Wednesday 28 April 2010

Russell Hancock



I left this lecture feeling totally inspired and motivated, it was encouraging to hear Russell’s journey into design, the mistakes he made and his advice about assessing free work thoroughly before taking it on. He gave mixed reviews about free work discussing its good and bad points. The good points being how it can build a relationship with a client who may return as a paying customer, the bad points being that the clients will take advantage and could possibly rip off or edit your work without your consent.

The terms and conditions and various other forms he discussed and gave us were completely invaluable, it was scary taking a step in the direction of actually understanding how to become self-employed, deal with clients and cover your own back by getting that all important signature. 

It was reassuring hearing how you don’t have to move to London and work in a studio to be a successful graphic designer; clients are everywhere, as every industry needs design.

Being aware of your limits as a designer is important, finding a balance between work and your life so you don’t overwork yourself and make yourself ill or ruin relationships. A good piece of advice, which could generally benefit everybody’s attributes, is making yourself in disposable, being helpful and willing to take the rubbish out or put up shelves will make you more a more reliable and valued employee.

A useful piece of information he gave us which was very helpful was the idea of the ‘Theatre of Design’ where you have to paint every picture for the client because they don’t think and visualise things how designers do, mock-ups are exceptionally important for clients to see work over a range of media.

General good correspondence, keeping in touch and being remembered are good points to refer back to so clients and potential clients know you’re genuinely interested and willing to take on more work. 

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