ADAM BURGES

1INTRODUCTION

1 INTRODUCTION Overview of the Live Projects unit and

my response

3 PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS Portfolio preparation for a number of

industry interviews

14 vIvID BRAND Internship with shopper-marketing &

branding studio in Central London

24 ESTABlIShED & SONS Internship with in-house team at British

design company in East London

32 SkITOx Establishing a company and building the

brand from scratch

48 wIDENING PARTICIPATION Student ambassador: Higher Education

workshop at Townley Grammar

55 CONClUSION Summary and reflection of my

expereinces throughout the unit

Between January and March 2011, final year BA hons Design for Graphic Communication students at lCC were required to put together their own program of study for a unit called live Projects. These ‘live Projects’ could take the form of placements, competitions or freelance jobs.

having spent the summer with ico Design, doing what you might call the ‘standard london studio internship’, I wanted to use the opportunity to try different things.

I had planned to spend the term with Propaganda, a design studio based in the french Alps who primarily work with clients from the winter sports industry. Unfortunately, after a telephone interview, it became clear that the logistics weren’t suitable- french employment law meant they wanted me for a longer stint than I had available.

Instead, I decided to follow up on the subject of my recently completed Research Report, by doing a series of short placements in branding. first, with shopper-marketing and branding studio vivid Brand, then with the in-house team at British furniture design company Established & Sons.

Alongside these formal placements, I worked on a freelance project for a company of which I am in fact a founder member and partner, SkiTox.

My final ‘live Project’ was my work as a Student Ambassador with widening Participation, the lCC programme that works to encourage the local community into art and design education.

PORTFOLIO

INTERVIEWS

4 5I u

sed

this

opp

ortu

nity

to

gain

fur

ther

ex

perie

nce

of in

terv

iew

s an

d ge

t on

top

of

my

port

folio

.

I had

inte

rvie

ws

with

Esq

uire

Mag

azin

e, Y

CN

S

tudi

o, E

stab

lishe

d &

Son

s, V

ivid

Bra

nd a

nd

The

Tate

. All

but

one

of t

hese

inte

rvie

ws

resu

lted

in p

lace

men

t of

fers

.

I put

tog

ethe

r a

new

por

tfol

io a

nd a

dapt

ed

it ac

ross

sev

eral

for

mat

s: t

his

incl

uded

a

web

site

, a P

DF

port

folio

, an

A3

prin

ted

vers

ion,

a le

ave

-beh

ind

and

busi

ness

car

ds.

A3 printed portfolio / Box of print specimens / A5 freench-fold leave behind

PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS

6 7PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS

Pages from PDF portfolio

8 9PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS

Business card design

10 11PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS

Left YCN / Right The Tate

12 13PORTfOlIO / INTERvIEwS

Left Vivid Brand / Right Established & Sons

VIVID

BRAND

16 17vIvID BRANDI s

pent

the

firs

t tw

o w

eeks

of

Febr

uary

in

tern

ing

at V

ivid

Bra

nd. D

urin

g th

at t

ime

the

stud

io w

ere

wor

king

with

som

e pr

etty

im

pres

sive

clie

nts

(Cok

e, N

estle

, Phi

llips

).

The

follo

win

g pa

ges

evid

ence

exa

mpl

es o

f w

ork

unde

rtak

en d

urin

g th

e co

urse

of

my

plac

emen

t. A

s w

ell a

s th

e w

ork

show

n I a

lso

spen

t a

lot

of t

ime

doin

g ‘t

ypic

al in

tern

’ job

s:

amen

ds, b

asic

art

wor

king

, for

mat

ting

files

, se

arch

ing

for

stoc

k im

ager

y, u

pdat

ing

the

blog

an

d, o

f co

urse

, tea

rou

nds.

Top Concepts for Neutrogena / Above Vivid Brand studio

18 19vIvID BRANDI w

as s

et a

n on

goin

g ta

sk (

alon

gsid

e m

y ot

her

dutie

s); t

o re

desi

gn t

he V

ivid

Bra

nd

pres

enta

tion

tem

plat

e.

I had

to

com

e up

with

a s

impl

e, e

ffec

tive

desi

gn t

hat

was

in k

eepi

ng w

ith V

ivid

Bra

nd’s

ex

istin

g co

mm

unic

atio

ns a

nd t

hat

all m

embe

rs

of s

taff

(in

clud

ing

non-

desi

gner

s) w

ould

be

able

wor

k w

ith in

Key

Not

e.

I put

tog

ethe

r th

ree

varia

tions

, the

se in

clud

ed

‘mas

ter

page

’ tem

plat

es, t

ype

spec

ifica

tions

an

d im

age

guid

elin

es

Vivid Brand presentation template designs

20 21vIvID BRANDM

y ot

her

ongo

ing

task

was

to

com

e up

w

ith id

eas

for

a V

ivid

Bra

nd p

rom

otio

nal

mai

ler

- the

y cu

rren

tly h

ave

a bl

ank

note

boo

k de

sign

ed t

o lo

ok li

ke a

mar

ketin

g se

lf-he

lp

book

(se

e fa

cing

pag

e).

They

wan

ted

som

ethi

ng c

heap

and

pr

ofes

sion

al -

not

an e

asy

task

! M

y m

ore

succ

essf

ul id

eas

incl

uded

a m

ug a

nd p

enci

ls.

Left Promotional mailer concepts / Right Current promotional mailer

22 23vIvID BRAND

Summary

I applied for an internship with vivid Brand after seeing their call for interns in lCC’s ‘Graphic Opportunities’ newsletter. I hadn’t previously heard of them - I tried to do my research but their website didn’t give much away - so I started the placement not really knowing what to expect.

Based on their name I had assumed vivid Brand were a branding studio, they sort of are, but they specialise in ‘shopper-marketing’. This means they mainly do strategy and design for point-of-sale. I thought ‘shopper-marketing’ might be a bit dry and boring, and to be honest, it was!

I tried to learn as much as I could from the opportunity - I spent two weeks trying to be professional and keen. Over the previous pages are some examples of the work I did, but I also spent a lot of time searching for stock imagery and doing in-house jobs like updating the blog and designing a presentation template. I got the impression that vivid Brand are one of those studios who have almost created a permanent intern position so they free-up the designers from some of the menial tasks. That’s Ok I guess, but I’ve done placements like that before and I wasn’t getting much out it - so when they asked if I wanted to stay on at the end of my two weeks - I politely declined.

On the plus side, they do pay their interns £200 a week.

Experiential concepts for Neutrogena ‘Love Winter’ campaign

ESTABLISHED

& SONS

26 27ESTABlIShED & SONSIm

med

iate

ly a

fter

fini

shin

g at

Viv

id

Bra

nd, I

sta

rted

a p

lace

men

t w

ith t

he

inho

use

team

at

Est

ablis

hed

& S

ons.

The

follo

win

g pa

ges

evid

ence

exa

mpl

es

of w

ork

unde

rtak

en d

urin

g th

e co

urse

of

my

plac

emen

t. W

orki

ng f

or a

n in

hous

e te

am m

eant

car

ryin

g ou

t ba

sic

desi

gn

task

s bu

t di

d no

t al

low

me

muc

h sc

ope

for

crea

tive

inpu

t.

Established & Sons annual journal

28 29

Left ‘Jumper’ illustration for price list / Right Reworked Volcano illustration

ESTABlIShED & SONS

30 31

Summary

Established & Sons are a high-end British design company who work with some of the world’s leading designers, architects and artists. The brand was created by MadeThought and passed over to an in-house design team.

I spent three weeks with the in-house team (which only comprised of two people; one full-timer and one part-timer). Although the Established & Sons offices are probably the coolest space I have ever worked in and lots of hot girls work in the sales department - the work I was asked to do wasn’t quite so glamorous. I have shown the highlights over the previous few pages - but some of the other stuff I did really isn’t worth showing. I spent an entire week compiling a spreadsheet of product images, which I’m sure will be very useful for the design team, but ranks alongside data entry as one of the most mind-numbing jobs I’ve done.

Once again, when my three weeks were up I was asked if I wanted to stay on - and once again, I politely declined! I felt I had got as much as I could from the experience and had gained an insight into working for an in-house team. I had other projects in the pipeline and felt my time would be better spent focusing on those…

Left Labels and marks for new products / Right Telephone card

ESTABlIShED & SONS

SKITOX

34 35SkITOxA

fter

fini

shin

g at

Est

ablis

hed

& S

ons,

I be

cam

e in

volv

ed in

an

ongo

ing

free

lanc

e pr

ojec

t ca

lled

Ski

Tox.

Ski

Tox

is a

ven

ture

tha

t I h

ave

star

ted

with

tw

o fr

iend

s. W

e ar

e a

ski c

ompa

ny s

peci

alis

ing

in h

ealth

y sk

i bre

aks

to t

he F

renc

h A

lps.

The

follo

win

g pa

ges

give

an

over

view

of

the

early

sta

ges

of t

he b

rand

’s d

evel

opm

ent.

Team photoshoot

36 37

organicnaturalwellbeingfreshtranquilrelaxnewinnovativeoriginalvibrantunwind

healthretreatpersonalisedtailoredgreenshort breaksenergyvitalitydifferentunique

words that sum up the brand

price range between £900 - £2000

luxury but not super luxury (very comfortable)

really good service

spa treatments

a relaxing healthy holiday

small carbon footprint / respect the mountain

10 person chalet

locally sourced organic food

aims of the brand

The

Ski

Tox

whe

els

wer

e al

read

y in

mot

ion

by t

he t

ime

I cam

e on

boa

rd. W

e ar

rang

ed a

m

eetin

g so

I co

uld

find

out

mor

e ab

out

the

conc

ept

and

bett

er u

nder

stan

d w

hat

was

ne

eded

fro

m m

e.

From

the

out

set,

I fe

lt it

was

impo

rtan

t to

fo

cus

on c

reat

ing

a br

and

(rat

her

than

sim

ply

an id

ea o

r co

ncep

t). H

avin

g re

cent

ly w

ritte

n a

Res

earc

h R

epor

t on

bra

ndin

g I h

ad s

ome

exer

cise

s I w

ante

d to

try

to

help

us

bett

er

defin

e w

hat

the

com

pany

was

abo

ut a

nd

clar

ify o

ur f

ocus

.

SkITOx

Branding exercises from first team meeting

38 39SkITOx

SKI HOLIDAY COMPANIES

Alp Leisure

Balkan Holidays

Consensio

Crystal

Descent

Erna Low

Esprit

Finlays

Fish and Pips

High Life

La Source

Mark Warner

Neilson

Off The Piste

Rocket Ski

Scott Dunn

Ski Beat

Ski France

Ski Olympic

Ski Total

Ski World

Snow Fox

Snowlife

Super Travel

Thomson

VIP Ski

Virgin

COMPETITION AND RESOURCES

SKI CHARITIES

Alpine Initiatives

Ski Club of Great Britain

Ski 2 Freedom Foundation

Snow Camp

Respect The Mountains

Ski Bound

SKI PUBLICATION / BLOGS

Downdays

Freeskier

Fall-Line

Metro Snow

Newschoolers

The Ski Journal

SHOPS, ETC

Chill Factore

Ellis Brigham

Freeze

Snow and Rock

SnoZone

The Snow Board Asylum

The Snow Centre (Hemel)

SKI & SNOWBOARD BRANDS

Atomic

Armada

Bonfire

Burton

Dynastar

K2

Line

Salomon

Rossingnol

RELEVANT BRANDS

Albam

Do Lectures

Howies

Innocent Smoothies

Nonusual

Rapha

Roleur

T-Post

The Green Soccer Journal

The Hoxton Hotel

The Ride

Velorution

Left Compilation of relevant business and brands / Right Existing ski company logos

40 41A

fter

con

duct

ing

a vi

sual

aud

it of

exi

stin

g sk

i co

mpa

ny lo

gos,

I w

ent

thro

ugh

the

trie

d an

d te

sted

rou

tine

of t

ryin

g nu

mer

ous

type

face

an

d ty

pese

ttin

g op

tions

. I t

hen

prod

uced

se

vera

l rou

ghs

to s

how

pos

sibl

e di

rect

ions

. B

etw

een

the

thre

e of

us,

we

whi

ttle

d th

is

dow

n to

our

fav

ourit

e tw

o, a

nd w

ith f

urth

er

feed

back

we

sele

cted

a fi

nal d

esig

n.

The

final

cho

ice,

its

not

actu

ally

the

cho

ice

I w

ould

hav

e m

ade

but

I wan

ted

som

ethi

ng t

hat

the

othe

r tw

o fo

unde

rs w

ere

happ

y w

ith.

Left Logo design mock ups / Right Final two designs (bottom option was selected)

SkITOx

42 43

Left Business card design research / Right Final printed cards

SkITOx

44 45

Selected pages from Website Analysis PDF

SkITOx

46 47W

ith m

inim

al e

xper

ienc

e of

web

desi

gn,

crea

ting

a S

kiTo

x w

ebsi

te h

as b

een

a bi

g ch

alle

nge.

Firs

t I h

ad t

o ta

ke c

are

of t

he

logi

stic

s; t

hing

s lik

e pu

rcha

sing

dom

ain

nam

es a

nd w

eb h

ostin

g, s

ettin

g up

web

mai

l ad

dres

ses

and

tryi

ng t

o de

cide

d w

hat

soft

war

e to

use

to

build

it.

Aft

er s

eeki

ng a

dvic

e, I

deci

ded

the

best

so

lutio

n w

as t

o cr

eate

the

des

ign

mys

elf

and

brin

g so

meo

ne in

to

help

me

build

it. S

o I w

ill

be w

orki

ng w

ith D

anie

l Sam

son

to g

et

ww

w.s

ktox

.com

up

and

runn

ing.

With

the

logi

stic

s ta

ken

care

of

I und

erto

ok

a w

ebsi

te a

naly

sis

look

ing

at n

umer

ous

elem

ents

suc

h as

the

hom

e pa

ges,

nav

igat

ion

bars

, con

tent

and

ove

rall

desi

gn. I

am

now

fin

alis

ing

the

site

des

ign.

Summary

SkiTox is a venture I started with two friends. we are a ski company specialising in healthy ski breaks to the french Alps. Our team consists of myself - a designer and the Creative Director; Elena - a chef and the Managing Director; and James - a pilot and the Operations Director. we have a shared passion for the mountains and a combined experience of nine winters working in the industry.

My primary role is to create, build and maintain the brand. This will be an ongoing task so I have broken it down to a series of mini projects (some of which I have been able to complete this term). These include defining the brand, designing a logo, business cards, brand book and website. The early stages of the brand’s development are shown over the previous pages.

Although design is my main focus, building a company from scratch has involved a lot more than simply sitting down at my Mac. we’ve had regular meetings to finalise the concept, register the company and discuss finances. we have organised photoshoots, bank appointments and been to view properties in the Alps.

we have found a suitable chalet for our first year and hope to be operational by next winter. we have also booked a stand at The Ski Show in October - so there’s lots to do! SkiTox will now be an ongoing project that I will continue to work on in parallel to finishing my studies.

SkITOx

WIDENING

PARTICIPATION

50 51wIDENING PARTICIPATIONM

y fin

al ‘L

ive

Pro

ject

’ is

my

wor

k w

ith

Wid

enin

g P

artic

ipat

ion.

I w

ent

to T

ownl

ey

Gra

mm

ar S

choo

l for

Girl

s in

Bex

leyh

eath

to

talk

to

the

stud

ents

abo

ut a

pply

ing

for

art

and

desi

gn c

ours

es in

Hig

her

Edu

catio

n.

I enj

oy p

assi

ng o

n m

y kn

owle

dge

and

pass

ion

and

am v

ery

inte

rest

ed in

tea

chin

g at

som

e po

int

in t

he f

utur

e. T

his

role

has

allo

wed

me

to

gain

gre

at e

xper

ienc

e.

Unf

ortu

nate

ly I

was

n’t

allo

wed

to

take

ph

otog

raph

s of

the

sch

ool o

r st

uden

ts s

o I’v

e in

clud

ed a

pho

togr

aph

of t

he s

tatio

n, a

Goo

gle

Map

of

the

scho

ol’s

loca

tion

and

a te

stim

onia

l fr

om m

y bo

ss a

t W

iden

ing

Par

ticip

atio

n!

52 53lOOk hOw GOOD I AMI h

ave

wor

ked

with

Ada

m a

num

ber

of t

imes

ov

er t

he p

ast

few

yea

rs.

On

Mar

ch 2

3rd

Ada

m a

ccom

pani

ed m

e to

To

wnl

ey G

ram

mar

Sch

ool f

or G

irls

to s

peak

w

ith 6

th f

orm

art

stu

dent

s ab

out

prog

ress

ion

into

FE

and

HE

.

Gav

in W

ater

s, W

iden

ing

Par

tici

pat

ion

We asked Adam to speak about possible routes into university.

He brought along his portfolio and delivered a clear, well informed presentation.

His insights proved invaluable; he was happy to answer questions and the students found seeing his collection of work really helpful.

54 55CONClUSION

Its been a funny old term. I won’t lie, I’ve found it hard organising my working life - its definitely shown me that I want the structure and discipline of working in a studio when I graduate - for a few years at least.

My previous experience interning with ico Design (spending a whole summer with them), had perhaps given me rose tinted glasses - by the end of that internship I was being trusted to see jobs through from start to completion. Subsequently, my two placements this term were a little disappointing. The experience has taught me that any future placements I undertake need to be longer than two / three weeks to really be worthwhile.

The main positives I can take away from the term are seeing what it is like to work in-house; confirmation of interest in teaching; excellent interview experience and feedback on my portfolio.

Throughout the term I continued to go to interviews and have secured three placements for after I graduate. I am particularly excited about doing a three month stint with the Tate in June, plus it looks like I might finally get to intern in france afterall!

At the start of the term I attended a lecture by David heiatt (founder of howies and The Do lectures). he encouraged us to be ‘doers’ and to follow our passions - something I have tried to do with SkiTox. It’s been a real challenge and a lot of stress - hopefully I’ll manage to keep the balance between work and study over the coming months - but if it is a success it might well be the best thing I’ve ever done.

Ada

m B

urge

s w

ww

.ada

mbu

rges

.com

ar

burg

es@

gmai

l.com

This Publication

More often than not I produce PDFs to support my projects. This approach has served me well and consistently earned me good grades. However, for this unit I have decided to break from tradition. This document is intended to be a physical piece - it is my hope that it is read in print.

When designing PDFs I give a very thorough, step-by-step narrative of the project. My default setting is to think “how can I make this design communicate as clearly and simply as possible?” With this project I have allowed myself to indulge in editorial design, been more playful with my placement of image and text and taken a much looser approach to the narrative - its been a liberating experience - but I hope it still communicates clearly.

I’ve had to think much more carefully about format, pagination and image preparation. All-in-all its definitely more work to design for print, but its rewarding to have something physical in your hands at the end of it all rather than another PDF to sit on the hard drive.

www.adamburges.com