PP Script

PP Presentation Script INTRO My work in level 5 focused on building my product line and the day to day running of my shop, and my feedback advised me that to truly progress in that field I need to get myself out there, contact other businesses and all in all, be less insular.

So this year’s goal has been to push myself by expanding my sales and promotion platforms from just one shop, learning the legalities of how to do that safely, professionalising my creative presence and planning a proactive future.

PART ONE SLIDE 2 ThereMy first step of proactively getting myself out there was to contact a relevant brand to ask whether I could do some freelance work for them. They’re an enamel pin company so I attached a few photos of the pins I’ve designed. It resulted in a commission for the death before decaf collection, which I asked my name to be put to as a collaboration.

I’ve meant to contact indie retailers for a long time, and I’ve finally begun. I’ll be stocking greetings cards in the Bowery and have put together a list of further outlets.

SLIDE 3 In December I literally got out there, attending my first craft fair as a seller. A london christmas craft fair. I thought I may as well throw myself in at the deep end. The pressure to be amongst so many well branded and experienced sellers lead me to thoroughly consider the appearance of my stall, from rustic elements to chalk lettered signage.

SLIDE 4 Speaking from a new platform. I was invited onto The Creative Leap podcast to discuss how I kickstarted my career and the day to day responsibilities I have. I’m very passionate about encouraging younger students to follow their passions so I’m open with my process and really enjoyed the platform. I will be linking the episode on my portfolio About page and I’m linking students to it when they email me about my shop. It taught me a lot about preparing for an interview too - plan answers!

SLIDE 5 My pop up exhibition at Ollie Quinn Leeds made me consider how I would present my practice to a completely new audience. I drew a lot of inspiration from the craft

fair setup. I realised I just didn’t have a series of prints like you would expect from an illustrator, and even as a giftware designer that’s something I wanted to change. I would now exhibit the Valencia collection I developed in Extended Practice.

SLIDE 6 + 7 And then finally my placement at UK Greetings opened my eyes to the experience of working under direction for somebody else, and the culture of a studio environment. I loved it. It was really interesting to see all the different departments that are involved in creating greetings cards. I was placed in the humour department which obviously was very flattering but made me realise that I do try to bring tone of voice into everything I make, and this is a skillset to include in my portfolio and intern based upon.

PART 2 SLIDE 8 So, now I’m approaching people and actively expanding my platform I better look the part. I have a functional portfolio that’s live, but I wanted to spend time designing a bespoke layout that brought more personality. I’ll be creating it with WIX for customisability. Details like the shop front header and archive to scroll reference the fact I’m a giftware designer. With what I do it’s important for my portfolio to look personal too, so details like the logo writing itself and sparks sparking when you click a project are important.

SLIDE 9 Around November I had a lookbook shoot for my shop. Photos are used across my platforms and branding material as well as on the shop website. It’s necessary to have professional photos to go along with interviews or magazine features. The lookbook took a ‘day in the life’ style shoot aiming to both humanise Sighh as a brand and show clients my day job.

SLIDE 10 On Instagram I’ve been marketing my upcoming collections by not only posting illustration photos more often but utilising the stories feature to involve my following in the making process. I’ve seen a large response from doing so, not only is it nice to share process but it really explains the outcomes and brings meaning to the collections for customers.

You can now save stories as permanent collections, which I’ve done with the Valencia collection, and I think it adds dimension to Instagram as a portfolio platform.

I plan to further write up the process of each project on my blog to keep the portfolio descriptions refined but build up the community of design students who engage and support what I do. Be a human, give your customers something they didn’t pay for.

SLIDE 11 Now I look more professional, how can I behave so?

I’ve attended numerous AOI, Career track Tuesday and Start up Wednesday talks which have been very informative. I’ve been testing what we’ve been told over the commissions I’ve done this year, such as how to put together a quote and the importance of having agreements down on paper.

I’ve worked in three ways: royalties every quarter, a one time pay off and selling a piece of merchandise as a collaboration.

Punky Pins regularly take on freelancers so they basically dictated the percentage I would get from sales. It was a surprise to learn the designer gets 10%. When I hired designers I gave them 50%.

With Sanne and Evan neither were well versed in organising freelance work so it was my responsibility to figure out a good system. With Evan it was a one time illustration I was happy to be paid off for, even though the AOI says you should organise a license or royalties it just didn’t seem feasible.

SLIDE 12 + 13 For UKG I didn’t know the expectations at all, but I asked for my rights over what I produced on the placement before designing anything and they licenced me as a freelancer which resulted in a proper contract, even though it took 8 months to arrive.

Sometimes people are just slow, but as we had an informal agreement that I could sell the cards too I wanted to make bloody sure I wasn’t going to get surprise sued.

SLIDE 14 Dealing with copyright infringement is something I was eager to learn as it happens fairly often when it comes to giftware. The solicitor who came in for a talk essentially said it would never be worth fighting due to legal fees. So I’ve had to figure out ways of getting items taken down smoothly.

Often when I contact the sellers directly they’re young and think they can get away with it so there’s no use. It’s much smoother to go to their website host who has procedures in place. Unfortunately with overseas art theft it’s just impossible without a legal team and a lot of anger so I need to be careful about the manufacturers I use.

PART 3 SLIDE 15 So with this proactive, professionalised approach what is my game plan?

UKG made me realise how much I enjoy a studio environment. The pressure of a creative director is exhausting but I worked so much faster than on my own. After talking to friends in the industry it seems Hallmark is almost a right of passage so I would also like to placement there. I’ve been looking on job boards and found descriptions for jobs that sound ideal to me so my plan is to placement at least once every three months.

I’m developing a network of friends in the industry who have offered contacts.

Spoken to ADS and Cat who recommend coaching. I got in touch with Cat Lobo as she also freelances for Punky Pins. She designs a lot of Skinny Dip products and has offered to pass on emails.

Networking in person and on social media is paramount for advice support. I went to the craft fair with six sellers and could hopefully get my foot in the door from knowing companies’ previous freelancers. It’s how business works!

SLIDE 16 + 17 But my main job will be the focus for the next year. There are two large projects I will be working on post graduation. First is a line of ceramics Secondly is a large range of planners and stationery informed by my COP research.

My aim is to pitch these large projects to retailers simultaneously so that I can have wholesale orders to help fund the making, like a writer pitches their book to publishers before finishing it.

Although I’m excited to intern and learn new skills, I can’t let go of the opportunity that Sighh could bring. If I can build up Sighh into a brand that is regularly stocked I can develop that into collaborations between our companies, producing exclusive ranges. I will focus on Sighh, promoting my name as an illustrator alongside and see where that takes me.