Real advice from a real designer... Stuart Eaton

I work at Argos and saw a column in our staff magazine about the Argos Graphic Designer, so i did some research (which turned out to show i'm a tad rubbish at accurate research) and found a Stuart Eaton's email address and website.

I thought that it would be useful to email Stuart and find out about his job. I received an email back quite quickly, but soon found out i had mixed up the identities of two Stuart Eaton's. By coincidence and sheer luck the Stuart Eaton that i had found was also a Graphic Designer!

He very kindly offered me some advice about being a successful designer out in the big wide world and gave me an insight into his career.

The emails: :)

kirsty hardingham <hardykirst@msn.com> wrote: > Hello Stuart > > My names Kirsty Hardingham and i work at an Argos store in Leeds. I saw your column in the Argos post magazine on my lunch break. Im currently in my first year at Leeds college of Art studying Graphic Design and was wondering if you would be able to tell me a bit about your job. I would be very grateful and i can understand that your a very busy man. > > I really love my job at Argos and i am very passionate about Graphic Design, so it would be great to link these together on my course blog. > > Thank you for your time > > Yours sincerely Kirsty Hardingham :)

Hello Kirsty

I have not seen the Argos post magazine. Is there something on there
about our company or iPhone app? I would love to see that, is it too
much to ask I'd you could send me a scan / photo of the column?

What would you like to know about my work? Feel free to send me some
questions, I will do my best to answer them and give you some advice.

What course are you currently studying? What's the URL of the course blog.

Look forward to hearing from you

Stuart



Sent from my iPhone

On 22 Jan 2011, at 19:53, 

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Hi

I think this could be a case of mistaken identity! Although entirely
understandable.

I didn't remember giving any interview related to Argos, hence the
reason I asked for a scan of the article. So I Googled for my name +
design + argos and found an article from The Times
(http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/careers_in/article2914081.ece)
which quotes a designer for Argos who happens to be called Stuart
Eaton.

Coincidently I am also a graphic designer, English, roughly the same
age as this other Stuart Eaton!

I worked for a number of years as a designer for the BBC in Bristol. I
worked there as a interactive as well as motion graphics designer. I
then left the BBC and moved to Barcelona, Spain where I work as a
freelance designer. I have continued to work for the BBC as well as
The AA, Channel 4, John Downer Productions and more recently User
Interface design for Nokia.

I have recently started a new company with another two guys back in
the UK. Mothership Software Limited, we make iPhone apps.
http://wearemothersip.com/kinetic

Anyway, I suspect you want to talk to the other Stuart Eaton. But if I
can answer any questions then fire away!

Thanks
Good luck

Stuart

http://stuarteaton.com
http://wearemothersip.com
--------------------------------------------
Hi,
Feel free to post it to your blog.
I moved out to Spain because my partner is Spanish. I would say it really helps to know someone local. I think I would have found it much harder to move out here on my own. On a personal level i think my biggest piece of advice is to embrace and immerse yourself in the local culture and customs, don't try and fight it or go against it. Learn to ignore the odd quirks ( and there are plenty ) and small things that wind you up, you are not going to change how things are done here.
Do your research on which region of Spain you want to live in. Spain is hugely divers, northern Spain is very different from southern Spain. Catalunya is very much like an independent country, or at least that is how the Catalans see it.  We live just south of Barcelona, i love it here. We have a great beach and we are only 40 mins from Barcelona city.
You need to learn the language. I am still learning, i mainly work with English speaking clients whether they are in the UK or abroad. So it has been hard to learn Spanish. I would recommend doing some education here in Spanish, maybe a masters or something. You will learn very quick because you will have no choice!
As far as working in design. I think the principals are the same no matter what country you work in. You have to work hard, really hard and never give up. Always put in the extra hours and effort and always make sure you work is great. Your work is all you have to show, so make every piece count. When I first started i was pretty clueless, college does not really teach you about the real world. Get some work experience first, learn to deal and talk with real clients etc. Then set yourself some goals ie. I want to work for X company in 2 years. Then build up a portfolio and start to contact that company, let them know you exists. Find people who work there, you need a contact to get a foot in the door. Once you are in then set a new goal ....
I would only recommend going freelance if you have a few years of experience under your belt. Also by then you should be in a position where you can pinch a few clients! don't burn any bridges with potential clients. You never know when you need a quick stop-gap project.
Make sure you know your software. When we look to hire people we need people who can carry a project from start to finish without much hand holding. ( We wish it could sometimes be otherwise budgets rarely allow ) So do not specialize to soon, be flexible because you don't know what the next big thing is. Once you become a lead designer / director then you can start to offload some of the actually donkey work to others. But even then you need to be able to manage that and jump in if necessary.
One last thing. Don't copy other designers especially the rock star ones! You can't compete against designers with breathtaking raw talent. Be jealous for a few seconds then move on. Be inspired by them but do your own thing. 
Sorry, that was a bit of a babble! Some creative editing may be needed! 
I hope some of it helps. Good luck with your career, I really hope it works out for you. You have one-up on most already: you are going out of your way to learn and make contacts. So many don't even bother to do that.
Cheers
Stuart
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I would just like to thank Stuart for taking the time to offer me advice and inspire me to work hard and live out my dreams of becoming a successful Graphic Designer! :)