Met by Jai who took me on a whirlwind tour of the several floors of each building: directors' offices, accounts, creative teams, artworkers, kitchens, photographic studio etc.
The creative teams, three or four designers in each, tend to handle different client accounts although briefs can be collaborated upon if deadlines are tight or teams have slack periods.
Everyone was very pleasant and some were even interested in my experience at college and my previous work as a teacher. That was nice but I still had that feeling of being 'out of place' in a group that have obviously been together for some time and share a culture of their own as a result. It's quite difficult to break that down when you can't see face to face with anyone due to the barriers of machinary.
Anyway, after a little bit of thought, during which I tried to relax a little, Julian (ex-NEWI, very supportive and known to Pauline Amphlett) came up with my day's brief: to produce an electronic invitation to be e-mailed to Danone asking that they come to dinner and drinks - a chance for Springetts to recognise a valued client. The Danone account centres on their bottled waters so Julian had come up with the idea of a message in a bottle. Very kindly he also supplied all of the images.
I had the opportunity to go my own way on this if I wanted but after a half-morning's thought and research, where I hadn't really come up with anything better, I decided to use his concept after all. Well he had supplied all the images etc.
So I spent the afternoon grappling with unfamiliar equipment and trying to achieve effects that I had never attempted before. The typographical element gave me cause for much thought - unfamiliar type faces, trying to find sweet combinations and composition.
Anyway, by the end of the afternoon it was just about finished to an adequate standard. But, I'd taken one whole day to complete something that an experienced designer could probably have knocked up in a half an hour.
