I was a bit anxious going in to see Textbook. They seemed to be a lot more crafty and illustrative than I but I soon grew confident in knowing my portfolio was varied and had a lot of different, yet interesting briefs. Finding the place was hard work. They're based in the Islington Mill which is in a relatively remote place in Salford. Even the local residents didn't know where it was. I soon found it right in the middle of a construction site.
When I arrived, I was kindly welcomed by Vicky and she introduced me to her fellow collaborators.
Things started off quite awkward at first but Vicky soon took me to the workshop studio for a chat.
We started talking about their history and how they came from a small college. She also made a very good point about name choice. When asked about how they got the name Textbook, she replied with
We started thinking of names but soon realised that it's about the work that helps support the agency's name. People associate studios by their work, not by their name. We then began talking about how ridiculous some names are and how there seems to be a current trend of having one word names ie. Music, Raw, Qubik, Textbook, Inform...etcetc.
I then began showing Vicky my work and talking through each project. I also brought along physical examples of my work so she could look through them and interact with each project.
Vinkel - She really liked Vinkel and loved that I stuck to the concept and visualised a solid idea. It also helped that she was currently into Nordic architecture She also mentioned how good it was that I bound the specimen book.
Viner - This was a branding brief and is the most monochrome brief in my portfolio. I explained the symbol idea and she was so impressed she asked chris (designer) to come and have a look.
After showing my work, it was clear they were impressed and said my portfolio was one of the best they've seen.
They gave me a huge list of contacts and recommended to like minded people. They also asked if I had ever sold my work and I said no. They suggested I get in contact with someone they knew who runs a cafe called TAKK in Manchester. It's a Nordic cafe and said my work could be shown at the cafe. This means more exposure for me.
EVALUATION: The visit gave me a huge boost in confidence and taught me to not be so serious with my designs, in other words, I need to have more fun. I've since tweeted them
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