BDA London - 12th February (1st day)

I started work today at BDA London a day later than originally scheduled, due to a wierd 36 hour flu-type fever.

BDA London's work hours are the same as BDA Sydney, 9am until 6pm (with a 1 hour lunch break at 1pm). May day began with a quick introduction to the rest of the design department (about 10 people), although on previous visits I fond there are about 60 employees in total.

My day from there on consisted of a quick set up on their machine, using their network, and briefing on the next 2 days work, which consisted of logo designs for a pitch for a Vietnamese TV station. This is slightly familiar territory, as my previous placement in Sydney was similar. The logo design and brand set up could lead to winning the pitch, then the whole channel job will follow.

I am very much into branding and logo design, and am competent, but there's plenty of room for improvement! A good knowledge of type is needed, and it is important to know what the client wants (in this case a fairly commercial/corporate & contemporary feel). To avoid using stake fonts, I searched out some very expensive ones, set them online and traced them off in Illustrator with the pen tool. It just so happens that I am pretty good at Illustrator, and this is what I am comfortable with. I must stress that I don't believe my logos are really that good yet (it's an art-form innit!), but I do want to be great, so will keep trying.

I picked up a few new tips and places to look for type.

I think I have the right kind of qualities for this kind of job, and can easily see myself doing this kind of thing full time, however so far I haven't had to get into more complex work like After Effects projects, and Cinema 4D. I can see from what was going on around me that once the projects get the go ahead there is a constant rapport between the design production managers and the clients, and other departments such as sound design and editing. There is definitely plenty more to learn, and I imagine it's an ongoing process.