David McDonald Presentation

Local freelance graphic designer David McDonald delivered a talk today on making an impression on employers and creating a successful portfolio.

In order to stay relevant to the customer, McDonald expressed the need to develop work without a specific style. A portfolio should express a range of styles in order to avoid narrowing your opportunities. This includes having work in your portfolio which you might not view as being particularly strong, as someone else could have a completely different opinion. The same theory applies to your best examples of work as not everyone will understand your way of thinking, therefore it is best to appear versatile in your ideas.

Whilst the portfolio is of large importance, it is not the only thing that clients or employers look for. Based on his past experience in interviews and hiring people himself, McDonald states the three most important things that anyone should have: Passion, Personality and Creativity.

Passion - Talk about your work with enthusiasm and with detail. It is not just talking about the look of your work but the process involved and why you think it so important. Ask questions, be inquisitive and show dedication to the subject.

Personality – Considered even more important than the portfolio your personality reflects what kind of person you are and how well you can get on with others. It is crucial to be yourself and show that you are willing to work, listen, and learn new things.

Creativity – What inspires you on a daily basis and how you take this inspiration into your own work. The lengths and processes you have taken in order to achieve that specific style or look.

Moving onto the work side of things every employer is different, therefore it is important to understand them and do your research first. A job is great but if the place of work is not right for you then you will not give it your best or enjoy it. Rejection is also a big part of the experience and it is not always personal. Most of the time it is based on the type of person therefore you might not be what they are looking for. At the end of the interview phase it is good to drop them an email thanking them for their time.

Snug by Design

Snug by design is another short live brief who are looking for the creation of a corporate image to be used for a trade show, business cards and letter headed paper. My objective is to design, create and print a large company logo in time to be used to start promoting the business before the Trade fair. It will be used on all advertising for the show, also printed business cards and flyers to accompany the product information given out to potential clients.

The target audience will be the clients at Trade fairs and people who will see it on their website. Age range has not been specified and in this case is not applicable.
 

Creative requirements set by the client are to use a white font on a pastel colour background with an overall simple quirky look. IM FELL DW PICA PRO Regular font to be used.

Keltie Cochrane - STD Awareness Final

The finalised version of the Keltie Cochrane brief which aims to encourage women to get tested for Syphilis and Gonorrhoea. With the previous design ideas I was happy with the message being portrayed but felt that it was not connecting to the target audience due to the neutral look of the design. Therefore instead of having the white area as a mass of shapes I rearranged them to form the shape of an abstract foetus. The idea here is to make women think about the dangers of an undiagnosed sexually transmitted disease and the far reaching effects they can have, not just now but in the future.

Keltie Cochrane - Research (A condom here and a condom there)

Whilst traipsing through the various NHS campaigns on sexually transmitted diseases, I was ready to give up after the endless amount of unimaginative ideas that were floating about. That was until I stumbled across the work of Manchester based designer Michael Mara and his witty poster campaign for STD's. 

The brief - which is very similar in appearance to the one I am currently working on - was to inform young adults about sexually transmitted diseases and how easily they can be caught. 

The bright, bold use of colour is attractive and draws the attention of passing audiences. The element of witty humour to the posters makes the seriousness of the message feel more approachable than the stereotypical route of doom and gloom. The use of comical copy combined with the strong colour palette fits well with the intended target market of young adults.

Whilst I do like the style of typography used there are small issues with the spacing that I would address. The gap between 'use' and 'an' appears too large of a space and the leading on some of the posters reveals uneven amounts of white space.

The rest of the campaign as well as Michael Mara's other work can be viewed on his behance page- http://www.behance.net/gallery/NHS-STI-Awareness-Advertising-Campaign/4078845