PPP3: Correspondence and Studio Visit to Music Studio

I was told about a possible studio visit and portfolio review session that was being organised by another student at Music in Manchester.

I knew as soon as I heard about it I wanted to get involved as this would be another contact that I can make and would continue to add to my experience in talking about my portfolio and my presentation skills. Also, I haven't been on a studio visit with a group of other people from college so this would be a new experience to go with other people.

Correspondence with Music

I emailed Dan Lancaster, a Senior Creative at Music, to let him know of my interest in the day itself. Soon, I was contacted with the necessary day information with the day consisting of a 45 minute individual portfolio review and chat and an hour long presentation and question/answer segment. I am very excited that this event has been organised as it will be nice to learn more about how the studio works and the range of people who work there.

Surrounding Studios alongside Music

When I arrived at Music, I was quite overwhelmed by the studio itself as it is the largest studio that I have visited so far and it encompasses a whole floor, even having an astro turf roof terrace which, its fair to say, we were all pretty impressed with. The studio is really open and comes across as very contemporary and experimental with the various quirks it has, such as the vinyl date and time calendar.

Portfolio Review

We got to meet Dan who was very welcoming and during my portfolio surgery, I got a lot of feedback on the work that I had produced for each individual project.

For my Parish brief, we were discussing audience as I had managed to be honourable of the current audience whist being open and inclusive to a new audience. Also, it was liked that I had produced a little icon for the brand and had managed to produce a range of products that sticks with the feel of the pub itself.

For my Swell Vaporisers brief, Dan saw a different approach to it as he saw the packaging and visual as being very Japanese- style minimal packaging and i-dent yet saw the logo design as very 20's/50's influence which he said was very disjointed but liked how they strangely worked well together. To the degree where the project comes across like I have taken an existing brand and produced work for it instead of coming up with it myself. Even though I found this quite odd, in a way I took it as a compliment that my brand came across as looking like an already established brand. To expand the brief, Dan suggested producing my own e-cig product design from scratch so that it worked better with the brand as a whole.

For my Zephyr Air brand, Dan really liked the concept and brand visual for the brief but he felt that the product design didn't do the concept justice as it came across as very industrial so to improve this, it would be better to produce something that was a reed diffuser or a bubble or straw to inhale.

The Dr. Me live briefs were well received as having great visuals that made you want to listen to the bands or see them live.

For my Chester Zoo brief, I was told that the work needed to be more playful and fun, especially with the typeface, as it is too sincere for the audience which, in turn, comes across as uninviting and not encouraging. Despite this, it showed a balance of existing brand and application of a conjoined brand.

For my Print Project brief, Dan felt that I had a great concept and approach as it gave a fresh perspective on information which wasn't boring. He suggested expanding this into an online campaign like a blog to go alongside this.

For my BEAR brief, Dan felt it had great concepts and fitting illustrations that was playful and suited the audience as it was imaginative and thus appealing to children.

For the Studs Lonigan brief, it had very simple visuals but it draws you in making you want to watch the film.

For my National Trust brief, Dan liked the concept and the emotional aspect of the concept and thought that the inclusion of an app was very fitting. He felt that the brief could be expanded by producing a campaign promoting the work.

I felt that it was great getting some feedback for all of my projects from Dan because he definitely brought a lot of ideas to the table from a perspective that I hadn't thought of. I'd never considered trying to produce a actual physical product before so this was another level which I would be able to take my work into so I was very thankful for his input. Any feedback is great to contribute to making my work stronger or to influence my future projects to keep improving myself.

Presentation and Q&A

After the first set of portfolio reviews, we were given a presentation into Music itself, how its run, the people who work there and the type of work that they produce.

The name Music
- Brings people together
- All encompassing and means something individually to everyone
- Changes mood and inspires people
- It can be complex or simple

- They are ranked 6th in the UK for creativity by Design Week Magazine

They have a mixture of different people who work in-house
- 3 Directors who own/run the company- deal with the business side
- 2 Associate Directors - Run multiple projects at once
- 8 General Creatives- can do anything- people who are adaptable in the work they produce
- 3 Digital Creatives- Motion design and photography
- 1 Copywriter- Big projects and strategy
- 1 Art-worker- Vets all work for print and web before its done
- 5 Client Services- Work alongside the designers and the clients
- 1 Administrator who organises everything
Everyone is all mixed together in the studio and they swap places every three months so they get to know people more

- Designers see themselves as Creatives as they apply a lot of different skills to what they do everyday
- They have no set style or discipline without being influenced by trends or style. It's about reacting to projects and being confident in it.

They want similar like-minded clients
- Chinese Art Centre- Use of typography to reflect the costume instead of a logo
- London Fashion Week- Re-pitching for it. Making a statement producing something that is interchangeable
- Manchester City- All creative works for them in regards to big scale projects, like advertisements and interior graphic environments
- Phones 4 u- Homely coffee shop style interior layout presentation
- Chester Zoo- Copyrighting- Animated and Distinctive as it doesn't rely on a pattern so its adaptable
- 'The Office Is Dead' 54 Princess Street- Lots of installations and crazy ideas
- British Fashion Awards- Trophy each year- Physical product
- Promotional Book- Moments in Time, Film Scenes, Quotes, Work- Mail out for Clients

- Clients shouldn't be feared or shunned- be honest, open and frank
- Clients have pre-concieved thoughts about how to answer the brief- understand the fundamentals of the problem
- It's good to question everything- Don't follow the trodden path
- A lot of meetings 80% desk work, 20% not desk work- it's important to get out
- Not restrictive as long as you hit the deadline
- Big projects- Encouraged not to isolate yourself and constantly get feedback
- Idea Jams- Big brainstorm on worm projects
- Juniors work with a Senior- Juniors do the work that is put in front of them and Seniors over-see it and put together presentations
- Juniors are encouraged to question what they do and go beyond what is asked of them
- Presentations and articulating yourself- Documenting your decisions and every reason you do something
- Contracted hours- 9 til 5.30 but its normal for people to stay late, especially if there is a presentation or deadline
- Mixture of actively going after work and presenting, tender and word of mouth
- Encouraged to do internships and keep visiting places

Discussion with Ed

After the presentations, we were encouraged to stick around and take advantage of being there. Whilst I was there, Anna, Sam and myself got into a conversation with Ed, another Senior Creative.

I asked him whether he could show us some of the work that he had been working on that day and he talked through some of the projects that he is currently working on. It was great to be able to see the work in progress, particularly the iconography that was being produced for various briefs, and the diversity of the briefs that they were working on.

I asked Ed a lot of questions about working at Music and talking about the work they do. He talked about how they are constantly working on different things and different projects so it's difficult to get bored. They expect juniors to have a years worth of experience yet he started through a 6 month internship at Music and worked his way up. As a Senior, he tends to have a meeting in the morning with the other Seniors about what work needs to be done and splits up the workload amongst everyone else depending on deadlines and priorities. Juniors don't have a lot of responsibility to start with but as they continue, they tend to build it up, especially with presentations.

Before we left Music, I asked Dan about whether they've ever had the chance to collaborate with other studios seen as they are situated in a block of studios surrounded by other creatives. Dan began to talk about how creatives can work with other people in other studios as long as it doesn't affect the work for Music. He told us about how the roof garden was going to be a collaborative brief but it didn't go through unfortunately.

Thank You note for Dan from Music 

I sent Dan an email a few days later to thank him for organising for a group of us to visit and about how valuable the feedback is.

Overall, it was quite overwhelming yet exciting to see the scale of the work that Music produce and the professionalism of it but it only makes me want to continue to better myself as I'd love to be able to work in a studio like theres. They were incredibly friendly and welcoming and they have a beautiful working space and I had an amazing time while I was there. It really makes me want to aim high and see if I can get into a studio like this. Apparently they will be coming to visit the college for when we have our end of year show and, in a way, I find this a little bit intimidating because I don't want to produce something terrible and unimpressive yet, if anything, I will take this as a challenge to produce work that I can be proud of.