Industrial experience is about learning from those who are all ready in the business, all ready achieving what we as young graphic designers want to do. (Young as in the sense that most of us haven’t been at this very long.) I think in a way it is also about looking up at your hero’s, those designers and studios who stick in your mind because it’s what you hope to achieve one day.
This is professional “Hero” of mine , Skottie Young, who currently works exclusively for Marvel Comics. In a way it’s a sort of Free Lance job in the respect that he doesn’t need to fly up to the Marvel Studios from where he lives to work with a team. Allot of the time he works exclusively on the comic (Example: Divided We Stand.) A small comic about one of my all time favourite characters, and his too. It’s not just illustration but knowing how to layout a story and align the type just write. It’s a small saga that will stay in my mind for a long time.
Finding out about how Young got to become such a renowned illustrator is all apart of the Industrial Experience. Making that first move is always hard (and nerve racking, he IS a hero and I don’t want to come off as Fanish or desperate.) So I have decided he will be one of the fifteen (ten?) “Hero’s” that I contact later on in the year. I haven’t sent one yet as I’m still not quite sure how to approach him in professional manner other than; Hello, I’m a student studying Graphic Design ect ect.
But that’s what the experience is about and I’m looking forward to sending out emails/ringing company’s and making that initial first contact.
It’s a chance to work with design firms and be a part of a team of designers. It’s about potential roles that may, in the future, make me part of a team and how I communicate and work with other designers.
Why is it an important part of PPD?
Without have that experience under out belts, how could we possible progress and survive in the "real world" of Graphic Design. It can be a tough market to break into and with out the experience how can we have a real chance of success without knowing what we are doing? This may lead to real world employment, which is important in terms of professional development. Work experience can help us with who we are as people and how we can apply that to design.
Being in the studio at college can only teach us so much, the real experience is out there in the world of design. They can teach you how to build up a great client list, how to communicate with them. It's about getting to know a good printer and building up a relationship so that your work is too the best standard that it can be.
In industry, you'll get a real feel for what a professional is looking for in a portfolio and to maximise the best design that suits their company or studio.
How do you gain professional/industrial experience and what form does it take?
Live briefs and competitions are a good way to break into Freelance work, gaining you that industrial experience. It’s outside the college studio and away from it counting towards your grade. There’s more of a sense of getting something out of it. (Not that a degree’s a bad thing but let me explain.)
Companies like Don’t Panic offer a live brief every month, with a one month deadline. It allows you to submit designs for their outer packaging as well as their posters. It’s more in line with the real world of deadlines in terms of deadlines as well as giving exposure and experience that we wouldn’t normally gain in the college studio. Threadless is also another design company (That specialises in T-shirts) that allows users to submit their own designs for vote and it pays well if you win. However, there's no structured deadline but it also gives the same kind of exposure and experience as Don't Panic.
Other experience may include our own freelance work, doing commissions for clients that your know personally or through friends. Though this doesn't always give us Industrial experience, we are working to specifications that the client has outlined. (Though family tend to think because you're related you'll do it for free...yeah and their unconditional love will fill my fridge and keep my pet rat entertained and well.)
If you ask designers who are well established in the industry questions then their information and experience can be insightful into the world of professional design. If you work it well and tastefully drop hints there could be a work placement in it for you. On the other hand, you could always ask about visiting the studio, talking to them directly and seeing what they themselves have to offer.
What should you aim to gain from professional/industrial experience?
We should be able to gain a feel for the real world of design, too see how differently paced it is from the inside of the college studio. I want to know what practices suit me best and what kind of work environment is going to work for me and those around me.
This experience may even provide me with contacts within the industry, and give me useful insight in what my portfolio should look like. I hope to get enough placements, at least 2 - 3, just too see how each one works and how this might help me in the future.
If you ask designers who are well established in the industry questions then their information and experience can be insightful into the world of professional design. If you work it well and tastefully drop hints there could be a work placement in it for you. On the other hand, you could always ask about visiting the studio, talking to them directly and seeing what they themselves have to offer.
What should you aim to gain from professional/industrial experience?
We should be able to gain a feel for the real world of design, too see how differently paced it is from the inside of the college studio. I want to know what practices suit me best and what kind of work environment is going to work for me and those around me.
This experience may even provide me with contacts within the industry, and give me useful insight in what my portfolio should look like. I hope to get enough placements, at least 2 - 3, just too see how each one works and how this might help me in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment