Mike Rigby - Words of Wisdom - 26/11/09

Mike Rigby is a Graphic designer who came in to give us a few words of wisdom about his life as a graphic designer and what we should come to expect when we leave University. 

What stood out straight away to me as he showed us his contents page was that he was going to discuss his experience of taking a break and going abroad, and how that opened more doors for him. I think this caught my attention as this had been a decision I have been thinking about, whether to travel first or get experience first, and this lecture to some extent answered my question.

Another part of the talk that stood out for me is the way he described being a designer, that it wasn't a job it was a lifestyle choice. And I remembered I had heard this somewhere before, Craig Oldham from Music had said this before in his talk, which is also mentioned in my blog.

Mike talked to us about placements, and how they 'speed you up'. This is by working on real projects, networking and going on free nights out! He mentioned going out and being sociable is key to getting to know other designers. Advice that I think went down very well!

It was when Mike was talking about what he did when he first received a brief, then using a quote from Ray Gregory he said "What is it that I've been asked to do?" then something clicked. He showed us examples of briefs he was given as a student then what he did to answer them. 

He said the brief was to come up with a different design to sell underlay. "So how do you sell something invisible?" he said. Make underlay desirable. And then thats when he thought of the heart packaging.

It was then after the lecture that I had a look at both my Tolerance and Ted Baker briefs and things that hadn't stood out before suddenly became apparent! 

I really enjoyed seeing where he had been abroad, I hadn't really been to a lecture before about graphic design where they also went into detail about their travels and where they'd been, Thailand, New Zealand and such places are where I have been thinking about traveling too so it has encouraged me to stick with that plan.

He also encouraged us to create self initiated projects, as being a designer is a lifestyle. 

But he also mentioned that it is essential to have a life outside design too, 

"The more interesting life is outside of design, the better at design you will be." - Mike Rigby