glass sofas and plastic sleeves

I seem to have gone past the point of no return when it comes to being out of date when it comes to blog posts...I started a 'catch-up' one about 2 months ago and never finished. Now that one is so out of date I've had to start again. Sigh. There should be a little plug in our brains that uploads blog posts at the end of every day...I'm going to attempt a speedy summary of all the exciting things that went on in my life over the past few months...I don't think it'll be speedy somehow though...


One day, whilst skiving in sunny Devon (I had run away from uni for the weekend) I got a phone call from the advertising tutor. I was surprised for a few reasons. One: it was a tutor ringing me. Two: I don't even do advertising. Three: I was in Devon.
Not that Devon doesn't support mobile phones or anything but I was sposed to have escaped uni stuff. I'd been put forward, along with two other people, to him by my graphics tutor to go to an interview at BBH advertising agency. Or more accurately, Zag, a small branding company within BBH.


Never miss out on an opportunity. If you have an interview go to it whether you want the job or not. See it as a chance to meet someone new and useful and get some feedback on your work. Also, its a good idea to get an idea what an agency looks/feels like: what the atmosphere is like, what work they do, how they work etc. Even if you hate it all you'll come away with a better idea of what you do/don't want to do in the future. Clever eh?


I quickly put a portfolio together. Time was extremely limited so all my plans of doing an amazing box or book with my work in were ruined. I'm a massive fan of doing something a bit different to be remembered but in the end everything will come down to the work not what it's in (However, make a bit of effort! I know someone who really didn't impress their interviewer by turning up with their work in a KallKwik plastic bag...It just said it all really and needless to say he didn't get the job) I ended up going off to one of the biggest agencies in London worrying about my horrible A3 portfolio folder and it's non-matching clear plastic sleeves...
Before I went though, I went to uni to see a visiting tutor; a man from the partner college in Germany. He went through my portfolio and edited it ruthlessly. And a good job too, I say. It needs an outside perspective to see a piece of work for what it really is. You can become too close to it and understand it so fully that you can't imagine that someone seeing it for the first time might not know what you're trying to say with it. As well as that there seems to be a compulsion to add things to a portfolio just in case someone likes it. Or just in case you run out of things to say about the rest of the work. Never do it! Only ever include your best ever work, even if it means there are only 5 pages in your portfolio. And if you haven't got enough to say about your best projects then you need to do some better ones. I find the best ones are always the ones that feel like they could go on forever and that you haven't finished yet...unless you really just haven't finished anything at all...that's a slightly different thing!
The tutor edited my portfolio by about half which scared me at the time but looking back it was probably the best thing he could've done for me.


I was ages early for my interview. Never risk being late though. Whatever great excuse you have it'll still start you off on the wrong foot. Anyway, after wandering around outside for a while I went up the lift and the doors opened to show the massive glass interior. 3 floors of glass walls, a big glass staircase and lots and lots and lots of people wandering around, working at their desks and sitting on the (non-glass) sofas in the 'atrium' area. Very different from the scruffy desk strewn with paper, cables and various pens that I'm used to.I didn't get to see any actual work spaces that day apart from what I peeked at through the glass as I was interviewed in the reception.


The interview itself was a difficult one for me. Mainly because I had no idea at any time how it was going. I'm used to some kind of reaction to my work, either positive or negative. But as I talked about each piece and came to the end of my explanation there would generally just be a nod and I'd be unsure whether that meant 'Great!', 'Carry on, you haven't said enough', 'I'm bored, go on to the next thing', 'Please leave. Now.' That fazed me a bit but there's nothing you can do but carry on and hope for the best. I managed to stumble through their questions and they seemed to like being able to see and touch a tangible end product. I had taken in a kit and a couple of books I had made along with me to backup my portfolio work which I think may have been my saviour for the day.


And so I left in a bit of a daze not really knowing what was going to happen except that I'd hear word in a weeks time...
In the meantime I had my major Major Project to get on with...