Appearance on Reetsweet blog

After taking some high quality images of the work I'm selling, and emailing them onto the event organiser, I've finally been put up on the official Reetsweet blog, to promote the event and my work. A little bio was written about me, my work and my inspiration too.

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:

Reetsweet printing and costing

So, I started the printing process today, starting with all of my wrapping paper, A2 and A3 posters. Purchasing cheap quality stock from the library, alongside cheap printing costs has opened my eyes to the amount of profit I could possibly get. A simple A2 poster, costing just 50p in materials could quite easily be sold for £2 - £3. I've been talking to a peer who has sold work at Reetsweet before, who's helping me to organize everything, including prices! She stated that her work sells, because its affordable. I'll take that advice on board and try not to overprice my prints. 


The event organiser also let me know I would appear on the Reetsweet blog this week so I took a few photos to send her. I'll link the blog soon!

I also decided a bit of self promotion will be in order, considering the scale of the event I have had business cards printed to give out with purchases and to those interested in my work. Alongside this I will have some form of visual identity displayed on the table, whether it be my name or an image.

Business Cards arrive

Business Cards arrived today (yay!) really happy with the result, other than my silly mistake of printing one side upside down, so the card has to be flipped vertically rather than side to side (whoops). I only ordered 50 as a test run anyway, as I needed something for the Reetsweet event in June, so customers can possibly look into buying further products from me.

Business card sample pack - Moo

Last year we were recommended using moo.com to order our business cards, but I wasn't prepared to pay out without getting a sample pack, it was free so not a bad deal! I was really impressed with the print quality and durability of the cards, the card was of a thicker weight than I had expected. The prices were brilliant too, I decided to give it a go and order some rounded corner business cards, with an illustration I had recently.

Illustration for business card - Task 5