Hanbury Symposium

I had a great experience at the symposium and left feeling really inspired and most importantly excited about what's to come after this degree. Prior to the event I had been struggling thinking about career prospects as I often worried about the number of options there was after doing a degree as niche as Illustration. My mindset has been flipped on its head now though and I see that there are so many varied possibilities of career with a creative course such as this. 

I can't remember exactly which panelist shared this information but I remember someone saying to not stress about having a consistent style throughout your portfolio and simply ensuring that there is some sort of a thread that pulls all of your work together is enough. Emphasising that a varied style will demonstrate to prospective clients/employers that you are versatile and capable of working in a number of ways which is a strength rather than a weakness. This was really important for me to hear as I do find myself comparing my work with peers who have a strong sense of style. I think both sides of the coin are equally great in this sense and feel relieved to not have to worry about this anymore.

Another few useful bits of information where what to consider when making contact with potential employers:

• Research whoever you are contacting prior to writing any emails! Ensure that you have their name spelt correctly, maybe try and find something about them that you are able to form a conversation from. 
• Using a different typefaces in email.
• When providing them with a CV ensure that it is personalised to you and your practice. 
• Making first point of contact through a phone call makes a good first impression and not as usual nowadays so helps you to stand out from the rest of applicants. 
• Be succinct and to the point. 

Will be taking these into consideration when contacting/applying for things in future! 

In terms of online professional presence the practitioners speaking seemed to suggest that Instagram and a contact email where the two most important components. Ziggy Hanaor from Cicada Books explained that Instagram is the only way that she will discover and contact new practitioners to work with. This is a sign of the times I guess and one that I feel comfortable with as I am on Instagram and find it an incredibly useful tool for exhibiting my work and reaching new contacts. 

Arthur Carey, from Polytechnic Studio emphasised the importance of personal projects for use in portfolios. They are a fantastic way of developing your practice whilst also presenting a real zest for the discipline to anyone looking at your work. This is something I need to do following our final submission. In recent years I have not undertaken many personal projects at all, mainly because I have been applying my time and energy to uni work. However, I can see the importance of this and definitely aim to explore my practice further through this method come summer. Collaborating with other creatives as well will help me to not get lost as I worry I will once the university structure is gone!

Overall I think the symposium was a great success and I left feeling incredibly motivated for the future. To hear from people in such a wide variety of positions within the creative industry was enlightening and really reduced my fear of the big wide world!