EUROPE:
Today i looked at a company called 'Swiss Legacy', they are a design company that really appeals to me they focus on typography and other such practices, working over a variety of medias and this style of working, i feel works best for me. Looking into the European Economic climate was interesting. Since the recession Europe especially was hit pretty hard. One of he main reasons for the currency climate at the moment is because virtually all countries involved have broken their self imposed rules. Every country is in debt, resulting to huge taxes and mass job loses across everywhere. This leads to small creative busniesses being squezzed down. Small businesses are stopped resulting in clients being lost for creative design companies. With regards to the Political standing within Europe, its hard to gage an overall view as there are a lot of political beaders within it. The European Parliment oversees all actions within the EU but that doesnt have any major affect on Graphics companies unless its a large contract and they are dong something possibly contoversial, bhut otherwise its fairly free. The social side of Europe again is very hard to judge. The countries can be divided or joined, the current economic crisis has put a strain on political relationships, which can prove problematic, and as this filters down through the creative industry it can ruin client designer relationships leading to clients walking away or designers having to stop.
The EU is the global leader in many technologies the problem now is that it is facing increasing challenges from traditional competitors and emerging economics alike. The research and development helps contribute to the economic growth which is exactly what the EU needs to re-kindle the financial climate. New technology creates jobs and adresses scoial changes such as poverty, health problems and environmental cha nges. All of these contributing to the creative industry. everything needs and identity, branding and publication.
Where are they and how will they find me?
NATIONAL:
Here i have found a company based in London with a diverse client base called '400'. they are interesting company as they are fairly large and do a variety of different things for their clients. This is surprising as the Uk was hit hard by the recession making job hunting very hard. There were a lot of job cuts and huge businesses went under. I would have thought a company like this wouldn't do very well as their client base would dwindle considerably. For example, Woolworths was a well known and respected family business but as soon as the recession hit it meant that they were run out of business and soon were shut down, this meant that whoever was doing the design work had lost a huge and valuable client. This can be devastating to companies especially small ones, and some large ones as they get complacent relying on their large contracts. However, now the UK economic standing is slowly beginning to rise again. But the devastating job loses across all the industries, will take a while to regain its feet.
Politically, the UK has had a large election recently leading to innovative ways of campaigning (Gordon Browns Campaigns against David Cameron with the Billboard designs). While this was happening it was a huge design boost for the country, there were a variety of areas that a keen design campaigner could get their teeth into, and its something that heavily interests me. And generally as a country the UK is very social. With a variety of newspapers and publications covering nearly every topic that is being discussed that week/month. These are hundreds of ways to keep socially in-sync, with the amount of reading material readily available. Socially, the country is battling the recession together which means everyone is joined in one. The current job cuts that are mounting across all areas is forcing people to try new things and that leaves a market open for designers to help people try new things and get more involved.
The UK relies quite heavily on imported technological goods, but it is always at the forfront of the technological movement happening in the world. This keeps the people involved and informed and helps create design jobs to help brand and market the new products by promoting and informing people.
Where are they? How will they find me?
LOCAL:
Here i have looked at a local creative business near me called 'Creative Design'. Not only do i know of them i actually spent 4 weeks working with them this summer. It was an interesting experience, and different to what i was expecting. Creative Design is not a large company it is rather small with only 3 Graphic Designers in charge of everything (this is where i worked) and 6 other people who are employed to make everything else run i.e printing and making etc.
Creative Design is situated in a small town called Stamford (Lincolnshire). The town itself economically is fairly stable as it is a very wealthy town and area, a lot of private schools and local business's such as farming and agriculture. this brings a lot of money into the area, and local business's selling their products whether it be food clothing etc. This creates a variety of jobs for the creative industry, whether it be branding or marketing or general publishing. Stamford is also situated within a good commuting distance to London, this means there are a lot of expensive hotels around the area. Creative Design themselves get a lot of the contracts for the hotels, which means creating letter heads and menus. So there are a variety of medias available to market within. This all creates a very successful economic grounding for the companies in the area as everyone plays off one another.
Stamford is a very conservative area, and generally doesn't have any run-ins with the local MPs or Government, they just get on with things and therefore the town has no real political battle as everyone is generally of the same view. The area doesn't generally receive a lot of government funding either which also allows local companies and areas to get on with what they want to do. As the town is quite small and the area itself, people generally know everyone and their business which helps a lot for businesses beginning out as there is a lot of word of mouth that happens. This is highly beneficial to a company such as Creative Design, because when people need design work doing then it means people can suggest them and they know where to go, this way they get a fairly varied but big client base. The social interaction within the community really helps businesses grow.
Technology wise, Stamford doesn't exactly have a big standing within the market. However as the area is quite wealthy it tends to have a lot of new and innovative gadgets/cars etc, which means the community have quite a big interaction with the technological market out there. This helps Designers in the area live with a constantly changing and upgrading area making them versatile to the current market climate.
What are your concerns about industrial experience?
- Finding an area that i thought i would love to be a complete waste of time
- Aiming to low and not having the confidence to go to big companies
- Jumping for the first thing i find, thinking its the best thing when it actually isn't
- Not being fully prepared (portfolio)
- Not finding the company that suits me the most
What areas of the industry are you interested in?
What form/format can industrial experience take?
There are a variety of forms industry experience can take such as freelance, working solely with clients. Working within agencies from big to small. Working within printing and manufacturing companies. Working within in House productions such as the BBC, logo design etc. Working in galleries and promotional shows, exhibitions.
What can you learn from industrial experience?
Theres so much you can learn from industrial experience, the whole design process from start to finish. Communicating with the clients and gaining their ideas. Learning the 'nitty gritty' of print processes and what the entail. You get to learn who the people are behind the certain process within a studio, for example who the editors are, the creative directors etc. You can create contacts within the industry and specifically where you want to go. you can learn how designers deal with the time scales that are given to them. you can learn what parts of the industry you're really interested in and which ones you want to avoid.
-Print process from start to finish
CREATIVE DESIGN
- a company i worked for over the summer who were designers and printers. Means i now have contacts with them