Wow what can I say really?
The past 4 days have been absolutely MAD lol New Designers has been one of the most interesting experiences ever as a Uni student. I was surprised at the number of comic orientated people there, one or two I recognise from seeing at Thought Bubble last year. Also the Lovely En’s “What is it Katy?” was a lovely surprise to see at the Falmouth stand, sadly no work up on the wall as that would of done so well! There was some lovely work overall from the guys at Falmouth.
Right so, to be honest I had mixed feelings about this event. Started off really bumpy. The overall thing with ND12 was that you are there to advertise not just yourself, but you are there as a representation of your course and university. Sadly one of our guys was not much of a team player and often enough would but in to conversations and change the focus onto themselves. Which is kind of sad as their mentality was “Let’s get as many clients as I can possibly get, even if they are not even where my interest lies”. Luckily enough the rest of us were very engaging with people who visited our stand and showed off everyones work. I felt a certain level of pride that I may have helped a friend get work, even if it means that I never.
Enough on that subject, so what was it like exhibiting? A lot of standing around really, unless your Uni stand has a table and chairs LOL Sadly Swindon never provided such a luxury so we stood all the time and took turns going to the Cafe or sitting out in one of the hallway areas near a window (the later being more handy as we were in earshot of the stand). I spoke to lots of students who were also exhibiting, a few of them either liked my work or were also fellow Comickers but were on other courses. One guy I spoke to was actually on an animation degree but was more the character designing side and thus preferred to draw comics. I also spoke to some lovely potential clients, one charming lady I spoke to said some lovely things and her company dealt with teaching English as a second language, through visual narrative. My style seemed to fit well with some of the age ranges they deal with. She said that the company she worked for arn’t as glossy as magazines ect… which I said that I was more than interested in doing stuff for them.
I feel though overall it is a very commercial thing and if you do comics you may get lost in the crowd a bit.
The break down of the event was:
Wednesday- Private view, where industry come and look at the work on show.
Thursday-Friday is much of the same but you have the added schools and college trips that come to see the work as well (while taking literally EVERYTHING, so some business cards were hidden LOL).
Saturday was much quieter, I mean this years ND was very quiet in comparison to last years. It mainly gave us a chance, as well as other Uni’s that were exhibiting to wonder round the show and look at what everyone else was doing. This was mainly where I got chatting and finding fellow comickers lol Was great though as to be honest the event isn’t just about making contacts with industry, it’s also building a contact list with fellow creators/creatives and meeting others in your field of work. One guy I was talking to went off and came back and I thought “When did he change his shirt?” then a few minutes later I realised (when I saw them together) the guy I was originally talking to was actually a twin hahaha
It is a very tiring event and will drain you mentally, I think the one thing I got out of it was where I would like to take my work and where I want it to develop. Also joining and chatting to the two lovely girls from the A.O.I. They were very chatty and lovely, think that did kind of help me decide to join hahaha
I will say one thing, I have never been thankful for working in retail till this event. Working in a shop, you are forced to speak and engage with people all the time. So that really came in handy hahaha The simplest hello can start a conversation off and it could turn out to be the best contact you’ve made.
Not really sure what else to say really without badgering on about the same stuff so I think I’ll leave it here with a quick summary lol
Overall New Designers was an amazing experience, slow at first but it did pick up and it was worth doing as I got to meet and talk to amazing people. From industry, to college students and tutors to fellow exhibitors.
Actually I will say one thing, I am so looking forward to next year as I may attempt to do one year on but also I am looking forward to seeing a certain few Swindon College peeps exhibit, as I think they will do so well.
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