Guest Speaker: Iain Lauder, ‘Redpath’.

The ‘Design and the Market’ lectures have been really interesting this semester and motivational. The lecturers have brought in a number of guest speakers which I’ve liked as it gives us insights into the working world whilst sitting in our lecture theatre.

I really enjoyed a short but sweet talk by Iain Lauder, Creative Director at ‘Redpath’. ‘Redpath’ is based in Edinburgh it describes its self as “a strategic creative agency of designers and writers delivering joined-up thinking across every project we work on.” Iain Lauder gave us ‘10 Things to Think About’. These were:

1. Get Faster. – Something I need to work on but hopefully this will come with    practice.

2. Be Curious. – Learn new things; be aware of your surroundings and what’s going on in the world. This is key if you want to be a successful designer.

3. Don’t Apologise. - Believe in your self, don’t deposit a negative thought about your work in someone’s mind. I must work on this one…

4. Be Flexible.

5. Be a Sponge. -  Do things you wouldn’t normally or don’t want to do. It’ll be a new experience you can then talk about, learn from, or use to help generate ideas.

6. If you don’t know don’t pretend. - Ask someone who knows, there’s no shame in that.

7. Check the brief again and again.

8. Always have ideas. - But what if I can’t? I guess this is where numbers 2 and 5 should help!

9. Be Organised. - Prepare, take notes, and be on time.

10. Don’t Give Up.-  Just because something doesn’t work out it’s not the end of the world something better will come along eventually keep going and work through it.

I really loved Iain Lauder’s relaxed attitude of “what will be, will be” it makes me feel more comfortable about what will happen after uni. He told us a story about someone he worked with that one day decided it wasn’t for him, so he left, took some flying lessons and is now a pilot for British Airways, amazing! I must try to be less scared of life and be more like these guys because everything will work out in the end if you make it.

Presentations like this really give me a confidence boost his parting words were “You have talent remember that!” Whenever I start to feel unsure about what I’m doing I’m going to think back to these lectures and remember the advice given… then how can I go wrong?

Design & the Market: Guest Speaker Emma Walker.

Yesterday morning Emma Walker CEO of Craft Scotland was a guest speaker in my Design & the Market lecture. She gave a very motivational talk, telling us a brief history about her life, her achievements in work and how we too can be a success. By the end it made me feel as though anything was possible.  

One of the areas she talked about that I found most interesting was about ‘branding yourself’. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now but I’m just not sure where to start. She gave a few pointers that will hopefully help; firstly ‘your brand is your personality’ sounds easy enough but I just need to figure out how to sum my personality up! Who is my market? Who is my network? How do I speak with them? Are a few questions she suggests we answer to focus the brand, hopefully by keeping this blog and using twitter I have already answered one of the questions. However ‘Me’ as a brand definitely needs more work!

‘Who’s your audience?’ was the main focus. Knowing your audience helps you create the right network of people, and pitch yourself and your work accordingly.  If you’re not talking to the right people it’s useless. I really liked when she said “don’t apologise for your work” it gave me confidence. Sometimes I feel that I should be creating things that will gain the approval of others. She made me think that if I’m happy with it then that’s all that matters there will be an audience for me somewhere.

After the lecture I left feeling quite excited and ready to do! I’ve started mocking up some business card designs so I will be prepared to put my “brand in their hand” when the opportunity arises.