Blog

20.02.21

Interview: Tackling The Creative Industry with The Arena

Furlough. I’d never even heard of the term two years ago (yes, I work in recruitment). A buzz-word since 2020, a cap on ambition and progression for most, and a delicate term to feel creative about, let’s be honest.

But in that chaotic label, typically loaded with negative connotations, there has been some glimmers of a prosperous future for the creative industry — The Arena is one of them.

Set-up in 2019, but kicked into gear by the events in 2020, the digital platform was born out of collaboration and a need for change, to embrace vulnerabilities, and the power of sharing knowledge.

A website, Instagram account, newsletter, you name it, The Arena has grown a healthy following in the last 12 months. From industry interviews, to dealing with rejection, founders Dom, Ben & Lauren offer a vital window for graduates and juniors, into an often tricky sector to crack.

A few weeks ago they interviewed our own James McLearie (link below), so we took our opportunity to do the same. In it we chat how it started, how it’s shaped their own futures, and what’s to come. This one's a cracker, so stay tuned.

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Talk to us about The Arena; what it is, who's involved, how it came to be, and who it's aimed at?

We are a creative community and platform, made up of Dom, Ben & Lauren, for students, grads and young professionals working in or aspiring to be a part of the creative industry. Our focus is on bridging the gap between education & industry, whilst candidly discussing the struggles we all face as creatives. Dom & Ben met way back at the University of Portsmouth, whilst studying Graphic Design and have been plotting The Arena since then really!

Having mulled over the idea for several years, we finally bought the web domain in November 2019, and debated the branding and website religiously most evenings after work. It wasn’t until Lauren was twiddling her thumbs whilst on furlough though in June 2020 that we really got our arse in gear and focused on bringing the then ‘idea’ to life.

That’s probably quite a good segway into what we all do day-to-day. Lauren is the Project Manager of the team and marketing guru, whilst Dom & Ben take the lead on all things design and web. But we approach every decision as a team, and where possible, interview all our guests together.

Often the opinion of design education is that it doesn't fully prepare a student for life in the creative industry; what's been your own experiences of that, and where can we improve?

That’s a great question and one that keeps coming up. We worry that it might be an impossible task, to fully prepare someone for the creative industry. But we do believe there is plenty of room for improvement. Dom and Ben had a fantastic experience at Portsmouth university and owe so much (not including debt) to the lecturers and students on the course.

Our biggest struggle was with the adjustment to the reality of a creative career. University is an incredible place to experiment, work on things you’re passionate about and stick to whatever schedule you fancy. We left with big ambitions to work on world-saving projects, but day-to-day isn’t really like that.

There are a few key ways though, we believe both universities and studios can help change this:

• Encouraging placement years in industry.

• Inviting recent grads back to talk to students about the realities of life after graduation and share their advice.

• Open studio access so that current students can demystify what really goes on behind the scenes.

• If you’re a studio presenting to students, find an honest balance between your amazing projects that inspire and the day-to-day, less sexy stuff which has it’s place within the role too.

• Speak candidly about the hurdles you overcame to get where you are now.

The Arena's ethos is to "support, elevate and inspire creatives, so that we can all reach our full potential." – with that in mind, how has being a part of The Arena shaped your own idea of the future and your careers? Have they changed at all?

This is a really interesting question! The interviews and chats we’ve had with fellow creatives have been so, so inspiring and has definitely made an impact on our personal aspirations.

It’s taught us just how powerful collaboration is and that self-promotion isn’t a dirty word. If you don’t put yourself out there, how will anyone ever know you exist? We’ve learnt that we all struggle with the same things and 99% of the time, just asking goes a long way. Whether that be for help, a recommendation or an opportunity.

What advice would you give others looking to set-up their own side project? How do you manage your time with other commitments, etc?

As side projects become increasingly popular, we think it’s important to point out that there is no pressure for you to have one. But if there’s something you’re genuinely passionate about - just start.

Don’t be afraid to dive in at the deep end. We waited too long to start, mostly in fear of failure and getting lost in our ideas. There’s no such thing as the ‘perfect’ time.

To manage your time effectively you need to look seriously at how you currently spend it. Count up the hours spent on essential stuff (like sleep & work), then see what’s left. Can you get up any earlier? Use your commute more productively? Or ditch the nightly Netflix binge?

However, all of that being said, the most important thing to remember is we are humans, not robots. It’s so easy to work crazy hours on something you love. So to avoid something like burnout, you have to account for downtime. Otherwise, it’ll creep up and bite you in the arse when you least expect it.

How can people get involved, and what can we expect from you guys in 2021 and beyond?

We’re most active on Instagram & LinkedIn so follow us over on there to join the conversation. We’re always looking for contributors, so if you’ve got a story to share that can inspire the community, get in touch!

We come up with new ideas and projects nearly every day, so our biggest challenge is rationalising what we can feasibly achieve whilst spinning multiple plates. However, 2021 is looking very exciting and we’re excited to be launching our ‘A-Team’ mentoring programme in the Spring.

Buddying up members of the community with some of our past interview guests and trusted collaborators. That’s something we’re really excited about, as it’s an opportunity we’d of killed for as grads.

And if everything goes to plan, we’re hoping to be able to create more opportunities for young creatives. Potentially expanding our team and being able to commission members of the community for specific projects and briefs.

So the best is yet to come!

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Thanks so much, guys!

You can follow them on Instagram here:
instagram.com/thearenauk/

See their website here:
thearena.org.uk/

And their interview with our own James McLearie here:
thearena.org.uk/in-the-arena-with/james-mclearie

Words: Joe Cooper

01.02.21

Represent Joins Right Aligned, A Series of Talks from Coventry Design Festival

We’re teaming up with Right Aligned, the sister platform to Coventry Design Festival, to offer a portfolio-focussed online talk with an interactive Q&A included too, you lucky things, on Wednesday 21st April.

In it we'll be talking all things PDF, interview, email, and Zoom, hosted by James McLearie, our junior and middleweight design consultant, and resident do-gooder.

A couple of weeks ago, we spoke to Chris, founder of both CDF and Right Aligned, to find out more about the schedule of events, and how they’ve had to adapt in the last 12 months.

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Talk to us about Right Aligned, what it is, and who it's aimed at?

Right Aligned is a series of monthly, creative conversations. It’s designed to inspire people of all ages and abilities. However, we fully understand the difficulties students, graduates and early–stage professionals face right now. Right Aligned gives us the opportunity go behind the curtain and explore some of the most exceptional creative teams working in the UK today.

It's in association with Coventry Design Festival; is there a reason for splitting out the two, and how have you had to adapt during COVID?

Yes, Right Aligned is the sister–project of the Coventry Design Festival (CDF). We have a number of projects running as part of the festival and Right Aligned is one of them. They are all designed to support creative communities and we see CDF as a culmination of them all. It’s a celebration before we do it all again in 2023.

What can we expect from both Coventry Design Festival and Right Aligned in 2021?

The Coventry Design Festival will bring together inspiring talks, hands–on workshops and educational mentoring. We want to develop a social, inclusive environment that everyone feels comfortable in. The Right Aligned sessions are designed to go behind the studio curtain to discover what goes on inside.

Where should people be following your schedule and how can they get involved?

You can follow the Coventry Design Festival on Instagram and Twitter @cov_design_fest and the Right Aligned sessions on Instagram and Twitter @RightAligned1.

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Right Aligned begins on March 19th, with an ever evolving line-up. There's some big-hitters scheduled already, starting with industry heavy-weights Studio Koto and Two Times Elliot, as well as range of other diciplines including writer Lisa Hassell, and author Anu Verma.

Tickets are a mixture of early bird freebies, as well as donations. All can be found in the links below!

As for our own involvement, we'll be giving our portfolio & CV advice on Wednesday 21st April.

You can pick up your tickets here:
eventbrite.co.uk/e/right-aligned-x-represent-uk-portfolio-and-cv-workshop-tickets-140306182569

You can see more on CDF here:
coventrydesignfestival.squarespace.com/

As well as the Right Aligned schedule and Eventbrite page here:
eventbrite.co.uk/d/online/coventry-design-festival/

Words: Joe Cooper

16.01.21

New Year, New 'Grams

Perhaps we had more time on our hands to pay attention, but it did feel as though 2020 was the year independent social media platforms exploded. From BLM resources, to finding your feet in the creative industry, there's shed loads of incredible people doing incredible things — all using their phone, their fingers, and an Instagram account.

As a team we've pulled together a list of the main ones that have caught our eye over the last few months, and who we'll be keeping a close eye on in 2021. At first, my intention here was to keep this list focussed on the creative industry, but in the end it's impossible to leave some out. Enjoy!

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Not Only – But Also

Co-founded by strategist Maddi Hutchinson and developer Guy Munday, Not Only – But Also celebrates non-graphic design roles and plans to "open the conversation by exploring the other roles that exist, who does them and how to get there".

You can view their Instagram account here:
instagram.com/notonly___butalso/

And their website here:
notonlybutalso.org

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Out of Hours

A cracking platform that champions the art of the side hustle; across design sprints, events, and even a podcast.

"We exist to remove barriers in the way of starting and progressing a side project. We want to help everyone work on things they love out of hours, before they run out of hours.".

You can view their Instagram account here:
instagram.com/out.of.hours/

And their website here:
outofhours.org

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A Change of Brand

"Produced by Matchstic, this is a show about the world’s most loved consumer companies and their rebrand glory, drama, or disaster.", most recently with Jowey Roden of Studio Koto LA, on their famous Airbnb rebrand.

You can view their Instagram account here:
instagram.com/achangeofbrand/

And their website here:
achangeofbrand.com

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Fuse

It's been a huge topic in recent months. How can we make our industry more inclusive, and why has it taken so long?

At the forefront of that change is Fuse, a platform dedicated to championing under-represented talent in the creative industry. Supported by Craig Oldham, and founded by Manchester-based designer Jaheed Hussain, it's a must follow for 2021.

You can view their Instagram account here:
instagram.com/fusemanchester/

And their website here:
fusemcr.com

Our own interview with Jaheed from 2020:
​​represent.uk.com/blog/fuse-a-chat-on-inclusivity-with-founder-jaheed-hussain/

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The Arena

Founded in 2019 by University friends Dom Edwards and Ben Thornton, The Arena is a community that pushes every individual to reach their full creative potential – sharing successes, failures, guidance, and opportunities.

You can view their Instagram here:
instagram.com/thearenauk/

Their website here:
thearena.org.uk

And a recent interview they did with our own James McLearie here:
thearena.org.uk/in-the-arena-with/james-mclearie

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ThinkFoodBank

ThinkFoodBank is a crowd-funding campaign and sticker project created by designers Holly Kielty and Maisie Benson, aimed at urging shoppers to donate more items to food banks.

You can view their Instagram account here:
instagram.com/thinkfoodbank/

And their crowd-funding page here:
justgiving.com/crowdfunding/thinkfoodbank

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There's bags more we could add here too, including BLC* Directory, Service Abnormal & Brands In Motion, to name just a few, and thanks for your suggestions so far! Keep 'em coming.

Words: Joe Cooper

20.11.20

Kickstarter: Weapons of Reason hardback by Human After All

London-based design agency, Human After All, have launched, and now successfully funded, Weapons of Reason, "A hardback book exploring the world’s most pressing challenges, and what we can do to fix them".

Now, In an attempt to avoid the obvious theme of "that sounds handy, it has been a strange year", we're going to file this lovely new kickstarter publication under 'Christmas Gifts Ideas 2020', or something, instead. And it's a good one at that.

Over the last 6 years, across 8 issues, Weapons of Reason magazine has tackled a lot; from environmental to societal issues, economics, and technology, across 120 stories and 150,000 words.

"Short-term thinking is at the heart of the challenges facing the melting arctic, the social issues that beset our exploding megacities, the crisis of loneliness in modern society, the dominance of corporations over our lives, the ecological damage inflicted by industrial agriculture, the discrimination inherent in our developing technology and the unequal distribution of wealth between and within nations. Short-term thinking prevents action on the most complex challenges facing the world."

Making these often hard-to-reach topics accessible, this new 260-page hardback book brings all of this important content together, updating on previous topics, as well as identifying common themes along the way.

Kicking-off with a forward by Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, the publication also offers column inches to acclaimed author and journalist, Maryn Mckenna, as well as journalist and lifelong activist, George Monbiot, as well as tonnes more, and even more to be announced.

Unfortunately, the early bird pricing has now gone, and they've quickly smashed their funding goal with weeks to spare, but current prices start at just £5 (e-book version), rising to £60 (including book and a print of your choice). And, it'll arrive in time to wrap-up and give as a gift!

Told you it was a good idea for Christmas.

You can view more on their Kickstarter page here:
kickstarter.com/projects/humanafterall/weapons-of-reason

And more about Human After All here:​
​​​​​​humanafterall.studio

Words: Joe Cooper

02.11.20

Dr Luke Hale Shortlisted for Designs of the Year

“I am a London based designer with a very diverse background - please see CV attached”, are the first words in Dr Luke Hale’s email to us at Represent in October 2019. And he’s not lying.

Luke (Dr Hale, to you) is unlike anyone on our books; starting a career as a motion designer, whilst studying at medical school in 2011. Since then, in a strange balance, he’s mainly juggled two professions; freelancing both as an animator and an A&E doctor (I know!). Now he’s adding another line to his ever-expanding CV, after being shortlisted for the prestigious ‘Beazley Designs of the Year 2020’!

The entry itself is the Biomimetic Collar, a product which utilises 3D scanning, as well as 3D printing, to create personalised support braces. The end result is not only produced in a fraction of the time typically taken by traditional casting methods, but mimics the structure of bone too.

“The new workflow uses 3D scanning to create a design that is specific and personalised to each patient. Algorithms are then used to make the device more comfortable and to generate a structure that is porous and light, but also strong where it needs to be", explains Luke in an interview with UCL.

In one particular study, the Biomimetic Collar aided a woman suffering from a neurological disorder, and a history of unsuccessful neck supports, to not only improve her posture, but breathing and comfort too.

“The study hopefully demonstrates how technologies can be combined to make a tangible difference to a patient’s life, but also how nature can be used to inspire unique and innovative solutions to clinical problems”, says Dr Hale.

The entry itself is shortlisted in the 'product' category. Winners of both individual categories, as well as one overall winner, will be announced on November 26th, and The Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 is on display at the Design Museum until March 28th, 2021.

And for anyone wondering, unsurprisingly, Luke’s CV is about to change once again. “So, I’m actually going back into surgical training in a couple of weeks, unfortunately I will have very little time for motion graphics for a while. I will obviously be in touch if anything changes.”

Good luck Luke, you're a credit to the NHS, and stay safe!

You can read more on Luke's entry in his UCL press release here:
ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/oct/3d-printed-neck-collar-shortlisted-design-year

You can vote for his entry here:
designmuseum.org/exhibitions/beazley-designs-of-the-year/product-2020

As well as seeing some of his motion work here:
lukehale.com

Image Credits: Matthew Town & David Bishop

Words: Joe Cooper

02.10.20

FAQs & Updates on COVID-19

Updated: Friday 2nd October

As things slowly continue to stabilise, I think we can all empathise with a slight feeling of limbo as further restrictions are placed upon the UK.

Although there's still quite a lot of uncertainty in the industry at the moment, we've come a long way since March/April. As a business all of our consultants have now returned from furlough(!), and the number of briefs coming into the company has increased, week-by-week.

It's perhaps too early to say we're close to a "full recovery", but we're very optimistic, and doing all we can to connect candidates to clients.

On a practical note, as consultants we're still working remotely, so any meetings will be done online for the time being, but we're still as keen as ever to meet new talent!

So you know who we all are, and who might be best to contact, see the below:

https://represent.uk.com/about/

Over the last few months we’ve been keeping close tabs on the overall mood of the industry, as well as answering a lot of questions too, so to help we’ve pulled together a quick selection of FAQ’s!

We’ll continue to update this over the coming months…

How’s the market looking right now?

Improving week-by-week, and a whole lot better than we found ourselves during lockdown!

Conversations with clients are far more productive, there's a healthy amount of briefs coming into the business, and frequent placements being made.

It's important to say freelance has perhaps returned quicker than full-time briefs, but permanent roles are starting to trickle in also!

How can I be best set-up to take on new freelance bookings?

Right now, anyone who is set-up to work-from-home will most likely be at an advantage. If you’re in the process of looking for work as a freelancer, it’s worth checking in on any old clients where trust has already been built, to see if they need any assistance. Candidate’s who have trust to trade on are perhaps more likely to be offered work-from-home placements.

As ever, at Represent we’ll be doing all we can to re-ignite any old conversations, and run any new suitable briefs by you. Keep us posted on your movements too and if anything changes.

If I’ve already invoiced Represent, will I still be paid?

If you’ve invoiced us a Limited company or via an umbrella agency, then we will 100% continue to pay candidates regardless of clients cash flow at the other end.

If you’re one of the few Sole Traders invoicing a client directly, then speak to us and we’ll do all we can to help.

Is there any financial support for freelancers now without work?

There is, but it's a complex process that's constantly changing, and will depend on how you're set-up/how long you've been freelancing for.

For any specific questions reach out to Joe on joe@represent.uk.com.

Postponement of IR35 legislation:
In a statement on Tuesday 17th by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay, any implementations of IR35 will be now delayed until at least 2021, which is great news.

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Contact:
As always we’re here to assist, support and nurture the creative industry, so if anyone has any further questions then don’t hesitate to get in touch with your consultant(s) or at info@represent.uk.com.

To everyone; stay safe, keep in touch, and more updates to follow…