More Work Placements

Since my visit to Sydney in the summer I have kept in touch with the company and some of the designers there such as Jason French and my old school friend Andy Olley. The advice these guys gave me helped me work out which pathway to take, what things to prioritize, and even which order to learn them in.

This means learning a lot of basic, flat 2d design skills and techniques, developing high quality story-boards in Photoshop and Illustrator, idea generation and logos (pretty much doing all the design work). These are all things I feel are fairly universal, transferable skills that should supply a great basis for any future design specialty.

I hope to also start looking at the motion graphics (After Effects) side of things too, with a view to revisiting any storyboards created during the academic year and producing them for a portfolio/showreel in future. To help usher this progress I have asked BDA's London office if they would help me out and give me another work placement in early 2008. I am awaiting confirmation and a date, and hopefully this will happen. I am hoping that now having a clear direction to work towards, I should be able to see a big improvment since the August 2007 placement.

In addition to this I would also very much like to do more placements elsewhere during the summer in 2008, and have emailed a few companies that look suitable in Manchester, such as 422.tv. Unfortunately because I don't know anyone there, I have ahd no replies or even any idea if they looked at the emails (they may have even been filtered out by a junk mail filter). I know that I should call them, but I don't really have a portfolio yet! In addition to companies that specialize in broadcast design, I am keen to try other design places, especially ones who work on brand identities.

I need to create some good looking work as soon as possible, so I can get more experience and open more doors. This is top priority for this year.