OUGD502 Creative Report - Evaluation (Studio Brief One)

I found this project incredibly interesting as I've never been set a task before to research solely into design studios and not their work. In this process, I found out about lots of different design studios all over the country and all over the world. I was particularly fond of the studio Instruct and the studio Studio DBD, both based in Manchester. Both of these studios really enticed me as their work was in a very similar style to mine, and their ethos was something that I like to think is my own ethos - they don't specialise in any specific style of design, they don't limit their ways of working, whether that be digital or by hand. 

I based my creative report on the design agency Studio DBD. I chose to focus on this specific design studio because I really liked their portfolio, and they are local to both Leeds and Warrington, so therefore I could potentially get an internship or some work experience with them in the future. I’m particularly proud of my creative report, as it was very conceptual. It used minimal colours to keep printing costs low, and it also didn’t have a consistent grid system used through-out the publication. This was the concept, as Studio DBD is a design studio that doesn’t have one particular style, so I made each double page spread very different, however used the same colour scheme to keep the publications flow and fluidity. 

I think the questions that I asked Studio DBD were very relevant to the studio, as I researched into Dave Sedgwick previously so I could ask original questions, and questions that he hasn't answered in previous articles or interviews. His answers that he gave for my interview were really inspiring to me, such as:

“Get your shit in order early on, so a decent accountant, job filling system, back up system etc. Take on loads of work at first, but don’t pitch yourselves as cheap or low price. You’ll always be known as that if you do so. Build up a good portfolio of work by going the extra mile on all your projects. Work hard, stay safe and try to enjoy it.” 

This was really inspiring as these are things that we didn’t really consider in great detail for the Taking Care of Business task, and it something that I would definitely have to consider in the future if I were to set up my own design studio. 

Overall, I think that my time management for this brief was really well executed, as I emailed multiple design studios and the studio that I wanted to respond the most responded straight away. I am also really proud of my final creative report publication, and it will be a good experience as I am going to send a copy to Studio DBD and see if I can get some feedback.