Simon Shaw - Navyblue

As I gather more portfolio visits, I had recently reflected my London trip in May when I went to see the FBH Incite and the Chase. I felt getting some more opinions outside Manchester was vital as showing work to local agencies can have a similar response. I thought about making another visit to London but it was announced by my tutors that as a group, we’d be travelling there in March. I decided to contact a number of agencies in Edinburgh and was successful to arrange a talk with Design Director Simon Shaw from Navyblue through my tutor Guy Lawrence, as they were friends. As I arrived, I was surprised to see the structure and design of the building.  I introduced myself to the receptionist and was welcomed. As I sat on the first floor waiting for Simon to finish his meeting, I was fascinated with the amount of awards Navyblue had achieved.

As I introduced myself to Simon, we began by talking about the building. He explained that the bottom floor is a gallery exhibiting fine artists every two to three months. He said that feature gained some publicity for the agency, which was interesting.  As I began to discuss my portfolio, Simon was greatly interested in my creative journey from my diploma of Fine Art to my current stage of the degree. I began to talk through my work very slowly and explained the process of each piece.  I felt explaining my work with an upbeat attitude and less negativity (like Stephen Owen had advised from my visit with Love Creative) was important and Simon was happy to see my positive character. He enjoyed the Ringo Starr print and made some great comments on all my work.

We discussed some ideas regarding the Metro work as I described the brief as an ongoing project. Simon understood my three ideas I presented and he explained the areas I could improve on and take further. I noticed a difference in myself when talking about my work, as I felt more confident in the meaning of my ideas and Simon could clearly see that I was proud of my portfolio. He explained that having a positive attitude and a good portfolio is important in the industry as your response to criticism determines how good of a designer you are.  As we reached the end of my work, we talked about how to get a job with an agency as big as Navyblue. Once again, Simon explained that being positive and having determination was vital.

As Simon shown me around the studio, I was surprised to see how the agency worked. Artwork and ideas are discussed within a group of six designers and one creative director. As I looked around the very large office space, I noticed around four to five meeting areas and I gathered having a number of opinions generated the progression of work. As I thanked Simon for his time, he asked me to stay in touch and make another visit for when I graduate.