This time last year, Kingston University graduates Tom Wrigglesworth and Matt Robinson were spending a lot of time in the company of printers.
With the D&AD Student Awards deadline looming, they had hit on an idea to promote HP Workstations’ ability to bring to life ‘anything the creative mind can conceive’.
‘Our tutors always taught us to come up with a great idea, then work out the right channels to use,’ said Tom. They made a film that turned the otherwise mundane experience of everyday printing into a brilliantly choreographed audiovisual orchestra. They spent days holed up in a studio coaxing a stack of printers to perform.
The team ended up with a double win – second prize at the Student Awards and Best New Blood – racked up thousands of views on YouTube with their film, and even ended up on the BBC News. Most important though, they got themselves jobs and while their D&AD wins helped to open doors, it was still up to them to step on through.
‘We had been exhibiting at New Blood for a couple of days and although people from the industry had visited our stand, we felt a bit nervous about approaching anyone,’ said Matt. ‘We knew that time was running out though, so when we saw Mark Waites from Mother walk past, we decided to go for it.’
Tom hit play on their Student Awards film and Matt flagged down Waites to have a look at their work. They went for it after that, and approached as many people they could to introduce themselves and show off their work. ‘We probably spoke to about 20-30 people by the end of the exhibition,’ said Tom. ‘If someone was having a look, we’d catch their eye and tell them the story behind our projects.’ Eventually, they’d just walk up to people and introduce themselves, ‘because you never know who you’re going to meet’.
In the coming weeks, Matt & Tom followed up with everyone they met at New Blood. They picked up a bit of freelance animation work along the way, and met with production companies, advertising agencies and design studios.
In September, they got in contact with Mother and were offered them a work placement starting in December – all thanks to grabbing that opportunity at New Blood. Mother Creative Stuart Outhwaite also recommended the team get in touch with Work Club in the meantime as the agency had placements starting that month.
...and they’ve been there ever since. Tom & Matt landed a placement at Work Club and spent 3 months working on all kinds of pitches. ‘It’s been great to be involved in project from the beginning,’ said Matt. In December, the agency offered to extend the placement and the team was presented with a choice – stay at Work Club or take up the earlier offer from Mother.
‘We thought about it long and hard,’ said Tom. ‘We’d really enjoyed our time at Work Club and felt part of the team, but we knew that Mother would also be a great experience’ In the end, they decided to stay on at Work Club to continue with the projects that they had been involved with. They contacted Stu at Mother to explain the reason behind their choice, ‘Stuart was really supportive of our decision’ said Matt.
Just last week, the team were offered permanent jobs at Work Club.
So now that the job hunt is officially over, what advice to they have for this year’s graduates?
Keep an open mind – ‘We met with so many different people across advertising, design and production that we got a good understanding of what our options were.’
Create your own opportunities – ‘We didn’t win first prize at the Student Awards, and I think that just made us work harder.’
D&AD Student Awards deadline is this Friday, 19 March
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