Arts Group

How They Did It: Alistair Hall

Alistair Hall, Director of We Made This Ltd. and one of the guides for Central Saint Martins’ Innovation program, shares with us his journey from graduate to running his own studio, blogging and how failure can ultimately lead to success.

Alistair Hall giving a talk at Immersion, the careers course at Central Saint Martins

Tell us your elevator pitch:

We Made This is a London based graphic design studio specialising in delicious print work.

Did you have any business knowledge prior to setting up your company?
I had worked as a production assistant for a commercial production company (the Paul Weiland Film Company) making TV commercials for a couple of years before starting my degree at St Martins, which helped teach me how to multi-task. After my degree I worked at CDT for a year and a half, where I learnt a huge amount about the process of working with clients, budgeting, pitching, presenting and so on, as well as about pure design. Then I got a place on NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Programme, (a sort of precursor of the Immersion programme) where we were taught a lot about the nuts and bolts of running a business. I run We Made This on my own, and share a studio with two other design companies, David Pearson Design and Fitzroy & Finn.

When you were growing up what did you want to be and what happened which made you become what you are now?
I’m not sure I ever wanted to be anything particular. Actually, scratch that, I wanted to be a film director. That’s why I started working in commercials, but after a while I realised it wasn’t for me. While I was looking at jobs in that industry, I read a book called something like Diaires of Film-makers – it was a Faber & Faber book which detailed the daily lives of a variety of folk working in the film industry. One of the diaries was from a film producer, and she talked about going to meet the guys who were making the poster for her film. I knew instantly that I didn’t want to make films, but to make posters instead.

What do you wish you had been told in University about the real world?
Nothing. College is a good time to dream. Though it might have been useful to know how long it takes to pay off a student loan. But heck, even if I had known, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently.

Have there been any big mistakes/failures which have lead to success?
NESTA were offering business funding to some of the folk on the course, and I didn’t succeed in getting that funding. I think if I had got it, my journey might have been quite different. Whether that would have been a better or worse sort of different… tricky to know. I’m happy where I am though.

What can you only learn on the job?
You learn a huge amount once you start work, and you keep learning. Don’t expect to be perfect when you start. But be honest about the fact that you’re not perfect.

How important do you think having an online presence is and how signficant a role does your blog play in marketing your service?
I find it difficult to quantify it to be honest. Obviously having work online is really important – people rely on being able to see your stuff immediately. Jobs are just starting to come in on the back of the blog, which is great. I’m in the middle of building a new site – once that’s up, I’ll have a bit of a marketing push.

You’ve had interns at We Made This, what do you look for when choosing potential students/ graduates to join your team?
Brilliant work and a general air of loveliness.

We Made This Ltd

What is good ‘work experience’ vs unpaid exploitation

Our friends at BECTU have fantastic guidelines up on their site, spelling out exactly what makes a good work experience placement, and what employers should do to avoid violating National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation.

It’s really good to have this stuff spelled out. Recently dealing with a student who’d been denied expenses, it turned out she was probably liable to retrospectively claim NMW too. If you are aware of anyone in a similar situation make sure to give the HMRC helpline a call for advice on minimum wage claims on 0800 917 2368, and for advice on expenses contact contact ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) for advice on 0845 747 4747.

In the absence of any increased legislation on the horizon, it’s vital none of us are hesitant in making use of what’s already there. With enough people claiming back the money they’re owed it will make company’s think twice about exploiting unpaid workers under the guise of internships/work experience.

Take a look at BECTU’s guidelines here

Image by Ildar Sagdejev (Specious)

Squinting: VLE Discussion forum

Dialogue, discussion dissemination, diatribe about the use of technology within art & design teaching. a sprightly forum of discussion and a sharing of good practice. A space for representative studies on the use of digital tools and environments within studio-based learning. a lively, engaging and individual site presenting ideas and resources. A inspirational resource that will help to nurture creativity and innovation. An inclusive resource of academics, practitioners and students.

It’s new. Please contribute.

www.squinting.org

February Meeting – 11/12th February in Lincoln Register now

The Arts Group’s first meeting of 2010 will be held on 11th-12th February in Lincoln.

Please register your details below and we will contact you with joining instructions/accomodation info.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Intellectual Property Rights for the creative industries – where to begin

Artists, photographers, designers, illustrators, graphic artists, product designers and anyone else who is creative and produces original creative works owns some intellectual property rights in what they create. If you are reading this thinking “that is me!” read on, as this article gives you the basics about intellectual property rights, usually referred to as “IPR”.

Melissa Henderson, from 10 Park Signs

So, what is IPR? Well, put simply it is legal property in original work. But unlike your house, your car or your MP3 player, IPR is intangible. This means that it isn’t the type of property you can hold and pass around. Rather, it is the type of property which bestows on the owner certain legal rights – the right not to be copied for example. If anyone reproduces or copies someone’s original work without their permission they will breach or infringe that person’s IPR. So, it is important for creative people to understand IPR, particularly if they are using their creative works commercially. There are various different types of IPR which exist depending on the type of creative work you might produce. The main types are copyright, design right, trade marks and patents, and very briefly: Copyright exists automatically in creative works such as artistic works (paintings, illustrations, photographs etc.), literary works (writing, songs, music, software code etc.), dramatic works (plays, structured dance choreography etc.). More information about copyright may be found here [link to copyright article]; Design right exists both automatically and also if the owner chooses to register via a form of Government registration in illustrated design drawings (line drawings, CAD drawings etc.) from which a 3D product can be made. More information about design right may be found here [link to design right article]; Trade marks exist both through their use over time and also if the owner chooses to register via a form of Government registration of trade marks in names (e.g. an artist’s name) or other marks (e.g. a logo) under by which a business is identified. More information about trade marks may be found here [link to trade marks article]; Patents exist only if the owner chooses to register via a form of Government registration of patents in inventions (i.e. new ideas which improve technology). This is less relevant to artists and designers and so is just mentioned here for completeness. As you will be able to tell from the above, this IPR is valuable property because if you create something original, be it a piece of artwork, a graphic illustration or a photograph, if it is good, others may wish to use it commercially (e.g. to use as an album cover or to sell as a collection) and because the creator owns IPR in their work, anyone who does want to reproduce that work commercially must obtain the owner’s permission (for which the owner may charge). This is called licensing of IPR.

Fund Design as a core discipline: time for the UK to wake up

Following the release of UCCA Vice-Chancellor Elaine Thomas’s excellent piece calling for design to be moved into the STEM subject cluster (though the online anagram scramblers inform me this doesn’t generate nearly as neat an anagram – see the incredibly laboured NINJA) it’s imperative that the economic value of design is recognized, and thoroughout our sectors we should seek to push for increased funding support for creative subjects.

In particular, the logic behind the STEM allocation (prioritizing money towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) seems increasingly quesitonable as the creative industries productivity and contribution to the country’s finances has been repeatedly cited over the past few years. In emerging from the recession and looking towards globalized enterprise activity, it is essential that our creative institutions are funded properly, and not just by shovelling in international students. The future of the UKs ability to compete in the global marketplace will depend upon a balanced portfolio of service offerings, and if a core strength of domestic creatives is not in our armoury we will undoubtebly lose out to countries including China, who are openly prioritizing this sector in their strategies.

The UK government must wake up to our art schools and other institutions requiring a degree of resource that reflects the requirements of our intensive education. Learning to design, make, perform, produce and the full range of disciplines encompassed in our practices requires larges amounts of space, contact time with our staff, and a constantly evolving array of facilities and tools. It cannot and must not be reduced to a shoestring budget area, an approach that seems to be worryingly proliferated and pandering to the obselete perception of creative subjects as “soft”.

Work experience opportunity: work with Jotta/Arts Group

jotta is an online and offline community of practising artists and designers borne from the University of the Arts London.

We are currently looking for talented journalism and/or arts graduates, or people with a strong interest in journalism and the creative industries, who are enthusiastic and would like to gain experience in online publishing.

We are also looking for journalism students with a strong interest in politics, and government policy within the creative industries. This writer would work with both jotta and Arts Group.

Placements within the jotta editorial team offer the opportunity to contribute to the online magazine with an audience of 10,000 unique hits/week.
This will allow you to:

- GAIN EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE, Researching, writing articles on a weekly basis, creating a calendar of events, liasing with jotta community to find suitable subjects, liasing with external arts community and pr agencies.

- CONTRIBUTE TO AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES using search engine optimisation
- DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF DESIGN AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT Image sourcing and editing, content management systems

If successful you will work closely with the jotta.com editor to devise a programme of practical work experience to facilitate your personal professional development. This will be monitored for a period of no more than 160 hours.

All jotta placements take place for no more than 12 hours a week, in our office on Newburgh St W1F7RP.

There is the option to work remotely if travel expenses are an issue.

If you are interested in gaining experience in the team detailed above please email millie@jotta.com with a statement of interest, and a recent C.V.

Expenses-only engagements are illegal, say Employment Tribunals & BECTU

“The Employment Tribunals, sitting in Reading, have ruled that workers engaged on an expenses-only basis are entitled to payment at least in line with the national minimum wage, in addition to payment for the holiday they accrue.”

Read the rest>>

The Sincere Qualms of a Middle-Class Graduate

An unemployed graduate is writing about their struggles to get paid employment over at this blog. Sound familiar? So this week has been an awfully busy week considering my severe lack of paid work. Having completed my time at the charity last week I wa...

An unemployed graduate is writing about their struggles to get paid employment over at this blog. Sound familiar?

So this week has been an awfully busy week considering my severe lack of paid work. Having completed my time at the charity last week I was left with nothing to do. However, with the optimistic idea that ‘experience on the cv will lead to a job' in my mind I decided to hunt for something to do. I have recently decided that PR isn't fulfilling me enough…by this I mean it is not fully-filling my wallet…in fact traveling to my many unpaid work placements is actually emptying it.

Tory Stance on Arts Spelled out?

George Osborne’s Speech to the Tate Family Conference

People who pay for internships are lazy

Regarding the current BBC news article ‘Intern fees: 'salt in the wound”, I would like to express my views on the positivity of such internships. I am a graduate currently in a very successful internship that I found through the Government's Gradua...

Regarding the current BBC news article ‘Intern fees: 'salt in the wound”, I would like to express my views on the positivity of such internships. I am a graduate currently in a very successful internship that I found through the Government's Graduate Talent Pool.

Having graduated in 2008, I took a gap year to travel the world. On my return this summer I had intended to start my career, ideally in the Public Relations industry. However, due to the current economic climate I found jobs hard to come by and those that I did apply for required vital industry experience. I used the government's Graduate Talent Pool to find a suitable internship to suit both my needs and those of my employer. I am currently working on a temporary 3 month contract as a PR and Marketing Coordinator for a very small business. Most notably however, I am being paid. Although it may only be the minimum wage, it is priceless experience for a graduate in this ever-increasing competitive environment. I am gaining the skills, training, insight and routine of the industry while my employer gains a willing and keen staff member at a small cost. This ‘on-the-job' experience has already proved to be advantage as I have since been successfully called for interviews, at which I have been able to communicate my active current role and enthusiasm, all of which I gained from the internship. If you look hard enough and are determined, there are internships that will value graduates.

And to those who pay agencies to look over their CVs and train them for interviews for extortionate fees, surely it shows little initiative, laziness and stupidity. What employer would want to employ them anyway?