drme workshop

Dr Me came into the studio to deliver a workshop about collaging and creating zines. We were provided with cut outs and were tasked with making a zine with our own choice of theme.

I based my design around the idea of nature. The front cover was an audience at the cinema wearing 3D glasses, the spectators of the earth. 

My final zine consists of 7 spreads: 

I'm hoping to develop this project into a substantial brief for extended practice. I also created a collage of my cut offs from the book which I think could be useful for creating textures.

internship / oslo reference

Alex at Oslo kindly said he would provide me with a reference from my time at Oslo:


Charlotte Walker interned with Oslo Agency between 7/11/16 and 18/11/16.

Charlotte hit the ground running and came in with a wealth of knowledge we did not expect. She gelled in to the atmosphere at Oslo Agency and became a valuable asset to the team.

During Charlottes time here at Oslo, Charlotte lead a branding and design project for live clients such as Little Owl Woodlands & Distrikt bar. In these projects Charlotte maintained a high level of professionalism and understanding. Charlotte understood all of the printing methods, variations of the projects deliverables and was able to create the relevant files and formats for these with no fuss.

Charlotte first emailed Oslo a few months ago and has consistently tweeted, emailed and even LinkedIn with myself and the team at Oslo. This persistence ultimately gave charlotte the position here at Oslo. I would say that Charlotte presented herself in a very professional manner for the design world. We also had the chance to look through Charlotte’s online social media profiles as she linked them to us in her emails and her instagram certainly made an impression on us.

Charlotte was a great addition to the team and she fit in so well that we thought she became part of the furniture.

Cheers Chazza!

Alexander Partington
Co Founder & Creative Director of Oslo Agency

careers evening

On 30th November Village Bookshop in Leeds City Centre held a careers evening with the launch of Intern magazine.

I spoke with Joe Boyd, a recent Illustration graduate working at Duke Studios as a freelancer. We spoke about how important it is to network and get your work out there. He also told me about how great D&AD New Blood is to exhibit, as there are a large amount of creatives in a small space - most of his freelance work has come from the New Blood.

The event was beneficial and I feel I was given some great advice and reassurance that life after graduation isn't as scary as it seems!

internship / oslo week 2

My second week at Oslo consisted of creating a brand identity for Little Owl. Currently this project is still ongoing and the client hasn't chosen out of 5 concepts, but hopefully one of my designs will be chosen!

I also helped with creating a document containing Oslo's brand guidelines:

 

I also created christmas themed gifs for their social media accounts for the countdown to Christmas:

These designs are also being made into Christmas cards! 

Overall my time at Oslo has been extremely beneficial and I feel that I have come away with a good knowledge of the industry. Working within set hours of the day took a while to get used to, but I can see that it is a useful way of focussing on a specific task. 

There is also an opportunity for me to continue working with Oslo as a freelancer which I am gladly going to accept. They were also kind enough to get me some gifts on my final day! 

internship / oslo week 1

My first week at Oslo has been really beneficial. I've learned a whole new set of skills and how to apply myself within a professional setting. Upon arrival I was given a booklet that they had prepared for me with various tasks they wanted me to complete in my time there.

My desk - with complimentary Yorkshire Tea

The first project was to design a poster for Distrikt bar in Leeds. They've received a new website from Oslo and their promotional posters also needed re-designing. I was given the task of the Sunday menu - dubbed Bloody Sunday. I created a vector Bloody Mary cocktail and ribs which was the theme of the menu. This poster is supposed to be a one-off design, and the client liked it so much it is now featured on the website and is being used! 

http://www.distrikt.co.uk/offers

Another piece of work that I created were graphs for LEP (Leeds Enterprise Partnership). They can be found in this document that is now online: 

http://www.the-lep.com/LEP/media/New/Research%20and%20publications/Leeds-City-Region-Labour-Market-Analysis-2016-2017_1.pdf

Overall, my first week has been a success! 

employability workshop

Today we had a workshop with Alec from Intern Magazine about employability. The workshop was structured throughout the day with 3 tasks:

• Stop, Start, Continue
• Stinky Fish
• Circle of Influence

Stop, Start, Continue

This task focussed on our existing online presence. We presented our websites and social media to our group, and were given feedback on what we should stop, start and continue. My links are as follows: 

Website - https://charlottewalker.myportfolio.com/

Instagram - @charlottewalkergraphics

Twitter - @charlotte_arts

Stop - Using the term 'student' to describe yourself - adapt the term! 

Start - Updating the website on a more regular basis and uploading college work to your instagram. Be more active on twitter! 

Continue - Building your online presence. Contacting people, uploading content and considering your target audience. 

Overall I felt this task to be useful as it gave me the motivation to want to update my current online presence to something more reflective of my recent work. 

Stinky Fish

This task was based around our anxieties within the course and moving onto working in industry. We had to write down our fears in a fish and discuss them with the group. My anxieties consisted of Imposter Syndrome, CoP Practical and worrying about whether I can support myself when I graduate. 

We discussed our anxieties with the group and we all found it really helped us to get everything out in the open and discuss them with our peers. 

Circle of Influence

The final task was to compile a list of people that influence you, that you would like to work for, or work with. My list mainly composed of studios and artists that have inspired me in the past.

• Kate Moross
• Sam Chivers
• Hey Studio
• Robot Food
• Fieldwork
• Helen Dardik 
• Snask
• Anorak Magazine
• Sweety & Co

ppp / brief

Context:

This module provides you with the opportunity to create a synthesis between your professional and contextual research skills and creative intentions with your own understanding of professional practice/ career ambitions. You will build on your enterprise study developed during level 5.

The module will enable the you to position yourself at a professional level for progression to employment/ self employment or post graduate study.

Brief:

It is important to see this brief as starting point for an ongoing individual/independent investigation that underpins your studio practice. Your approach to this brief in relation to the rest of your work should allow for a sufficient level of objective reflection but integrated enough to maintain relevance to your practical work. This Brief is in two parts.

Brief One - Personal Branding

You will be required to demonstrate appropriate preparation for your stated progression ambitions through research into self promotion material (business cards, letterheads, creative cvs, stationary etc.) and methods (mail shots, websites, blogs. etc.). Post graduate study (project proposals, application).

The research and development of your personal design collateral should be evidence through ongoing documentation and evaluation to your PPP blog. You will be required to submit print-based and/or digital personal branding.

Brief two - Design strategy

You will be required to document ongoing research into and preparation for your stated progression ambitions through regular postings to your PPP blog.

Blog posts may include but are not limited to:

• Studio visits and open days
• Industrial/work experience
• Professional activities
• Live briefs
• Visiting professional talks/workshops
• Portfolio surgeries and creative CV workshops
• Information of conferences, talks, exhibitions...
• Timetables and schedules
• Individual external engagement appropriate to your studies
• You will be required to submit a design strategy file that contains records of professional correspondence, enterprise plans/contacts, skills evaluation and a current CV. 

You will deliver a 10 minute presentation (powerpoint or similar) that communicates and summarises your individual creative ambitions, career plans, design strategies and professional activities.

internship / oslo

www.oslo.agency

Oslo are a young design agency situated in Leeds. In October 2016 they moved into their own studio and have a space to call their own.

I first contacted them over the summer break enquiring about a possible internship, although I was told they were in the midst of sorting studio space and to email back within a few months.

After sending a few emails to no reply, I received an email from them on the 10th October asking whether I would like to join them for 3 weeks for an internship! I spoke to Amber about this and we agreed that 3 weeks out of term time was too much, so the internship has been reduced to 2 weeks. Having only graduated this year, Alex was very understanding about university deadlines and dissertation pressure.

The internship will begin on the 7th November. I'm looking forward to seeing what tasks I am given and everything I learn from a studio environment.

summer internship / all good

Over the summer I thought it would be a really good opportunity to gain some industry experience. I contacted studios around Leeds and Manchester. Quite a few studios ignored my emails, replied saying they didn't have enough space or said to contact them again in the future. All Good, a small studio in Leeds replied inviting me to an interview the following week.

I attended the interview with my portfolio and I felt it went well! They pointed out where I would sit and told they really liked my work. I didn't hear back from them for a week, so I emailed them again inquiring whether the internship was still available.

Obviously this was quite disappointing news, though I still felt quite optimistic that they liked my work and an internship could still be available. I waited until the end of August when I knew when I was going back to university and emailed again asking whether I was able to intern in September.

Overall, this was quite a disappointing experience. Although they were re-assuring that they liked my work, this was a learning curve for me dealing with real people in the industry. It's important to be talking to more than one studio until something is nailed down - things can change in an instant and things may not be communicated properly. I am hopeful to try again throughout level 6 and get a placement that will have extremely valuable experience, though trying to get an internship over the summer has left me feeling somewhat disheartened.

summer print project

Over the summer I developed my own personal style. I found I was drawn to Illustrator and wanted to create quite surreal artwork linking to landscapes and nature. My target audience is people who can spend money on artwork like this (as each design is £12 and will also need a frame), so not students. I wanted my designs to be displayed proudly on the wall where people are likely to see it.

Each design here is 50cm x 20cm and can be bought either separately or together. I started a website to sell my prints - charlottewalker.bigcartel.com, and promoting them online via my personal Twitter. I also created a professional Instragram to sell my artwork which has gained quite a lot of attention over the past few months. This is also a place where I can post about my university projects and connect with other designers.

www.instagram.com/charlottewalkergraphics

I also decided to try to appeal to a lower budget audience, by bringing some fun into my designs. I created a zodiac range to of A4 prints and accompanying phone wallpapers for £7.50. This, I thought would appeal to people more my age and below, and at an affordable price becomes more desirable.

The zodiac prints were very popular, so I decided to turn them into a calendar:

At this point, my work was proving popular with my target audience but not with the design community. I wanted to push my work out there further, and I contacted some reputable stores to sell my designs. 

Department store, the marketplace run by People of Print responded to my email and have allowed me to sell as a vendor on their site. Here, my work is displayed along side many great designers and People of Print themselves! 

http://department-store.co/collections/vendors?q=Charlotte%20Walker