Today we had a talk with Dave MacDonald from Infinite Design. Dave is a local Geordie, he actually studied at Newcastle College like me. He was a lovely guy, really friendly. I felt comfortable listening to him and didn't grow bored or fidgety, I was really taking in everything he said. He had some good things to say, which actually made me feel better in myself after having a slightly down week.

Here is the tips he thought would be helpful. This is what he looks for in a creative, in this order too:

Personality - Be yourself
Portfolio - As long as the work is good and the ideas are there
Passion - Must have passion in the business


He then went on to go into more detail about each of these points:

Personality - Be relaxed
                     Professional - be on time
                     Be honest - always be yourself, the way you dress/speak etc

Portfolio - Genuine - only show your own work! (he said it is true that people take other work and                
                                                                               pretend it's their own!)
                 Confidence - Everyones different, some people will like your work, other people wont.
                                      Make sure you believe in your work and big it up.
                 Receptive - Take notes of what people say about your work, and make changes where you
                                    see fit.

Passion - Brave - Show your work, even if you are slightly unsure of it. Let them decide if they like it,
                            take advice.
                Committed - If you believe in it then stick with it.
                Positive - Be Confident and be relaxed.

Dave then went on to show us his journey from where he started and how he ended up where he is today. I found it to be an interesting one, it was clear it isn't easy to get into the business. To cut a long story short, he went down to London to work for two big company's, found it wasn't for him so he moved back up North for a job but ended up being on the dole for a year till he managed to get into a few agencies up here, to then end up in his current position at Infinite Design.

Some of his work is very well produced, in particular I really liked his work which he done for Dance City. He used the coloured windows from the building within the brochures, it acted like a branding for the company, I thought it was really successful.

Here is a link to the companys website http://www.infinitedesign.com/recent.asp

London brief's

Our tutor Neil had told us we were going to be set some briefs for our up and coming trip to London. I was looking forwar to this as I would have the chance to show my work to some of the top agencies in London.
The first brief we got was for San Miguel and was given to us by Saatchi&saatchi, the propostion is 'The slow beer'.
The second brief is for Interflora and was given to us by RKCR/Y&R, the proposition is 'Get flowers delivered'.
Finally the last brief we recieved was for www.moneysupermarket.com and that was given to us by Mother. There was no proposition for this, we were just told to have fun with it and make it better than the other comparison websites.

Im really happy with the briefs and the oppotunity to present to such big agencies, but if I am honest, I amd dreading the moneysupermarket.com brief. We are visiting Mother the Monday when we arrive so I know i have to get this one started straight away!