Meet the team: Florence
Hello, I’m Florence (Flo). I’m a Junior Designer at Interstate Creative Partners. I graduated last Summer from Norwich University of the Arts with a (first class) degree in Graphic Design. Since then I have been at Interstate, coming up to my one year mark shortly.
I was lucky enough to be scouted out by Nigel, my Creative Director at the D&AD New Blood festival last July. The work I showcased at New Blood was a rebrand for a restaurant in London called Duck & Waffle. Branding is definitely where my interests and skills lie.
At university, I spent three months on the Design for Publishing course, exploring typography focused projects and book jacket design. However, during this time I realised this was not the right pathway for me and this is when I discovered that my heart was set on branding.
My favourite project that I completed at university was a brief set by D&AD and John Lewis; to reinvent the current way of shopping, a real challenge and therefore ‘cracking it’ was a great feeling and was so rewarding.
Most projects I undertook at University explored every stage of the design process from; research, naming, colour palettes, typography, photography, to visualisation and mock ups. The structure of the projects is very similar to the working world and it has therefore been a relatively smooth transition into Industry.
It is important to choose projects that will benefit your potential employer and represent what you want to get into. Think about whether your project will stand out and benefit your portfolio or whether it is being done for the sake of it.
I was very nervous starting my first job of my career in design. I felt the pressure to balance my emotions, get used to the world of work and perform at my best standard, but thankfully Interstate made that transition smooth and worry-free.
During my time at Interstate I have worked on a wide range of projects from uniforms for the NIO Formula-E team, branding for an Osteopathy clinic, to a full identity and animation for a cosmetics brand focusing on gender equality, Husky Beauty. This is certainly my favourite project to date as it’s now released and ‘out there’.
I had a high level of creative freedom on this project, which isn’t always the case with some clients! The project was a complete start to finish project. With guidance and support from Jayne, our Strategic Partner, I took the lead on every touchpoint from the identity, client meetings, research and the brand positioning.
Phase one involved thorough research into gender neutral beauty and cosmetics and brand positioning, phase two involved the development of the main identity and the final phase three involved bringing the identity to life in the social media world and through animations.
I had lots of fun during this project, and having an interest in cosmetics definitely helped. Cosmetics for men is a hot topic and is really starting to kick off.
It is exciting to see this brand take shape in a time where people are exploring more and being more experimental!
I find my inspiration through blogs such as: ‘Identity Designed’, ‘Itsnicethat’ and ‘Creative review’. I spend the first 15 minutes of my day reading up on design blogs seeing what’s new and exciting to set me up for the day. As well as blogs, inspiration comes from fellow colleagues, books, such as ‘A Smile in the Mind’ , ‘Symbol to Logo’ and art and design exhibitions. Andreas Gurksy at the South Bank Centre this year was one of my favourites.
It’s important to look for inspiration in the not so obvious places such as design blogs, but through exploring new cities, paintings, architecture or photography.
Outside of design, I like to spend my time improving at Bouldering. I try and go twice a week, it’s a great way to relax and get fit at the same time, It’s also a great sport to set personal challenges and goals.
Flo’s Top Tips:
· Don’t rush into a job, make sure it is the right place for you!
· Believe in yourself / Confidence is important
· Internships are a great way to get a feel for a place, the people, the work and general mantra, the more you can do the better in my eyes. It’s time spent finding the best place for you
· If D&AD didn’t quite work out for you, be brave and send your work to the agencies you love, tell them why and hope for a response
· It’s not a competition, everyone is different, everyone goes at their own pace, try not to be disheartened If you are the last of your mates to land a job
· Personality is just as important — be nice and smile, it will get you a long way
· Something Stefan Sagmeister once said to me ‘Interviews are just as scary for the interviewer, they have an important decision to make too’
· Tailor your portfolio to the agency you’re applying to, keep it short and sweet, don’t include projects that aren’t relevant
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Words: Florence Wilson
Florence is a Designer at Interstate.
