator called Louise from Container Plus came in and gave us a talk about the work they create, and what the industry is like for an illustrator.

Straight away this was something new for me, I wasn't that much into illustration work, but I went along to see what the industry is like from a different perspective.

Container Plus was set up in 2002, there a company allocated in London.

Louise set up a website up with another student who she was studying with in the second year of her course (Nicola) and till this day they both work together.

They've worked for companies such as Selfridges and Vauxhall.

Whilst in this lecture it appeared that they was showing more of the work they've done, which unfortunately didn't interest me. This was a good experience for me because it's good to see how illustrators or photographers work.

Dave Sedgwick Talk

On the 29th October Dave Sedgwick from 999 design came in and gave us a talk about his experiences and what we should expect after we finish University.

Dave is an ex Manchester Metropolitan student, this is where he spent three years wondering what he's going to do after University. During his time in University, Dave was freelancing for his own clients which allowed him to bring in that extra bit of money which always helps.

During his time at Manchester Metropolitan, Dave went on two placements. One was for a company called Flux Magazine in the Northern Quarter, and the other one was called Splinter in Liverpool.

After this he started doing his portfolio, got contacts of people in the industry, rang them and set up portfolio viewings with these people. Dave got a portfolio viewing at Dinosaur, one of the feedback he got was that "you need some Yorkshire pudding packaging added to my portfolio."

After his time on the two placements, Dave had time to reflect on things and question himself on how serious he took things. After a good think to himself he started being more involved and being more determined to be successful. With this he started researching agencies, using the internet to browse through company websites, he kept notes and kept a diary. A tip he gave us was 'find out as much as you can.'

Although his feedback from Dinosaur was like that, Dave ended up having his first placement at Dinosaur (after he finished University.) The feedback Dave us was that the conditions was horrible, he got payed £65 for two weeks work! Also it's hard to get a job there.

After this he got another placement at TCW which is now Love Creative. Whilst working here he got offered a job on a salary of 13k a year. He happily took this, but on 02 January 2003, he was made redundant, nice way to start the year. Although he was made redundant Dave found it a lot easier to get an interview in the industry now that he wasn't a student.

Dave went on to take a full time job at Race. Whilst here he worked with LMDI and The Arts Council etc. He won a pitch at Designersblock and also at 100% Design exhibition, both of these pitches were against at least three other big design companies.

A few extra things Dave went on to say was that it's not as hard as you think it is to get a job in the industry, you just need to be dedicated enough. There's no time like now, you just need to start looking and planning. Don't discount the small agencies. Call up ask who to send a PDF or CV and emails too, never send anything to info@_____.

Last of all SPELL THE PERSON'S NAME CORRECT

Practitioner Comparison

Fudge Vs. Truth

Fudge is a Graphic Design company based in Bolton. When Gavin came in to talk to us instead of showing pieces of work what was finished and talking about the company, he instead took us through the branding process of the England Squash identity. Straight away this was something which was more interesting because this showed us how he as an individual worked and how designers work. 

Truth is a Graphic Design company based in Manchester made up by a partnership between Darren and Jane. These two previously worked at a different design company so they already knew each other really well. When these two came in to hold a talk with us, they decided to show us work they have been creating, the experiences they both have gone through in the industry and to give us some helpful tips. Yes, this was a good talk but I prefer it when we see how the designer has actually worked, the different stages he has gone through to get to the final stage and the selection of idea's what have been thrown away along the way.

Gavin started off by showing us a selection of the rough sketches he had created for this brief. This included photocopy's of little sketches in like a diary to sketches on A3 paper. This was good to show because in the industry you never turn off you are always switched on, so you never know when you will get an idea for a brief, and you might see something in the street what gives you an idea. Gavin told us how there is six stages to designing; project scope, research, naming, design concept, design development and design application. Gavin and a few other's spent two days researching England Squash, this is important because you need to find out the history of the company, how the company likes to function - as a business and a sport - and the previous identity of the company. Gavin advised us that you need to have a full understanding of the client, what they like what they don't like etc, also we should always consider other branding in that area. It took Gavin three attempts to actually sell the idea, this was down to how the client didn't like the red rose incorporated within his design. Gavin's response to this was "The rose isn't for you, it's for the customers." After this the client accepted Gavin's idea, this is the one that he went on to finalize.

Going back to Truth and how they presented to us, Darren and Jane spoke about different things, this is down to how Darren does most of the design work and Jane does all the organizing, meeting the clients etc. When Darren started talking he spoke about a lot of typefaces he had created for different briefs. This was something I was really interested in because I really enjoy working more type based. He then showed us work he has created for such clients as Amir Khan (Reebok,) Versus Cancer '08 and Coca - Cola. This work was really interesting especially the Versus Cancer '08 campaign. Something Darren did suggest to us was that we should rationalize our work - explain why we have done such a design and to create something with a purpose. Another thing which was said, was that we shouldn't have a set style, we should learn all the fields in the design industry because this will have a bigger impact on the work we create.

Over all both talks were very interesting, both was very presented different which is good because it would be very repetitive if everything was the same. Out of the two I preferred how Gavin presented his work. This is down to how I like to see how the designer work's, the different stages they have gone through to get to the final piece and the good idea's what had to be put a side no matter if they had there heart set on them. Another reason I liked this, is because when a designer comes in and show's either the work they have created or the company have created, and this is a good standard of work, then a lot of the time the students will all swarm around the designer asking questions - why do this when you never do it any other time? Are they trying to make a lasting impression on the designer? Or they just generally ass licking?! 

A found that with Gavin's talk I learnt a lot of things. I learnt how we are expected to work in industry - which isn't that different from we are currently working now - I quick we are expected to work to and most of all how hard it can be to sell an idea to the client. With Darren he didn't talk about anything to do with the clients, what it's like to sell idea's to them etc, he just spoke about how he's created different type faces for different briefings. To some people this would be good but I'd prefer to find out more about what it's like working for different clients. Over all both presentations was very good, both had positives to take from and to keep in mind.

Anthony Smith Talk

Recently i attended a talk held by Anthony Smith who is from the design company called Music.

Anthony graduated at H.N.D level in 1989 at Bolton University, he worked at Tucker Clarke Williams for five years and he went to London and worked as a free lancer - this is just a section of his career to date.

Anthony started his talk by saying how he's split down into four different parts;

1. How got his first job
2. How Music was set up
3. How the company work
4. Some of his current work 

So Anthony started with saying about what it was like for him after he had finished University and what it was like to get a job in the industry after it. It took Anthony roughly a year until he was in permanent employment, he had part time jobs at the council and for a design company in Warrington though so he was able to bring money in to help him buy food and water etc. Whilst he hadn't been in employment he kept his portfolio updated with work, this is something he recommended to do, because a lot of people will just finish there degree and forget about there work, we need to stay optimistic.

After this he started about interviews and what he finds important at them. Firstly he said about presentation, be clear about what the brief was and how we answered the brief, always be positive about your work - even if you don't like that piece so much, if you get into a company ask them for other contacts and mainly ATTITUDE - always ask questions, be interested and make yourself useful.

Anthony then moved onto talk about how Music was set up. Eighteen months ago Dave Simpson from Love Creative asked Anthony if he wanted to set up a company, so obviously the answer was yes. After this they started working in Dave's flat whilst they found a suitable office for the company. They found an office in Ancoats, but they still worked in the flat whilst the office was refurbished. Anthony said if any of us get the chance to set up our own business then go for it! Although he wouldn't recommend doing it on his own.

With setting up a new company it was hard for them to get clients to give them briefs or clients come to them. The good thing about Anthony and Dave setting the company is, that they both have come across clients and received contacts due to the companies they have worked for. Another way they they got work was through there website, word of mouth and awards they have won. When they receive a brief they have a bit of time to digest the brief, understand what the client is asking for and then they back to the client with different answers - pics and ideas etc.

Some of the work the company have done or are currently doing is for D&AD Judging Week and Manchester City Football Club.

This is a company I hadn't heard of before but when Anthony came in I was very impressed with what he has achieved with the company within eighteen months and also the quality of the work that they produce, I will regularly checking there website to keep track of the work they are producing.

Rick Poynor Lecture

"I'll be your mirror: A critical look at the design monographs"

Rick Poynor

On Tuesday 17Th March I went up to Sheffield Hallam University and attended a talk held by Rick Poynor. Rick is a British writer, he writes about graphic design, typography and visual culture.  Some of the things Rick has achieved/done in his career is; founded Eye Magazine, co-founded Design Observer, taught at such places as the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and finally, stared in the film Helvetica.Rick Poynor is someone who has a great interest in design monographs, one thing he did mention about design monographs is that they are aimed at the 'star' people within design industry. One tip Rick advised us upon was that design monographs are no good to critically analyse. This is down to how there is no right nor wrong within the text and each piece is very opinion based.

Rick then moved onto talk about the monograph as a self-interpretation, this is where he started showing us different sets of books and

 there spreads. One that he did show us was The End of Print, David Carson, this was the most successful selling design monograph book to date, and what helped was that the book was set out in Carson style work, this resulted in type overlapping imagery and the type not being readable. But looking at it from a monograph perspective, Rick found it very hard to separate his work pieces from one another.

Another book that Paynor showed us was that by Stefan Sagmeister. In this book Stefan started the monograph by putting 'not another design monograph' on the front spread. This implies that he doesn't really take his monographs very serious. Another thing about Sagmeister which is interesting, is how he annotates his own work, this is a rare thing because you don't see many designers doing that.

Rick ended off by talking about the future of the monograph. This isn't an obvious conclusion due to the fact of the introduction of the web based information. Due to the internet being so easily accessed from such broad places and areas this results in that the monograph sales are going down hill due to the fact that the internet is cheaper and quicker.

Dan Ingham & Stephen Owen

Recently Dan and Stephen came into to do a talk to us about what they both have been doing since graduating from the course in 2007. The first positive they both gained was that in there results they both achieved Firsts and also, they both won D&AD New Blood 'Best in Show' awards.

The first tip they gave us, was that they recommended that we should be in college as much as we possibly can. This was because being in college it allowed us to produce more quality ideas instead of being at home and isolated, also this allowed you to get an input from other students on your ideas to see what they thought of the idea and/or how it could be improved etc.

Both Ste and Dan had the opportunity to showcase there work down in London, which consisted of over 2000 students and there work. They mentioned how this was a great opportunity to them due to the fact that they was able to build relationships with members of companies and more importantly show off there talents to the big companies down south.

Whilst down in London, this is where Ste and Dan both gained there awards for 'Best in Show.' There was over 2000 students which had an opportunity to win this award, which went out to 40 students, but both of them each won an award each which thinking about it is a great achievement - winning two of the same award, the same year, from the same college!

When they both got back from London they both started getting numerous of offers for jobs, but remarkably they both turned them down! The reason to this was that they both knew they could do better than just designing kebab house leaflets. You have to think this was a great decision because with the awards they both just won you'd expect them both to do miles better than that. Also how they both turned down the opportunity for money straight after qualification was a bold move.

After they had these job opportunitys they both decided to look for work placements instead of being stuck inside doing nothing and not using the skills they have. They had placements with such companies as Thoughtful and The Chase. They was both currently on placement with Mark Design and McCann Erickson

Further in the talk they started to talk about there life when they was in college. They mentioned that they both had a strong bond which each other, which is a great asset and this will be a great move because you never know when you might need someone's help in future reference. When they was in college they mentioned how they received negative comments and jealousy - which you wouldnt expect. This was down to how it was always them two getting picked for things, but if they work the hardest, put most effort in etc then they deserve it!

Glorious Talk

Recently Tom Shaughnessy from Glorious came in and spoke to us about the work they have recently been producing. Glorious are a multi-award winning design company based in Manchester who are currently ranked in the top 5 design companies in the whole of England, which is remarkable seeming they have only running three and a half years under glorious.

Tom showed us a handful of examples of work that he and the company have produced. One of these was for a reading room. This consisted of using bookmarks, but nothing developed of this idea due to them falling out with the company they was doing the brief for.

Another piece of work we was shown was based on Pay & Display tickets. They was briefed and asked to produce a clever idea that would generate awareness of an exhibition of designer/makers in an NCP car park through word of mouth. The solution they came up with was to use the car park tickets and then just put the 

details on the ticket in the style of a parking ticket. They actually re-created the typeface for this brief because this was better than any bitmap font, and also it would result in the typeface not pixelating.

Another brief which Tom showed us was for a company called Client Centric. The client asked them to produce a corporate identity for them and in doing so there company name got changed to REDdog. The solution to the brief was that they created a red dog who would perform various tasks for each item. For example on stationary he would be 'begging' on the invoice and 'fetching' on the address label and 'tickling tummy' on the compliment slips. 

Another piece of work that Tom shown us was a calendar for Karl's barbershop in Manchester. The owner of the company wanted something creating which would celebrate 40 years in the business. The final piece was a calendar which was run over the financial year (this due to that most customers are city professionals.) One object i like about the calendar is when pulling it out it's sleeve it acts like it's the iconic red and white barbers pole which is found outside the barbers. This calendar went onto win many awards.

Fudge Lecture

On the 5Th December, Gavin Bates from Fudge came in and spoke to us.

This talk wasn't like any previous talks we've had because in this one Gavin gave us a talk about a  project they was currently doing. The project was the redesign of British Squash and Tennis. The main objective of the brief was to, redevelop and redesign the existing England Squash brand.

Gavin started off by explaining about what they had and how many days these things took. 

1. Project Scope and Evaluation - Two days.

2. Research and Analysis - Go out and research into the specific field or similar. 

3. Naming Solution (Already had a name this time though) - Two/Three days.

4. Design Concept - Five days.

5. Design Development - Two days

6. Design Application and Artwork.

Gavin started off by doing rough sketches on paper . . . and post-it notes. When he was talking about this it allowed me to realize that he works like we have been taught to work instead of just going straight onto the Mac.

After he came up with his ideas he then met the client again and then they chose which ones they prefer the most. With the chosen six solutions they had a week to develop this further and then think of the applications. During the week they would also have meetings with the client where they spoke about things like editing etc.

The first logo was a typographic solution. 

This combined the racket and ball into one logo. This then was tried on business card's and also the kit which is worn.

The second logo was the St George's cross. This also looked like an aimer also.

With this idea it became more alive when the branding started to happen.

The third logo was the lion represented with England. This also represented strength and courage. This logo was made up of dots, this represents where the squash ball has hit.

The fourth logo was a crown. The English monarchs symbol of authority was this as well. This was also made up of dots.

The fifth logo was a shield. This was made up of the markings from the court. The bad thing about this idea was that it had to be dropped because the Rugby League did there rebranding to and then there logo ended up being a shield.

The sixth logo was a rose. The image was of the English rose which is a royal badge which originates from Tudor time.

With all these logos the first thing which had to happen was that they all had to work in black and white. 

The two logos which were under consideration was the rose and the shield.

Overall this talk was very interesting because we could see things which we was already doing which are useful for later reference, another reason why this talk was good was because instead of going through there work he went into detail and explained the stages which know body has done before in any of our talks.

Truth, Lies and Typography,

On November 6th (2008) I attended a lecture by Truth - a Graphic Design Company situated in Manchester.

Truth is made up of two colleagues - Darren Scott (Creative Partner) and Jane Kaye (Managing Director.) Both, Jane and Darren used to work at McCann Erickson for a numerous amount of years, this is where they both met, got there great bond and decided to move on and set up Truth.

Darren Scott is type mad, with gaining inspiration from the likes of Erik Spiekermann and Neville Brody. Darren has designed many typefaces. such as DST Bad Angel 1999, which was used in Playboy Magazine, DST Amplifier 2006 which was used on the David Potts "I'm the greatest" album sleeve and many more to name.

Since opening up Truth (2 and half years ago) they have managed to deal with such clients as; Durex, Number One Son, Versus Cancer, Fat Hog, Whitebox Architecture Limited, Amir Khan's Reebok clothing, Reebok boots and many more to name.

Truths Work.
Top - Amir Khan Brand Identity
Middle - Reebok Sprint Fit
Bottom - Fat Hog Identity Logo

As you can see each piece of work is different from one another, this shows how Truth has the motto of it is important not to have a set style of work and less is more.

A tip Truth did give us all designers, was that when we go to a company for a portfolio viewing we should ask for 6 names they recommend to see which helps us because then you have been referred which results in a better chance of getting viewed.

Tal Rosner Lecture

On Friday 7th November i was lucky enough to attend a lecture by BAFTA Award winning Tal Rosner. Tal started off by talking about his background what he studied whilst in college and university which led to him saying how he studied BA Graphic Design - something I'm currently doing. When Tal was talking about his background he mentioned things that had inspired him and his work. Such things where Design between 1905-1935, Modernism - which he believes is making a come back - The Bauhaus and Kandinsky.

When Tal started creating his videos he was noticed by a couple of people called Katia and Marielle Labeque who where producing work in recognition of Igor Stravinsky. When Katia and Mariella saw more of what Tal did this led them to commissioning Tal to produce a DVD which was all visual films based on his Stravinsky's music. Some examples of the videos he produced for this DVD are;
http://www.talrosner.com/CON02_web.mov
http://www.talrosner.com/5EPweb.mov

After producing this work - this helped him to promote himself more - he was recognized by Channel 4 and they offered him a job on working on the TV series Skins. On this he designed and made all the title sequences for each episode in the series. Each one was a different design because each one had to relate to that episode. Doing this enabled to be rewarded with his very own BAFTA. He is currently working on the third series which is due out on the TV in 2009.
(Example of the Skins TV sequence)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWWiSNucF-s&feature=related

After talking about how he was working on the Skins title sequences for '09 he went on to talk about how his latest piece was inspired by a poem by Josef Albers. This read,

Calm down
What happens

Happens mostly
Without you

Tal also explained how Channel 4 commission him and four other film makes to make a certain film experiment.Happily Channel 4 chose Tal's to be commissioned which was premiered back in September (2008.) This followed by a TV broadcast and nationwide screenings, concluding at Tate Modern, London.

Overall i found Tal Rosner a very interesting person, who's work had great impact on me and has inspired me a fair bit, also made me think of how i could experiment with his techniques in my own videos based upon Barcelona.