OUGD602 - PPP3: Boards

OUGD602 - PPP3: Review

I feel as though this year I have become much more confident with photographing my work. There is always room for improvement, but when I look back to first year I can see how much my work has developed which I am really pleased about. I am also really pleased to have all of my work ready for submission and feel very proud of it all. 

OUGD602 - PPP3: Personal Branding

For my personal branding I have decided not to change it too much as I didn't feel as though it was necessary. The only thing I have changed is my logo. I have used Gill Sans MT Pro to produce it and feel as though it represents me as a designer quite well.

In total I have produced:

- A business card

- CV

- Invoice

I also designed an envelope but don't feel as though it is really necessary for me to have one which is designed specifically. Because in the future I would simply buy a pack of them and print directly on top. I have also bought a domain name which is www.laurabrucedesign.co.uk, but the live website is currently being designed and will be ready for the end of year show. I didn't want to rush it for the purpose of this submission and wanted to be able to have all of my photographs of updated work to put on there too. 

My invoice is clear and straight to the point and my CV has been updated with a main focus on all of the work experience I have gained over the past three years.

OUGD602 - PPP3: Laura Bruce 2015 Portfolio

My digital portfolio only contains a select few projects at the moment. This is because, when contacting studios I only like to include a select few so that I can have more to talk about when I meet them in person.

For the end of year show I will have all of my work included in this, printed at A3 scale at LGP in Leeds.

OUGD602 - PPP3: Fedrigoni Calendar Attracting Publishers

I have now been contacted by three separate publishers who have asked if they can put my YCN Fedrigoni Desk Calendar 2015 work in their books. When I received the first email I was absolutely thrilled to bits, and I felt even more overwhelmed when I received the last two emails. The first book has been published and I have bought it, photographed below. Whilst the second one is currently on the way to me, and I am still in the process of replying to the third publisher.

Publisher 1

Publisher 1 Feedback

Publisher 2

Publisher 2 Feedback

OUGD602 - PPP3: Crackers Brief

I received an email a little while ago about designing some Christmas crackers for a mutual friend's family business. I read through the brief and it sounded really fun, as they were asking for the crackers and the box to be designed and then sent to the manufacturer in China to produce. This sounded quite exciting and so I decided to say yes to them.

This was one of the worst decisions I have made this year. I thought it would be a great brief to have to include in Extended Practice, but in the end it turned into a disaster. I designed a nutcracker styled cracker for them and mocked it up on some glossy stock and sent it over to them. They said that we needed to immediately revisit the brief as this was not what they had asked me to do. In the end, they had me designing a bright blue and orange cracker which they absolutely loved and I absolutely hate. 

I was treated so rudely and spoken to like I didn't have any graphic design knowledge what so ever. It actually led to me feeling really upset, deflated and I lost motivation for a couple of weeks because he knocked my confidence and made me feel rubbish about my work. 

In the end a lot of emails were sent between us, and I had to ask him for more money, because we had already gone past the agreed deadline, and I had already agreed to less money in the first place, as my quote was 'way above our budget'. He then accused me of all sorts, relating to the law and their company rights. 

I ended up having to finish the work and sent it to them and then said that I wanted no further communication with them at all. He even said at one point that the fact they had provided me with this amazing opportunity would mean that I could have a 'live' brief to include in my portfolio which is very rare. Little did he know (hadn't researched) that I have already worked with multiple clients and didn't need his job to help me to find employment when I graduate.

I feel as though this has been such a huge learning curve for me and this simply pushed me to develop the brief further once I had finished the work for him. It took me a little while to find motivation but I have managed to create one of my strongest outcomes of the year and designed my nutcrackers which I am extremely proud of and have submitted as part of extended practice.

OUGD602 - PPP3: Vickie Lang

My mum knows a lady called Vickie Lang who is a Bafta winning Make up artist. She works on various TV programmes and films and is more than happy to help me gain more work experience. She has several contacts in the industry who work on props for films. I am looking forward to hopefully having something planned for the Summer as this will be fantastic experience.