• What’s the skinny on you? Tell us your story.
I'm Craig Baldwin a third year student at the Winchester School of Art studying a Graphic Design BA (Hons), I grew up near Southampton and haven't gone far from there. I'm a bit of a geek, I like computer gaming, listening to music, Geocaching, blogging about design and of course designing.• What is it that drew you to a life of graphic design?
At College I took a course in Photography after picking it up as a hobby and that my creativity going, it was a pleasant break from my other studies (Further Mathematics and Physics) and I had already self-taught myself Photoshop so when it came to deciding what to take at University I went for Graphic Design as I had no interest in taking Maths or Physics any further and I'd moved on my Photography by then.
• Where did you collect your design education?
Well I'm still getting it currently from WSA, I graduate next year.
• Are you a team player, or are you a solo creative?
Most of my University work has been solo but recently I had a placement at Archibald Ingall Stretton with a creative partner and that went quite well, still I currently prefer having complete control on a project but an extra mind really does help push the boundaries of your work.
• Are there any qualities you wish for in a project, or, describe your dream job?
Maybe I'm naive as I haven't worked in the real world much yet but all I'd really want is a nice job designing packaging, cd cases and layouts somewhere with a friendly atmosphere without a constant focus on making money, where creativity comes before profits.
• What primes your creative pump? Where do you find your best inspiration?
I've subscribed to quite a few sites like FFFFound! or Design You Trust and everyday I check my RSS reader to see what people have been putting there, the stuff I like I star and drag into my Inspiration folder and that's the focus of my inspiration. Comes in handy for Blog posts as well. Using Twitter helps a lot if you follow loads of designers as they post all sorts of great links you might not have found otherwise.
• We have all had projects that didn’t go well or were quite the challenge. What have you learned from these scenarios?
Well I've had a few University briefs that weren't exactly my favourite and were quite challenging from these I've learnt that it helps you understand what the core message is you're trying to get across, or who you're aiming at, mind maps are a godsend too, helps organise my rather hectic thoughts and I can come back to it at any point and see what the heck I was talking about or trying to achieve.
• If you happened upon enough cash flow to retire today, what would you do?
Well besides getting a really powerful computer to play computer games I'd probably carry on designing but only choose the best briefs, lest I got bored with nothing to do, I would still want to keep doing the stuff I'm doing because after I do it because I love designing.
• Any advice you care to divulge to students who are currently in training?
Expand your own horizons, don't expect your University to give you all the inspiration you need, go out and make a name for yourself so you're not an unknown when you graduate, get your own website (especially if you hope to freelance) and do a few self-initiated project so you can show what you're really capable of and expand your portfolio.
• Last chance, is there anything we missed you’d like to impart?
Nope that about sums it up.
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