OUGD602 Evaluation

This has been one of the most important years for me in terms of both learning and developing my practice. For the first two years I felt like I was just creating work to get a grade. This year however has seen me develop my idea of myself (without sounding corny). I learnt to take pride in the work that I produce and be more confident with my skill set as it was an issue for the first two years where I found myself feeling like my work wasn’t good enough or thought that the standard that I was working at was subpar to others on the course. With working on self-initiated projects and collaborating with both people from Uni and creatives currently within the industry, I built up my confidence in my work and relighted my passion for Graphic Design.

Having worked on my self-branding and really pushing the development of my online has really helped me with becoming part of the creative industry. Working on the Making London brief and collaborating with both Dylan and Studios within in the industry has made me, In my eyes, a better practitioner in terms of both the work I produce and how I interact with the industry.

All in all, this year has been the biggest year for myself in terms of my personal and professional practice and has made me feel ready to enter the real world after uni. Just have to wait to see what grades come through at graduation.

OUGD602 Creative Convos: Pop up studio

OUGD602 Sending Pysical work to get seen

Pixel Transformers

For the Pixel Transformer project I’ve been working on I have a lot of outcomes that I haven’t done anything with.  To make sure this project gets seen by the public I have planned a few ways to get my work out there.

After speaking with Alec about my project, he suggested sending off to Hasbro Creative Marketing team either by post or email and see if they would like to do anything with this or give their opinions on what I have made so far.

The target audience for this would be the Transformers community who have a very large on line presence.  To make sure I can get this project seen by most of this community, I have pinpointed some of the largest accounts and people with the highest following,  These consist of TF Nation which is a convention for Transformers fans held in the UK.  Kapow and TF Source which are on line forums and shops for Transformers Merch.  Some of the biggest followings are for Transformers Toy Reviewers on the likes of Youtube, such as Thew, Peugh, Emgo plus many more who frequently promote work to the community.

To make something physical to send across I created a poster based on all the characters from the 1986 movie in order of appearances that showcase a large amount of the Transformers pixels I’ve made.  I have printed them off on A2 and put them in poster tubes which I have sent off to 6 of these influential events and personalities within the community.  I hope to hear something from them soon.

OUGD602 Contacted Various studios

OUGD602 Career Track Tuesdays

OUGD602 Start Up Wednesdays

OUGD602 Self Branding Presentation

Presentations

I was first up for the Friday presentation group which can be quite nerve wreaking but thanks to doing quite a few presentations over the three years I’ve been at Uni and being the Student Rep for the second year, I found my nerves have calmed a lot more when it comes to giving presentations.  Personally, I think it went really well.  I was able to say everything I wanted to say about my time here at uni and the main highlights of this year, all while being 10 minutes to the dot.  I received good feedback from both tutors, Alec and Pete, which helped calm my nerves about the looming PPP grade.  It was also great to see all the different journeys everyone has been on in my course and the practices they’ve developed.

OUGD602 Pixel Transformers evaluation

This project has spanned the whole of the third year and I can safely say I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, while also developing and gaining new skills for my overall practice.  What started as a small project at the tail end of second year has now developed into somewhat of a passion project where I have found myself looking forward to the next design I would make.  In total, a rough count says I have created 150 of these simplistic pixel versions of the Transformers. An issue I found myself falling into was creating more and more of these designs but almost ignoring my other projects at the same time.  Thankfully, this did not go on for too long before I realised I had to manage my time better.

One of my big takeaways from this project would be developing my animation/motion graphics with a few of the characters.  Considering I started with a very simplistic idle animations in previous projects, it has come a long way and it is definitely something I want to continue after University.

Another personal achievement on this project would be the fact that I recreated all of the G1 movies Transformers and created the poster I set out to make from last year depicting them in the order that they appear onscreen.  I managed to send both A2 and A3 versions of this to multiple influential figures in both the Transformer community and a few designers who expressed their interest and appreciation for this project.  At the time of this submission, I haven’t heard back from them yet but hopefully I will achieve a response afterwards.

OUGD602 Potential Work Placement

Works Ltd

(http://www.worksltd.co.uk/)

After going to Careers to develop my CV, I was ready to send it off to professionals within the industry.  I sent it off to many studios in Leeds, London and Liverpool.  I was also put intouch through a friend of the family to a company based in Leeds called Works Ltd who are responsible for the branding of this year’s World Cup held in Russia.  I sent over my CV and an up to date version of my website which I redesigned to show different aspects of my practise with the following email:

Dear Paul

Thank you so much for agreeing to have a look at my CV.  I have just returned home from Uni and wanted to personally tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to read through my details.

I have always had a passion to learn and gain something from each experience I am a part of. Learning a new skill, program or outlook on design is something I aim to get out of every project I work on which has given me a wider skill set in multiple sectors within graphic design such as:

Print and digital design

Packaging design

Brand identity

Editorial

Motion graphics

What stands out to me when researching Works Ltd is that you have such a wide variety of designs within your portfolio, particularly within your motion and editorial graphics which really appeals to me. Your studio has a very impressive client base, especially NBA and FIFA.  In particular the WABC editorial piece really stood out to me as the design had created an enjoyable and aesthetic reader experience as manuals such as this can typically be hard to read.

It would be such an amazing experience for me if I were able to obtain a placement at Works Ltd. I feel the outlook of your studio is something I would be very proud to be a part of. The invaluable help and information I could gain would be so rewarding and beneficial for the start of my career as a designer and I would be very proud to be a part of such an interesting and creative brand agency.

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Two weeks went by after emailing the Creative Director Paul and I hadn’t got a reply.  I sent a nudge email which I had no response from so I rang Works Ltd and asked to speak with Paul who happened to be there at the time.  I asked him if he’d received my email and he said he had but had been totally swamped with the Russian World Cup work and hadn’t found the time to reply to me.  

He told me that the studio was impressed with my work and although he wanted me to come in, it wouldn’t be until after summer when their workload had died down.  He assured me he would get back in touch with me.  Although I didn’t obtain a placement, it was great to get such amazing feedback from such a talented creative.  I look forward to hearing back from them in the future.

OUGD602 Placement at The Other Planet

The Other Planet

(http://www.theotherplanet.co.uk/)

After searching for placements and getting let down by The Elephant Room, a friend of the family who has contacts with media studios in and around Leeds approached The Other Planet to see if they would consider offering me a work placement.  Luckily they agreed to see me as they don’t take placements in their offices.  I met up with Judy the VFX director and one of the co-founders of The Other Planet to introduce myself and talk about what I would like to gain from working with them.  I spoke about my passion for Film and TV productions and that my ambition is to be a part of the film making industry after University.  

Judy told me she was originally a graphic designer before she became a VFX artist and she said she has a very similar outlook when she was studying.  After half an hour of talking, she gave me a tour of the two different buildings they are based in and showed me the equipment they work with which are high end industry standard pieces of equipment.  The whole meeting itself including the tour took just over an hour in which she explained they don’t take on interns or work placements, but she would speak to the creative director of the studio to see if it was possible.  We shook hand and told me she enjoyed meeting me and would be in touch soon. 

Just under an hour later, Judy emailed me to tell me they’d happily take me as their first placement for a week commencing 14 May 2018 (this collides with my final handin for PPP and extended practice but I managed to negotiate with Judy to start after my hand in).  I’m really looking forward to starting this placement as I already know I’m going to get so much out of it.

OUGD602 Making London Event: Conclusion

Conclusion

All the speakers were really interesting and engaging to listen to.  It was great to be a part of such an amazing event and hearing people talk positively about mine and Dylan’s work both on and off the stage was a huge confidence boost entering into the creative industry.  At the end of the event I spoke to the two organisers, Jodi and Rima, who I’ve only spoke to through the messaging app Slack.  

They were super positive the work Dylan and I had created and after speaking with them, future events came up where I put myself forward and said I would happily work with them again in the future which they were very happy about the idea of me working with them again. 

OUGD602 Making London Event: The Unseen

The Unseen essense

(https://theunseenessence.com/)

Finally, the most interesting speaker at the event was Lauren Bowker who is the founder of the Unseen and the science editor at large for Dazed.  She showed off her work with the molecule she created that originally absorbed pollution which she used within most of her fashion pieces which really put air pollution into perspective for the public.  

What most people know her for is the colour changing hair vine from 2017 which showed the instantaneous colour transition from brown to pink which looked like it came straight out a science fiction film.  All the work she showcased was truly awe inspiring as it was crazy some of the stuff she’s produced such as a cap that changes colour over a million pigments based on the brain activity throughout the day and Virgin Galactic badges that will permanently change colour based on its exposure to space.  

Her whole presentation was incredible with the work that she has produced.  I felt I was 50 years in the future after listening to how she created all her designs and products.

While there were many more speakers, these were the ones that really resonated with me. 

OUGD602 Making London Event: Google

Andre Le Masurier

Andre Le Masurier, the group creative director at Google Brand Studio took the time to talk about Google’s latest project for good dubbed Searching for Syria.  They were asked by the UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) to do a project that gives people more information about what’s going in in Syria.  The Google team came up with a concept that focuses on the 5 most searched questions asked about Syria on Google.  These questions were:

            What was Syria like before the war?

            What is going on in Syria?

            What is a refugee?

            Where are Syrian refugees going?

            How can I help Syrian refugees?

The Searching for Syria website has images to accompany each of these questions that really put what is going on in Syria into perspective and to help people understand what is happening in the country and what they can do to help (there is definitely a theme as to how creativity can help to shape the world for the better with these last few speakers).  I did not get a chance to speak with Andre at the end of his presentation as he was shooting off back to America.

OUGD602 Making London Event: Craftivism

Craftivism

Speaking of good deeds, Sarah Corbett from Craftivist Collective spoke about all the changes she has been able to bring about within our country with the power of creativity.  The most recent one she spoke about was her and her craftivists spoke to the CEO’s of M&S and were able to bring about a living wage for all staff members within their company due to the power of craft.  Again incorporating positivity within the creative medium.

OUGD602 Making London Event: Amit and Naroop

Amit and Naroop

The photography duo Amit and Naroop who started their business in London and aimed to break stereotypes of Sikhs after 9/11 which was a critical and commercial success for the community.  It was great to see these two work within the creative industry to bring good both in the UK and America.  This shows off all the positives of the creative industry which is something I would like to embed into my practice.

OUGD602 Making London First Panel

Panel

The panel spoke about curation and how it has lost its meaning due to the likes of Instagram and other similar social media apps which showcase work similar to that of a curated space.  I found this an interesting take on curation as this is an area I have not got much knowledge in.  Each one of the speakers from this panel said that they’d set out to make their business to bring more positive vibes into the industry as the world is a lot more negative these days due to the news, Trump, Brexit and wars. 

 I feel like this is the outlook that everyone in our industry needs to have as the world needs more positivity.  The main part of the panel was in fact Technology and how it has affected their practices, and one of the biggest ones brought up in each business is the growth of augmented reality, an area I have based my essays on over the first two years of Uni.  They spoke about if they wanted their businesses to continue to grow even further, they would have to incorporate 

Augmented Reality into the spaces they curate as it is becoming a very sought after field of technology.  Personally I agree, as seeing the world of Augmented Reality evolve at break-neck speeds go from over ambitious concepts to almost sci-fi technologies.  The final note they gave about both curation in the industry and the use of technology, Aidrean Moccka from Secret Cinema said in his final quote “if you look at competition for too long, you will just become a copy of the competition.  Look at competition as free data to further yourself, not purely as something you have to compete with”.  This has opened my eyes a bit more to the industry I’m about to enter and the mindset I’ll need to have to be a part of it.

I would have just gone to the conference for this panel alone as it was truly inspiring to hear them talk about the industry they are a part of and the places it might go in the future.  However, there were a few other speakers at the event who were just as inspirational that I will quickly go over in other posts.

OUGD602 Making London event

Finally, Dylan and I got to go down to the Making London event and see our work up and around the venue.  The event itself was split into two different styles of speakers, individual speakers and four panels.  The train which Elephant Room got for me arrived at 10.30am which was an hour and a half after the event started.  I asked if I could get there earlier as I didn’t want to miss any of the event but unfortunately the only train they could get was an off-peak train and this was the earliest one they could get.  Despite this, it was an amazing event with some really interesting and thought provoking presentations.

I made it for the first panel which was lead by Justin Gignac, the co-founder of Working Not Working, who discussed the ever changing world of technology and its effect on the creative industry.  The panel consisted of Rafe Offer, the founder of Solar Sounds which focuses on secret music events that were specially curated that aim to give it’s audiences diverse shows.  Ibrahim Kamara, the co-founder of the world’s first video magazine called GUAP Magazine.  Jyoty Singh, the brand partner manager for Mixed Cloud and DJ Rinse FM.  My favourite of the group was Andrea Moccia who is the producer for Secret Cinema, which focuses on creating movie experiences for new releases that puts the audience into the film.  Probably his best known event was for the Force Awakens which had people interact and live in the Mos Eisley town which was an amazing experience of which I was unable to obtain a ticket for, which was unfortunate.

OUGD602 Self branding Logo

Logo

For my personal branding, I didn’t want to give myself a fancy name, mainly because I couldn’t think of one I liked but ultimately I just wanted to use my name, Connell Makepeace, as it is such an unusual name that people won’t have heard of before, plus it’s what’s in use in all my forms of social media and my website.  The font I’ve used is Roboto.  This is a really nice bold, sans serif font (which coincidently is the same font used for my website) which stands out very well on brighter backgrounds such as white or creams.  One thing I like using my name in this font that because it is such a long name, it looks like it could be used as a line on things such as CVs, letters, invoices etc.  I did this for the invoice to Elephant Room for the Making London Event.

One thing I’ve said over the year is that I wanted to further my personal branding on my online platforms such as my website and social media including LinkedIn and Instagram.  Since the website brief that Alec set earlier this year, I’ve constantly been adding to it and changing the site so I can send it off to professionals.  An aspect that I have just added is the option to find work to a specific practice such as branding, illustration and designs for both digital and print.  Since adding these, I have had some good feedback from a few professionals I have sent my website/online portfolio to which has been a huge confidence boost to me as a practitioner.  As well as all this, I have been working closely with Careers about my creative CV which I am very happy with (insert CV here).

OUGD602 Finishing part time work

Finishing work at the Packhorse

Since the start of Uni, I have been working between two pubs to help support my time here which hasn’t caused me any issues for the first two years, but with the workload increasing in third year, it was harder to keep the work/uni life balance.  The deciding factor was getting my COP results back for my dissertation.  This was something I worked extremely hard on and attended all the tutorials while working on the feedback given to further my grade only to find out that my actual grade was much lower that I was told I was on for.

I was devastated after receiving my grades and to make sure the same won’t happen with my PPP and my extended practice modules, I decided I would have to stop working for the meantime so there were no distractions.

OUGD601 Self Branding Social Media

Social Media

One of my weakest aspects of the last two years is keeping up with my social media presence online.  This is something I wanted to combat within third year as it’s an area I want to become more proficient in.

Instagram: I have been posting to Instagram over the years but never had a routine or schedule to what I post and when I post.  I know these are areas I need to focus on as being able to get my work across to the right audience is crucial for getting my work seen.  To help with this I have implemented this plan of action (insert time plan).  Since sticking to this target I had already seen myself gain many followers from the site with more being directed to my actual website.

Linkedin:  While I have already got an account, I have managed to increase its productivity since attending the Start Up Wednesday event that focussed on developing Linkedin.  I have managed to double the amount of connections I have on the site whilst also speaking with many professionals though it’s messaging service.

Vero: To try and keep ahead of the kerb, the new creative app known as Vero has recently launched which stated that the first million members get their account for free.  I managed to obtain one of these accounts for myself.  This app has been picked up by ITS NICE THAT which states that it could be the next big Instagram.  Now I have got my account, I will just have to wait to see if this is true. (update; so far it seem this is a flop).

Twitter:  I never had a Twitter account, however the recent competition I entered required that we submit our entries through Twitter for them to be considered.  After entering the competition and submitting my work, I have started using it more and more as time goes on as it seems like a creative outlet that most professionals use.

OUGD602 !00 Days of Film and Tv Exhibition

100 Days of Film and TV Exhibition

Courtney has been working on ‘A 100 days of Film and Games’ illustrations this year.  It has been really interesting following this project and watching it develop and now that it’s done, she has an exhibition up that I want to go and support in Leeds Art Hostel.  The event had a really playful atmosphere as the quizzes she put together based on her work were really engaging and got everyone to take part in the event.  It was one of the better exhibitions I have been to this year and I really enjoyed going.  I was also able to pick up a piece from her series.  I am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

OUGD602 Wild Wild Country Documentry

Furthering my knowledge

Recently I watched the new Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country which dives into the story of Rajneeshees which I had never heard about before.  As daft as it sounds, this documentary made me realise that there is so much about the world I know nothing about.  Going into the industry as a Graphic Designer, I need to know as much about the current world and its past events to better inform my practice.  It also showcased the power of influence upon large groups of people which again is an aspect that informs Graphic Design.  Since watching the programme, I have already started to read up on past events, especially in the US and got into the habit of watching at least one documentary a week.  

The most recent ones are the Louis Theroux documentaries which cover a wide range of subjects and issues.  I plan to continue this trend as it has giving me a greater understanding of the world I will be working in.

OUGD602 Applying for the Print Resource Assistant role

Print Resource Assistant Oppotunity

An opportunity has arose for an assistant role within the digital print room downstairs.  I applied for this role last year but was unsuccessful but was told to apply again this year.  The job entails working with students to get their work printed whilst also furthering your knowledge of the digital print process and since I use the print room a lot, I have gained a moderate amount of knowledge within this sector.

 (insert application form)

I was not successful with this application but it has not stopped me from going to the print room and learning from James on how the different print processes work.

OUGD602 Plan for the Future?

Plan for the Future?

As I am friendly with most of the people from Illustration, we have spoke about the possibility of working together after Uni.  Staying in Leeds would be a fantastic option for me as the city is rich with companies within the creative sector.  I am planning to rent a house with friends from Illustration with the possibility of us obtaining our own space in the future.  To help with this I have been going to as many Career Track Tuesdays and Start Up Wednesdays that I can sign up for to help with the transition from Uni to the real world.  After speaking to Sharon, she mentioned the Summer Programme the University holds which would be a great opportunity to attend and would offer me better options to apply to the Duke Studios studio space.  To even further this, I have booked places on the Careers Fair and one-to-one talks with members from Careers to help with this.

OUGD602 Self Branding Personal website / Online Portfolio

Personal Website

After Alec tasked us in creating our own personal websites, he gave strict instructions not to use WIX and to have these websites made for the next session of his.  I took it upon myself to research each of the web hosting sites.  I came across a site called Weebly which was in the top 5 sites just after Squarespace.  It was easy to use and I had my website up in a few hours.  The problem was I was getting calls left, right and centre from companies saying they could boost my web presence to them offering to redesign my website for me.  I was getting these calls at least 4 times a day which was getting beyond the joke.  Since the launch of my website, these calls have now reduced to practically none.

http://www.connellmakepeace.com/

After sending my original website in to Alec, I was giving this feedback:

(insert feedback here)

I have been constantly adding to and changing my website since gaining this feedback so it is easier for me to showcase my work and explore my current skill set.  I am now happy to send my website off to studios as an online portfolio.

OUGD602 Making London Website

Website

After creating a few concepts for the website and sharing it with the group, it became clear that they had a website in mind already that they wanted theirs to look like.  I didn’t want to make a carbon copy that they wanted so I tried a few different ideas 

The website itself proved to be more draining than I originally anticipated as it seems I was getting pages of changes and feedback each day I was working on it. (example). 

It proved to be very tedious in the end. In the original draft for the website, myself and Dylan had a section for us to say a bit about ourselves and the fact that we created the branding for this event, however I was told to remove this and instead Elephant Room was dubbed the branding partner.  Personally I was not very happy with this choice as it seemed Elephant Room had us working on branding the event, but where seemingly taking credit for it.  This may not have been the case, but it’s how it made us feel after all our time and hard work.  A bit sneakily, I added at the footer of each page ‘Love The Branding?  The identity and website was created by Connell Makepeace and Dylan Stott’ so people would know and be able to see our details and links to our websites.

https://www.makingconference.com/

While I am very happy with the end product and got a lot of experience of working within the industry and with creatives, I personally found it challenging to work on such a big scale and timeframe.  This has not stopped my wanting to work on other different projects in the future.

OUGD602 Making London Event Development

From the Skype call, myself and Dylan started to work on the branding.  Whilst working, we took on different roles, Dylan finished the logo and the branding while I worked on the web element for the event.  To help us collaborate with Elephant Room and the other founders of the event (Backscratchers, Dazed and Creative Mornings London), we were suggested to download and use the app Slack, a sort of WhatsApp for creatives to manage collaborative projects.  Talking to the group about making the website, they gave a few examples of sites that they liked the layout for and suggested that I use Squarespace to develop the website as it would be quicker and easier to manage for the whole group.

(Will finally got back in touch with me about the placement but did not specify when)

OUGD602 Skype call with Elephant room

In preparation for the Skype call we were to have on 3^rd April 2018, myself and Dylan spoke about ideas to pitch to them.  I already had my concept and Dylan was working on a few logos as he pitched an idea rather than a concept to them to get chosen. 

(insert notes here)

The call itself was packed full of information although not all our questions were answered as they hadn’t had their speakers confirmed and they were confused about what they were after. 

From this call, we gathered that the branding needed to be done by the 5^th April and they wanted the whole event to be live by the 9^th April which included the website, the social media and the posters.  It was a large volume of work which we had to complete in such as small amount of time.

OUGD602 Making London event

Elephant Room got back in touch with me the day after I sent it through.  They really liked my concept for the branding and want to collaborate with myself and Dylan from my course.

OUGD602 Self Branding Updating Creative CV

CV Update

I wanted to update my CV early on as it allowed me to send it out to professionals. To help with possible work in the future, I've made my CV as easy to read whilst still holding all the essential information to sell myself. I've been talking with Sharon Heleine from careers to help with the re design of my CV. I've updated the content too to add new contacts on the reference (I got told to add our course tutor by careers) and up to date work experience.

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