Internship Invitation

I received an email back from Newcastle based 'We are Founded':

Hi Stephanie
Thank you for your email.
For the internship how long are you looking for and what dates did you have in mind?
Regards
Simon


My response:


Hello,


Thank you for your response!


I'm free during mid July, I feel a week of your time would be beneficial for me and my practise.


Do let me know when your available and I'll get in touch, making sure I can make arrangements with accommodation.


Many Thanks!


Steph

Creative CV examples and possible inspiration

Paper based Creative CV

Creative CV - Content

Practical Skills:


Software Knowledge
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Indesign
- Aftereffects
- Coral Draw


Printing
- Awareness of processes and their suitability for products
- I have visited printers
- I have learnt about and experienced manual methods of print


Organisation


Time management


Colour Theory


Project Management


Personal Qualities:


Sociable
- Can engage well with others - Networking


I am a perfectionist


Have lived in a rnage of diverse cities - aware of social design factors


I have a signature style


Creative skills:


Hand crafting


Creative packaging


3D


Hand rendered typography


Facts:


I'm a very artistic individual, having done A level Art


I am originally from Newcastle, so a Geordie Lass at heart


I play keyboard


I dye my hair brown, to stray away from the blonde stereotype (even though I live up to it)


I like Typewriters, more than its sociably acceptable.


Statements:


I work primarily in illustration


I engage with multimedia works


I apply my knowledge and love for manual printing methods to a lot of my work


I like to explore stock and the effect it can have on an outcome


I would like to work in Freelance and Retail Graphics

Owen Guildersleeve Response

I contacted Owen about a month ago but heard nothing, so decided to send a follow up email, to remind him of my previous email, to try and get a response. 


The follow up email:


Hello again, I emailed you a good month ago and was very upset to not hear back from you!

My names Steph, I'm a second year student at Leeds College of Art studying Graphic Design. I've fallen in love with paper craft, and all things using glue, scissors and paper. My style is very much hands on, like yourself, and I would love to emulate the high standard you do in your work. 

If possible, I would love some feedback on my work, I've attached a a PDF of my current work, or you can find my portfolio here: www.cargocollective.com/slouises

I'm aware of what a busy bee you must be, but would really appreciate to hear back from you!

I look forward to seeing your future work, as I'm a massive fan.

Stephanie Lawson

Owens Response:

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Apologies about the slow reply, as you guessed things have been extremely busy recently.

Anyway, it's great to hear that your finding enjoyment from hands-on work. Although it's a hard way to work, and very time consuming, you should definitely keep at it!

Your paper craft work is nice, but I actually think you're hand-drawn type work shows a lot more personality. It would be interesting how you could develop this, and maybe there's a way for you to combine the two? 

Hope that's of some help. All the best with your course!

Cheers,

Owen

In conclusion:

It was nice to finally hear from Owen, even if he called y paper craft work 'nice'! I didn't think my typography was brilliant so it was nice to hear some positive feedback. I will try and do what he suggested, in trying to combine paper craft with my hand rendered typography.

PDF CV for Studio Visit

For the purpose of studio visits I created a PDF portfolio, meaning my work doesn't needed to be accessed online. It also means any further studios I contact, I can attach this to an email.

Quibik Visit - Preparation

Background - considering university, degrees, qualifications and experience. How he got into Graphic Design and further more, freelance. 


The kind of clients he has worked for, how he promotes himself and how he advises me, as a student, to promote myself and get 'out there'.


Does he work alone or does he bring people in, and / or works in collaborations.


Advice on creating a website - best way to go about it. 


Feedback on my work and business card - How I could improve it


How to improve my layout skills? As I want to get into publication 


I talked to a peer who had already made a studio visit and he advised me to create PDF to take showing all of my work thus far. Its a brilliant idea considering if I take my laptop, I may not have internet access to visit my online portfolio.

Studio Visit confirmation

I got a response from Quibik, which was brilliant. He let me know its only him, and his studio consists of a converted attic in his home, which is a little bit daunting! I've arranged to see him on the 4th of June, so I think I've got to think about what I want to gain from this visit, the kind of questions I want to ask, and whether I could be cheeky to ask for an internship...

Creative CD?

Creating a paper craft piece which could hold a CD holding a PDF copy of my portfolio, I feel it could be a brilliant way to communicate 'me'. I could create a paper crafted CD player or CD case which could be suitably mailed out.

Inspirational Creative CV's

I wanted to finally start thinking about my creative CV, and the mediums it could go across. I want to keep it simple, to the point and interesting, to evoke my style of work and interests. The idea of creating a paper craft piece is something I want to aim to do, something a person can be interactive with, to gain interest. I feel if I produced something to a standard format, 2d and in a sense 'flat' it will simply get overlooked and thrown away.

Contacting further studios:

 Contacting Made By Six:

Contacting Andfold :

Contacting foil design:

Contacting This is Catalogue:

Response from Analogue

I was really happy to hear back from Analogue, unfortunately being such a small studio, they couldn't take on any work placements, or give me any time to come in (as stated in the below email) but offered me lots of feedback and advice which I was really appreciative of. If anything it gave me a slight ego boost with all the generous comments about my work, logo and standard of work.


Although there wasn't a chance of visiting the studio, I felt best to ask more about the work they do, what they are currently working on and whether they could possibly send me a brief they are or have worked on over the summer, to simply build up my portfolio. So hopefully I'll have some form or brief sent to me, which I could possible sent my response back to them to give me feedback on. As John stated, its good to keep contact with a professional, I do intend on contacting them in the future about work, as its a company I would really like to work with. My response to the first email is below.


From Analogue:


Hi Stephanie,

Thank you so much for your interest into Analogue.

Theres nothing better than getting feedback like that from a fellow designer.

We are only a small boutique studio which unfortunately means we cannot take on any work experience placements or dedicate the time which is needed to guide someone at this present time.

We are extremely busy and hope to expand in the future so its always good to have people like yourself on file. 

I have had a look at your online portfolio and you are very much ahead of the rest at your level. 

Love your logo :) keep on doing what your doing as you definitely grabbed my attention reading your email.

The advice i would give you is work, work ,work :) get yourself out there and attend as many design lectures and events as you can and really delve into the design world.

When you have the talent like yourself connections are an extremely handy thing to have. You will find your self in a successful career in no time!

With regards to your work i would suggest taking your love of illustration into more of a digital media. Spend a bit of time crafting your work using software such as illustrator etc..

The world is getting more and more digital, especially in design with a lot of companies moving on to 3D software and animation.

Anyway, apologies for not being able to invite you in but it may change in the future.

Thanks again for contacting us and good luck!

Kindest regards,

Mike

My response:

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your hasty reply!

Its so nice to hear some positive feedback from a professional like yourself! I agree, I really need to transfer my designs from paper to screen more often with more precision, so I'm going to get on that!

Its nice to hear small studios still exist as I feel some of the best, most individual and stunning work is produced from such a practise. I understand you're a very busy bee, so I really appreciate the email back.

If at all possible I would be really interested in seeing / hearing what you're currently working on or have been working on? 

I would love the opportunity to work on a brief which has been written by yourselves, or given to you, just to do privately over the summer period to build up my portfolio?

Also is there any events / talks / lectures which you could advise me to visit or go to? Or people to see? I really want to take your advice on getting myself out there! But I'm not so sure where to go or who to talk to!

Thanks again for your response!

Stephanie 

Contacting Studios

Contacting Quibik:

Contacting Belly Timber:

Contacting Analogue: