Graphics Grads: An Industry Insight
Graphics graduates from LCC are proving a force to be reckoned with, as graduate (un)employment rates continue to make headlines and our alumni continue to flout those figures. In the last year, alumni have landed jobs and internships at companies as prestigious and varied as Browns, Thames and Hudson, Landor and Universal Music.
Tal Brosh, Grad Cert Design for Visual Communication and MA Graphic Design alumna, started work as an intern at the design, direction and production house Intro last July. By November, she had been offered a permanent position; an amazing opportunity that was not lost on her, as it has long been one of her favourite design studios.
Meanwhile Piero Zagami is an alumnus of both Grad Dip Design for Visual Communication and MA Graphic Design. Even before graduating in 2009 he was already carving a niche for himself as a freelance graphic designer.
Throughout the last couple of years I have developed a range of projects that look more and more to a rational and functional side of graphic design. In my projects I tend to work a lot with data visualization and information graphics; I often research methods to compile and express data or information in ways that can be appealing but also used by the target audience.
At LCC I learnt how to engage a graphic design project from beginning to end, experimented with different media and tools, and acquired a strong and solid methodology. I absorbed every bit of design that was around (and there was so much!), from my peers, tutors, and international design students with all sorts of background – some of whom also became my best friends.
Over the past year Zagami has been working for esteemed architects and urban planners Morrison and Allies as a mid-weight designer. The studio – based just down the road in Southwark – is the mastermind behind LCC’s atrium; the glass fronted hub that, back in 2003, consolidated the College’s separate buildings into one.
Working with Allies and Morrison is a great experience that is enriching my design background and providing a rigorous methodology that is necessary when working with architectural projects. Graphic design applied to architecture requires a great level of detail and precision, in every step of the design process. Working there for more than a year has certainly enhanced my design skills, especially in the fields of information design. The methodology and abilities learnt have already been useful more than once in projects I have been doing outside the architectural practice.
So to any disillusioned designers out there, don’t despair! Work hard – the big opportunities are out there. Have a look at Piero Zagami’s website for more interesting projects!
And in the meantime to our Graphics graduates, keep up the good work, guys!
