OUGD502 - Extra Strong Work Experience

Over the summer break, I organised myself 2 days work experience with Bristol based digital creative agency Extra Strong. It was an aim of mine in preparation for second year as I wanted to have more understanding of working in the industry.

I emailed Ben Hamilton, founder of Extra Strong, showing him interest in their company and I arranged to meet him in their studio for a chat. I took some work from first year with me so that he could physically see what I had created, instead of just on a screen. Showing Ben my work was intimidating because I was aware that the outcomes weren't to an industry standard. However, I explained each project outcome and my concept and the feedback was positive.

I met other members of the studio which also had a screen printers downstairs, introducing myself and being enthusiastic about the work and environment. Ben studied Graphic Design at Bath Spa University which meant he had an understanding of where I am in my studies so far.

Studio:

After approaching Ben and speaking to him, he offered me two days work experience with him. During those two days I got to experience set briefs in the industry. I also got to work with a junior designer on some small briefs.

Classic Carpets

Classic Carpets are a Bristol based carpet company who asked ExtraStrong to create a 'price match' sign. I was given 2 hours to produce some concepts/sketches where me, the junior designer and Russell (Co Founder) would have a crit/discussion about the concepts we created so that we could produce some final concepts. The briefing was short and concise so I made sure I noted down everything the client wanted, as well as looking at their website to get a feel for their tone of voice.

I sketched about possible ideas using the theme of carpets and then took them into InDesign:

Used influence from my experience at B&Q for the typeface because it's bold and easily legible - Univers Condensed

Thought about the context of a carpet store and based the designs on the layering/roles of carpet found in the store:

All three of these designs, along with the junior designer's, were put into a presentation to send to the client.

Ben also talked me through a project that the junior designer had created for a business event that required customised coasters, including gloss foiling. The coasters were being sent to the printers using lithoprinting which meant each colour had to be picked from Pantone colours. He demonstrated industry standard preparation for printing, separating the colours into layers.



During the time I spent at the studio I was able to see what a brief from a client looked like. Due to contracts I cant specify the brief, however I was surprised by how other design studios were fighting for the same job. This shows how competitive the industry is. To overcome this, Ben sends the studio propositions of interest with their portfolio of which I sketched out some possible solutions. These solutions were then photographed, edit and then placed in the presentation.