Magnetic North Website

After my Portfolio visit with Magnetic North I decided to check out their website. It is a very unusual approach and highly interactive with the user. This is good as it is meant to be an interactive agency. You basically draw your own website on the screen. You will probably never see the same screen on the website twice and you can pick and choose what you want to look at on the site. Rather than standard tabs and buttons it makes you work and keeps you entertained.

It also allows you to come up with your own web design of how you would like their site to look. In essence, you do the work for them. I love it. Above is a step by step of how it can work. It is well worth a look if you get chance.

Portfolio Visit - Mccann Erickson

Due to an absentee during the D&AD Portfolio Surgeries I was able to go and see a second person in the industry to go over my portfolio. Ironically it was a member of Mccann Erickson who I had a placement with over the summer and am involved with ongoing projects with. He recognised me and asked me about University and the projects I was working on at Mccann as I had never really spoken to him during my time with the agency. I asked about what they were doing at the moment aswell and possible placements in the future.

We then proceeded to look through my work, some of which he recognised, and we discussed each project as we went along. Some people I have found look over your work and then go back through to speak about each piece but we were within limited 20 minute slots although incidentally we overran that time.

I got some constructive criticism on how focussed my Age Concern work was from an advertising perspective although he did like the concept. He particularly liked my elegant typography and the look of my work but had some pointers of what I could do to develop my work further which was great advice as it comes from a different perspective.

Again the amount of work I had in my portfolio was questioned as there was so much but I wanted to make the most of my time there to crit all of my work and get opinions. I have found that opinions vary dramatically about pieces of work from person to person so it is very hard to get your portfolio right for everyone.

He liked my branding work but suggested that I let each logo breathe on their own page each as having two per page is quite confusing and looks like one design. Something else he liked was havin work for small brands aswell as big clients that you tend to get during D&AD briefs etc..

The visit was very beneficial and I will heed the advice to make my portfolio much stronger aswell as some of my work.

Portfolio Visit - Magnetic North

During the D&AD Portfolio Surgeries I went to see someone from Magnetic North who produce some great interactive work. They had just done the digital design workshop that I wasn't involved in so they are obviously held in high regard by D&AD. The response to my portfolio of work was highly positive and they particularly liked my attention to design and typography. His favourite pieces of work were the Berghaus billboards and the Great British Blood Drive logo. I had some constructive crticism also which is what I look for most in a book crit. This included taking some work out as I had a lot of work to get through. The schoolmail logo was too similar to the Gmail logo which I agree with.

I was also advised to taylor my portfolio to different agencies depending on what they produce most in their work. Something that is of much debate is whether to put scamps and ideas into your portfolio but Magnetic North are well into that. Possibly even more than the finished article itself as it shows more about the person and the way they work as well as the thought processes behind their ideas.

He appreciated the clean, effective design of the portfolio although he felt it cud take more risks with the layout. Also with the Ministry of Sound animation you can't see that we filmed it all ourselves so to have some of the storyboard as part of the green screen visuals would look great aswell as showing exactly what went on.

I feel overall they talked a lot of sense and were very positive about me which is good for confidence and the advice was something I will definitely take into account.

Problem Portfolios

One downside to the Liverpool Design Symposium was having to carry around a big box all day. There was never anywhere to leave it and the fact that it wouldn't stop raining was even worse but as you can see in the pictures we improvised with bin bags. Very professional! Sometimes they even got their own seat when we had nowhere to put them as you can see. This is one of the disadvantages of having a print portfolio and an advantage to having a digital copy on a USB stick. I am still undecided on which to take to New York as baggage handlers aren't exactly careful when throwing your cases around and they could get damaged although they are a nice physical thing to have and look through.

Liverpool Pictures

During my day in Liverpool I tried to take some interesting pictures as I went along and here are some.

D&AD President's Lecture : Speaker Michael Wolff

Michael Wolff Co-founder, Michael Wolff & Company Michael Wolff, a co - founder of one of the world’s most iconic design companies - Wolff Olins - is recognized today as a leader in thinking on brands. He lectures in many countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and the USA. He’s Patron of the Inclusive Design Challenge with the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the RCA (Royal College of Art), a member of the Government sponsored Design and Technology Alliance against crime, Chairman of the Legible London initiative with Transport for London and a visiting Professor at the University of the Arts in London and a Senior Fellow of the RCA He’s a former President of both the D&AD (Design and Art Directors Association) and CSD Chartered Society of Designers. Michael now runs Michael Wolff & Company in London. Most recent clients are 3i, Mothercare and Ministry of Sound in the UK - Citibank and Citigroup in the US - and a new bank in Russia. “I’ve never stuck to one view of what is good in design. My personal goals have always been: to help organizations to express themselves, in their own particular way, for the benefit of anyone with whom they’re involved. And do this in a way that brings value to everyone and to the world that we all share.” The lecture given was very different to anything I had seen before. There was no projected imagery onto a screen and it was more of a conversation than a typical lecture. He began by saying "not knowing is good" which is a strange comment but I do agree with it. I prefer to take risks and make mistakes myself than play safe and produce a boring piece of work. He also said that his advice may not be right which is again correct as design is about opinions I feel there is no right or wrongs. Micheal himself studied architecture at first as he liked to explore what things felt and looked like although it was mostly to avoid work. He has been sacked around 12 times throughout his career. Being inquisitive is a good thing and ther is a lot of value in appreciation and respect. This is something else he said but he did used to model his own work on others. He thought if it looked like a great piece of work it would be a great piece of work. He described insight as being valuable but he rejected it. Insight as I have said before is a word I hate and I like to have my own ideas and implement them rather than sourcing ideas which is something Wolff led onto talking about. Saying that he uses his own mind to come up with ideas and not looking at any annuals. This originality is what I can relate to as I often see plagiarism within peoples work in my class. This point led onto liking what other people like. Because they like it and you respect them you automatically like it yourself. This is very true. Why do Manchester United have so many fans?They aren't all from Manchester but people support who their friend supports. Also people tend to follow who is winning. Which I totally disagree with. I was a Man Utd fan myself until I realised that I only ever was because it was the first kit I was ever bought when I was young. Another point he made which I related well too is about challenging good design and why do people agree on what a good design is? How do Fox's glacier mints get away with having a bear on their packs? Because they challenge it they become successful. He went onto say boldness is good until it leads into arrogance. Who cares if people like what you do...does it work? This is the most important thing he said in the whole lecture I feel as it backs up the way I work. I dont want my work to look pretty or my sketchbooks. It bores me. I'd rather do an ugly but good idea that grabs attention. "Good" design pales into the background anyway. To reinforce his point of liking he highlighted the example of how presentations and lectures don't work as people only laugh if another person laughs and so on. Moving onto advice for students he said that portfolios don't get jobs, people hire human beings. He advised people during presentations to EITHER make people look OR make people listen. Not both at the same time. This is the same for portfolio visits. Why explain what should already be easy to understand. If not you work isn't doing its job. Also he said to not take 'no' for an answer. People will see you. With regards to branding, he spoke about the need to know more about 'liking'. Branding needs to make you feel good and sends signals. Remember the brand you design is not personal to you but it is the customers personality that you are trying to capture within a mark. He touched upon branding cities and believes that it is too big a task. The M for Manchester he described as too easy. Using initials is like branding your pyjamas. He then went onto tear apart the Graphics all around Liverpool, saying they were very poorly executed. This brought a round of applause from the audience so it is obvious that most people agreed. I also agree as I have seen the designs since last years Biennial and never liked it then at all. This in turn lead to him advising us to 'do real things' such as using someones real handwriting for the 'handwritten look' Liverpool logos scattered around Liverpool. Why not use John Lennon's handwriting of Liverpool, he must have written it a thousand times. Towards the end of the lecture people were invited to ask questions. One lady asked if there was too much emphasis on gaining awards. Wolff's reply was that there is nothing wrong with recognition and celebration of your work but if you can't recognise your own accomplishments then what's the point? A Staffordshire University tutor asked how important he felt sustainability was within design. The answer was simple. Very. With the current financial climate everything needs to be sustained including design which means it needs to work in the way it won't date quickly. One of our own tutors Ian Beckett asked: Do you find students are better now compared to past students or are they just different? After some thought he said they were better and this was due to creative inputs coming from all angles because different medias make this possible. There is also talent everywhere so it is more tough than ever. The final question was about clients cutting cost and how to keep creativity within that. The answer was persuasion. Make the client understand that paying that little bit more will get more positive results and be a better investment for the future. Overall, although I would have liked to have seen some of his work, I thought the lecture was very inspiring and relative to my own practice within design. He spoke a lot of sense and I agreed with most of what he said which is unusual. The advice given was valuable and I will take this on board for the future.

Quote of the Day

"That's for you to know and me to find out."

Michael Mara 

3rd Year Graphics