Visit to A to M

Today I went to see Mike Fallows of A to M in Manchester. I found it to be a great experience and also found the feed back very useful. I find it is very important to have a look and visit different types of design agencies to give yourself a bigger view and more variety on deciding the type of agency more suited to yourself. A to M is a small company - only a small group, but that doesn't mean the work is on a smaller scale.

Mike had a look at my portfolio and overall had a positive view on it but he explained to me what agencies look for in a portfolio. Whilst looking at my magazine piece he liked the quality of the images and the layout but when looking at my double page spread asked my reasoning behind what I had done. Although there was a reason for it his feedback on it was it is a weak point to my magazine design as the shapes look a bit too random to have a meaning. I am glad he told me this as it has made me have a look back at that piece of work and think about his reasoning's behind it.

Another piece of work we discussed was my typeface, I explained how it was done and why I had one letter on its own and then when turning over the whole alphabet was revealed. I am not sure that Mike liked this as when he looked at the letter on its own he asked where the rest was. Maybe I should consider a different layout on this and also where I have used the typeface in context should be experimented a bit more with as Mike asked me where the typeface would be used if created? and after thinking it wouldn't really be used effectively in a bus stop just as a quote.

Again like with Anthony from Music Mike liked mt Heals piece and thought it was a great way to finish off my portfolio. The way it is set out is enough to just look at and understand without needing to explain. After the third time of hearing that although the book is good a box is better I have decided to re design my portfolio and present it in a box form rather than a book. I have been persuaded.