Notes from Meeting with Matt Owens

Be versatile

be able to dip in and out of projects, spending two hours on one and then jumping into another and doing this over 5 projects a day.

Socialise outside of design, designers will rarely need you, but other creatives and people will. Also it keeps you informed of other creative disciplines and keeps you creatively inspired.

Have something narrative on the side, a healthy form of self expression and something to do other than work.

Have a working website and have a jpg in an email as a taster leading to the site

have 8 to 12 pieces of fully explored and resolved work. With all angles explored

don't do a website for the sake of doing a website and app

don't waste time with internships, trying getting some actual work be in in house or freelance.

don't chase fame or celebrity, work because you love what your doing.

jump in with both feet and exhaust all possibilities when getting a job

one of the guys from hinterland just walked in and handed over his portfolio and got an interview on the spot and emailed and emailed until he got the job, he chased it down.

be articulate, be able to express design direction vocally

be a work horse

correspondence with Michael Dyer

This was probably one of the most inspirational visits in NYC, and I sat and talked for nearly two hours with Mike. I learnt that he tries to keep only to print based design and rarely delves into webdesign though he did show me a website that he had done but it was all photoshop layers that were sent to a web developer. We also shared an interest in Architecture and dutch graphic designers such as karel Martens. He also offered to send me valuable contacts for placements if I was interested in coming back to NYC to work after I graduated.

Notes

Present work in portfolio more extensively for example have four or five projects spread over two pages looking into each project more in depth and exploring more aspects.

be knowledgable in code

have the ability to work digitally as well as print

have experience in a small shop and a big shop, and see which one suits you better.

visit to VSA partners New York

Notes

Work digitally more

print industry is quite minimum now and websites/apps are cheaper and more accessible.

A recent redesign of an annual report saw them not print a single sheet of paper, everything was done digitally.

I came away from VSA really inspired and he later emailed me saying that he had forwarded my portfolio to a friend at a small studio and his former boss at BBDO ad agency.