8 minute read
Daniel Martinez Da Cruz.
DANIEL MARTINEZ DA CRUZ
Production Coordinator at Tearfund In-House Design Consultancy
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My name is Daniel Martinez da Cruz and I work as the Production Coordinator at an international charity called Tearfund. I have also been working with young people on a voluntary basis for over 11 years and have taken over the running/management of the youth group for the past 3 years. I am 27 years old, married to beautiful Aelysh and have a daughter, Ivy, who is just over 1 years old.
I initially applied for a Production Assistant/Studio Manager role, as my dad worked for Tearfund for a long time, also part of the reason why I lived in Brazil for 2 years when I was younger. Tearfund deals in international aid and relief, but tries to focus more on education and empowerment so that people can be helped out of poverty. Tearfund wants people to be skilled and to have a functioning infrastructure for them to carry on improving and thriving in life. We like it when people don't say ‘thank you’, as this means they have come out empowered, full of self-belief and with new skills and methodologies for living and earning long term. This is why I chose to apply for Tearfund.
I work in the in-house design consultancy called Brand and Communications, consisting of 6 Designers, 6 Copywriters, 7 people in the Digital Team and 4 of us in Creative Services. I started mainly with studio management, which mainly included scoping out projects with other team leaders and managing the ‘Creatives’. Knowledge of the creative process really helped me in this role so I could get involved in conversations around projects and accurately book in time for the team.
My role was later split into two positions. I applied for the Production Coordinator role so that I could concentrate 100% on that side of the job, which I had previously been working on for around 40% of my time. Production at Tearfund can often be very busy as it requires managing the majority of print and mailing jobs globally for the organisation, including overseeing the printed elements of projects from leaflets, posters and some more complex packs to large crowd banners, t-shirts and branded items for events. This also involves sourcing goods from the Far-East, constantly learning about new printing and manufacturing techniques that solves a ‘we can’t do that’ problem, keeping up to date in the paper-printing world as paper mills and industrial printers are opening/closing all the time and making sure everything is delivered to the right place at the right time with the correct splits per address.
Getting to grips with the different types of printing (Litho, Digital, HP Indigo, Webpress) and all that comes with it; like bindings, paper types, finishing, collation orders etc. is one thing, but mailings was a whole new world to me. Tearfund doesn’t produce as many physical items anymore as we try our best to reduce our carbon footprint (as the environment is one of the biggest contributors for people living in poverty); so we mainly produce things digitally or printed goods. As we have a major focus on education we often have to put together mailings to be sent globally to partners, supporters and people working in the field. Posting things in my opinion has a nice constraint to projects, as you're constantly trying to balance budget, dimensions and weight whilst trying to create a mail-pack that sometimes needs to be eye-catching depending on the goals of that mail-pack.
I still hear this in my dreams, from Wyn (Griffiths), ‘Make sure the project is at a finished stage by next week, so we can then refine it further’. It is hard to be told that you have 6 weeks for a project and not fall into the trap of only finishing 50% of the concept/ job by week 3. However, if you can finish 100% of the job by then, you have three weeks of refinement, to explore and make improvements and even work on your portfolio and presentation boards for hand-in etc. Trust me when I say this, as I was not a great finisher of things and liked to explore techniques, materials and generally experiment for hours; and found putting together presentations boards difficult due to poor-time management, at times.
Don’t be afraid to look at other people’s work (in person or online) as an example. I never had a clue how to make a presentation board, how to begin laying something out etc. It was only in the last year I think I started to get the hang of it a bit more; but it was by looking at other people's portfolios and taking elements like the way they laid out their sketches, how they split their page up, the use of colour and transparency etc. I think I often thought that I had to come up with everything entirely myself, when actually things like this are not my strongest skill but play a major part in first impressions when presenting a concept for example. Don’t get me wrong though, there is a line between 5% innovation and copying something; claiming the patterns, materials, form, finish are yours when they have been pulled from another obscure product. Ahmed and Wyn do a great job of checking these things, so don't be tempted. On the other hand we can use other peoples’ work for reference and don’t be afraid to do that, but it will often require you to analyse the reasoning behind it, rather than a straight copy. If you are ever unsure, just ask. I didn’t ask enough at times in case I came across as naive or incompetent. Wyn and the team wouldn’t think that of you, and even if they did, blow them away with your improvement, progress and products - and prove them wrong.
It is a massive learning curve every year, but trust that the pressure being put on you will help you expand your capabilities. The facilities are there to be used so use them as much as possible. The team is there to help, including everyone in the workshop and in different departments of the university. Also, get to know the staff in the material shop/store (near the workshop). They may not be the people in the workshop showing you how to weld or use the machinery, but they have knowledge of the materials you are needing, how you may be able to achieve something with a different material and occasionally did favours for me when they didn't need to, I think because they cared and were shown respect.
Guest lectures was something I didn’t look forward to, most of the time, and just wanted to get home on a Thursday evening. However, these were key to where I am today. I had this constant niggle at the back of my head of not wanting to work in a design studio setting as I felt I would need to travel daily to the far reaches of East London (from Heathrow where I live), signing my social life and general life away and perhaps even never come home again due to working all day and night. The Guest Lecturers however, were extremely insightful into the possibilities of what I could do with my skills and the diverse routes within industry.
Tearfund for me works well, I still use a lot of creativity in problem solving and more generally around material considerations; but the role also has a major corporate association with the emails, meetings, sitting in an office etc. We don't have slides, ping-pong tables and free smoothies, but it works for me. I work 9-5, can work flexibly from home if needed (especially since COVID) and my bosses empower me and encourage me to learn more, explore and upskill. It also means I have the structure in place to carry on my youth work, start a family, and importantly, see my family!
Don’t get me wrong, not all studios are like this at all; I have heard some places are highly demanding, but are amazing places to learn and can work for you, so don’t write them off. I don’t have that experience but definitely encourage you to ask around from people that have worked in those settings.
Follow Daniel on Instagram @daniel_martinez_da_cruz
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dcruzdesign/
Check-Out tearfund: www.tearfund.org
Article from #MDXPD: 5 Years On (Class of 2016), #MDXPD 2021 p.51-52
