When visiting design agencies in Manchester, myself and Stacey Weldon chose to visit Creative Spark, an agency which we both admired, we were very nervous about appearing unprofessional when we decided to visit them without any prior arrangement. After buzzing the studio, we briefly explained who we were and asked if it was possible for someone to give us five minutes to have a chat about our work, we knew they were probably busy and was surprised when we were invited us up to the studio.
We were met by Neil Marra, the director, he chatted to us about the course, then looked at both our portfolio's asking about our work and gave us some great advice about how we could develop some of the pieces to make them look more 'real' and to show additional skills. He talked about the importance of understanding web based design and how this is now an important factor when looking at portfolios. His advice was interesting and specific to our work, he also advised us how using different ways to approach agencies made a big difference as to whether you will be successful.
The visit was really helpful and we were grateful that Neil spent over 40 minutes giving us advice when he was most probably very busy, he was patient and thorough looking through our work and giving advice on individual pieces.
When we sent a follow up email thanking him for his time, he replied almost immediately which made me think that just turning up, although possibly a bit forward did mean that he remembered us, when we had both sent previous emails and had not had a reply, because he probably receives numerous emails asking the same thing, just turning up hopefully made us stand out.
The visit has caused me to analyse my previous methods of engaging with the industry and has pushed me to have more confidence in approaching agencies and designers, as this is the only way I will gain experience to enter the industry following graduation.
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