The visit to Method was quite a late one at 5pm so we were very tired when we arrived as we had crammed a lot into the day before we arrived but we got there in good time and went up to floor 5. The entrance to the building looked very old and was just a stairwell and lift. Not what you expected from a design agency. However it is this that adds a bit of character to the very clean white nature of most agencies. The actual agency was much cleaner with fresh decor but a lot of the character remained with painted brick walls and exposed beams on the ceiling. They were also in the process of doing up their office.
We met with a senior designer and a designer and went into a meeting room with a laptop to show our work on. They both had a history of advertising and had worked across America at different agencies although they both would like to work in Europe. At first we talked about New York and what we had been upto during the week. We found that some of the things we had seen hadn't even been seen by them. This then went onto our home life and how our course runs at home etc. We explained we were in 3rd year graphic design and want to get as much advice as we can possibly get so we are well prepared for the industry.
They said that their agency derived from the basis of clean Swiss typography which is still predominant in their work today. We then spoke a little about the values and what the company is upto at the moment.
I then had the opportunity to show my portfolio which we decided to take on a USB as we didn't want our fragile portfolio boxes to get damaged during transit. I also showed our Ministry of Sound video that we filmed and designed which they really appreciated to see moving after seeing the storyboard. James then showed his portfolio. They waited until we had both shown them to comment and we spoke about the problems we had when describing our work because a lot of it was based on UK companies, included UK road signs or UK locations. Without the knowledge it became pure nice looking design and the ideas behind them seemed irrelevant which is a shame. Although my strongest work from their point of view got around this problem. This is something I can consider when tailoring my portfolio to different agencies especially internationally.
After the portfolio crit we asked a couple of questions which including who are your favourite clients and why, and also what particular style is their work. The answers to these two were not a particular client name but they prefer it when the client is excited by what they are doing. It helps the work to flow more which helps bring out confidence and, therefore, better ideas.
This agency was very different to the others I visited but they seem to work really well as a team together. The whole agency was open plan where everyone could communicate. The people were friendly and had a lot of time for us which we appreciated.
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