The first portfolio visit I had in London was with Jon Vallance and a colleague of his at Springetts. I was put in contact with Jon after he got in touch with one of our tutors: as he happened to be an ex-student. I knew initially that they were looking for students/graduates for a series of placements, which for the first time in a while made me really nervous about showing them my work. I guess it felt like something was at steak. In the exchange of emails he had asked me to take along some development work to show the process of my ideas, which I had never been asked before so I had a rummage around and thankfully had still kept everything from first/second year.
We had a brief chat at the beginning about the course and where Jon had studied which instantly got rid of the nerves I began talking through my projects (trying as best as possible to hold back and not talk too much – although I’m not sure how successful I was) they both asked lots of questions as i went through each brief.
The briefs that stuck out were the Ritz, book and pasta festival. The Ritz was a great talking point as it's not only an ongoing project but also works with a redesign of a brand. They really liked my approach using the shape as the key focus of the idea and thought the colour palate worked really well and was vibrant and fresh. They told me not to get too bogged down with information on and around the box and said at this stage it was really nice to see it as it is. We discussed lots of other ways I could take the project with regards to my special edition idea so not only concentrating on a Christmas edition but maybe an easter edition or summer edition to keep the brand fresh and interesting. This I thought could be a nice idea to integrate into a campaign running alongside the boxes aswell.
It was really interesting to hear their opinions of the book, they didn't seem to think the quality of it was hindered by the printing and actually really liked it. We talked lots about the experience and how it was all beneficial. They thought the link between the book and the poster was nice and noticed the detail in the circle on the poster to mimic the screen printed style.
We had a good chat about the pasta festival brief and they both highlighted ways I could really have fun with the project and really use the pasta as the source of more london landmarks in a similar way, even suggesting making a book out of it so steering away from the packaging aspect of it.
I showed them the Helvetica editorial spread and the Font Struct specimen sheet. They were both really positive about the layout aspect of the designs and liked the concept behind the typeface. What they found more beneficial was actually looking through all my early scamps of the editorial brief and seeing where my idea's began and where I then chose to take them. We then spoke alot about the importance of being able to see where the ideas come from and not just the final product and it's something more and more agencies are looking for so its something to bear in mind for further visits.
Towards the end of the visit they asked me what my opinion on placements was and whether I would be interested in doing a 4 week one there. I explained that although it would cut into my final year and I would have to check it over with my tutors, I still felt 4 weeks experience was something that could only help me get a job at the end and if it hinders my mark slightly then that's something I would have to sacrifice. I have to wait to hear from them about if I can definitely do it as they need to double check the amount of people they already have but fingers crossed I will get it because it seems like it would be a really good opportunity to open a few doors, especially in London.
Source: All pics (www.springetts.co.uk)
As I sent him the email a good few weeks ago, the development of the designs and packaging have come a long way. I have made a cheese flavoured edition and reduced the size of the box, back to its original size. I have made 3d mock ups off the two flavours and developed the snowflake design with a mock up too. I think the idea about using the shape itself and trying to make that into some sort of wrapping, quite interesting, and I absolutely love the idea of giving the wrapping paper a dual purpose such as grease proof paper. Unfortunately it's too late to form any changes as I have just handed the work in to be marked but we still have time before the competition deadline to definitely have a further think. This is why I think it's best to try and get as much feedback as possible because it can show you a completely new way of taking the project. I think it's hard to see past what you're working on sometimes especially when you have been working on something for a long time, so a fresh perspective is always helpful.
