Hat Trick Portfolio Visit

I and two other coursemates recently visited Alexandra Jurva at Hat Trick design agency based in Southwark, London. The studio was very light and airy with a great work area kitted out with plenty of computers and books. It looked very much the part of a design studio with its polished wooden floors and bare brick walls. We were ushered into a small pitching room with a large flat screen monitor on the wall and an array of the company's work on shelving towards the back of the room. We were left to wait for Alexandra and were offered water while we waited. Alexandra turned up soon after with an apology for keeping us waiting and stating that the studio was busy working on their current project. She enquired as to what stages we were at with our degrees and began to explain that she was fresh out of university only a year previously. We then took it in turns to present our portfolios showing her work from the 1st and 2nd year of the course and also where we were upto in our current projects. Alex gave us her opinion of the work as we went through it with her and told us how we might improve it for a future portfolio viewings in order to get the best results. After we exhibited our work she then went on to show us the work the company has worked on which tended to be print-based and had a corporate feel to most of it. All in all the experience was positive and gave me hope that as a post-graduate there is light at the end of the tunnel in terms of gaining employment straight from graduation.

Quiet Storm Portfolio Visit

On the 5th of March 2009, I visited Rashel Tashchien at Quiet Storm. Quiet Storm are an advertising agency based near Oxford Circus in London whose portfolio include HMV, Heat magazine, Bruschettas, Cheesestrings and Mattesons to name but a few clients. The studio is based on the 3rd floor of a busy high street building and the interior is a well equipped and well fitted studio (although appeared slightly unorganised). They have their own production facilities which includes a filming studio and after effects studio. They not only pitch the ideas of the adverts but also see the production right through to the end. This sets Quiet Storm apart from quite a lot of other advertising agencies. With my background being more graphics based, Rashel said that his experience of my work was limited but he was more than willing to give me his opinion from an advertisers perspective. I ran through my portfolio which included editorials, branding and other design projects. Rashel talked about communicating the message through more than just the subject but through the design and composition of the work. I then went on to talk to him about a current project I'm working on for the Magic Circle and how I'm progressing with the ideas I have come up with so far. Rashel gave me an idea of how an agency like Quiet Storm would tackle the brief in terms of the ideas I presented to him which I found very useful. Although Quiet Strom is an advertising agency, I still found it enlightening to see how they work and approach briefs and how they produce them.