Sarah Hanley from Sumo design agency

"Make tea, meet people"

As with the talk from Founded, we then had another talk from a local design agency, this time from Sumo. Sumo are one of the biggest agencies in the North East and are seen as one of the most influential. We had the pleasure of Sarah Hanley, one of the Creative Directors coming in and telling us about their work, what they look for in potential new designers and also giving us advice to take forward into our work.

The advice started straight away, being told "not to get your mam to ring in and ask for placements on your behalf". Although this seemed like a ridiculous idea to even think about going about it, apparently it does happen, which I was very surprised at. 

Explaining a bit about how Sarah got to be in the position she is in today, we were told how at college she wasn't the best designer in her class. This has played a part in her getting to where she is now however as by seeing the better designers in her class, it pushed her to do better and keep striving to make better work. At the end of her course we were told there were only a handful of people that managed to get jobs, which proves how hard it is to get into the industry and backs up the fact that you always need to work harder than the person next to you. During Sarah's time at college, there was a competition to help promote white After Eights by designing a voucher to be placed in the packaging. There were 15 designers chosen to go down to to Nestle in York, and whilst there they were asked to come up with designs for the voucher. Where the junior designer came up with two ideas, Sarah came up with 20 which really impressed Nestle and made her stand out from the rest. This was the first example of Sarah mentioning to stand out which was a prominent feature throughout the talk and is something that definitely stuck with me when coming away. 

After talking about herself and her path to her current position, Sarah then turned to talking about the work that Sumo have been carrying out recently. This was of course confidential however there were a lot of points made that are easily applicable to my college work, and also to when I eventually move towards a job in design. On a recent project, the team at Sumo decided to approach it as if they were the consumer/customer - a completely different approach to what the other agencies pitching for the account did. (again, standing out from the crowd) This allowed them to really understand the customer needs but also what the brand was all about, meaning they could tackle the brief head on and come up with a solution to the client needs. "Dive in, have fun" was the motto for doing this, and it worked! We were told when we get projects to do, read the brief over and over. Print it out. Scribble on it. Challenge it. Something that they did on this job.

As far as placements, the best thing we were told to do was talk. Whether its sitting next to a designer and asking about their current project, to talking about the latest post on collate, just talk. Or alternatively, and probably the most appreciated by the office, make tea, meet people!

There were lots of snippets of advice that I will keep with me throughout college, and also into my career however the most important thing that I have taken away is to stand out. This is something that is said a lot in passing, however when one of the Creative Directors of a leading design agency tells you this you know it is important! Whether it be through your work, your personality or how you conduct yourself on a placement it is always important and so I will definitely look for ways to do this, whilst most importantly, being myself.

www.sumodesign.co.uk