Ollie Royce

NOTES:

Careers networking and progression

-The more people you know, the more chances or opportunities come your way

-A lot of time invested in building your network

-Its like your advertising/ marketing yourself

-You want to be the first person someone thinks about

-last three jobs from LinkedIn. Meeting for coffee

-message the CEO, these are the things i have done in my career, these are the things I think we could do at gym shark and this is what I would love to do if you gave me an opportunity.

-this is my past experience, this is what I could bring to the table can we have a chat about any experiences or opportunity for working together

LinkedIn- gold mine

“you physically can’t do enough networking, its just not possible”

REFLECTION I have been learning this for myself recently, that actually I was already connected to more people than I thought I was and that these people are quite happy to help me. I already promised myself to be more outgoing and confident with networking this year and I am pleased with my efforts so far and I think they will prove beneficial. Reflecting on networking, I can see in myself that I have become much more confident and this will be hugely beneficial to me moving forward seeking opportunities to enter the industry.

The thing that I don't currently do that I could learn from and take forward is the idea of suggesting how you would approach a project or how I think my unique approach will benefit the team within that initial conversation.

NOTES:

Approach to design

-Context for your work is key.

-who is it for, why have you created it, what movement does it belong to?

-context should be the driving force of your work

-you need to show the story, the development, the critical thinking and the context

-Have I told the story of how I got to this? how can i include all the decision making, the critical thinking and how I got from A-B

-Think of your design work in the context of stories

-your point of view on your creative practice.

-HAVE AN OPINION, on your work, on the brand that you want to work for/are interviewing for. Make suggestions, what would you do, what would you bring?

Opportunity

-say yes to as much as possible, you have no idea how they might help you in the future

-Action over deliberation

REFLECTION:

I maybe fall into the trap of being in the group of applications that don't have a clear context. I believe that I show the journey. I really enjoy creating portfolio boards which show my process but I need to develop an approach to more clearly demonstrate my decision making and the critical thinking and context of my project. Could I develop more visual context boards, almost a bit like a trend report. Covering market, colour concept and relevance. This will make the context clear and will make my portfolio stand out.

In these boards I could also outline the 'problem' (in my case sustainability and longevity) hence why my project is relevant and how I am solving this.

NOTES:

Future industry

-Brand democratisation.

We are currently in a consumerist traditional way of running brands and businesses bu this is not acceptable any more. We don’t want to choose brands that take all of our money and give it all to one person.

this gives opportunity to involve the customer, we can make better experiences

voting with our wallets. Choosing where to spend money, what are brands doing with their profits?

-The rise of social influence

Traditionally-an insight/problem/message- react to this-deliver this-invite people to view it

but social influences different, people who have huge influence can generate huge revenue

individual influence

The barriers to getting your brand discovered are lowered. It has never been easier.

individual influence, they don’t need a have machine behind them to market, they just use one person.

these influencers know what their market wants. this is a bit of a reversal of the traditional route to consumer.

Demand creation.

all about the story, social media is all about the story

creatives need to be marketers

Look at what content I consumer, what platforms do i use, this could inform the marketplace to talk and shout about my work

-Digital & physical

Being dependent on the physical versions of your work is limiting

Gaming and the attention economy

gamification of our society

how to people get involved with my work?

are they rewarded? for being a customer, for being education

why are people excited about it, what keeps their attention?

REFLECTION:

The point that stuck with me the most was when Ollie was talking about the democratisation of brands and not just within fashion, as a wider trend moving forward. I totally agree that the current consumerist system we operate in seems outdated and it defiantly needs to change. There seems to be some level of anger and within society, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, the current cost of living crisis in the UK and ongoing war in Ukraine. People are uncomfortable with the current structure where a handful of people who own a huge number of brands get richer and richer given the state of the world.

In a previous blog post I asked if fashion can exist without capitalism and Ollie's comments made me feel like it could, or at least it will move in the right direction. The consumer is able to vote with their wallets and spend their money at the places where the companies are transparent with their profits. I think that the challenge for this will be education. As I keep mentioning, but I feel that only a consumer educated on the issues of capitalism or specific brands and their production and manufacturing can make an informed decision about where to spend their money. On this course, we exist in a microcosm where everyone actively researches these issues, we already care and are therefore more informed.

Maybe the thing I could bring to a company is this idea of educated consumption. How can a brand inform the consumer about their products, packaging, online platform with info, transparency index?

Ollie mentioned the idea of gaming and the attention economy. Maybe this learning is a way to engage the consumer in the products, and make them understand the product and where it came from? Would this grab their attention, maybe as not many brands currently do this.