OUGD602 - Placement

I wanted to go on a placement that would be appropriate for my decision to focus on editorial design. To do this is contacted a wide range of sources from magazines and publishing houses to design studios with no avail.

Later on in the year I received a promising reply from a guy named Ash who works for ASBO magazine. We spoke briefly by email however he soon asked to speak to me on the phone.

When I asked Ash whether it would be possible to spend some time working at the magazine, learning about the role of a graphic designer. He agreed and offered to let me spend time working with their creative director who designs the magazine as well as work on producing a website that was in line with the magazines aesthetics. After speaking to Ash on the phone I went to London to discuss what I would be doing further.

I decided to look more into ASBO magazine online to see what the would have to offer me. I found that their target audience is young creatives and the focus on being able to give them a voice and a chance to produce work for a magazine. The identity of the site was dated however, over the phone Ash spoke about how the were looking to update it, which could be something I got involved it.

There were a number of things discussed at the last meeting

- Will spend 2 weeks with the team in June shadowing the creative director

-do one day a week on ASBO work researching website design and thinking about how the can be translated into the new site.

- start producing ideas to show Ash and the creative director.

-Come down as often as I can to accompany the team on photoshoots

The next time I went down to London for a weekend I was able to spend more time with Ash and the rest of the team. Here I learnt more about the magazine and their plans to expand in the future. This gave me an insight into what life as a creative director at a magazine is like as I was able to speak to him about his design process before print whilst archiving work from their website.

I was fortunate enough to attend a photoshoot where Ash, the fashion director was styling and Chris, the creative Director was Art Directing. Here I was running clothes and speaking to Chris about the shoot.

This weekend showed me what was in store for my placement in June which I look forward to completing. Although the only in house graphic designer they have usually takes the role as Art Director, I feel that the placement will be a good opportunity to meet more creatives in London. Building my networking relationship is essential down south as it is where the money is and where we hope to relocate WYS in the future. I also thought about the positives of ASBO in terms of making money in the future. This magazine may give us the opportunity to redesign the identity as well as meet new clients through the magazine.