New York: Barbour Design

Another agency that Me and Kat visited while in New York was Barbour Design. The studio itself was bigger than I had expected and there was a set of 4 designers working there including Ava, the designer I arranged the visit with.

Ava was extremely interested in what we had to show her and gave us lots of feedback on our portfolios. She liked my NYC Bowling Championships work and the layout of my portfolio. One thing that she pointed out that I should change was on my Manchester Literature Festival poster where one off the quotation marks I have used is out of line. I had noticed this myself previously and plan to change this. Since returning from New York I have refined this and solved the problem. Ava suggested taking my 3M work out of my portfolio or lightening the red as it was difficult to see how the fold worked due to the colour been quite dark. Personally I don't feel this is one of my best pieces and am thinking about removing it from my portfolio once I have a few more pieces to put in its place.

After looking at our portfolios Ava spoke to us about interviews and also CVs as they are very important when leaving uni and applying for a job. She said that it is essential that the design of a CV makes a good first impression and that spelling is very important. Ava also said she would be happy to look over any of our designs if we needed any advice. I really enjoyed my time in New York and at the design agencies we visited.

www.barbourdesign.com

New York: Coffee Cup Design

While in New York myself and my friend Kat visited Coffee Cup Design Agency. This was our first portfolio visit in NYC and we were really looking forward to it! When we arrived at the studio we were greeted by Kenneth Funk, the designer at Coffee Cup Design. The studio itself was small with just Ken working there but the space was full of great design elements with posters on the walls and books full of fonts.

We firstly talked about Kens career and how the industry worked before designers had computers. It was really interesting to hear about how methods have changed, he described to us how printing has changed and how he used to have to cut out individual lettering rather than just mac-ing up a design and exporting it as a PDF.

After chatting we showed our portfolios and spoke about our time at university. Ken seemed impressed with our work and was very positive. He liked my editorial work, particularly the way I had used the orange strip of the identity to highlight other elements within the design. He was also impressed by the typography I had created for this. Once we had finished showing our portfolios he recommended some places to visit including the Type Designers Club, another design studio, Number 17 and the oldest pub in New York! I feel that overall the visit went well, it was a great experience to visit an american designer.

Since been back in the UK I have looked into the Type Designers Club as sadly we didn't have time while in NY. There are some great designs in the annuals! I have posted some fromTypography 29 below.

www.coffeecupdesign.com

Type Designers Club