Design and market Week 19 Organising London trip

We are officially going to London. On Friday we sat down together and planed all our transport details. Me and Daniel are travelling by bus, Sarah and Charlie are flying. On Monday 13thFebruary I decided to try and contact more companies and this time asked about having a tour not an interview. The response was absolutely amazing! It seems that companies are more willing to organise a tour rather that agree to an interview.  To the previous list of companies we added another 3. So in the end I was responsible for contacting 4 companies: The Mill, Smoke and Mirrors, Cinesite and Dneg. I felt proud about it since English is not my first language and it was a huge challenge for me. 

Design and market Week 18 interview

On Friday the 10th we interviewed Pat Imrie 3D digital artist and instructor. He specialises in Modelling, Texturing and Digital Sculpture .He also teaches 3D Production Practice using Maya and other industry standard software. He worked for Digital Tutors creating training material for one of the largest online sources for digital training, and Sylvain Chomet's Oscar-nominated animated feature 'Le Illusionist, (The Illusionist, 2010) and the BAFTA nominated/winning series KNTV 2 & 3. His client list includes Digital Tutors, STV, Channel 4 and BBC Scotland.

After speaking to Professor Mike Press I thought it will be good idea to look at pattern of employment and new trends in the industry. I thought it will be a quite interesting for us to contrast a full production company and a freelancer. 

For more information about Pat please visit:

Design and market Week 18 Team Meeting

On 9 February 2012 our team got together. We discussed questions, strategy for London trip and delegated tasks.

Final question list 

 
Employment:

 

• How do you recruit your talent
• What is the usual entry road into the company
• Do you do everything in house, do you have freelancers/outside brother company
• Special things that make candidates stand out/recruiters look for?
• Do you have a high turnover of staff?
• Do you run any competitions/initiatives for young people?
• Do you have any universities that you get a lot of staff from?
• What advice would you wish to be given when you were starting in the industry?
• How does the pay work? Is it a salary or are you paid per job?
• Because you’re all in the same area, do you find staff move between companies?
• Does this create competition?
• How do you employ? contract/hour/project/freelancers

 Personal Questions

• how did get involved in the company
• do you enjoy your job and what’s your favourite part of the job ?
• What is your typical day? What are the hours like? Do you take work home
• Why have you changed your employment profile/path?
• Are you allowed to do something outside company/ do u have time for Freelance or personal projects
• Do u have time for social life

Client related/advertise/

• How do you market yourself /advertise
• Who are your clients?
• How do you develop relationship with the clients
• Do clients tend to come back? How do you sustain your relationship with them
• Do you knock people back, Do you have so much work that you have to reject customers
• Do you take small commissions or do you just work on big projects

Company itself

• How the structure of the company looks like
• How company was created/What is the history of the company
• What is the official company status (stock shares etc.)
• Are there any values that you particularity believe in
• What makes you different from competitors, what is your USP
• What are your plans for the future, plans for growth ?
• what are the aims of the company
• How many people do you employ
• Are different areas of the company encouraged to mingle
• Do you collaborate with other companies
• How do you network in industry
• What is your approach to the training, How do you respond to new technologies
• Do you train your staff
• What is % of females in the company? Is it family friendly?

VFX

•   Can you say that in VFX industry you can talk about niche? If yes, do u have one
• Can you run individual VFX business
• What sort of amount of money you need to invest to start up VFX company
• Do you have any deals with the software companies?

Additional :

• Is it nice to see your work/company work on the telly?!
• Is there a dress code?
• Do u have a lot of parties
• Do u do charity work
• How often do you hear cursing from behind the computer screens
• what is the pay like
• what was the biggest company “fuckup”

Roles

Sarah: consent forms, emailing tutors
Daniel: introduction leading the interview
Charlie: presentation, maps 
Jo: equipment

All of us decided to research professional profiles of our interviewees and gather as much information as possible. Linked in seems to be a fantastic tool for it.

Design and Market . Week 18.. 6 February 2012

On 6 February me and my friend Laura McNaughton visited Professor Mike Press and had an interesting conversation about the Design and Market Module. After few lectures quite a lot of animation students realised that maybe the module is not really targeted towards them. We had few concerns that we discuued with Mike Press. He suggested few things:

• Assessment 2 think of it more like a strategy instead of business plan, plan for next 12 moths after graduation, what is the strategy to set up  the brand, come up with an idea for ourselves, what is the identity, strengths, how to present yourself, promoting your personal brand
• finding founding for films
• things to think of:
• how to collaborate and sustain working relationships
• overcoming difficulties with remote location/where you are based
• how to develop  flexible model  of work
• how to find people that you can relay on
• how do you network in industry
• understand pattern of employment, freelance/collectives
• how companies employ
• what skills/knowledge  they expect from graduates
• use of business language e.g. niche, segment, market
• how do you develop relationship with the client

•  tips for the interview
• letter to  yourself : what advise would you give yourself , what advice would you wish to be given
• avoid the pitch , be familiar with  their work
• what skills/knowledge  they exept from graduates
• did your patter of employment change
• how did you develop  your pratice
• trends in industry: skills, employment
• aproach for trainning , how do you respond to new technologies, do you train

• use of animation in diffrent areas e.g. distant learning, web design
• it is not about one model it is about what fits to you

After talking to Professor Mike Press I had idea about interviewing a freelancer and looking at VFX industry in a bit broader context than just one company. I asked Pat Imrie, a 3D artist and guest lecturer at DJCAD if he could be our interviewee. He said yes and the interwiev was set up for 10th February.

Here is Pat's website: http://www.patimrie.com/

Design and market:Week 17 Getting in Touch

While writing emails to my chosen companies I thought it would be more appropriate to have personal referrals. I spoke to lectures, professors and fellow students in order to make first contact.

I also used the opportunity to speak with the Mill lecture team while they were visiting DJCAD. They gave me contact details to one of the recruiters, who we interviewed when we visited London.

However I didn’t have all the contacts I was looking for so I phoned and emailed companies directly.

Here you can find an example of the letters: 

Design and Market . Week 18. Questions

On 3rd February 2012 myself and Sarah, were brainstorming ideas for the questions  Below you can see what I came up with, some of them are research question, some are interview one:

• How company was created/What is the history of the company 
• how did get involved in the company to person interviewed
• how do you get your clients
• How do you market yourself /advertise
• Who are you clients
• What makes you different form competitors
• How the structure of the company looks like
• What are your plans for the future, plans for the growth
• Do you do everything in house, do you have freelancers/outside brother company
• How do recruiter your talent
• Can you say that in VFX industry you can talk about niche? If yes, do u have one
• Can you run individual VFX business
• What sort of amount of money you need to invest to start up VFX company
• Do you have any deals with the software companies
• What is the usual entry road into the company
• What is your profit
• what are the aims of the company
• Are there any values that you particularity believe in
• How many people do you employ 
• What is the official company status (stock shares etc.)

Also I had a close look at VES - The Visual Effects Society. In my opinion it is a good starting point for the research.  

Design and market Week 18 Networking

Week 18 brought a personal networking revolution. Inspired by Mike Press and Emma Walker - Chief Executive of Craft Scotland I set up my linked in and twitter account, updated my cv, updated my website, set up my more professional email address and design business cards.

So below you can find links to all of the above:

•  Linked in Profile
• personal website
• twitter @jhjakubowska

I had some much fun while designing business cards:

After talking to lots of people, both at college and work I have decided to go for this design:

Design and market. Week 17. Getting in touch. Approach letter.

Before I started contacting companies I researched how to approach them in an appropriate manner. Since English is not my first language I needed to look closely how to write a formal approach letter. I found the Stanford University website very helpful which clearly explained the whole process together with clear examples.

What a good approach letter should contain:

1. Start with a personal statement which connects you to the reader. If you lack a personal referral,

you might open with: “I am writing to you because of your position as...” or “Because of your experience

in...”, or “We have a common interest in...”’ or “Since we are both alumni of_________________ I

thought...” If you have a referral, you might start with: “Mr., Mrs., Dr., suggested that I contact you...”

2. Orient the reader to your purpose. Explain that you do not expect the reader to know of any current

job openings, but you would like his or her help, advice, suggestions, or guidance. Stress your purpose(

s): to get his or her advice on your career plans, obtain occupational information, or discuss future

work possibilities. Explain your current situation.

3. Close your letter by requesting a brief meeting at a mutually convenient time. Indicate that you

will call in a few days to arrange a meeting.

4. Be clear. Have a specific purpose in mind before writing this letter.

5. Always address the letter to a name, never to a position or title.

6. Make the letter brief, unless there are special reasons for going into detail.

7. Make your letters warm and personal. Avoid boastful, aggressive and stereotyped phrases.

8. Carefully proofread for grammatical, spelling or typing errors.

9. Neatly type your letter. Leave wide margins.

10. Type on good quality bond stationery. Never use erasable, copy machine or onion-skin paper. 

11. Keep copies of all correspondence in an efficient filing system for follow-up purposes.

I also sent my letter to friends so they could proofread it. A big thank you to Ania, Andy, Jon and Lee for helping me with this.

In addition to my research I was also looking at Polish etiquette of writing those type of letters.

And yes some things are done in different way to make me even more confusion

Since I was also contacting a Polish company it was interesting for me to compare the different approaches to writing a formal business letter.

Design and Market . Week 16. Presentation.

 Presentation:

One of the requirements of the Design and Market module is to present the artistic achievements and commercial success of a company I admire. This research aims to give us an insight into the creative sector and an understanding of how the chosen company operates as a business. The presentation should be delivered to a group of students and professors from different disciplines such as animation, graphic design and illustration. The aim of this project is to deepen the understanding of the industry and prepare students to enter the market.

Working in groups:

Within our specialism we divided into groups of four, five or six and prepared a twenty-minute presentation. The evaluation of this project will provide 50% of our final grade.

On January 27 2012 the animation department was divided into three groups. Within the groups we selected specific areas of interest. Some people decided to analyse companies from traditional animation, some went in the direction of computer games and the group that I found myself in decided to analyse companies from the visual effects industry.

Plan of action:

During the first meeting the group decided that each of us will try to contact three companies and organise a meeting at their offices.

Sarah Rettie took on: MPC, ILM, The Mill. Daniel McCance researched Digital Domain, Prime Focus and Cinesite. I contacted: Dneg, Digicam Picture and Framestore. In addition, I decided to contact the Platige Image company that is based in Warsaw. In the following week, we were joined by Charlie Lodge, and her task was to contact Escapes Studios, a VFX training company.

 

Prezentacja:

Jednym z warunków zaliczenia kursu Design and Market jest przygotowanie prezentacji. Prezentacja ta wymaga od mnie analizy rynku i wybranej prze zemnie firmy, firmy, którą podziwiam za osiągnięcia artystyczne oraz sukces komercyjny. Projekt polega na przygotowaniu prezentacji dla grupy studentów z różnych dyscyplin jak animacja, projektowanie graficzne, ilustracja itp. oraz profesorów. Celem tego projektu jest pogłębienie rozumienia branży oraz przygotowanie studentów do wejścia na rynek pracy.

Praca w grupach:

W obrębie naszej specjalizacji mamy za zadanie dobrać się w grupy: cztero, pięcio lub sześcioosobowe i przygotować dwudziestominutowa prezentacje. Ocena tego projektu będzie stanowić 50% naszej oceny końcowej.

27 stycznia 2012 wydział animacji podzielony został na trzy grupy. W grupy dobraliśmy się na podstawie zainteresowań: część osób zdecydowała się na analizę firm zajmujących się tradycyjna animacja, część poszła w kierunku gier komputerowy, a ostatnia moja grupa zdecydowała się na analizę firm z branży efektów specjalnych

Plan działania:

W czasie pierwszego spotkania grupa postanowiła, ze każdy z nas postara się skontaktować z trzema firmami i umówić na spotkanie.

Sarah Rettie przypadły firmy: MPC, ILM, The Mill. Daniel McCance zajmuje się: Digital Domain, Prime Focus and Cinesite. Mnie przypadły w udziale: Dneg, Digic Picture and Framestore. W ramach własnej inicjatywy postanowiłam skontaktować się z Platige Image firma która ma bazę w Warszawie. W następny tygodniu dołączyła do nas Charlie Lodge, Jej przypadły w udziale Escapes Studios firma zajmująca się treningiem VFX

Design and Market . An introduction...

For me, this blog will take the form of diary. I've never kept a diary, but I have attempted a few times in my life to do so. It has never come to me easily. Keeping a public, module specific diary seems an even more difficult task. Writing a blog in a foreign language and updating it regularly seems to be an impossible task! Laura - my friend and fellow student suggested that it may be easier for me to meet this challenge by first writing in Polish, then translating what I have written into English. Therefore, these posts can be seen in two versions and I can attempt to express myself more clearly.

Last year brought unexpected changes. DJCAD students were faced with changes in the Undergraduate Programme. The entire course structure has been reviewed to meet expectations of the market, as well as budget cuts in education. In my opinion, the changes are the most positive phenomenon. Questionable, however, is how they have been introduced. Almost immediately students felt that they are treated like guinea pigs. I must admit that it is not quite a comfortable situation for me to be in.

We were given three options to choose from at the end of Level 2, the first of these routes was the traditional, comparative theoretical work - a dissertation. The second choice/module focused on international studies (this year China) and lastly, a module titled Design and The Market. My choice was Design and the Market. A business, more practical side of it was really appealing to me.

The second half of January 2012 held the first of the lectures. First impression: module blog is professionally prepared; module information is easy to access, interesting presentations and very well-prepared lectures.

However some of the statements in this first lecture raised my concerns. A lot of unknowns are ahead of us. We still do not really know what is expected from us in the fourth year, we do not know whether the internship is a compulsory part of the course and if we receive placement assistance.

The third and fourth years will therefore be a great challenge!

Blog jest dla mnie formą pamiętnika. Nigdy nie prowadziłam pamiętnika, choć próbowałam  kilka razu życiu . Nigdy nie przychodziło to mi łatwo. Prowadzenie publicznego pamiętnika wydaje mi się jeszcze trudniejszym zadaniem. Pisanie bloga w obcym języku i uaktualnienie go regularnie wydaje się zadaniem niewykonalnym. Laura - koleżanka po fachu zasugerował, że może łatwiej mi będzie sprostać temu zadaniu jeśli będę mogła pisać w pierwszej kolejności w języku polskim. Dlatego też posty te możecie oglądać w dwóch wersjach.

Zeszły rok przeniósł nieoczekiwane zmiany. Studenci DJCAD zostali postawieni przed faktem zmian w programie nauczania. Cała struktura kursu została zreformowana aby wyjść na przeciw oczekiwaniom rynku …..oraz cięciom budżetowym. Moim zdaniem zmiany są jak najbardziej pozytywnym zjawiskiem. Kwestią dyskusyjną jest jednak sposób w jaki zostały wprowadzone. To co jako studenci odczuliśmy niemal momentalnie to fakt, ze jesteśmy traktowani jak króliki doświadczalne. Muszę przyznać że nie do końca jest to dla mnie sytuacja komfortowa

Jedną z ważniejszych zaproponowanych zmian jest opcja wyboru pomiędzy tradycyjną pracą teoretyczno – porównawczą, tak zwaną dysertacją, kursem skoncentrowanym na studiach międzynarodowych ( w tym rok są to Chiny) oraz kursem zatytułowanym Design and the Market (Projektowanie graficzne i Rynek)

W drugiej połowie stycznia tego roku odbył się pierwszy z wykładów Design and Market. Pierwsze wrażenia: profesjonalnie przygotowany blog, łatwy dostęp do informacji, interesujące prezentacje i bardzo dobrze przygotowane wykłady.

Kilka z twierdzeń jakie padły w tymże wykładzie budzi jednak moje obawy. Także wiele niewiadomych przed nami. Ciągle tak naprawdę nie wiemy czego oczekuje się od nas na czwartym roku, nie wiemy czy staż jest częścią obowiązkową tego kursu i czy otrzymamy pomoc w organizacji stażu.

Trzeci i czwarty rok będa więc jednym wielkim wyzwaniem!