#wrkstn

[spaid850]

#WrkStn (at Hartford, Connecticut) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvUEVXojDDr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10zm79cw2q99y

[internrunningwild]

Wrkstn Diary:

Ever since I have moved into my new apartment, I haven’t had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts, let alone put them into words. Today though is different. There has been a slight lull in the momentum and I am going to utilise this time to finally write. Over the past two weeks, the studio has gotten four new clients, and all of them expect their work to be finished first and need the most attention.

How does one prioritize? We have been working at a breakneck speed, trying to accommodate everyone. There are two restaurants to be branded, a clothing brand, and one cafe.

I know we’re not supposed to play favourites, but I think Rupinder, Kunal, and I collectively agree that our favourite so far has been this cafe called ‘The Love Room’ that has the coolest concept ever. It is a pet cafe. The owner has 11 dogs and 2 cats. It is animal heaven. I initially went over to their house to meet the pets, and we spent two hours just playing with the animals. Now, I am a dog lover and I do not support the buying of pets, and I promote adoption. But these pure breed cherubs are just adorable. I do wish they had adopted dogs though, instead of buying them. There was a husky, a pug, a French pit bull, two Shih Tzus, a Lhasa Apso, a cocker spaniel, a golden retriever, and many more. Heaven.

I have been working on their logo for a few days now. Our brief has been to go the Shabby Chic way, so as to match the interiors of the cafe. Recently we had a dinner meeting at the client’s house where I gave them a small presentation of mood boards and showed them my logo exploration sketches. The clients also commissioned some artwork to be placed inside the cafe and as such Rupinder came up with the idea to photoshop the dogs in old oil paintings, in human clothing. Thus we had a photo shoot. Now I have been to a photoshoot before and it was boring, but when there are animals involved, it’s just the best.

One of the reasons I chose to work in a small design studio is that I could get more work, and I’d be able to learn something about client interaction. Clients are funny creatures. Some of them are a breeze to work with, and some are difficult. But then there are some that are downright stupid. On one of the restaurant branding projects, we had a client come in with his brother. They both lacked any design knowledge but considered themselves to be the authority on all things design. They told us to brand their restaurant in a particular way. And told us exactly what the logo should look like.

“That F, yeah from the center line, make it look like a fork. And the A in the second word, make one side a knife and make it really big, and old looking. Kinda vintage? Mmhh yeah. And um wait, there’s a restaurant with the same name in Australia and we like their logo so just… Here wait, let me show you what it looks like”, hands over the phone with a photo of a particularly distasteful logo, “Here do exactly this and give it to us this way. We want this logo. Copy it exactly as is”.

We sat them down and explained to them how it’s pointless to hire a graphic designer if you want to take another preexisting logo for your restaurant. And also how it’s a bad idea to copy. We told them we’ll give them something new and definitely better than that one, keeping what they wanted in mind at the same time. It took us an hour to convince them. And then we showed them our designs. They said they wanted it to be more aggressive. So we said okay, we can fix that. Once the meeting got done, and then went home, we got a call from them half an hour later, and they said that maybe it was already too aggressive and we needed to tone it down. Idiot clients are awesome :D

Nevertheless, I’m thankful about this because I get to learn so much through client interactions. However, in my two months here, I’m grateful that we’ve had only one such client. It’s hard to figure out where to draw the line. As students, we’ve been taught do as the client says, the client is always right, and to make the client happy. But what if the client is a child whose hand you need to hold and gently guide them through life, towards better design? How do you handle that without upsetting the client? Challenges like this are what makes work exciting.

If everything was easy, nothing would be worth it.

TL DR: Moved into new house + Doggy Photoshoot + Clients are design illiterate

[internrunningwild]

Went to an old art supply store in Calcutta! These are stacks of drawing paper of different texture, colour and thickness! GC Laha has been around for decades! And it's as beautiful and vintage as ever! With brushed brass handles and plated railings, it's a glittery wonder for art lovers and stationery hoarders!

[internrunningwild]

Week Four

Kolkata Diary: Last week was crazy crazy crazy.There’s no other way to put it! My Sundays so far have been completely dedicated to hunting for a place to stay for the remaining three months in Kolkata. I still can’t believe that I have been here for 28 days. I don’t know how I've survived, mainly because of the lack of wifi at my house. I do use what I can while I'm at the office though! Like now, for example. 

 Wrkstn Diary: Right before I left office on Saturday, Rupinder told me to create a presentation first thing Monday morning, for the cosmetics brand iI'mworking on. And that in the evening, I, Annushka, was supposed to go to meet the client and pitch my ideas. Me? Directly working with the client? I wanted to cry. I almost did cry. Not because I was happy, not that I wasn’t; but me: a socially awkward being, who’d rather have tumblr acquaintances than real life ones; me: a person who looked at home like a theist looks at heaven. ME. I was being sent out into this big bad evil world to stutter and stammer out my foolish ideas upon an unsuspecting stranger who expected professional behaviour and not the soppy mess that I was going to be. 

I was nervous all of Sunday and when Monday finally came along so did a phone call from my client saying that Monday would be a tight fit, and lunch on Tuesday would be better. I was happy to have some more time to prepare my presentation and myself. Tuesday morning started with a little rain. I woke up slightlyI late, and just as I was about to leave, I got a message from my boss saying iIshould come in a little later as the studio wasn’t open yet; they had a client meeting. I worked on my packaging sketches and I finally got to work by 11 am. I fine tuned my presentation a little more to while away my time and calm my nerves. The client finally called me and told me that lunch wouldn’t be possible as she was stuck at the Canadian embassy, but we should meet at 4pm at the 8th Day Cafe. That made me really happy, because I love that little cafe! I left at 3:15, giving myself 25 mins to spare as it was a 20 minute journey according to google maps. I got into a cab and made my way through the city. Oh how I was thankful about my decision to leave a little earlier. It took me 50 minutes to get there. Too many cars and not enough infrastructure to compensate. I was really bugged about being 5 minutes late, but she messaged me saying she was running a little late too, and I breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as she came I was a little taken aback. She was younger than i expected. We started off with some pleasantries and ordered our coffees. As the small talk continued I felt a little more confident. Since she was closer to my age than I had expected, it was a really free flowing conversation. I started to discuss the brand with her and gain more intel, as my boss had advised. I walked her through the presentation and took down the comments. She was pretty happy with my work and gave me pointers to improve upon it, where required. She also briefed me about the newer products that will be launched and how I should go about the concept for their packaging. All in all, it was a successful meeting! When I got to office the next day, I told Rupinder and Kunal about the meeting and briefed them about the new products and the changes that needed to be made on the previous designs. Wednesday and Thursday was spent working it out. Since it majorly was a typography based packaging, I was so excited to try out new things and learn so much! By Friday though I was a little saturated working on the same thing for a week! I wanted some change. Rupinder noticed how I was feeling about told me to start working on the logo for an app that he is starting in partnership with some of his friends. Comically enough his app idea is exactly the same as the App idea I was working on in college in my third year. Almost the same model. All of Friday, I sketched some 15 logo concepts and ideas. Saturday, I reverted to working on the cosmetics branding again! It was a slow day and not much happened! I went home and lay on the bed while watching mindless movies on TV. 

Kolkata Diary: Sunday morning had me sleeping in till late, but in the evening I went to sign the Leave and License agreement for my new apartment! That was exciting! I got back home and slept till Monday morning, till I absolutely had to haul myself out of bed and force myself to go to work by 10 am, and not 4 pm. I’ve decided that no matter how much I love my job, I just can’t stand mornings. The quote “I would be a morning person if morning happened to be around noon”, relates to me on a very intellectual level (scoffs). Thats’s it for now! Ill try to write more before the end of this week! Sorry for not posting last week, but I have been extremely busy you know. I do have a life. Jk! What is a life? 

TLDR: Kolkata= Too many mediocre houses to rent for cheap + Too many fancy houses that are too expensive. WRKSTN= Met with a client (Whaaaat!!!) + Worked on App logo similar to my app concept.

[kunalrjani]

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Vintage ride to #wrkstn #calcuttatram #vintageride #vintagecamera #tram #instaedit #calcutta #blackwhite (at Kolkata, India)