OUGD602: Studio Contact - Easter Contacts

While home for easter in Chester I felt this was a good opportunity to contact a number of studios from Liverpool as this is close and easily available to reach, I contacted 4 of the Liverpool studios that I felt would give the best experience going into and getting feedback on my portfolio which included: Black and Ginger, Smiling Wolf, Uniform, and Studio SB. Of these the only studio to reply to my email was Studio SB who asked me to send along my portfolio unfortunately they said in the short time period I was home for they would have time but said they engage with an internship programme which I should look at for when I graduate. 

OUGD602: Studio Contact - Passport

Frustrated in not receiving replies I decided to contact studios directly starting with Passport Agency in Leeds, Calling them up I told them I was a student from Leeds College of Art and would love to come in for a studio visit, The receptionist sounded shocked by this request and asked me to note it down in an email and they would get back to me. Despite this and a follow up email I never received any response from the studio. 

OUGD602: Studio Contact - Love studio

Having worked with Love for my dissertation and having Richard and Matthews personal emails I felt this stood me in good stead to atlas get a studio visit if not a placement from the studio. My initial email was at the end of January when I received my dissertation results thanking them for all their help and at the end  asking if they ever accepted placements or studio visits. When I didn't hear back I send another email directly asking for a studio visit. Unfortunately I didn't hear anything back either time which is disappoint considering how we'd worked together on my dissertation. 

OUGD602: Studio Contact - Alphabet

Contacting Alphabet I felt I had a good chance of being invited into a studio visit  as the founders are alumni of Leeds College of Art studying on the Graphic Design programme. I quickly hear back from Abbas, a contact Amber put me in contact with who asked me to send a selection of work over. Having sent this I did not hear back from Abbas despite sending multiple prompting emails and also put this time to the studio being very busy, I plan to contact them later in the year regarding a studio visit and see what come from this experience. 

OUGD602: Studio Contact - Lord Whitney

Exploring other studios I felt I would get a valuable experience working with I identified Lord Whitney as a great contact to have. Their portfolio sits outside of Graphic Design in Art Direction and set design however I love the diversity and experimentation within their practice, it feels fun and like there would be never a dull moment. On their website it says they occasionally take inters however at this stage I just wanted to go in see their studio and talk more about art direction as a practice as this is something that interests me as a potential career. In order to get my foot in the door I decided to create an invitation bespokely created to ask Lord Whitney if I could come in and have a chat. This featured a large cutout of the word lord which backs onto one of my pattern designs, this shows the invitation was created just for them and would stand me in good stead to be invited in. Inside there is a hand written message asking to learn more about them and their practice. 

Sending this invitation off I heard back from the founders Amy and Bek saying they unfortunately wouldn't have time to have me into the studio at present however to keep in contact as they are considering events to invite students into their workshop in the near future. Unfortunately this is disappointing however the hand made invitation will hopefully be memorable for future experiences and engaging with the studio in the future. 

OUGD602: Internship - The Archipelago

Talking about placement opportunities Michael discussed how when they have placements into the studio they like to provide an immersive experience where they take interns to client meetings, pitch presentations and allow them to work on design in isolation as opposed to shadowing another designer for a week. He described how this process works really well for them as a studio and shows how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together as opposed to just seeing how a designer designs. This was the type of placement I wanted to be involved in and help this would allow me a great commercial insight to the industry. 

Catching up with Michael via email it became tricky to arrange a time for placement, He initially said to contact him in the new year however this kept being dragged out due to the high volume of work the studio was receiving. Micheal said he didn't want an intern in when they were really busy as he wouldn't be able to provide the type of experience he talks about. Eventually we established this wouldn't be feasible within term time before May unfortunately letting me down with regards to the ability to come and work within the studio. 

This puts me in a difficult position naively putting all my eggs in one basket assuming I had a placement puts me back at square one at the end of January when most of my peers already have placements organised by now. I will definitely learn from this in the future that although something may be scheduled this can always fall through and that I should defiantly have a plan B just incase. 

OUGD602: Studio Visit - The Archipelago

Keen to engage with practicing designers and studios throughout level 6 I began to contact studios to get feedback on my current studio portfolio, chat about their practice and begin to create external contacts outside of Leeds College of Art. The first studio I contacted was the Archipelago based in Tower Works, Leeds, I really liked their style especially the work they produce for the Plant Room which they also curate and wanted to learn more about how they work with such a small set up. 

Going through through my portfolio Michael was impressed with the work I had produced thus far commented on my work for 505, with the Hawarden Farm shop and my response to last years COP project when I created the physical bottle as my response to the brief. This gave me confidence in that I was producing work that had a good insight and my attention to detail within the physical production was appropriate to a live brief standard. Talking with Michael gave me a good idea of how to engage with to industry professionals, we talked about the college and wider creative topics within Leeds. Interestingly Michael gave me a good insight as to how it feels to work within a live practice, juxtaposing client demands with a good design practice and how working in a small studio can go through quite points then be insanely busy within a couple of days. Through this conversation and talking about the requirements of level 6 Michael offered me a placement in the studio, which was a great opportunity. Working with a small studio such as the Archipelago would allow me to get a better idea of how a full studio works and not just a department within a larger corporation.