Contacting a Graphic Design Professional (Simon E3)

I got in touch with a Graphic Designer who works at E3 in Manchester. I had been looking at apply for an internship for a while here. This is a condensed version of our conversation.

http://www.e3creative.co.uk/

Q1. Have you got any internships going at the moment?
A1. Sorry but we don't have any unfortunately, we're currently undergoing a big rebuild of the companies infrastructure, plus with all the massively tight deadlines we have for the next upcoming months we can't provide the resources to allow any work experience for the next 5-6 months.

But here are some other companies to look into;
Code computer love
AHOY
creative spark
Cube3
Or
We are empire

Q2. What do you look for in a Portfolio?
A2. If you present 2 portfolios to an agency, one of experiments with typography and one with a mix of illustrations, typography, logos, icons, UX...etc. they are more likely going to look at the second one. Demonstrating a mixture of skills is so much better than a singular.

When looking at portfolios, we just look for just fresh work and experience. There's nothing more disappointing when you see someone's portfolio and it's an advert they did at the beginning of college 4+ years ago! Always keep your work up to date with the times! Sport is usually a great thing to work on because for example one guy we took on decided to work on some
Also when displaying work, always mock it up and put it in a lifestyle setting. Just showing poster ads on their own on a big price of blank paper is boring, alongside it make sure you mock it up on things like billboards.,,etc. For example when we pitch for new projects and work up an initial concept we always present it in a lifestyle shot of someone holding an iPad, and most of the time we also work up a mobile concept too, to show that were thinking of things from all angles!
It's also great to see things you've done on your own time, such as font experimentation, illustrations, logos and ideas you've had at home...etc

Q3. Which Software do you use/should I be able to use?
A3. Photoshop or fireworks, illustrator and InDesign are usually the main 3. InDesign is for doing any print layouts such as brochures leaflets letterheads...
Q4. I have 2/3 briefs left to do, what would you recommend to focus on?
A4. I'd say anything digital with the way things are going so any desktop, tablet or mobile you have.unsure emoticon

Triptych Brief

Brief

A peer asked the class to get involved with a brief that he had written for his Extended Practice. We were to create a poster which would be displayed within a set of three, triptych. I decided to ask two other members of my class to work as a group and decide on more of a theme for our posters.

What is Triptych

Theme/Concept

I was in a group with two other of my peers, Jessica Johnson and Lucy Stronach. We all agreed that focussing on line and shape would be rather interesting. It would allow the work to appear part of a theme/group whilst also featuring personal variation. This works within the theme of 'Triptych'.

My Final Design

Above, you can see that I combined line, shape and colour together to create something within our agreed theme/concept. I used triangles within the design to visually represent 'three', triptych.
 Along with shape I also used three colours which in fact created more of a variation as I reduced the opacity as the reveal and create more shades when overlaid with other colours.

Social Media

Work listed as follows;

Taylor Pycroft

Lucy Stronach

Jessica Johnson

Influence and Experience

Being involved with this brief gave me the experience of working to someone else's deadline as well as working within a group, yet creating various designs, as though we were a creative collective.

 I quite enjoyed the way that this brief worked out and am grateful for this experience. It has revealed how well I can work in this way which is similar to how studio's, in the real Graphic Design industry, work also.