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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)

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.

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.

Media interest in interns and Internships

Two bits of national press this week. Firstly, the BBC featured the issue of parliamentary internships on BBC Radio Five live and simultaneously on the BBC website. And today the Guardian have included an interview with my colleague Rosy in the Work section. Interestingly the journalist who wrote the article, Huma Qureshi, is an ex-intern herself, and got her job at the Guardian/Observer after a stint of unpaid work! The message is clear: it can happen!

Quit your bellyaching

Like many of our generation, I have taken the route of an internship with a Member of Parliament. There are some interesting responsibilities, press releases, case work etc. Then there are the usual pitfalls; the lack of direction in the office mainly. One of the key problems for interns is that those directly responsible for them often forget that the principle reason for you being there is to increase your skills. Often the lines are blurred between Bob, the unpaid intern who is here for the benefit of his career, learning essential skills for public affairs, and Bob, the office lackey who is here (almost literally) to sweep up after us. To a negligent supervisor, recently graduated university students often do seem to be there to do unpaid grunt work. When you're on the receiving end of it, it is practically sickening.

It can leave you with a feeling of intense resentment towards the world of public affairs and media, which thrives on this practise and often ostracises outsiders.

Whilst undertaking this internship I have been reading The Triumph of the Political Class by Peter Oborne. I don’t think I could have picked a worse book to cement these feelings of bitterness.

”As they professionalized and grew more homogenous the Political and Media Classes began to restrict membership to the middle classes, and increasingly to each other's sons and daughters. This was in large part because of the special pay structure of the Media/Political Class. Though stars in both arenas were capable of making very large sums of money indeed, new graduates are impoverished. A young researcher reporting to an MP, or a television producer starting out, are both extremely poorly paid. They are, however, expected to work in Central London, which is prohibitively expensive and only possible with subsidy from well heeled parents”

The whole of the public affairs and media domain is made possible by backhanders, press leaks, favourable stories and a slimy mutability between actors serving themselves and their friends. Even my university's careers page recommends the practise of ‘networking' in order to progress in this arena. The story goes that Peter Mandelson got his big break in the world of politics by offering a cup of tea to a senior Labour figure who missed his train. Upon the Minister seeing Mandelsons' poster of him on his bedroom wall, the young prince of darkness's fate was sealed. Am I expected to hang around London with a hot coffee in my hand, waiting for a stray Milliband needing some refreshment to pluck me out of my provincial nightmare?

I wonder which lucky bastard bought this for him

The underlying request amongst most users of interns anonymous is that these internships should be regulated with a statutory minimum pay. This might seem like the reasonable thing to do when so many of us are suffering at the hands of that amorphous tentacled monster in London. However, as media and public affairs have been professionalized, certain principles have slipped. Our constitution is gradually eroding and our reporting remains as unreliable as it was during the yellow press period of Hearst's America. The prospect of increasing the regulatory powers of the state sector and paying interns in the media will only entrench these problems or create further negative consequences.

I think one of the key problems of this intern generation is that we're seeking for these organisations, companies and governments to pluck us out of our situation and place us at the peak of their power. For some reason we expect the process of pouring coffee and sending emails for buffoons to be beneficial for us and for that to lead to greatness. Of course it's possible that this minion service we are subjecting ourselves to can be rewarded. However, there is something distinctly unhealthy about requiring umbrella groups to reward us in this way. In order to match the loyalty of this familial cabal set for promotion within London's inner circle, we lose the ability to produce anything of value ourselves. How many people of our generation can actually say they have created something with their bare hands? I think the idea of being self-reliant and creating something with integrity is lost on most of us. I think before we complain about the meagre existence of internships, we need to reflect on what way each of us has attempted to create our own opportunities, our own products or our own campaigns.

James May & BBC Exploit Students In Production?

JamesMayFail

Settling down for dinner, imagine my surprise to see the BBC openly admitting to the exploitation of unpaid workers in the production of “James May’s Toy Stories”. To achieve the production of the plasticine garden in the second episode, James May introduces his model maker, and team of ‘helpers’ thus:

‘these art students are an absolutely fantastic find, and very cheap actually! – ‘cos they’re doing it for nothing! But what I haven’t got the heart to tell them, is that this is actually the workhouse, it’s that victorian ethic again’

Hang on a second James – so you’re actually admitting that you’re using these students and exploiting them for their labour to bolster your production? Because that’s what you’ve just admitted to. You’ve just described that they are providing a service that you need, and you’re not paying them. Have you even heard of National Minimum Wage Guidelines? Well done BBC. You’ve broken employment legislation, and then transmitted it, and one of your key presenters bragging about it. Not only that – you didn’t even bother to thank the students amongst the groups at the end of the programme, or even put their names in your credits.

I’m sure these students, and everyone else involved had a great time on the production. But you know what the difference is? If those students hadn’t been roped in, the BBC would have had to pay some poor production assistants to do the job. Instead they circumvented this and cut their costs by exploiting creatives at the beginnings of their careers who were hungry opportunity. This wasn’t “work experience” – you asked them to complete a service for you, and you didn’t pay them. This from an organization that receives public funding. And don’t push any rubbish about voluntary work – this wasn’t a charity project to help the needy, this wasn’t even an internship with the hint of a job at the end of it. The BBC was producing a progamme here – I presume all the management got paid who worked on it, and I’m certain James May got paid for his disrespectful gloating.

The thousands of volunteers who rolled the odd plasticine flower at the ideal home show clearly did this for a bit of fun. Even the Chelsea Pensioners might be justified as doing this as an activity they enjoyed on a casual level (though James May nicely rewards the veterans who’ve defended his country and freedoms by insulting them with a comment about their poor memory), but here in this programme the BBC has abused the labour of young people clearly doing work, and they’ve openly admitted to doing so to cut on the costs of producing a programme.

Shame on you James May. Shame on you BBC. Now go back and pay the people who made your programme possible.

Witness this appallingly casual abuse of labour yourselves by clicking here

Sports Journalism: From the Guardian Careers discussion on Internships

I'm a recent NCTJ graduate seeking work as a sports journalist. I have already completed one unpaid internship and intend to start another very soon in London. I fully appreciate that for some people internships, especially long-term ones, can be diffi...

I'm a recent NCTJ graduate seeking work as a sports journalist. I have already completed one unpaid internship and intend to start another very soon in London.

I fully appreciate that for some people internships, especially long-term ones, can be difficult to commit to due to financial restrictions. But, for me it all boils down to how much desire you have to succed in your chosen career.

After completing my studies earlier this year I found it hard to find full-time work as a journalist and decided that completing an internship was the answer. However, I didn't have much money so I moved home to save on rent and embarked on a three-month money saving mission. I took the first two jobs I was offered on a building site and in an Ice Cream parlour and I saved enough money to move to London and begin an Internship.

I fully believe that the money I made knocking down walls and selling Calippos, Fabs and Madagascan Dark Chocolate Magnums to enable myself to do another internship will lead me into the career I so passionatly want to succed in.

During my first internship I felt I was genuinely producing better stories than some of the staff reporters and politely took it up with the editor. He agreed I was contributing well to the running of the website and agreed to pay me full expenses. He said that me doing this demonstrated maturity and confidence in my ability. I have since started to do freelance work for the same website.

My experiences of interning have been very positive and have given me an insight into the world I want to work in. Without this experience I feel I would be far less equipped to find full-time work and perform well once employed.

Arts Group on Internship Consultation

As part of the Arts Group’s work on Emerging Workers, Arts Group’s Chair, Kit Friend, attended the consultation regarding Parliamentary Internships yesterday, and encouraged the initiative to consider the measures recommended as national legislation in the upcoming “Emerging Workers” report to be published soon. These include a 4 week/160 hour limit on unpaid work, and living wage for all interns up to 3 months, whereby they should move to being made regular employees and subject to the same rules and protection.

Phil Willis’ website with continued updates on the Parliamentary Internship enquiry is at www.philwillis.org.uk

More fantastic documentation on the generally shocking state of Internships in this country is at Interns Anonymous

Internships and Work Experience, new symptoms, old problem

It’s gratifying to see extensive coverage at the end of this week, from the Guardian amongst others, concerning the dawning awareness that huge numbers of skilled graduates are being effectively forced into a tier of unpaid work masquerading under the guise of “internships”. Those named and shamed include our own MPs with their interns, and many of the sectors that Arts students will emerge into – those deemed to be most attractive and competitive including journalism and media. The reality is that this problem existed even before the recession, and the creative industries have been allowed to build a reliance on this exploited workforce for far too long. If this push is what’s needed to achieve change it’s welcome, but a longer term culture shift that deals with more than the symptoms brought on the by recession is needed. If the Arts, and indeed the Government, are ever going to be an inclusive and accessible sector, those emerging into work must be paid fairly for their skilled labour. That many are not even receiving National Minimum Wage after years of education and professional development is astonishing, and we should not be afraid to take a strong stance on how wrong this is.

The Arts Group’s Chair, Kit Friend, has been in talks with the Arts Council England and others, and discussions with the DCMS and LSE around the subject are expected soon. The Arts Group’s policy on Emerging Workers will be released here imminently following discussion at our last meeting.

Click here to google “Internships Exploitation” and browse the coverage

David Lammy on the value of the Arts and Humanities

David Lammy MP delivered a speech at the RSA this week on the importance of a liberal arts education (transcript and podcast here).

It’s great to have the arts discussed properly by ministers, but for the many of us who already know how important they are, discussing how much we contribute and how wonderful culture is doesn’t really deal with the issues facing individuals and organizations on the inside.

It’s true that those parents who don’t see the “usefulness” in their child going on to study the arts need to be educated about the broad range of benefits of a career in the sector, at the moment at least, they do have a point. Whilst a career in the arts carries with it a significantly lower earning potential for the average practitioner, we’re never going to be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our peers in medicine, engineering, business etc.

In recent discussion with professionals across a range of professions, now all well moneyed, I’ve found it fascinating how many are now returning to projects for the public good, and indeed the Arts. I’ve lost count of the number of businessmen and women, lawyers and doctors, who I’ve heard discussing that what they really care about is their photography, poetry etc. Never one to dissuade or be dissapointed by anyone engaging in creative activities, I love to hear these people connect their experiences with what’s “really important to life when you get down to it”. However, it must be said these seems to contribute very little to moving away from the feeling that engagement in the arts is largely a pastime for the wealthy.

The value placed on the learning and labour of those who choose to make the creativity their livelihood, by contrast, seems to constantly be questioned. A familiar scenario to most creative graduates will be the abundance of work experience adverts and “opportunities” asking for those with skills in everything from sewing to web design to give their time in exchance for the “experience” of working in an exciting company. These experiences may of course be wonderful, and indeed the companies exciting, but why should we not be paid a decent rate for our contribution? A company wanting a web design student to create or augment their online presence for instance, is not primarily doing so because they will benefit from the vibrant and fulfilling experience of having a creative in their midst, they are doing so to create profit. Even in the public sector, museums and galleries, we seem to run our institutions and organizations on a raft of free labour, relying on the enthusiasm and committment of a core of people entering a competitive market, and looking for any opportunity. It seems bizarre that even within the same buildings will sit a host of staff, from cleaners to executives who are carrying out similar tasks, but rightly expect to be remunirated for their labour (and indeed are protected by the National Minimum Wage).

Internships, work experience, apprenticeships and all the rest work well as part of a balanced learning experience. They must not be a way for businesses or organizations in any sector to buoy up poor practice that means they cannot afford to staff themselves adequately to stay open.

As famously referenced by Whistler in his defence of a two hundred guinea price tag on the Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, creatives have a right to expect decent remuniration for their work. We may enjoy it, it may even look relatively easy or quick, but the value attached must be a reflection not only of the time spent creating one piece, project or concept, but of the lifetime spent to get to the point where this can be delivered so fluently. We face a bleak picture for individuals in the creative sector until employers and clients are prepared to reflect our real value in what we are paid, employment legislation is formed and enforced to put in place a safety net, and the members of the creative community are prepared to take pride in their worth and not to bow to expectations of giving their labour for free to those who can or should be able to pay for it.

Arts Group

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