Guest Lecture: Jonathan Sands (Elmwood)

The first lecture back after the new year was a self-volunteered one, for extra information about my CV. This was presented by Jonathan Sands, from Elmwood Studios, whose humor and mix of information proved really resourceful to me and allowed me to make a lot of changes to my CV and points that I'd retain for future use.
At first my CV was very boring; with little colour and more information based, however after retaining lots of information from Jonathan it seemed better to incorporate myself and my own personality into the work. For this, I included my own piece of work that I used for an older project which was a portrait of myself (this would then allow the employer to see what I'd look like) and I found this to be a much more creative point about my CV and that it would look much better and would stand out from the crowd, which is what the idea of the lecture was about.

The points given to us were simple - the time constraint that the people reading the CV's are under are minimal, so they need to stand out - hence the pop of colour I gave the CV to begin with. The main point (design your CV and make it look interesting) I really took from this lecture and applied it to my own work.

A employer would prefer:
- Good ideas
- Craft Skills
- Intelligence
- Nice person*
- Interpersonal skills

*Quite an important one - you'd like to be able to go out with these people too as you spend a lot of time with them

Lots of other jobs within a design studio if they didn't want to do flat work, such as the work we've been doing throughout university can then use these skills as transferable ones - typography, illustration, etc, all require the skills that can be used throughout any employment, so if you decide you didn't want to do design then you'd be able to change.

Further more, we were given lots of tips how to best approach someone when applying for a placement. You'd ideally want to address the person who ran the business by name, and not just as "sir/madam" (this implies you've done your research and are genuinely interested in doing your placement with them)
Jonathan gave us examples of work he'd loved that had been sent to him, particularly work that was physical, the idea is to never underestimate the power of getting something through the post.

- Show some interest, make us smile
- Make a visual portfolio; visual projects and information
- Progress work would also be great to see how you got to your point
- Always listen and pay attention

Jonathan's lecture captivated his work perfectly; though some projects would be considered slightly uninteresting to us to view at a lecture he made them interesting and unique and made us all laugh, which is what I wanted out of this lecture. Overall I gained a lot of information and completely re-vamped my CV because of this, and it would prove the most beneficial lecture about my placement year that I've had so far.

"I choose this is the best place to work and it is"

Lecture: CV

Today we looked at developing and creating a CV for our placements. Initially I’d started my CV, using pinterest to cite inspiration and to build up something that was both design-worthy and informative. Throughout Pete’s lecture, it became quite clear a lot of the things he’d told us to consider I’d already taken into perspective; like placing my uni mail into my contact details.

A lot of the tips we were given proved quite helpful for me, whilst some were considered basic sense. For example, “don’t put your picture on” would be something that I’d never contemplate doing, as I know not to be judged based on my appearance, but my work. 

There’s no right way to answering or creating a CV. Usually it has basic rules, but because it’s such a personalised thing, a lot of the answers are consistent with information about you. So if you ask 50 people how to construct the CV, you will get a range, if not 50 different answers.

Further tips:

• Most recent education first: Currently University of Huddersfield. State you are expected to graduate, not that you have. 
• Grades are not relevant (apparently, though I would have to disagree, since I’ve achieved high grades this would be something I’d be looking to show off with) 
• Write down computer literacy skills you have, and how competent you are (though I’d argue that anyone applying for this job would be competent in computing, so it wouldn’t make you stand out the crowd; just the software you use may be an advantage)
• Letter needs to be wrote as if it’s written simply for that person; tweak it suit the company you’re writing to. Although this takes time it does pay off eventually
• Designing aspects of the CV depend on the company. I based the CV from my website, shown below, to create a cohesive theme throughout my work. However work it around who you want to apply for.

Lecture: Buyer Behaviour

Our next lecture with Peter explored the behaviour behind the buyer; someone who looks to purchase products you're possibly marketing.

Need Recognition

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Search

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Pre-Purchase Evaluation

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PURCHASE

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Consumption

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Post Purchase Evaluation

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Buy Again 

OR

Good, OK, Bad, etc

The theory behind marketing is that if you understand the marketing aspects behind people, and who you're marketing too, that you're able to get into what they like or don't like, and make a more personal response for what they want out of it; so you're able to make a more personal sale to the person and thus gain more of a audience.

You: Exposure, attention, comprehension, acceptance, retention, <-> Memory <-> Buyer Behaviour Process <-> Environment, Culture, Social, Family, Class, Work, Ethics

We also looked at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which is something I've looked at previously. It's the idea behind that, what you absolutely need in life, from priority being the bottom to going up to stuff that is not a necessity; such as wealth, technology, etc.

5. SELF-ACTUALISATION personal values

4. ESTEEM & STATUS power, respect, worth

3. BELONGINGNESS relationship, family, home

2. SAFETY shelter, defence

1. PHYSIOLOGICAL food, water

So the idea behind the Hierarchy is you can't advance up to the top of the needs without building on the beginning ones. 

Which Product? 

Memory

The first thing you'd associate when buying a product is something you've already recalled upon, but you have to consider whether this was a good/bad/indifferent association. Long term or short term purchase is also coming into play, usually if it's a longer term purchase you'd be more inclined to think about 

Aesthetics

Reflecting your own personality onto the aesthetic to what you purchased, why you are buying what you're buying - to influence your friends, to fit it, or emotional response? You have to be in the right emotive state to buy something. Conscience, love, etc.

Gender

Genetics - men vs women. It affects how people approach, do what they do. Women are commonly associated to work well on their own, whilst men are known to work in teams more.

Other Views

Peers, friends, family, their influence on your own opinion and how they feel about things.

Lecture: Market Research

The lecture left off from the previous one, introducing us to more marketing methods the theory behind marketing.

Marketing:

Idea Generation

v

Concepts

v

Design Concepts

v

Development

v

Embodiment

v

Detail Design

v

Finished Article

The theory behind marketing is that, although you initially start by creating your own ideas, the development and design start being modified based off the company and market you provide to. The design concept will usually start to be changed depending on who the product is for. Likewise, with development, the market is to consider how much money is being placed into the production of your idea - so that's another factor to consider.

Another issue to be aware of and consider is the errors that come up when designing and to justify between design or own human error. For example, Samsung's recent issues with their phones - who would be responsible? The human who created the battery or the designer who designed the phone? Arguably it's hard to establish between the two. The idea behind this is to recognise any mistakes or errors with the design, especially if it's a design error; be aware of any language barriers, and to make sure to research/note your work thoroughly - so you're able to back up yourself if any such errors were to turn up. 

Understand what is happening... the world, the economy, the client, the firm, the market. You should therefore need to keep abreast of the NEWS, the real news that means you're not out of touch with the real world, market and economy. Always ask questions before undertaking a design. 

The next part of the lecture was about the client who is seeking to fufil their intentionsw ith you, the designer. Sometimes they don't give you all the information that you need - this is normally unintentional. The idea, although quite common, is to ask questions & assess the situation - find out what you need from the client.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths }

Weaknesses } Internal (of the firm)

Opportunities }

Threats } External  (of the firm)

I found this lecture to be a good way of remembering how to approach clientele, businesses and any future employment opportunities you have - always remember to ask questions before undertaking a design and to be thoughtful about what you put into your own work, as it made be interpreted in different lights depending on the audience.

• right talents
• right team structure
• involve all parties
• ensure management of information
• encourage collaboration
• resolve problems quickly
• ensure effective communication

Lecture: A History of Animation

Our first lecture back with Spencer was looking into a brief history of animation. I'm more into graphics than animation, though I found some of the work (mostly the Pixar or later work) interesting to watch and take away from, especially the difference from the beginning of the first animation work to what is currently being displayed on our screens effortlessly.

The first established animation was by a man called Emile Cohl, 1908. Firstly I was quite staggered by how early animation was being created, as I'd thought it was much later on in the 1900's. Titled Fantasmagorie, it's often positioned as the 1st animation, although some argue that Stuart Blackton's work is the first actual animation.

"To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings"

I found it really interesting to see how different the work is now, yet can appreciate the amount of work that went into the piece. It feels un-real to look at because of the textured look of the old camera, but there's something mesmerizing about watching something so old.

Throughout the lecture we leapt through time and looked at many other artists: Bruce Bickford, 1988 for example, and Tim Hope's Wolfman, 1999. Hope's work was animation that went against the realism that was of it's time, using simple cartoon drawings mapped into 3D. He eventually went onto work for the Mighty Boosh, signifying how successful he actually was.

This work was not something I'd like, going against my likeness for modern, clean and simplistic work, although the story was quite amusing to watch. Hope's work however was recognizable to me as something that the Mighty Boosh would have liked and picked up upon, however it was not work I'd like and do myself at all.

Zoetrope was one of the last things we explored in this lecture. Invented in 1834, it allowed mass audience participating and viewing, and allowed some of the first "animated" movements to be played, which led onto flip-books and even more. In comparison to Pixar, the final movie shown, they clean up the "jitter" material that Zoetropes once gave out, removing the fact it was made by machinery.
Oddly enough this was my favourite out of the entire lot, I love Pixar movies and the realism they bring to animation. It's incredible to look back and see how far we've come in terms of using the computer to bring characters to life.