TO COVER:
When I started this year I had 3 goals to achieve: Trusting my ideas (had a time with a huge lack of confidence and creative rigidness, but eventually I realised that the best ideas are the ones that have work), Try out different stuff (done it with the book and GameDen) and Networking (done it trying to contact the people I am interested in instead of going to events I am not interested in). I think I managed to achieve these three requirements I've set myself in my own way.
Overview engagement with real world
First try to engage with professional work was to participate in the workshop Broadening Horizons. At the end of it, we had to pitch an idea for the Leeds Film Festival staff. The winners got to work in the event filming and doing interviews. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. But I knew people from other universities, disciplines and learned a lot in 2 days.
On November I thought it was time to update my LinkedIn profile and establish contact with the people I already knew. That allowed the system to use my profile and suggest it to other users, which made other people to contact me. Also, it allowed me to find people I'm interested in and start a conversation, like Gemma Solana, the co-author of a book I used for my COP essay. In extension, I also worked on my Twitter and Behance. This allowed me to reach Antonio Boneu, film director and co-author of the book previously mentioned. They are both in Barcelona, the city I would like to work in.
Working on my different profiles in social media made me realise that for the future I will need a website to link all together, as I was starting to find out that some people I am interested in don't have websites or they don't clearly show how to connect with them in different social media. I created my website, linked it to my Behance profile for more convinience and bought the domain with my name: alexzorita.com
One of the things I started to do is to create a list of the studios and companies I would be interested in working at. There's a risk in following them on Twitter or LinkedIn, that they can always delete their accounts. Besides, it's not possible to follow someone on LinkedIn and to keep track of it. It's only possible with companies.
I've been assisting to three workshops during the two assessment weeks on January. They were about CVs, Cover Letters and job hunting. It was very interesting and the information will be very useful when looking for a job. Also, they offer support for this matter, so if I struggle doing all this I will contact them, which compensates the simplicity of the workshops.
E-mailed everyone: doesn't work. Coming up with a plan of origami letter for studios abroad and I will turn up for local studios.
But e-mail has been useful for other stuff. For instance, I mailed the website of spanish republicans about the work i did last year and they published it, giving me exposure.
Twitter made an anecdote to happen. I shared my book there, the group of fans of this musician found out about it and shared it on Facebook. A musician found the book, and he thought it was a mass produced copy. He got a bit upset, and published this on his profile:
"With all the work we put into music and now they publish a book of Carlos Núñez... How disgraceful is our generation", complaining about how difficult is to be a musician with such a figure.
In every talk I've always tried to ask interesting question or to stay at the end of the talk to have a chat with the speaker. I did it with Claire from Studio 12, Dan from Saul studio, Chloe in Berlin, the Portuguese girl at Pentagram... sometimes you just have a nice chat, and sometimes they refer you to someone else, give you a contact, have feedback on your work, etc.
Another interesting anecdote happened in Domestika, a Spanish website for creatives. They have a forum and I posted a thread in the Graphic Design section called "From LCA to Barcelona" asking if it's a good idea going back to Spain considering the work conditions and salaries. NO ONE REPLIED! I thought that maybe changing the name of the title would encourage people to give me their opinions. I renamed it as: "I left Spain and I don't know if I can come back". It suddenly became, by far, the thread with more interactions and likes in the forum.
Thanks to that thread I met and interviewed a professional for SB2.
There has been a lot of try and error, but thanks to all this I've been able to find out about placements, strategies, etc.
At the beginning I wanted to move to Barcelona when I finish, but after talking with many professionals from different parts of Spain, UK and in Berlin I now know that the best thing to do is to gather experience and clients here and then move somewhere else.
Overview of practice
I firstly focused on cinematography, as it is my original passion. Projects like COP, focusing on title sequences, allowed me to find bridges between film and graphic design, which has made me approach graphic design from a different perspective. More conscious about what I want to do.
With other projects, giving a step back in my practice and trying to do new stuff that I wouldn't normally do has helped me to identify what is the practice I want to focus on... maybe not entirely, but now when I see a job offer I know how appropriate it might be for me. For instance, now I know that I want to work not only in jobs related to cinematography, but also in branding, art direction and strategy.
One thing that Austin Kleon says in his book "Show your work" is "notice to be noticed". I use twitter to share things related with design, but also to share other peoples work. I always make sure I let them know I am sharing their stuff. They might get back and say something about it or not, but just visiting my profile and having my website accessible is a way of inviting others to see my work. Also, when I speak to someone for a while I always ask that person to check my work. Basically, I try to show my work without being weird about it.
Some weeks ago I decided to identify what my Unique Selling Point was. This was suggested in one of the workshops I attended to. After doing several exercises to find out what it is, I can tell that my USP is... obsession. I get obsessed with stuff, and that is what makes me thrive. 5 years ago I got obsessed with studying graphic design in England, and here I am. Obsession drives my career. When I get obsessed about something, I don't stop until I learn quite a lot about that subject. The downside is that I am sometimes too ambitious, but I am happy being too ambitious rather than being not ambitious at all.
Overview of my learning (compare work between 1st year and 2nd year)
I learn something new everyday, so it's quite difficult for me to make a list of all the thing I've learned during this year. For some reason I really enjoy design theories, so COP, which in principle seems the most boring module, is the one I enjoy the most. Although, I got quite obsessed with PPP this year, which has had a positive impact on my understanding of how the creative industries work.
I started updating the information I have on LinkedIn, and like i said before, it took me to work on my twitter, website and so on. That obsession of getting it perfect, bridged and working made me learn a lot about how I can use the different platforms for different purposes. For instance, Twitter is a great place to start a conversation without being a weirdo. If you comment something in other people's content in Facebook... well, you are a weirdo.
If I had to highlight one skill I'm becoming aware of is Art Direction. I've started doing it by accident in responsive and the others in my group appreciated it whilst I was doing what I liked. Maybe I will not be one the greatest graphic designers, and that's fine by me. Because I really like others that are better than me making stuff with my ideas.
Overview future (summer, L6)
With all I have done this year (making sure I have presence online) I feel more confident to go out "in the real world" and start moving around. I've started to experience how well it works to give away your website on a business card or writing it down. I've applied for several placements and when they ask for your portfolio it always creates a good impression to give your name followed by "dot com".
This summer I will keep trying to find places to do placements, and since I'll have more time, I intend to make phone calls or turn up personally. If not, the letter I have planned can always do the job. I have a huge list (image of donald trump saying "It's a huge list, folks") of designers and studios I am interested in and one of the things I want to do before contacting them is to shortlist my favourites so I can put more time and effort in them.
On level 6 I have the temptation of focusing of branding because it is a field I am really interested in, but I am not sure if it is "my thing". I might find another approach to cinematography, but I don't know yet. I really want to take advantage of the program "What next" as 3rd years have priority in booking those sessions in.
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