PPP3: Visit to Fieldwork Studio

Following on from my email correspondence with Fieldwork in Manchester, I had organised a studio visit day with them.

Correspondence with Fieldwork

The week before I went, I emailed them to confirm that I was still good to visit which I was. I felt that, by sending a quick message, this would be professional of me to double check and make sure that I was expected rather than forgotten about.

Surrounding Studios around Fieldwork

The first thing that struck me about Fieldwork was the studio itself and how it is set up. It is a small studio which has both designers and developers working together in the same place so that you can see the work come together, from original designs and ideas to fully formed designs and operational websites. This allows for the studio to have full control over the design instead of handing it over to freelance developers.

I met Loz and went through my portfolio where I got a lot of feedback on the projects that I had within it.

For my Zephyr Air brief, I was told to get rid of the air description seen as it is self-descriptive and that I should come back to the brief as it has a great concept and could be pushed further. For my Parish brief, I was told to try it and see what it would look like without the texture and create texture through stock choices and print methods. For my National Trust brief, Loz suggested taking it even further by expanding the brief to the point where I re-brand the National Trust itself. We spent some time talking about them as a brand and the difficulties faced when producing work for a younger audience. However, Loz also mentioned how I clearly show how I can follow briefs and work well with existing brands which is a good skill to have yet it might be an ideas to try and get out of these zones and go wild on them instead.

Loz commented on something that no one had noticed before. He mentioned that my portfolio has a running theme of sustainability and current issues due to a range of briefs I have that focus on social and green, environmental issues, with examples being my Chester Zoo, National Trust and Zephyr briefs. This is something that I've never considered within my work as I have always wanted to produce work on subjects that matter to me but I felt that it was really good that my work gave this impression.

However, a piece of advice I was given was to start photographing my work in context so that this would give a more convincing and professional finish to my portfolio. I think that this is a great idea because this will give a much more professional presentation to my work. Also, Loz discussed with me how busy small design studios are and how they're time is important so by sending stuff in the post to them is a great way to get through to them.

At the end of my visit, Loz asked me to keep in touch with new projects I would be working on, especially as he wanted to see what I would produce for my final year show.

What I got from my visit to Fieldwork was a sense of ambition because I came out of it knowing that I would like to work in a small studio like this where it is close knit, with people working together as well as separately, learning from each other. Also, I really enjoyed my time in Manchester and seeing the studio itself and I feel like I could see myself working in Manchester in the future. I definitely intend to keep in touch with Fieldwork in the future.