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, 

----------------------------------------------

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! :)

What is design for screen?...

Steve Griffin kinetic type

Dreamworks film intro

Day and Night short Pixar film intro

I first discovered this clever short Pixar animation when i went to see Toy Story 3 at the cinema, they played it just before the film begin and i was mesmerized whilst watching it. Its about two characters, one is day and the other is night, they argue over who has the best part of the day, until they unite and have fun and discover they have something beautiful in common.

I think its a really magical short animation, it truly engages with the audience and entertains all ages.

This short kinetic type animation is quiky and enjoyable, i think its main purpose is exploration and entertainment, its an example of how you can use type in a different media, using different principles. The movement of the type is a new way of engaging with the audience, and as technology evolves, design starts to adapt to its needs, digital design is very important now as so many of us for example have access to the internet.

Daft Punk Technologic kinetic type

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http://www.doylepartners.com/

Doyle partners website is very visually engaging, once the website has loaded you are greeted with squares of thier work, this includes digital snippets like short videos as well as photography and printed media. I particularly enjoyed this website as it was more visual, some websites over throw you with text and it can be quite off putting. I liked how you can decide what you read and how much on this website. You click on a square of work and it will give you a description and overview about it. Its easy to the eye, and makes you in control with what you wish to engage with.

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Collateral for connect a million minds

The above link is a short kinetic video of a piece of work by Time Warner Cable, the purpose of this piece of design was to inspire young people to pursue learning opportunities and careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Its to inform, engage and educate with a younger audience, they have kept it short and sweet as it were, young people may lose interest if it becomes too long and complex. Its also played to upbeat music which is captivating.

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Thinking with my fingers

This is another short video by DoylePartners, it shows a man cutting out shapes with a scalpel, when i first watched it i wasnt sure of the point of it but found it captivating. It turns out that he doesnt remove the cut pieces, he just creates a 3D element, a word is then created in red saying LOGIC. It could be a piece of promotional design for Doyle or maybe just an engaging piece of design. I think i found it most interesting because it showed a journey, and i was curious to find out what he was actually doing in the video.

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http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/

Johnson Banks blog is very engaging and visually interesting, as it loads it tells you its nearly there, it is percieved in a personal way, which i like, almost like its chatting to you. Once the home page has loaded you are presented with text, but its not too much and its not aesthetically boring. The out links to work etc are coloured blocks of texts, if you click on one it produces something that looks similar to a spider diagram from which you can choose to out link again to points of interest. Yet it always has the easy connection to go back to the previous page or home page.

For an example i chose to 'see some pictures', you can then choose posters or print work. When the images come up you can place your cursor over an image and a short description of the work will appear, its then up to you whether you want to click on it to find out more if your interested. It also crosses out the link you have been to so you know what you have looked at and what you haven't.

A very simple and effective blog, which informs, educates and engages. The audience is again in control.

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wearemothership.com

Stuart Eaton is a Graphic Designer who has worked for the likes of the BBC and Nokia, he now free lances in Barcelona, Spain and is the co founder of 'we are mothership'. He and two other designers create iphone apps. Their most recent being the Kinetic for iphone.

'Kinetic is a GPS- based tracking and training app for running, cycling, hiking, walking... designed specifically to help you measure and improve your fitness.'

(Taken from the website)

Iphone apps are another use of design for screen, with iphones becoming a very popular piece of technology and with so many new applications becoming available to help peoples lives run smoothly and easily they are becoming more advanced and the choice is huge, there will be a point where you could use an app to do anything!

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www.creaktif.com

I really liked how you could interact with this website, the homepage had a moving image, so when you placed the cursor over it it moved left and right. When the cursor moved over the links below the logo, the logo expanded through pixels into the image relating to that particular link. I think that it makes a website more entertaining and memorable if it has some kind of moving image involved. It is more interactive for the audience.

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Cadbury advertising.

Cadbury adverts have become one of the most memorable and fun ads around these days. Every so often they create a complete master piece which is quirky to advertise the joy they bring with their chocolate. This particular advert is one that a lot of people think of when you talk about Cadbury advertising.

In a way its quite simple, yet so funny and it makes you feel good, much like their chocolate. TV advertising is a great way to communicate with an audience as almost everyone in this time has a TV or access to TV.

Another iconic Cadburys advert, the gorilla drumming to Phil Collins. Their adverts dont really have any significance to the purpose of the chocolate in terms of taste. Its more about the pleasure and satisfaction it brings.

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Radium Audio Ltd, advertisement for LG borderless TV.

The advert was designed to illustrate the technology used to create LG's new borderless TV, they have created characters to demonstrate how each part of technology works. Using this technique makes it more interesting for the consumer, rather than showing how the technology works in a realistic way. In a way it becomes more about the story of the characters than the actual boring technology bit, which would still attract people to view the advertisement.

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This is another piece of work designed by Radium Limited, it is an advertisement for screen, they composed the music and the motion graphics was designed by Espaun256 and Oink Digital.

As a piece of design for screen in whole, i think it is very enticing and exciting to watch, the ad itself is for a 20th anniversary for a popular Spanish TV channel. they have used warm, welcoming music. I particularly like the motion graphics, its all been done digitally and i think its pretty impressive how you can create this using a computer. It is a very crisp and 'simple' design in a sense. I also like the colours used against the white background, this is the sort of design that i enjoy looking at and also work that i aspire to produce one day.

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The Sun camping advert, this a short motion graphics advert for the Sun £1 camping, it has been made quite simply, but its very quirky and upbeat, its short and straight to the point ad i would say that it would make me go camping.

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This advert is for the NSPCC child protection, i chose to add this advert as its a different way of advertising and its obviously design for screen, the music is very emotional and as the words are spelt out it becomes a very strong piece of design, it gave me goosebumps, the drawing and typography looks as though a child has drawn them which fits in with the genre of the advert.

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I found this short video on vimeo, its an advert for Scottish recycling, i think the elephant character is very cute, which made me more interested in the ad, for any piece of design for screen, i think that having animated characters makes it more appealing and fun to watch. In a way it makes boring subjects more interesting.

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This advert is advertising good advertising, you dont realise it till you watch the whole piece, it is a very humorous and enticing piece of design for screen. The best bit about it is that the advert is brilliant and its purpose is to show how brilliant advertising can be from this particular company. Genius.

Coca cola adverts are always enjoyable, they again, use characters in some adverts which make them more appealing to watch. They make you feel good, and it sometimes gets to the point that you are more interested in the ad for the animation rather than buying some coke, which is maybe their aim.

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Bitique

http://www.bitique.co.uk/category/graphic-design

I found this website on google, and it basically a resource of design, from infographics to advertising. I like the design of it, which has been kept quite simple, but i have decided to add it on here also because of its content. Its a good website in terms of design for screen, but a priceless resource of inspiration.

This website also has a link to show new web design, many of the above have very contemporary layouts and have been kept crisp and simple. All of them seem to use more imagery than type on their home pages as it is more appealing to the eye. Masses and masses of type can sometimes be too overwhelming and could put people of looking further into the website. I personally prefer to look at pictures and then read more if i want to or need to. I also get put off websites if their type or layout looks tacky or unorganised, this website and the web pages shown within this are websites that i would take the time to look at.

I have looked at the websites on their own and have picked a few favourites and ones that have inspired me.

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http://rankin.co.uk/

This website has mainly images on the home page, they havent been laid out in standard rows and columns, but instead in a digital collage in the centre. The images constantly change, which keeps the viewer enticed to see what else the website has to offer.

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http://www.lovecreative.com/

This website is very quirky and upbeat, the design is very simple and fun. There are lots of arrows to direct you to other pages of work, and these have humorous annotations with them.

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http://www.welovenoise.com/

 This website is interactive, on the home page you can use your cursor to move the image around, once you have found an image you like or are interested in, you place the cursor over it and it highlights it so you know what your clicking on.

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Screen savers

http://blog.kentlyons.com/graphikl/typeblockraphy-screensaver/

This a screen saver designed by Kent Lyons, it can be personalised by the user, it changes into symbols and distorted type. Nice, simple design and i like how it is a screen saver that can be personalised. It obviously makes it more personal to anybody which means its target audience is pretty much anybody and everybody.

Leeds research...

For the new module i had to research Leeds, i have made a collection 100. This collection consists of 20 photos, 20 opinions, 20 facts, 20 statistics and 20 words.

  

  

Primary research:

Primary research is something that you collect and source yourself. It is first hand and is not an existing piece of information. For example if you went out and took your own photos or you interviewed someone, that is primary research, as you did it.

Secondary research:

Secondary research is something that already exists, you can find secondary sources in books, journals or the internet, it is something that you did not initially source yourself but its the work/research of someone else.

My Primary research:

Primary research that i have gathered about Leeds includes the opinions i collected about Leeds, as i asked people. The photos i took of Leeds are primary source material and the words that described Leeds with were primary source material.

With the photos that i took i tried to collect a variety of different genres of Leeds in a visual way, i have photos from the annual German market, The river Aire, modern architecture, the backstreets and historical monuments showing the glory and not so glorious sides of the city. I decided to do my photos in black and white as i felt it would focus more on the detail and essence of the city rather than the vibrant colours, i also think that black and white has more emotion to it.

The opinions i have collected show examples of good and bad things about Leeds so i have a wider idea of peoples views on the city.

My Secondary research:

Secondary source material that i collected includes facts and statistics about Leeds, i found these on the Leeds government website and the Leeds city council webpage.

The statistics and facts that i found about Leeds are quite broad and are about Leeds as a city, a community and a place in general, i didnt want to focus on one aspect of Leeds as i would be restricting further research adventures.

When you start to research something you begin to find out things you didnt know that maybe some people think is obvious and it can be quite exciting to find out more and more. You become curious and inspired.

My quantitative research:

Quantitative research is research that includes no numerical information, for example quantitative research i have gathered includes my photographs, the 20 words, and peoples opinions. 

My qualitative research:

Qualitative research is research that contains numerical information such as statistics and facts, qualitative research i have gathered includes, my facts and statistics about Leeds. This includes the history of Leeds timeline as it has the year which is a number.