AKQA Agency Visit - New York

AKQA's agency was up on the 10th floor of a really nice modern building. When leaving the lift we we stepped into a huge contemporary reception area where we were invited to sit whilst we waited for Barbara, the woman we had arranged to see. She came over with a laptop and we went into a small room with sofas and chairs in it.

As with most agencies, she asked us how we were finding New York and what we had been upto. We had been soaked all that day whilst we walked around and visited Ground Zero. Barbara herself had worked at Saatchi & Saatchi before AKQA and before that she was a student so she has obviously done very well for herself since leaving college. This is definitely of benefit to us as students about to go into industry.

She spoke about AKQA being heavily involved in interactive design which became a theme of the New York agencies we visited. The word strategy was used a lot. I can honestly say I have never used this word during my course before so I will have to put some research into this area as it looks to be going this way in industry.

James showed his portfolio this time which got him some very good feedback in particular his London F1 branding. Again my feedback was also favourable, her favourite piece was my Great British Blood Drive logo and ambient media ideas. This was interestingly the same project. She recommended that we should go and see Frog, Siegel + Gale and Pentagram as she felt out good design skills lended itself to them particular agencies. Obviously we had seen one of them agencies and did contact another one but heard nothing back. Barbara then even said our work looked a lot better than what most American design students are producing at the moment, which is quite a compliment!

I then raised the issue of preferring more ideas based work than design and she said we should tailor our books more to ideas and advertising if that is the route we want to take. We received good advice on the layout of our portfolios and whether we should include scamps and original ideas in our work. We spoke a little more about how international the agency was and how they all work together as one big team. We were then able to have a quick look around the agency. All workers were in a big open plan area with their own desk. There was a breakfast bar area and big open plan kitchen with great views for relaxation.

I feel it was very beneficial to visit AKQA as they have some very big clients and know what they are talking about. It was great to get such good comments about my work and the advice I have been given I will take very seriously as I begin to re-design my portfolio.