I e-mailed Craig Oldham from Music few weeks ago asking him questions about the design industry and he has got back to me today. He apologies for the late reply. Here is the e-mail he sent me back.

Portfolio Visit

Today I was going to meet Scott Mills from Avalanche Creative to show him my portfolio but due to a meeting he had to reschedule my visit. I will be arranging another day to see him next week.

Bourn Design and media44

For my contact Report I rang Bourn Design on Thursday 7th of May asking them for a portfolio visit, they replied saying that they can’t see anyone at the moment as it is a very busy time for them. I told them that I have sent them three e-mails and I didn’t get any reply back, they said that they did get my e-mails but didn’t have the time to reply but said that if I can send them a PDF of my work they can have a look and give me feedback that way. I personally would have liked to go see them with my work. 

I also rang media44 for a visit if possible to their studio but they said they are not seeing anyone at the moment. I asked them regarding my e-mails sent to them and he replied by asking for my name and they said yes they remember my name and the e-mails sent but can’t see anyone at this time. 

Scott Mills from Avalanche Creative has got back to me asking which day I want to come see him with my work.

Alan Herron from True North has got back to me about my portfolio visit. 

True North

Today I want to see Alan Herron from True North to show him my portfolio. When looking through my work he said it was good. Most of the work was fine but he said that he would have liked to seen some pieces of work shown off a bit better.
He looked at my Magazine and liked the layout of the type that I used in the shape of a glass and a bottle. He said that using the parcel paper was unnecessary. He also commented on my other double page spread saying that the image was good but the type was not working the right way. Then he moved onto my front cover saying that I could have pushed the idea a bit more.
He also liked the British Dental Museum Logo and Poster saying the type for the logo could have been something that was a bit more suitable but I explained that I had experimented with different typefaces and done concepts. He thought the poster was a very good way to promote the British Dental Museum but not the logo, which he would have liked to seen. As he noticed I had put down in my text that the poster was to promote the Logo which was not the case. He said the idea behind the Logo was very good. He said he would have liked to seen poster been promoted in a different way.
He looked at my first year work and said that there wasn’t any idea behind it but I explained that the brief involved me experimenting with layout.
Overall I think I got some good feedback even though most of it wasn’t that positive and helped me understand a bit more about my work and what I could do in the future to improve it.

I like how they went round looking for things that resemble the letter H. I had to do something similar to what MARK studios did.




In my first year we did A1 posters for the Manchester Literature Festival and to find that MARK studios had done some real work for them was amazing.



Mark studio also did work for The Comedy Store where they took high resolution images of people who look miserable. They did outdoor advertising, brand campaign and brochures.

I was doing some research on the Internet and came across MARK Studio. I really like some the work they do. Here are some of the pieces of work that I thought stood out for me.


I like the letter e 3D m model, which is displayed on the streets. I really liked the Brochure and various from of showing the logo.

Truth and Double G Studios are the two Practitioners that I have chosen to compare and contrast. The reason for choosing these two independent agencies is because they both have a different approach to design. Truth is based in Manchester and Double G Studios is based in London.

Truth a very experienced agency came late last year and gave a talk in the lecture room. They have worked for big brand names such as all: sports, Reebok and Durex. They talked about why they named their agency Truth and showed a PowerPoint presentation of their work. The reason I like their work is because they have real enthusiasm for designing and you can see that in their work. They want to show the Truth nothing but the Truth in their field of work. By looking at their work it has given me a greater insight of how and what the design work looks like outside of college. This inspires me to do similar type of work in my practice at college because I want to get to that level of designing. Another point about their work is the idea and thinking behind the work which really makes a massive difference because it’s all good if my work looks good but when there an idea behind it, it makes the work more appreciated.
A few specific pieces of work that I thought were outstanding to me in the presentation where the Whitebox, Fat Hog Identity and Packaging and the typefaces that they designed. What I like about the Whitebox approach to the idea is that it does not need to shout out for attention for it to work and the execution is perfect. The Fat Hog packaging really stood out for me because of colours used which not only it made it stand out but shows that the product lasts longer. I really liked the typefaces that Darren Scott from Truth designed using digital type foundry (DST) for business-related use. Most of the typefaces designed were used in pieces of work that they designed for clients. My favourites are Bad Angel which has a gothic feel to it, Rub On which is unbalanced and Sodium.

Grant Gilbert from Double G studios came to my College and gave a talk on his achievements in the past years. He has done work for More 4, Big Brother and BBC One which are based on motion graphics. He studied Graphic Design at Stockport College which was great to hear. His approach to graphics is very different because he uses motion graphics which creativity to a new level. When I saw some the work he showed us it really made me look at graphics in a whole new perspective. Some of the work he showed us involved creative thinking behind it. Gilbert also showed how much effort he put into his work and many different versions made before the final one is chosen.
The Summer Music promotion had great feel to it because it used growing neon cables wrapped around dancers to show the movement to sound. I thought it was great and very imaginative. Another piece of work that I liked was the Big Brother promo which they used broken glass to showcase the show. I really like the rebranding that he did for BBC One. He got the idea by looking back at the old end sting and animation which showed an image of earth. Then he did lots of ideas and came up a circle theme. The theme involved Hippos, Parachutes, Motorbikes, Tall Perfect Woman Cutting Grass and Reflecting Lights from a block of flats. I really hope to do something similar in the future involve motion graphics.

Both agencies (Truth and Double G Studios) produce very different style of work.
Truth use typography and imagery to show their work. Double G studios use movement and type combined with strong visuals and sound. Both have different obstacles to overcome when designing or adding movement. Double G work with motion graphics so the use of sound is very important compare to what Truth do. Truth doesn’t have to think about sound unless it is needed in their practice and that’s one of the things that separate them. Truth use type and clean visuals to show their work which is than printed in high quality again this separates them from Double G because they completed work will be shown to clients so everything has to be in the correct format, size and dimensions.
Both have ideas behind their work and a great volume of creativity used. Sometime a designer can be limited in some areas of their work so it’s hard to tell if they have used their creativity which is understandable. What Grant Gilbert showed us in the lecture was very inspirational because I think he didn’t hold back his ideas and the level of creativity. You can see the ideas which are very imaginative and eye catching. Same can be said for Truth who use intelligent way of doing their work, doing so pays off in the end and their reputation grows. Another difference is that Darren Scott form Truth designs his own typefaces which get sold and used in his designs. I think it’s great if agencies design their own typefaces because it shows how much they are passionate about a piece of design work and they want to show that through the project.
The work done by Truth and Double G Studios has made me think a bit more differently about my work and has given me a great insight on how the design agencies.

Tom from Glorious is a design agency based in Manchester who came in my college to give a talk to us about their work. I really like the work he showed us and it looked very neat and professional. He did give us little advice on fonts and showed us some work where he has to design his own typeface in order for that particular brief. As I have said before in my comparison I really like agencies who design their own fonts/typefaces. Some of the recent work they are doing is for Tate Liverpool 2008 and I really like the work they did for Shot Up North where he designed the invitation in the shape of a Polaroid film, UNIDO which opens up into a map and Karl’s Barbershop Calendar. I am really glad that Tom came and gave a talk on his work.

Anthony Smith from Music came and gave a talk on how he managed to get a job as a designer and have his own agency. When he left university he it was hard time to get a job and he kept looking and never gave up. Anthony said that it’s ok if you don’t get a job straight away and keep looking. He gave us very helpful advice and tips when looking for and doing placements. He said if you are thinking of staring up your own agency, don’t do it alone, do it people you know. When you get briefs be clear of what it asks and wants.
The work that Anthony showed us was very interesting and he brought some samples along. I enjoyed the presentation he showed and talk about which expanded my knowledge of the design industry. From the samples of work he had brought along, I really like the Flip-flops brochure and a football magazine which was rolled up and wrapped in brown paper. He also showed us a banner design for a football team which has a big typeface on it but if you look closer it has names of all the fans names printed on the banner. Overall I really liked the talk he gave and I got a chance to talk to Anthony at the end of the talk and asked him about ways of getting in contact with companies. He answered by saying that when he did it, he sent letters which he had designed.

Dan Ingham and Steve Owen are two students who graduated from Stockport College with a BA (hons) degree in Graphic Design. They came to give a talk on how successful they have been when they left. They said that when they were in their second year, they were very lazy when doing their work and wish they did more. When they were in their third year they worked very hard and wish they had done the same when they were in second year. They were very enthusiastic and stayed behind and were in every day. They said they worked on other projects when they were not doing university work. They said they liked screen printing when they were in uni. Also get to know people outside the course such photography and printing stuff, try to do placements in your free time to gain valuable experience. These were the tips given when they gave their talk.
They did the end year posters for the show and it was a big success. They also got entered into the DAND New Blood. They showed some the work they did and I really liked it. It was good to see someone from my college course and made me realise the how much it can be worth it.

Portfolio Visits: True North

I sent an e-mail to True North asking them for a portfolio visit.

Contact Report: Sent to 44media

E-mail sent.

Contact Report: Sent to Bourn

I have e-mailed Bourn Design with a few questions and hope they get back to me soon.

This is a hybrid that The Chase design for hairdressers, which was on the ground floor and on the first, was a seafood restaurant. I really like how they have combined the both elements of the places to come up with this idea.

When we had to design a logo, which combined a location and an event. I did some research on Chase because I remember when they came and gave a talk and they showed some pretty impressive logos. What I like about this logo is the two leaves make up a waterfall, clever.


The 3CV logo is very clever and I like how they haven’t just thought of using fancy type to promote the company.


They used this letter L to represent a bed for Layezee Beds, nice.

Identity for Keycutters, I really don’t need to explain what this is for. I really like the imagery used for the Identity.

These Logos and Symbols are design by a company called The Chase. Their level of work is of a very high stranded. I have selected a few of my favourites that relate to my briefs that have done during two years in university.

True North is a design agency based in Manchester. I have looked at their website and at the moment it’s showing all the recent work they have done. The website is done using a holding page because it’s not completed yet. I can’t wait to see what the new website will look like. Here are a few of my favourite pieces of work. I will keep you posted on the website. Link – True North.

Truth has designed this for their client DST/Fontworks. It’s a short movie to that uses different symbols of the alphabet to make up a persons face. I really like it because it shows how different typefaces can be used in another way.

Spun Around: Jay Ektopia

No Hopping: Harry Bugden

Blast Off: John French

Brick Worm: Alistair Veryard

Daniel Eatock is a photographer and designer who has a website with lots of pictures. There is a section called Thank You Pictures where people send in pictures of everyday objects that resemble something or someone. Here are a few examples of Thank You Pictures that I thought were inspiring for my brief.

Here’s a quote from the website “Samples of typefaces created by SCAD students were presented to representatives from Monotype Imaging.”

I really like the use of these typefaces being made into faces. I found this while I was doing research on the Internet and thought it was great. Here a quote from the website that i found.
““Typefaces You Won’t Recognise”, a series of witty postcards produced by Paul Belford for the London Type Museum.”
Link to the Type Museum.

One day brief Thank You Pictures (Daniel Eatock)

My one-day brief involved me taking a Thank You Picture.

1. The first picture shows double yellow lines but they seem to have been erased. This image is called Erased.

2. The second image is a parking meter which looks like it been bandage up. The name of the image is Injured.

3. The rubbish bin looks like it had too much to eat and is throwing up rubbish. I decided the image is going to be called Last Nights Dinner.

4. The forth image is of a Caution Cone on a roof. I thought it was great and decided to call it Caution Wet Roof.

5. The fifth image is called Camouflage.