Florio Design

During my visit to New York, I finally made my long awaited portfolio visit with Linda Florio at Florio Design. Finding the location was slightly tricky but I arrived on time, Sol, who was a designer at the studio, greeted me in the studio. As I thanked them for seeing me, Linda, Sol and I sat down discussing the industry and what to expect when graduating and looking for that golden first job. Linda was fantastic and explained the smaller areas in the industry, which students may not be told from many practitioners. She explained that creativity is key but also knowing all aspects of graphic design is vital as the subject is bigger than it ever was. Editorial design, typography, layout and keeping up to date on all the latest software’s are just some of the skills you need to make a living in the business. Linda talked about how design is all around us wherever we go.

Advertising is getting larger with print as companies go a further step to stand out in the crowed. The bigger the ad, the more noticeable it is. Another area, which seems to be expanding is less print based products and more digital layouts. Linda advised that as a young designer, it’s vital to know as much as you can with web design and moving image, as that is where the future lies within graphic design. As I presented my work, Linda and Sol seemed very positive. As every design piece was slowly talked through and shown, their reactions made me feel very proud. In the past, I have not impressed someone so much until my visit with Linda and when she congratulated me having a strong portfolio, I was motivated to work harder on future designs.

One particular piece of work which we discussed was the Ping Pong project. Linda felt that the illustrated lines which represented the game worked well but the execution could be better. Linda suggested that taking it away from a poster campaign to some invitations or a moving image may work better. Using different colours, strokes of brushes from illustrator and the amount of lines used could help turn the idea to a series of ads of whatever appliance I felt worked best. The Harvey Nicholas tea box seemed to be a positive reaction to both Linda and Sol.They explained that the idea communicates very quickly but I should think about getting some better images for displaying the piece in my portfolio.

As we came to the end of our visit, Linda said it was a pleasure for myself and Andy calling to the studio. I myself was grateful for her time and advice and I plan to use the visit as research within what to expect when I graduate. As we thanked Linda, we left the studio with smiles on our faces, which would last the whole day. I would love to work for an agency such as Florio Design and living in New York would be a pleasure for anyone, especially myself. I had never thought about the prospect of working overseas before now and I feel it would be interesting looking into this as another option.