Music - Craig Oldham

Craig Oldham has only been graduated from university for 3 years. He worked at The Chase for a few years, within his first 12 months of working at The Chase he decided to produce a booklet of his encounter. His booklet was mainly about the lessons that he learnt whilst working at The Chase.
Craig's theory in graphic design is that you are one of two types of designers, Bunch A or Bunch B.

Bunch A - logical designers that do things that have an obvious purpose in life. For example toilet signs.

Bunch B - emotional deignersthat use everyform of communication possible, to build an emotional connection between the design and its audience.

Having being asked this question, thinking about it im not sure what catagry of designer i would fall in to. I think alot of people sat watching the lecture also felt the same as me, so i wasn't on my own. Craig also went on to talk about having different strenghts and weaknesses as a designer. He talked about when you are at your first ever placement you ill often say yes to anything you get asked by designer, even making endless cups of tea. He expressed that although this may be boring it is very good in the process of being accepted in the design industry. He did also say that you need to be fairly honest when accepting challenging tasks, like if you get asked to build a website and you are weak at this area, dont just accept to impress someone. If you are unsure of your abilities then say so, this way you won't make a fool of yourself or disapoint someone. Placements are very imporatant as you get a change to practice your abilities and also learn at the same time, it also enables you to get your name out and there.

Craig had a few do's and don'ts of placements:

Do's
- an insight toa real graphic design agency
- real work
- meet new and interesting people
- improve your tea making skills (VERY important to craig ha)
- build confidence
- remind you of your abilties

Dont's
- loss of money
- could be away for a long peroid of time and could be on your own
- taken advantage of

Whilst at the agency Craig said to make sure:
- you are punctual
- to make sure you are always enthusiastic
-to be noone other than yourself
-make sure you spell peoples names right!!

Another one of Craigs usefull tips was to make sure you keep in touch with people you have met along the way. share ideas with people, dont just hide them and not let anyone else see, everyone knows everyone in the design world. He also said to invite critisim towards your work. Don't be scared to ask people about your work, you never know it mite improve your idea.

I really enjoyed Craig's lecture and it has helped my way of thinking and will do so in the future.