6B2/6D2
The brief was to create a magazine celebrating Leeds art scene for a photographer within the university. The purpose was create a visual guide to student life, painting Leeds as a city with an interesting and alternative creative scene. The main objective was to highlight the student's photography and present it in the best possible light.
I was put in touch with this student by a mutual friend. We met for lunch and discussed the brief together and the kind's of things she wanted and her general aesthetic. I entered the meeting with several questions about the audience, it's purpose, where it would be sold/picked up and things like that. The main issue with this meeting was that the student did not know herself really what she wanted for the publication. She had a collection of photographs which were all loosely tied together with no accompanying information or theme. They were images around Leeds but nothing more specific than that. This should have been a warning signal for me as without much direction, I was approaching the project using guess work. She also contacted me quite close to her deadline, because the designer she'd contacted previously had dropped out (I found out later). This limited timescale was also a concern yet still I took the project on - believing I would use it as an extended practice project.
I found I was doing a lot of research about the places she'd photographed - trying to link them together into a guide format - whereas I should have been spending more time on the design work. This did not feel like a collaboration, it felt like something I had to fix. I didn't feel excited by it, I felt stressed. After doing some research, I formatted the images into a contemporary magazine, giving the images title pages and filling the space well. I sent this over to her and she only wanted moderate changes - which seemed good. However, a few days before her deadline she read the brief that the photography department had set her for this publication, for the first time, and realised that our publication did not match the criteria. It had too many pages, not enough images and was not the correct size. As a result I found myself spending the day/evening in the photography studios trying to recreate the publication to the correct standard, with very little input by the photography student though-out. The end result was something I was not proud of but it met the requirements and was an achievement given the pressure of getting it done.
This debacle could have easily been avoided if I had seen this brief in our initial meeting, but mistakenly I had assumed she was providing me with all the information she had. From this experience I have learnt several things which I will be using in future collaborations/commissions:
The brief was to create a magazine celebrating Leeds art scene for a photographer within the university. The purpose was create a visual guide to student life, painting Leeds as a city with an interesting and alternative creative scene. The main objective was to highlight the student's photography and present it in the best possible light.
I was put in touch with this student by a mutual friend. We met for lunch and discussed the brief together and the kind's of things she wanted and her general aesthetic. I entered the meeting with several questions about the audience, it's purpose, where it would be sold/picked up and things like that. The main issue with this meeting was that the student did not know herself really what she wanted for the publication. She had a collection of photographs which were all loosely tied together with no accompanying information or theme. They were images around Leeds but nothing more specific than that. This should have been a warning signal for me as without much direction, I was approaching the project using guess work. She also contacted me quite close to her deadline, because the designer she'd contacted previously had dropped out (I found out later). This limited timescale was also a concern yet still I took the project on - believing I would use it as an extended practice project.
I found I was doing a lot of research about the places she'd photographed - trying to link them together into a guide format - whereas I should have been spending more time on the design work. This did not feel like a collaboration, it felt like something I had to fix. I didn't feel excited by it, I felt stressed. After doing some research, I formatted the images into a contemporary magazine, giving the images title pages and filling the space well. I sent this over to her and she only wanted moderate changes - which seemed good. However, a few days before her deadline she read the brief that the photography department had set her for this publication, for the first time, and realised that our publication did not match the criteria. It had too many pages, not enough images and was not the correct size. As a result I found myself spending the day/evening in the photography studios trying to recreate the publication to the correct standard, with very little input by the photography student though-out. The end result was something I was not proud of but it met the requirements and was an achievement given the pressure of getting it done.
This debacle could have easily been avoided if I had seen this brief in our initial meeting, but mistakenly I had assumed she was providing me with all the information she had. From this experience I have learnt several things which I will be using in future collaborations/commissions:
- To accept the brief only if I believe I can do a good job within the time given, without digging into my personal life/free time.
- To enter into the initial meeting with a list of very specific questions about the brief - similar to HAWRAF (write this in future).
- To be direct with the client/collaborator, tell them exactly what I need if they have not given me enough and force them to make decisions so I can create good work.
- To not act as their graphic design mule if I'm not being paid! This collaboration was uni based and so I was not paid for it. However, in the last stint when I came in the day before her deadline, I was only there to help her get the project done - it was no longer my responsibility and this was more like a favour. Which would have been fine if I had been treated with more respect. I hope to ask her for photography assistance in future so that this debt is returned.
- To set out ahead of time what will happen if the project needs last minuet changes -what this will cost and at what point this cuts off. I am the kind of person who would usually want to help finish a project in any way that I can, in order to make it high quality and build a good relationship with the client - yet I need to decide when ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
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