Minor Changes _ Hours of Work!

I have just completed an update of my website and portfolio. For the last few weeks, I have been making adjustments to work ready for reprint. Naturally, after every hand-in, there are aspects of the work that you would like to be changed. I have viewed all of my third year pieces as a work in progress; where I have been disappointed, I aim to rectify for the portfolio.

After completing my website in February, I thought it was time for an update. On first glance, it could appear that very little has changed. The background colour, and one or two pieces of work are the immediate visible alterations. In reality, it has been hours of photographing all of the featured work, editing the images, then recoding the site where the changes in work order have been made. After reviewing the site recently, I became frustratingly aware of the poor quality of photo that I had taken for much of the work. A quality photograph of a piece makes a world of difference, so I opted to improve the situation before I send applications for jobs and placements. There are also two changes in the featured work, where the others can be added to my larger portfolio; I think that it is important not to show all of the best work on the site, otherwise there is nothing new to bring to the interview scenario.

I am pleased with the outcome, and feel that it can only improve my standings as both a student at CSAD and in the dogfight of the current emploment situation. The address is still www.liamgorman.co.uk.

Here are a couple of screen shots of how the site used to look...

Dissertation Talk

I was one of six third years asked to present to the second years regarding the dissertation today. Revisiting that stage in the study reminded me of the anxieties and pressures that signal the beginning of the third year. Now that it has passed for us, it is easy to forget what the dissertation brough to us as students. It encouraged us to engage in thorough research, acknowledge sources and become an expert in a field for a short amount of time.

I remember when I was sitting at the other end of this talk last year. It doesn't feel long ago, yet I remember it well. It seemed that I would recall the advice after I had repeated the mistake they were warning against. I suppose it is only natural that our emphasis on the importance of the Summer break will go begging when it comes to the time. We all told ourselves that we would get it done, but September comes around quickly when you are working full time.

I am sure that they will find the dissertation as worthwhile as I did. It demands a new level of time management that forces you to comply with such weight in the final grading. This lesson is essential for the third year as you rework, design and prepare your portfolio, website and CV alongside the studio brief. This was one of the first lectures about the dissertation that the second years had endured, but soon enough it will be them sitting in my position having completed the assignment and stepping on the brink of graduation. With the grading of the dissertation still a mystery, there may still be a telling contribution from the most dreaded of undergraduate essays...

Authority

As suggested in a previous post, the danger of beginning the term on slow start is threatening once again. It is not for lack of want to work, but contempt for a project so stale that it becomes difficult to justify spending a month just for the pleasure. The transition from commercial to concept work has been difficult; it is a great opportunity to showcase my ability to see something from a new light, but the solution is not coming without a fight.

The 'big idea' brief supplies us with a word of substancial weight and burdons us with the task of communicating it in an interesting way. It is a brief that has been unchanged for years, so finding a new angle for a word that has been used for a decade is a daunting task in more ways than one. In addition to catching the tutor's eye, I have to keep in mind the professionals that have attended the graduate shows and arranged interviews for past students who will be well aware of repetitions in portfolios. It is certainly in my interest to avoid churning out another predictable outcome for a word with limited options that will cause the interviewer to yawn with disappointment at seeing this work yet again.

My word is 'Authority'

A word with  cast iron connotations. Everybody knows what authority is; it touches us everyday in some way. We witness it in every journey we make, every interaction with another person in every situation. We all know what it is like to have authority, as we know what it is to yield to it. Authority is something that we recognise; it has no subliminal offering... nothing that will surprise us anyway.

In order to engage with an audience, it has been suggested that I focus on the everyday limitations that we all conform to. The things that we are used to after so many years of experiencing them. The difficult task is avoiding the obvious such as the traffic cone or the cash register. Obedience is the aspect of authority that I find most interesting. The fact that we are willing to make these sacrifices for what we believe is ultimatley in our best interest to do so. When we are young, we are not so accustomed to these rules from authority. Maybe the route to an interesting outcome lies in the minds of the young; blissfully ignorant of the established hierarchy of authority.

Back to Cardiff

I completed today what could be my last shift at Co-op, Copthorne. It has been a testing five years of clock watching, but it has always been waiting for me at the term breaks offering a chance to earn back some money. The connotations of laziness and immaturity that go with the title of 'student' meant that returning to work replenished that feeling of usefulness that comes as a result of this. While it may not have been the most desirable part-time job available, I feel that I am privileged more-so than my course mates who stew through the four week breaks in what must be a glimpse into the lives of the long-term unemployed.

Despite the benefits of the zero hour contract, I find that I have less time to participate in preparation of University set work. The time-management requires leaves few hours for recreational activity, however I am aware that the professional calender certainly does not accommodate regular month long breaks. Maybe this is another way that the job has benefited me as I prepare to become a full-time employee in design. During my studio placement, I found that the hours whizzed by, and it was the evening before I knew it. I was very aware of the difference between the busy haze of the office and the dull repetition of Co-op that seems to encourage every second to stretch itself to its absolute limit. This appreciation of time helped me achieve the outcomes that I did on my placement.

Now that the final term is dawning, I need to focus on switching back onto to the flexible work hours that university brings. I need to concentrate on hitting the ground running in order to give the final studio project the best chance of being a successful one. I was aware that after a four week full-time schedule at Co-op over Christmas knocked the wind out of my sails in the wake of the D&AD briefs. There is no doubt that my work suffered because of it; D&AD disappointingly yielded by far my weakest work this year. I can realise the positives from that result and take the lesson into the final module.

The Value of the Third Year

The university experience has been a strange three years for me. I knew all along that I wanted to be a designer, and I knew what graphic design looked like. It is unavoidable; and like every other industry, it develops and progresses. An attribute that I am less keen on is the association with fine art. I used to shudder when people would ask what course I was on, and when I replied 'Graphic Design' the response would almost universally be on the subject of art or drawing pretty pictures. You can imagine my distress when we had weekly lectures on the subject of Art history, and were required to produce only experimental visual expressions with the odd layout poster to mix things up.

I did not enjoy the first year, and I don't feel that I progressed as a designer as a result of it. Thankfully for me, things changed in the subsequent two years where we produced work that could pass for 'design' as opposed to 'art'. After this slow start, I feel that I have only got to grips with design in the third year - fortunately the only year that counts towards our grades.

Before criticising the way in which the course actually teaches the student about the art of creating quality design, it is important to remind ourselves that it is strictly a 'Communication' course, not a 'Design' course. This alludes the non specialisation of any of the fields of design, including typography & layout, branding, or motion graphics etc. While purporting to produce versatile graduates, there is also the danger of graduating as a designer that is very average at a lot of things. Only through significant independent effort on the student's part can work of any acceptable standard be produced. This is something that I realised and gladly have been doing over the third year where I feel that I am finally producing work that I would not be embarrassed to show an potential employer. Not through fault of the course, it is rightly the students that work hardest on their development that realise these benefits.

This brings me to the original question that this post asks. What is the value of the third year? The tutors always seem distressed that we all care about our final grade. They say that it doesn't matter; but what self respectful individual wouldn't want their efforts to be recognised by the classification of their degree. If it is not the best work that receives the highest marks, then the system must be flawed. I do care about my final grade; maybe less than I did this time last year, but I do care as many others do too. It is only through my astonishment at some of the grades awarded to some of the work that my focus has switched to the quality of my portfolio, as I put trust into my own judgement of the work I have produced.

In spite of this, I can only describe my grades as fair up till now. During my work experience placement, my eyes were opened to the design industry, and the need to demonstrate that I can produce this standard of work. We can create all the work that is 'original' in form, but some things will be an original for a very good reason. Creating installations or outrageous forms may show an attempt to 'buck the trend', and avoid the more convention outcomes such as booklets and posters, but what use would these pieces of 'communication' be in an attempt to convince an employer that we are capable of fitting into their system with as little complication as possible. I prefer to show originality through idea. If an original idea is communicated successfully through a booklet or poster will stand out even more than a quirky gimmick, and be twice as convincing. For me, the real challenge is obtaining this level of communication, where commercial standard work is lit up among its contemporaries. If we are marked down for using commercial form, then I am confident that the work will show its quality in the interview when the student that has attempted to 'buck the trend' will be laughed out of the office.

For me, it is clear that the course is a vehicle for a student's personal growth. It is the openness that allows them to make their own choices and stand accountable for those decisions. This must be why they say that the grade doesn't matter. If we are concentrating on getting the best grade then we are neglecting the necessity to build commercial design skills. This could not be better illustrated than by the blogs that showcase exceptional design work. Are they non-conventional innovative forms, or are they innovative ideas communicated through conventional forms?

Work Experience

They say that obtaining a work experience placement these days is as essential to a graduate as it is difficult to obtain. Finding a willing director and studio to participate in this most important of processes requires great effort - and perhaps a bit of luck.

I always envisioned my email as another unwelcome disturbance in a petulant director's mailbox. Baby sitting a student is probably the last job they want to take on as they struggle to reach their real world deadlines. Despite the possibility of a week's free work, there is no guarantee that the student is either a competent designer, or even willing to put in the effort. In spite of this, I persisted to badger studios until I received an offer.

Firstly I want to acknowledge the effort of Elevator for not only sending a reply - which so many others failed to do - but also for understanding the situation of a third year student and giving me the chance to experience the industry. I was aware of Elevator's work from the Link project. Although I was not part of their team, I felt that they had a strong portfolio of brand communications (for me, one of the most interesting fields of design).

During my week at Elevator, I was pleasantly surprised how Steve trusted me to work on live briefs with the rest of the team. It made the placement a valuable experience as I participated with real clients and real deadlines. I emphasise the word 'real' in the previous sentence, as the placement contrasted alarmingly with the projects and processes of the Graphic Communication course at CSAD. We are made aware of this difference by the tutors, but it becomes difficult not to question why the difference exists.

In conclusion to my view on the value of a work experience placement, I have to admit that I have changed my opinion. I have heard stories of students pointlessly trawling blogs for weeks and calling it a placement on their CV, but my experience was extremely valuable to me. If you are lucky enough parcipitate in real work in a studio then it is certain to have a positive effect on your progression as a designer. The success of such a placement appears to be down to the student. As I had taken the time to learn how to use Flash and other software to a high standard, I found that I was equal to the challenges set before me, and am grateful for the positive comments offered to me by Steve Braham. I would like to thank Elevator for replying to my email and making the placement happen, it was a worthwhile experience.