Peter gave us a clear indication where to start our research. My first inspiration came from my following on social media; the main things I've always been interested in in graphic design came down to what I'd look for and what I'd seek out for in a placement.
My first idea came from motion graphics. After spending a year learning After Effects, I'd really want to get intro the industry for film, television, specifically title cards or anything to do with that. I'd start immediately coming up with names of who to contact in my head; Sky Design, BBC, Only Studios, Elastic, HUGE, etc. These were ones that I'd researched last year, and come to completely admire in awe. They became a focal point of research for my final project (the one that inspired me to pursue a career in this section) and allowed me to learn heaps in my final year.
We moved onto learning about the market around us. If this market, whether it be in a firm, national, or even international scale, would change, it would also change how this effects us and how we're paid. For example, if this is changed, it changes how you approach clientele depending on the market. This is impacted by technology, change, politics, war and even natural disasters. It's important to know what changes as designers.
Basic Marketing:
- Price
- Product
- Promotion
- Place
Marketing for graphic designers is the most important way we are able to sell ourselves to companies and any clients. Primarily, why a person buys or interact with the object/design is critical to making it successful; we must be able to justify why we're doing certain things, as this leads to a more successful design. Promotion such as advertising and how we place our products out for people to see is key to people consuming our products.
What is design?
- Visual Communication
- Problem Solving
- Creativity
Consider your problem and go through it. I also learned that, as a graphic designer, my thinking is divergent, meaning I have empathy, I can pull an emotional response out of my work - however, this has a draw back, you need to know when to draw a line under things and not to work to constant perfection. On a contrast, engineers are lateral, solution led thinking people that strive towards working around the problem and not the solution at hand. This is also why companies, especially ones you're approaching, may be wary - this is there way of thinking.
Overall, this lecture gave me an insight into how to start preparing for my placement - I've already started researching on the web, and essentially the best way to go about things is to start getting yourself out there towards people and approach them. The only way in the industry forward is to know contacts and to start approaching people yourself. I found this lecture extremely helpful, as well as a reminder what I want to do for my placement year.
