William Lyons - Written, Oct 10th, 2019
Since the commencing of the Diploma in Professional studies, the first few months have proven to be more challenging than I had originally imagined. After receiving a few sessions worth of feedback on my portfolio, both physical and digital, I became aware that I would have to tailor my work in order to make it appeal to a wider and more corporate audience. I always knew that it would be challenging to find a suitable context for my work, however I had underestimated the role of an intern within a graphic design studio, and how an agency has to favour designers who follow a certain style over others. I discovered this the hard way, as for the past few weeks a lot of the applications relying on my digital portfolio to showcase my work received positive feedback but with negative results. This in itself was incredibly disappointing and although the feedback I’ve received from several large design agencies has been enough for me to understand how to reshape my portfolio, It can still be disheartening to be told that your work doesn’t fit in. It’s the start of October and for the past couple of months, I have focused entirely on my personal branding and my communications with potential employees. As my Self-Initiated project will discuss the topic of good client and worker relations, I felt that by creating a piece of self-promotion that I could send out to prospective employees would not only allow me to further my research into the SIP but may also provide me with more positive results in my applications. I have always found working on my portfolios and my presence within a professional context to be quite challenging. Without another perspective, looking at your own work with a discerning and objective eye can become incredibly frustrating. I had to push through this in order to create a simple yet effective piece of branding ephemera that would summarize my working style in a unique and original way. I decided to design a small parcel that would carry several small objects that showcase my work efficiently and attractively. Featuring in the envelope is a small hand stitched mini portfolio (showcasing a maximum of 5 of my best pieces of work), a small hand stitched pencil case including three personally branded pencils, and an additional cover letter and following curriculum vitae. Illustration has and always will be at the centre of my creative process, so I wanted to highlight this within the envelopes and create a coordinated and consistent identity that could be applied to all future branded assets. Overall, the project took around 3 days from start to finish. As I was working with a limited budget, the majority of the money I spent went towards the branded pencils, whereas I managed to save a lot by asking for paper samples from several companies like GF Smith in order to create the mini portfolios and the pencil cases. I have had very little experience in hand sewing but I managed to borrow a sewing machine and through trial and error I was able to sew and complete around 100 individual parcel sets. In designing these, I created several patterns and cutters in order to speed up the production process, meaning that, with the supplies I have left, I can produce more if and when I need them. I really enjoyed making these parcels and I was really happy with how well they represented my work and my working style. I sent approximately seventy-five parcels around the world to large design agencies and organisations with the hopes of gaining employment or at least more exposure for my work. As I am still currently receiving emails responding to the piece of self-promotion I sent out over two weeks ago, I can only partially comment on the feedback, however, I have had some really encouraging replies expressing their appreciation for the parcels. Although I hadn’t necessarily tailored my style to cater to a more corporate audience, I feel that the parcels effectively showcased my work within a context more aligned to the professional working world of graphic design, something which I had not yet realised with my previous portfolios. I received a couple of emails from studios telling me that they were impressed by my ability to find a context for this kind of work, rather than it being confined to digital viewing and without any commercial adaptability. I feel that this experience and feedback alone has completely changed the way I think about the efficiency of my portfolios and graphic design in general. Besides looking for someone who aligns to the style of the studios work, It became clear through feedback, that the design agencies searching for an intern are looking for someone reliable and with a basic understanding of professional practices. I have understood now that it is of the utmost importance to showcase a wide range of projects within a portfolio, including examples of work using different kinds of processes. I have also learnt that despite my attraction towards a certain style or process, design agencies will always want to see your work within a context. I have now started to restructure both my physical and digital portfolios in order to showcase more live briefs and contextually based projects with the hopes of successfully gaining employment. All photos are my own and of my own work.
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