ROSIE CLARKE

CREATIVE PRACTICE BLOG

[rosieclarkedesign]

MODULE REFLECTION-

Where do I start? This module has been one of the most stressful, full on and all together hectic few weeks ever. We have all put 110% into creating projects that help to make our portfolios stand out and that define who we want to be as designers. This has been really useful and I now feel a lot more prepared to apply for jobs/internships than I ever have previously. I have become more confident in my ideas and am now more than ok with trusting my gut instinct when it comes to how I think something should look or on which idea is best. 

The most rewarding projects for me this module have got to be the two D&AD briefs that I took on. I put a hell of a lot of time into making sure that these could be projects that not only would be different and hopefully stand out with the D&AD judges but also that would showcase my skills in advertising for my portfolio. I wanted to create 2 projects that were completely reliant upon the idea which is why I spent so long coming up with a concept for Burger King but also why we spent so many weeks perfecting our idea for Nationwide. Even though neither were selected I am really proud of the work that I put forward and they mark the first projects in my portfolio that I am actually happy with. 

 The thing that I have struggled with the most this module hasn't actually been anything to do with project work. It has been trying to keep up with the pressure of the third year in general and dealing with the unknown after uni is over. I feel that this is normal and from speaking to my friends I know that we are all in the same position but you can't help but feel a little anxious about where you're going to be this time next year. Throughout major study I have tried to forget about the fact that this is the last module as everytime I think about it started to stress me out, However I have managed to come to terms with the fact that I cant stay at uni forever and I am lucky enough to have lined up a number of placements starting in July for me to get my teeth stuck into.  

Overall uni really has been a pleasure, I have really thrown myself into all challenges, experienced things that I never thought I would, grown in confidence, created a network of industry contacts and made lifelong friends. Seeing the work created this year in the grad show has tied everything up and I am really proud of what myself and my friends have produced. It's mad to look back on the work that I was creating this time 3 years ago and how much it has changed. I now have a clear direction and I know what I want to do which by far is the most exciting thing for me as a creative. 

[rosieclarkedesign]

SENDING OFF MY NEW BUSINESS CARDS-

[rosieclarkedesign]

CREATING A POSTER FOR THE GRAD SHOW-

‘Go big! Get large! Graphics Poster Competition 2018!

We are looking for nine exciting and vibrant contemporary images for huge posters, to exhibit as part of this years degree show. The posters will be blown up to A0 and framed (see image).’

[rosieclarkedesign]

GRAD SHOW SET UP WEEK-

The last two weeks a few of us have really put our own work to one side in order to prepare the rooms for the grad show. This has meant taking part in everything from painting the walls to cutting out everyone's boards and then going on to mount them too. Although stressful, we have worked our hardest and it’ been great fun! It has really meant that we got a say in how we wanted things to look and do our bit when it comes to helping out and doing whatever was required. Its been great stress relief to just put our laptops down for a bit and do something as a team especially with it being our last full week. 

[rosieclarkedesign]

CREATING MY PRINT PORTFOLIO-

This week I have been busy prepping for the grad show. This has meant getting my portfolio ready for display and printed out ready to be a part of my exhibition space. I have decided that I want to have a portfolio underneath my boards as I think it will be able to show more projects and also my scamps which I think is really important, especially if industry is around.

[rosieclarkedesign]

WON SECRET 7-

Today I found out that I was one of the lucky winners of the Secret 7 competition. This is really cool and will give me an opportunity to have a piece of my work on display in a London gallery. I was really surprised as I did something quite unusual for me and kept my entries really simple but I think that is what they liked. It's a nice surprise to end a really great but seriously stressful final year at university.

[rosieclarkedesign]

THE VISUAL MANUAL FINAL VIDEO-

This is the final video for the Visual-Manual that I and the rest of the group created. This was a short but really enjoyable brief to take part in as it gave us time to do a project together as friends but also came out with a really nice outcome. The video was edited by Sam and Andrew who did a great job of putting all the footage together to make it look as seamless as possible without dragging on forever. 

[rosieclarkedesign]

1000 TRADES TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW-

Do you want to give us a bit of a background about how 1000 trades came about? Well, Why were in Birmingham? First of all my background is not in bars. But I had a different career in politics but hated it. So I got some redundancy about 10 years ago, took 6 months off and decided that I didn't want to do politics anymore. Got about 4 or 5 years experience in bars and I met my business partner through a former job and mutual friends. He moved his family to Birmingham because he wanted to be closer to his dad who lived in Cumbria and we got chatting and decided that the Jewlerry quarter would be a good place to do something with a bar. Not going to lie, all of our influences are from other places that we've been to mostly London where I used to live. We just thought there was a bit of a gap in the market for a community-minded space with lots of different events going on. But also encourage collaborations with kitchen residences. Things like Phil's art lab where there are lots of different things happening under one roof and selling some good beer and wine at the same time. You've touched on it a bit with the kitchen residences but what is unique about 1000 trades? I think any place like this becomes a place by the kinds of people that walk through the door. You are creating character through the kinds of experiences and opportunities that you give to other people to show their character. so its something that we hope makes us unique, especially in Birmingham. We give people a platform to show their wears whether that be musicians, artists and the people we have in the kitchens. We try to choose people who are on that stepping stone between maybe doing their own thing like a street food stall somewhere to a full-blown restaurant, so they get to run a restaurant for a whole month. So its also about helping independents as well? Yeah, I mean that does give you a warm feeling but its also good for business because the more people you get through the door they have a stake in our success and hope they are successful with me. A bit more personal but do you enjoy your job? Yes! It's obviously been a very steep learning curve and very, very stressful at times. Things like money but its balanced out by the sense of satisfaction you get I guess and that's in vast contrast to what I was doing before which always helps. So as a business or as a person depending on how you want to answer it, what are some of the challenges that you have faced? People go into a lot of places to eat and drink and might be perturbed at how expensive or how they perceive things to be expensive but I suppose one of the biggest challenges with something like 1000 trades is all the hidden costs that the customers don't necessarily think about. Things like rates, taxes, legal fees. For example, we have to pay £2000 a year just for the rights to play the radio or Spotify, so its the challenge of keeping up with money as fast as it comes in. At the moment we have a problem with a developer wanting to  build flats and like most walks of life if you move in next door to a pub even if you have moved in with the full knowledge of being next door to a pub people can still complain about noise and that's happened to a few businesses locally recently. Things like that are always going to bubble and surface, customers don't see things like that but they are the sots of problems that keep me awake at night. And what are the highlights? As you can imagine being able to create something, not in the sense of making jewelry or whatever but I feel like we are creating something tangible which essentially is the key and gives you a warm feeling. What do you think about Birmingham as a place? Yeah, I moved up from London and have developed a bit of a Birmingham chip on my shoulder when other people slag Birmingham off or overlook it. I think its definitely a very overlooked city, it could obviously do better but I think its a great city for doing new things because lots of things haven't been done yet. I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche but I love the people and the accent is much nicer than people think as well.

[rosieclarkedesign]

ALCMY PRODUCTION SESSION-

Today was our production day with Alcmy. This was an exciting day as it is what all the planning had led up to. Roberto worked with the team on photography whilst me and Kate took on the roles of interviewing. This was really fun as it gave us the opportunity to speak to many different people that all owned independent businesses in and around Birmingham. Kate and I were really lucky with the information that these business owners were able to give us and hopefully, we have enough to be able to write up some lovely blog posts and create an ad campaign out of. This is an ongoing project and will more than likely be finished after our uni deadline. We will continue to work alongside Alcmy on this but for now, we have a lot of research and back up work that we can present on deadline day even if the final ads aren't ready yet. This is a live agency brief so we have to work to their schedule. 

[rosieclarkedesign]

UPLOADING TO ‘WE GROW CHERRIES’-

We Grow Cherries is an online portfolio showcase for all talented students and graduates from Art, Design, and Media. Representing the full breadth of schools, including Visual Communication, Architecture, Fashion & Textiles, Jewellery, Media, Art & Design and the Conservatoire, all uploaded student work is openly viewable for professionals in the relevant creative industries as well as the general public. Today I have updated and uploaded a selection of my best projects to ‘we grow cherries’. This is a great place to upload work as it is all BCU students and can act as a place to send potential employers to as a sort of online portfolio. 

[rosieclarkedesign]

GRAD SHOW PREPPIN’

[rosieclarkedesign]

GRAD SHOW PREPPIN’

This week, me and a handful of other students have been busy getting the rooms ready for the grad show. This has meant that I haven't had much time to think about finishing off work but its got to be done and it been fun to do it with a bunch of my friends. The rooms are now ready to complete the rest of the painting this coming Monday and hopefully, we can get them finished by the end of the week ready to hang our boards.

[rosieclarkedesign]

CREATING MY GRAD SHOW BOARDS-

[rosieclarkedesign]

BASECAMP//

[rosieclarkedesign]

APPLYING TO MCCANN-

Myself and Kate have wanted to apply to Mccann for a while now but this week finally got round to it. Kate got a door wedge printed and we sent off our CV’s so hopefully we will hear back soon.

[rosieclarkedesign]

BASECAMP-

When Basecamp was initially suggested we jumped at the opportunity to take a few days off from our hectic university schedules in favor of a change of scenery and fresh sea air. The thought of little signal and no Wi-Fi seemed scary to a group of students, however as soon as we arrived in St David’s and saw the remote but picturesque location we no longer cared. We got the opportunity to speak with tutors, work on one-day briefs and get some well-needed headspace during a very stressful university period. It also proved a great chance for us to speak to other students from different year groups and see the varied ways which each of us tackled a brief. But it wasn’t just about work. The trip also included various activities such as surfing, visits to the local town, coastal walks and boat rides which helped to take our mind off project work for a while. Basecamp certainly lived up to expectation, it turned our attention to new ways of creative thinking and we all left feeling focused and refreshed about returning to university and continuing our studies.

[rosieclarkedesign]

NATWEST NETWORKING EVENT-

DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT- Marketing

Do you want to demystify the world of marketing?

Without a good marketing strategy, potential customers may not be aware of your business, restricting the size of the prize for you.

This Meet Up will bring in the experts in brand, marketing, media, digital and business communications to help lead your business to success.

This event was a totally unexpected but really insightful few hours of networking and questions and answer session with some of the best names in marketing. We heard from the ex-marketing director at Saatchi and Saatchi New York who had some great tips and tricks about marketing for big brands. We all found a lot of great advice from the few hours spent here and I’m really grateful to the team at Alcmy for allowing us to attend.