Almeter Design

On November 13, myself, Jordan and Andrew Dranfield set off to Brooklyn, New York, in search of a small cafe where we would hope to meet Andrew Almeter, head of Almeter Design, for a discussion about our portfolios.

At exactly 11.00 am the three of us bumped into Andrew right outside the cafe that we had arranged to meet at. Bizarre I know. We each grabbed a coffee and sat at the back of this beautiful, all American internet cafe on a round sofa with comfy cushions. 

He seemed very keen to tell us his history and said it was important to really get into the industry as quickly as possible after graduating. After graduation, Andrew joined a design firm, on a placement, where he learnt everything you need to know when you're starting out. He stayed there for four years after going onto work with a British woman from London as a collaboration. Unfortunately she has now left and moved across the states, so he now has his own company. He also enjoyed telling us about his working methods and ideas. Since being in the industry he has always kept a board on the wall where he keeps things he collects and finds that give him inspiration. He enjoys working combining illustrative work with work done on the mac.   

When I showed him my work he was really impressed! Very positive. He really loved my pencil shaving type face which, I must admit, before going, I was reluctant to put in. But it was certainly worth it. He said I was creative with type and layout and had a natural instinct. However he said again that the layout of the portfolio could be worked on in terms of stronger and weaker work. He said that it is important to show good, strong work at the front and back of the portfolio. I will definitely work on this aspect. But other than that it was a brilliant hour and a half... 

Potion Design

There we were, me and Jordan Harrison, trecking through China Town in the city of New York until we came across building 256...

We were greeted by the team of Potion design in the studio and he stepped forward to take us into a much smaller room where we could show our work and discuss ideas. Potion Design are an interactive design group which means they design work to be displayed via projection methods whereby the audience can interact, like a touch screen mobile phone.

We first spoke about the companies work and asked a few relevant questions as to how the team works and how they collaborate. It was really insightful and one thing we learnt is that you have to be very patient with clients. Never assume that if you aren't happy with feedback as to what what areas of a job need scrapping and changing, that you can simply disagree and find another client. He said there have been many times that he's sent work to a client and has had to change things so much to an extent where the initial work was barely recognisable. So that really made me think about how to be able to drop ideas just like that. Even though you may love them and think they're the answer.

After had looked at both our portfolios, we both recieved similar reviews. One thing he was particularly interested in was the order in which our work was featured in our portfolios. He felt that we hadn't displayed some of our stronger work at the front and towards the back. He advised us to thoroughly check our layout before meeting with somebody in the future. But overall he was very impressed with our work. Said there were areas to improve but to continue getting stronger at what we're doing. We left with a small book each containing samples of Potion's work and were very happy with how the whole thing went. It was a very positive experience and one that I hope to have again.