My Experience With Thoughtful

At the beginning of this year I was chosen to work alongside Thoughtful for six months as part of the Thoughtful 6. We are now five months in to the project, with only around six weeks left so I think it’s time for me to share my thoughts and experiences so far.

When I was first chosen to work with Thoughtful I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, and I was slightly nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Having said that, I still couldn’t wait to get started, and on the 8^th January, a few weeks before the rest of the course returned from the Christmas holidays, it  all began. Our studio was not yet ready, but there was lots of work to be done so it was a case of working wherever we could.

On the first day Ed and I were asked to work on a typographic route for the Tate Liverpool summer exhibition; Colour Chart, which was to be pitched the following week. We only had a few days to complete the work, which included creating typefaces to represent the different artist’s work being exhibited. This was an important task and the work had to be of a high standard. This was a chance for Thoughtful to win a job for a high profile client and the work we were doing had to help Thoughtful’s chances of winning the pitch. Even though this was only the first week, it was clear from day one what was expected of us and that it wasn’t going to be easy. We would have to work hard, be challenged, working to tight deadlines that we weren’t used to. However, I didn’t see this as a bad thing. It was good. After only a few days, it was clear how much I’d learnt. I had gained experience of working as a team, dividing tasks between the two of us in order to manage our time efficiently. Also, using Adobe Illustrator, a program I had never previously used. 

The following week I was asked to accompany Thoughtful to the pitch at the Liverpool Tate. I was quite nervous about this, but once I was there, with plenty of time to spare I started to relax. This was a fantastic opportunity to see how a real pitch works; what the client expects, the amount of work the designer needs to produce, and the clarity and preparation of the presentation. Thoughtful had planned everything, allowing no room for error in order to impress the client and ensure that the pitch ran smoothly. It was fantastic news, when a few weeks later Thoughtful were told that they had won the pitch.

In the meantime, our studio had finished being painted and we had been busy moving in and settling in to our new room. The room had to function as a real studio, even though it is in the college. It had to look and feel professional to visitors and to provide us with the right working atmosphere. This is something that I really enjoyed doing, it was nice to make the space our own as opposed to us moving in to a ‘ready made’ space.

By this time we had all began to work on developing Thoughtful’s initial ideas for Teepay, a tee shirt design website, owned by howies. This was a really fun project, the kind that doesn’t come round often, so I feel really lucky that I was able to be involved in this. We all went down to Cardigan to visit the people at howies and present the ideas we had so far for Teepay. This was our first experience of taking part in a presentation to the client as a group, helping me with my professional skills and building confidence. It was a really enjoyable experience, as the people at howies were so friendly and down to earth. They were really happy with what we presented to them and even sent their thank you’s via video, which are posted on the Thoughtful 6 blog.

Something that we have been gaining lots of experience with is presenting and talking about our ideas. Thoughtful have helped us a lot, giving us advice on how to conduct ourselves in a professional manner, and drumming in the importance of ‘looking the part.’ If you look smart, and professional it shows that you are serious about what you do, people will respect you more and are more likely to put their trust in you. The Thoughtful 6 project in itself has gained a lot of attention, with people wanting to know what we have been doing; therefore meaning we have had to talk to various people about our experience. We were recently interviewed by D&AD, had to stand up and talk at a CIDS meeting a Stockport Art Gallery and also give a presentation to the first years. Although these were quite informal, we had to ensure we came across professionally, as everything we say and do now reflects on Thoughtful. All of this has really helped to build my self confidence, meaning that it will be so much easier for me to deal with speaking about my work and ideas to future employers and also clients.

Lauren and myself have recently been working together on a project called Make It for the GMSA. This project has been a massive learning curve for me, meaning that I have had to email the client, organise meetings, arrange interviews, prepare and conduct interviews and plan things correctly to ensure we can do everything we need to in the time we have as well as doing the designing. This project in particular has made me realise that the job of a designer is not solely about ‘designing.’ Far from it in fact, you need to be able to communicate clearly and in a professional manner, be confident with public speaking and presenting your ideas. Most importantly you need to be able to engage with the client, get on their level and fully understand what they want. If you build a good relationship with the client it will make your job that bit easier, you will gain their respect and earn their trust. You need to be willing to go that extra mile, but this should be enjoyable and not a chore. If you are working for a client that you know and understand, you will want to go further to make them happy and therefore produce great work.

 A few weeks ago Lauren and I recorded a key note presentation to be sent out to the Steering Group for Make It. The content and the way the presentation was put together looked really professional, something I would not have been able to achieve before working with Thoughtful. The work we did received great feedback and I felt proud of what I had achieved. What we were doing and the way we did it seemed natural though, which just goes to show how far we have come in just a few months. I wasn’t worrying and constantly thinking ‘ I can’t do this.’ I felt confident in what I was doing and knew that I could do a good job, whereas back in January this would not have been the case at all. After we had recorded the presentation and got everything right, we encountered some trouble when exporting it, meaning that we had to re-record what we had done. This wasn’t a problem however, as we had prepared the presentation so well that we knew exactly what we needed to do, no matter how many times we had to repeat it. This shows the importance of preparation, something that Thoughtful have been teaching us all along.

 I could talk for so long about the things I have experienced and learnt with Thoughtful, the list goes on and on, some of which I don’t even think I am aware of yet. I think many of the qualities and skills I have learnt will become more apparent in the future, in particularly the third year when it comes to managing my time, and thinking about what I want to achieve in the future. All I know now is that the things I have learnt from Thoughtful are things that will stay with me for life, and I want to ensure that I continue to develop my skills further and keep up the pace throughout next year.