Questionnaire:
1.) Recently, myself and James entered 10 awards between us for D&AD and YCN. This has possibly had a slightly negative impact on our Final Major Project's as we have not spent as much time on them as other people on our course who entered one or none. We felt that it is our last chance to win student awards so we wanted to give ourselves a good chance. Tutors have told us a number of times to be wary of spreading ourselves too thin on each entry by doing so many. We were advised to focus on one or two and make them entries better. However we feel all of the entries had a chance of winning so we worked them all up and sent them off.
Do you think we approached this in the right way or would you agree with my tutors? What are your thoughts on the subject of student awards?
It's really down to how much work you can successfully cope with. Entering (and hopefully winning) student awards can be as useful if not more useful than your final project.
You guys seem to have a prolific work rate and demonstrating that is attractive to employers. I was impressed.
2.) I am of the opinion that good ideas should be put ahead of the design of anything. I did my dissertation on this subject and found out a lot about products and advertising doing their job well rather than just looking nice.
How much emphasis do you think should be put into an idea with relation to the design and why?
The two need to work together. There's no point in something looking great and failing to communicate what it's supposed to. Design can help an idea hugely, but you should always start with the idea.
3.) I have now done a number of work placements at various design/ad agencies which I feel has helped me adapt to the industry. It is a much faster pace and more of a challenge to be in an actual workplace.
What do you think about the importance of placements and what are the benefits/disadvantages of having placements in your agency?
Placements are very important. At the end of the day you need a job and agencies need talent, placements can help both parties.
From my own point of view having placements in the agency can range from being hugely positive to very negative. It's down to the quality of the individuals on the placement.
It takes a fair bit of time and effort to have people in on placement. It can be difficult finding enough time for both parties to benefit.
It's very important for the industry that agencies continue to offer placements.
4.) Pitching is obviously a big part of an agencies work these days. I have been involved in a few pitches and it's a good feeling when you win but I think it would feel like a lot of wasted time and money if you were to lose.
Do you agree with this system or do you take part in the pitching process out of necessity?
I think we're stuck with pitching. It's probably one of the biggest stresses in this industry but it also accounts for a lot of the highs.
I see no point in moaning about the system, just get on with it and make sure your pitch is better than the other guy's.
5.) I have been working as a freelancer recently and have run a small business the past couple of years which has helped me learn to deal with clients and sourcing web coders and signwriters etc.
Apart from being a source of income, do you feel that it is worthwhile during studying to get involved in real work and start to interact with other businesses. Do you think these skills can be important in helping you get a job?
Absolutely. The more real world industry experience you have the better.
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