Alex Dyson graduated Leeds College of Art in 2015 with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design and is currently a Graphic Designer & Illustrator based in Leeds - The Lift Agency, Restrap and does freelance work.
Alex and I have followed each other on social media for a little while now and I thought it would be a good idea to invite him for coffee to discuss Graphic Design. I feel like chats with other creatives helps to inspire and motivate me and this is exactly what I needed at this time. Luckily, I asked Alex just as the right time as he has a couple of busy months coming up. I prepared a couple of questions for Alex to answer about what he does, the course and Graphics generally.
How do you stay motivated? is the first question I asked because at the beginning of the year it's hard to keep yourself motivated when all these new briefs are being thrown at you.
"Don't really have a choice. I work in a very intense studio. It's small but with big clients. It has high responsibility. It becomes a way of life."
I then went on to say that the course at LCA is very full time, being in every single day and feeling like there isn't much time to do anything else. Alex agreed that it was but then said that "Real life becomes easier. You're not working towards a grade so there's no self value factor. It's just deadline after deadline. Sometimes you have to go for a walk or sit on blogs for a bit. Do something else. When I started at rest in a junior role I never had a full responsibility."
I then went on to discuss crits.
"Crits are everyday real life. You're not doing it to be like this is what I've done. To have people say it's good. You explain your idea and other people give their insight on their idea then you have this awesome idea from other ideas." With things like this you have to develop a "fuck it, I don't really care what other people think." Which is exactly think about these types of situations. You get to a point where you just stop caring. However Alex offered me words of advice such as "preparation is always key." Notes are extremely important to have beforehand and help a lot. "With the digital presentation just a prompt whether it's a visual, photo or illustration. Make bullet points as notes then you can just look at the side to your prompt then look at everyone. Just find the easiest way for you to present. People that are watching either care what you have to say or don't give a fuck. Also humour and engagement is important. A huge part of my end of year presentation was being as funny as I could. I included photos of me being drunk and swearing."
As I am entering second year and things are getting real, I asked about placements as experience is an important factor and he said that he waited until 3rd year to do one. As he never felt confident with real studios. He realised before it became a big thing that instagram was a big network and made it look like he had his shit together. Analogue had found his instagram and liked his photos and commented on one and said "give me an email. I really like your work." So he asked him to come for a chat and although they had never had an internal placement they offered him one. "Instagram is a very good tool for students." Web presence is really important. People shouldn't be scared to show their work.
We also discussed freelance work as that would be something I may be interested in doing after university. He said he was surprisingly more busy in winter. He used online resources such as instagram and his website to start work and get recommendations from people you've already done work for. Such as doing work for friends and then they promote you to people in the industries they're in for extra work. "What John says about networking is really important. I met someone drunk then he sent me a friend request on Facebook and I hadn't heard from him then a couple of months later he asked if there were any secret Graphic Designers as he was a Creative Director and I sent him my portfolio and he was like can you start monday? I went in 2-3 days a week whilst at uni. All because of that Halleycat thing. Networking is so important." "It's really important to talk to anyone you recognise, it could be a friendship, relationship, work. Even if you just say I really like your work it's always worth it because you don't know what could come from it. Find someone clued up on going to things. Go to exhibitions. Go to everything because what's 2-3 hours of your evening. Go and absorb everyones knowledge."
He then asked if I had any hobbies and the only thing I really do outside of art is go to gigs. He said that "real life is more important than Graphic Design" because you "need an escape from design. You have to live, breathe and ingest it to do it properly. You'll be knackered all the time but happy."
Final inklings of advice were "work hard, be nice to people. Be socially engaging. It never hurts to say hello I don't know you but I'd like to know you. One small decision can change everything. Fake it until you make it. Everything is in your head with design. If you believe you can do it, it makes you more motivated to keep going with it. You need a unique selling point. Find something you're really interested in because chances are if you're really interested in it, you're good at it. Also get known for something people say to me you're the bike guy. You need a USP."
Massive thank you to Alex for talking to me and offering me words of inspiration and knowledge about the course. I left the coffee chat feeling very inspired by everything he has achieved from only graduating last year. You can see Alex's work on a-dyson.co
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