After I had conducted my interview with Joey & Dan - I had thought that as the initial questions that I had brought would lengthen the duration of the interview but as I had sent the questions to them a week before and as they were answering a couple of the questions that I asked they had answered other questions by linking them together which meant the main bulk of the information which would be included within the creative report lasted 30 minutes.
Was it difficult to find a design-based job as soon as you had graduated?
Both Dan and Joey had mentioned that neither of them were seeking a job as soon as they had left university. In dan’s case he was interested in setting up his own business and he had made his tutors aware of this so he was able to do a business module through the university he went to. /Although as he had graduated he felt as though he was quite naïve at the time as he didn’t realise that straight out of university he didn’t have access to a wealth of clients – so he needed to subsidise his own work with working part time where he was able to get a part time job at Colours May Vary. On top of this is made the decision to kickstart a project to make the book – Coffee Shop North, a independent guide which includes a range of Coffee Shops based within the north.
In Joey’s case he had been offered two job opportunities – one being from a small design studio based in Leeds which was a full time design role with a fairly decent pay as well as after being offered this job, the day after he had met the Creative Director at the Tetley who had approached him after seeing his work he had produced answering a live brief which was in association with an event taking place at the Tetley and herself and Joe and got into a conversation about this as well as discussing his topic of his dissertation – which was also about the Tetley and how its identity at the time was unprogressive and how didn’t match the ethos of the Tetley. This had lead to Briony – the creative director to become quite interested in the work that he had done surrounding The Tetley and had resulted in Briony giving him a job for Saul Studio.
The work produced by the design studio in comparison to the job opportunity that Briony had given Joey was quite bland and did not suit the type of work that he wanted to produce where as with the job at the Tetley of being an in house designer for a day a week was more appealing for him even though after discussions with his father about the two options – they had disagreements over as to his father the obvious option was to go with the higher paying job even though joey wouldn’t necessarily enjoy it.
It was an obvious choice for joey to go with the job as an in house designer at the Tetley as he had a keen interest with them as he had based his dissertation and carried out a live brief they had set and buy doing this he was able to do his own work and carry out passion projects alongside this work too.
Although by doing this he had burnt through his savings in the space of six months my doing the work of being at the Tetley for a day a week and it was enough to pay the bills so he had decided to get a job which so happens to be at Fred Aldous and this was enough to cover his bills and other expenses. Was able to get proficient and he was able to sustain this.
A couple of months after this Dan and Joey kept bumping into each other and as they had spoken as ell as seeing the work they had both produced and posted on their Instagram accounts they had come to realise that they both have a mutual respect for each other and after speaking to each other over Instagram and meeting each other at the Henry Moore Institute and The Tetley they had made the decision to combine to form Saul Studio.
Working by yourself and working with another designer – how was this worked for you both?
Friends have pointed out that Dan and joey compliment each other in the way that they work as well as the work they produce as well. By having another person alongside you whilst you’re working is very useful as its good to have another set of eyes to help with critique e, help with proofing and sometimes just having someone to agree with that an idea might not be stupid as it may if face be really good idea.
I had asked about the project titled Material Environments as I was quite interested in the work which they had produced for this they had provided some background information about working on this which included how it was the second exhibition which they had worked on together at the Tetley.
Some of the design decisions which were made in relation to the outcomes produced included that they had used a Khaki Green Stock from the G.F. Smith Extract range and this main colour from the paper stock had influenced the other components very heavily.
With everything they produce as well if will be in some kind of physical product – they mentioned that it is very important to see it in a materialistic form even if it’s not a refined product. This being done by requesting samples whether it be foil or card stock as for some projects such as one brief they had completed which included doing the full wayfinding for a gallery based in hull – the clients had concerns that the typeface they had chosen didn’t meet the needs of legibility and accessibility and when they are producing something like for this brief where their work will be accessed by the public, it is essential that these needs are met.
Using dummies which can be used for cases like for that brief where they needed to include their typeface into sandwich boards which includes a white backing with black laser cut details and they are able to address concerns of the client of things like legibility by getting a small scale dummy version produced to see if the text is visible. They had also mentioned that another benefit of this is that by getting a small scale dummy version of this produced.
Its also helpful in the production of publications – once the decisions have been made about the colour of the paper stock, paper weight and how many pages will be included, the printers are able to put together a dummy which is the actual book which has been put together with no print.
And did you experience within did your experiences within University prepare you for this or does it differ from client to client?
This differs from client to client and it depends if they are organised or not. Depends on if you get clients who are very persistent with getting something on the same day in which they have requested it or the next morning. As they currently have 19 projects on at the moment which they are working on it is difficult to accept extra projects but sometimes if they have room to do it they will take it on. As well as this, another thing which they consider if how much the client would be paying as they have a very strict schedule and squeezing in another project makes it more of an inconvenience for them.
As they are both very on it with being organised and stick to their shared schedules – they know who’s doing what and when but when clients ask them to do last minute jobs on a very short timescale there are things to consider like does the client have respect for the designer? Yes or no and also taking into account by doing these jobs as well as the other 19projects on at the same time there isn’t much time to take on other clients.
If there is a mutual respect between client and designer and if they’re willing to understand what they’re asking for is a tough task then they may be lenient and take on the task alongside the other jobs that they have going on.
Q: Whilst I have been in university there has been some emphasis on the importance on “Networking” as well as having a portfolio which shows a wide range of work. How is it worked based on your own personal experiences with getting work; has it been based of a good balance between these two things or something else?
Dan had said that he thinks that both parts are just as important as with a broad portfolio to display the kind of work you can produce but something that he looks for specifically is not specifically someone who is able to do everything but someone who is at least very good or excellent even at one thing – whether its typography or web design but obviously having a broad skill set is advantageous.
With networking – its always been a bit of an organic thing – if you’re in the arts and cultural sector – its just a matter of getting yourself out there as well as going out for a drink, talking and approaching people.
He has been in instances where it has been forced as Dan had mentioned that he had been in programmes which had been set by his university where he was sat around a table with people in fields completely different to his – including a doctor and physician and designer (being himself) and this kind of environment didn’t suit what any of them were looking for so in that sense those kinds of events aren’t really appropriate.
Joey had talked about instances where someone may be a freelance designer – if someone decides to work at home, there are less opportunities available to those unless they get themselves out there by interacting and engaging with people then it might make it extremely hard for that person to find work unless they have a huge online presence then they might be able to use that.
Joey had mentioned with their new website launch he was unsure if that had gained much traction and if it had any contribution towards clients approaching them for work, or if they had gained work through word of mouth with people putting them forwards as being a reputable design studio.
Through the use of Natural Networking – like being at the Tetley by being able to talk and meet people from a range of creative disciplines is a good way of engaging with other people in neighbouring studios. Dan had mentioned when talking people – once you’ve spoken to one person that opens up opportunities to maybe two or three people so it is worth going out, maybe not forced networking events but places where you can talk to others through a more natural format.
