Reform Creative

This past week, my placement with Manchester based graphic design studio, Reform Creative was an experience I will never forget. As arranged with creative director, Paul Heaton, my hours were from 9 am until 6 pm throughout the week. I was eager to see what it was like to be in an environment with such a talented, highly class graphic design agency. I arrived on Monday morning feeling excited but also slightly nervous. As I walked up the four flights of stairs, I gazed at the lift placed in the centre of the staircase, which reminded me of the Tower of Terror ride in the United States. As I knocked on the studio’s door, Rich Smalley, one of two designers, greeted me.

As I hung my coat up, I was then introduced to Chris Forrester. He was the other designer. Both Rich and Chris made me feel at home straight away. After knowing them for two minutes, I new the next five days were going to be fun. Soon after, Paul arrived to the studio. We both sat down and discussed what the week ahead would involve and what tasks were planned. Paul explained some briefs the studio had with no real deadlines was key for me to work on as I would have an idea of what its like on a real life brief. Also, to a standard of acceptance regarding the quality of work for a major client was important.

One of the briefs set was by theatre group Contact. There ten year anniversary is due and Reform was asked to involve this in there current logo. Paul advised me to do some research on Contact and get a good idea of who they are, what they do and what they aim to do. After a morning of browsing there website, I noticed they focus on young adults aged between 13 and 30. Some of the activities involved theatre, dance, poetry, music and fashion.

I began to mess around with the logo and try new ways of involving the number ten. I tried this with the word and number. The stages of progression were slow but Paul reminded me the process would be a journey like my previous work in my portfolio. In the afternoon, Paul gathered myself, Rich and Chris together for a meeting regarding ongoing briefs and where the agency was with each deadline. I was amazed to see how much work Reform had. Around thirty to forty jobs were live and what impressed me the most was the team had all of them covered and new what direction needed to be taken on each brief. The team was also interested in what I had to say regarding there ideas and on going work. This made me feel part of the team a great deal.

As the day ended, it seemed the nine hours felt like one. The next two days involved me working on the Contact brief, figuring out the right way to send the correct message involving the tenth anniversary in the logo. As my research came along, I noticed some Coca-Cola illustrations, which I was eager to involve in my work. I began to draw some youthful objects like a trainer, a hooded top and a television. My idea was for these objects to look like they were bursting out the logo and making up the shape of the number ten. As more objects were drawn, I began to see a small paten evolve. I successfully drew an iPod, which then gave me the idea of using the outline of the ten as the headphones with the objects placed inside them.

Paul was very eager for me to push this idea forward, which inspired me even more. As the objects were all drawn and grouped, Paul and I felt it was a good idea to use the same typeface as the logo for the word ’’years’’ placed under the ten. As the logo was hand drawn, I needed to take the elements from the letters c, o, n, t, a, c, and t and make the word year in the same typeface. After a number of efforts with the help of Paul, the challenge of drawing a typeface was completed. The next task was to involve some colours to give the piece a lift from the page. After making a number of different colour combinations, I was very happy with the outcome. Paul did explain the chances of the work being used is small due to the image scaled down would not function or look right. Paul did however explain he would be sending the work to Contact for a possible poster campaign.

While working on the Contact brief, I improved my Illustrator skills a great deal. Shortcuts, quicker ways of working solutions out and making the software easier to use was great for me to learn. As I was sat next to Paul in the studio, I was shocked to see the amount of e-mails he received from students and designers with there work. What impressed me the most was Paul always found time to look through each e-mail and work even though he had a busy schedule. One morning, Paul received a letter and some pieces of work from a second year student. All though the e mails sent to Paul looked very good, the way the girl had gone about sending the work made her stand out a great deal. She had sent five to six pieces around A6 size with a letter stating her passion for design and how she has been using Reform as a resource on a weekly basis. She also stated her fascination with the agency and was eager for a two week placement. For myself, this gave me some ideas on how to stand out in the crowd when wanting to be noticed.

As the last day was near, I woke up feeling a little sad after spending the week with the team. All though I was very proud of my work and what I have gained, I felt sad that I would not be able to spend more time with the team on an everyday basis. As the day consisted of me finishing my work, myself, Rich, Chris and Paul all had a nice relaxed afternoon. Paul explained in morning he regards placements as freelancers and I was pleasantly surprised to receive a £50 cheque for my trouble. This made me feel very proud having Reform Creative as placement. Besides me gaining experience and good work to go in my portfolio, I have also gained three great friends and will forever be grateful for there time and effort in helping me understand the industry.