New beginnings

I apologise for how long it has been since my last post on here, but things have gotten a little hectic recently. At the start of this month I packed all my belongings up and made my way back to Manchester, after gaining a position as a graphic designer working at a multimedia design studio called Spoken-Image. I have to be completely honest and say I was massively surprised at how quickly I managed to find a real-life-full-time-paid-job-in-the-city after graduating... I was doubting myself greatly at ever being able to find work that wasn't either a. for free, b. required "1 years industry experience" (UGH) or c. freelance (N.B. freelance is fine - if you can get it. Sadly, things had slowed down dramatically for me by the end of the summer, sigh). You'll be aware that it's a really tough time for graduates of all disciplines currently, and I am so thankful that I have been successful in my hunt for work post university, in a relatively small amount of time.

I'm really excited to be back in the city I love and studied in for the past three years, but it is certainly odd being back and knowing very few people this time round (not to mention early starts everyday, and no student discount anymore...) but I was lucky to find a fantastic house with some lovely housemates, so all is well. 

The team at Spoken-Image have been so accommodating of me in the past few weeks and I love the atmosphere in the studio. Despite being massively helpful and co-operative, they have really pushed me to working on some big briefs, and now I am getting more and more projects that I am completing by myself. This has been great for my confidence! It's also brilliant to be able to complete design work that is for a real-life client, and not just something my university has set me. So far I've done a lot of work for one of the studio's biggest clients - The Historic Royal Palaces (The Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Palace and the Banqueting House). It's been really interesting working to strict brand guidelines, and seeing how a brief develops from conception to presentation for such a large organisation. There is a lot to consider, but it's been a fantastic way to tighten up my skills to suit a professional creative environment.

The most exciting, if a little daunting, part of my job so far has been the responsibility I've been given to re-design the studio's website. The company have been around for 35 years now, so understandably have a lot to do, but their own website seems to have been pushed aside for a bit too long and doesn't really do justice to the brilliant work they want to showcase. I have been given the opportunity to now to inject a bit more life into the site, the brief being to "have fun". I love this sort of task, there's no great pressure on me (other than from myself) so I'm really looking forward to seeing everything fall into place. We've had some exciting ideas about page layouts and show-reel animations, and things are getting really interesting. I'm really chuffed with what I have created so far, but more so pleased that I am able to extend my skills range into web design and animation. These are areas I shied massively away from at uni, so it's great to be able to develop them now. I will keep you all updated on how it goes, and the finished article - hopefully this side of Christmas. 

So yes, it's been really busy lately, but all very positive. I hope to keep you updated more in the next few months, but this could come in the form of another account - I will be writing from Spoken-Image's blog and twitter in the near future, so will cross between the two accounts when I can.

Phew.