The design world is incredibly sought after world to be part and as such, there is an enormous amount of competition for every vacancy (we should know – we get A LOT of job applications regardless of whether we are advertising or not!). Because we get to see so many different candidates, we’ve built up a pretty good idea of what we think works and what you should avoid, and we thought we should share some of these in case in helps anybody from squandering their hard earned degree material on an ill-thought out job application.

Covering Letter

The covering letter is your first contact with your potential new employer which and it is often where many new designers fall down. For us, a polite, informative, short and well written covering letter will get far more attention than someone saying ‘HIRE ME I’M BRILLIANT!’, or ‘ROLL UP! ROLL UP!.. CREATIVE GENIUS UP FOR GRABS!’. The truth is, the working world has a lot to do with how you present yourself and how you get on with other people. So, we need to know if you are articulate, intelligent and have more than just an amazing portfolio so at the end of the day, we can assess whether our team and our client’s will like you.

CV

As a designer, your CV should be a work of art, but it is often far from the case. Despite the fact that people are trying to approach us as professional designers, you would be staggered to see how many hideous CV’s we are sent. Granted, not everybody is going to specialise in stunning graphic design. But even for you web and product designers out there, you will still be expected to have a fundamental understanding of what looks good and reads well. Therefore, you will be expected to demonstrate this understanding and skill in every part of your job application. Take the time to make it exceptional – it is worth it.

Content for your CV should be concise, well written and only include relevant information. For us, the most important information is work experience is technical skills (with some indication of proficiency), relevant qualifications and industry work experience. Other details like a brief profile, references and education history are important to include but they play second fiddle to the other key points we are looking for so don’t focus on them.

Portfolio

Offline Portfolio

You must take time to put together a professional looking design portfolio in both digital and hard formats. We prefer to receive all job applications via email because it saves on energy, resources and it’s easier to file. As a result, it essential that you have a PDF (not Word or any other ridiculous format) version of your portfolio in a manageable file size (you should be able to keep this under 1MB) and only include examples of your best possible work. We only ask for 3 pieces of work from any job applicants because this is usually all it takes for us to spot someones ability ;-)

Online Portfolio

If you are a web designer or have some web design ability, then an online portfolio is a brilliant idea as it allows a design agency to get a far clearer idea about your skills and abilities. You can use portfolio websites like behance.net or carbonmade if you have very limited technical ability as they are very easy to set up and offer professional looking results. Whatever route you choose, make sure you only put on work that is RELEVANT and HIGH QUALITY – Don’t throw your kitchen sink at it, because one bad project will only sow a seed of doubt about your creative ability – something you need to avoid like the plague!

Relevant Work

We would always prefer to see live projects because they are completely different to ones produced in an education environment. Nothing quite prepares you for the leap from doing a project for a university or college project to one where a client is paying you to produce something they want. That said, most graduate designers won’t have any real jobs behind them so either include coursework that has a place in the real world, or even consider setting yourself a fresh brief for a conceptual live project (a new branding project, a new brochure design, a new flash website design…). Always be honest about the origins of a project though! If you say that you’ve designed a new website for a local company and it isn’t true – you WILL get found out and it’s bye bye credibility (and job!).

And Finally – Persistence

As we said at the beginning, the design world is incredibly competitive and it will often come down to those individuals who have the drive and tenacity to keep applying and contacting companies when others have given up. You must keep focused on where you want to be and how you want to get there and in the end, with a lot of hard work and a little bit of good fortune, it is possible to achieve our ambitions in the design field of your choice.

We hope you find this little guide useful. Remember – these are only our thoughts based on our own experiences and preferences and they may not suit every individual or organisation.

Please post a comment below if you have anything to add or want to let us know your experiences – we’ll try and answer any questions as soon as we can. And lastly, please keep checking our design vacancies board for future vacancies here at BML Creative and you never know, some of you might even be helping us to write our next career guide ;-)

Your Trusted

+ Location

Essex

+ Market Sector

Home Maintenance

+ Project Outline

BML were recently approached by Your Trusted to design a new flyer campaign for their new ‘Your Trusted Plumber’ service.

The client wanted the flyer designs to instill confidence in the service but without a stale air that you often find in advertising for trades people.

Our designs use bold vectors graphics to frame the logo and present a fun and engaging message to the audience.

+ Deliverables

• Flyer Design
• Marketing Concepts
• Copywriting
• Graphic Illustration

Cornish Mining

+ Location

Cornwall

+ Market Sector

Leisure and Tourism

+ Project Outline

BML Creative were recently approached by Cornish Mining (who are part of Cornwall Council) to tender for a new creative marketing campaign.

Following a successful tender, we were asked to develop some new ideas to promote the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Our designs focused on the stunning natural beauty of the World Heritage area which is a true wonder to behold.

The design is due to be followed up next year with a more comprehensive marketing campaign to encourage visitors to the area.

+ Deliverables

• Creative Marketing
• Graphic Design
• Advertising

We’ve given the BML Creative website another big overhaul recently and our key focus has been to generate feedback from our visitors on all the projects and content we output.

You can now submit a comment on any piece of creative work in our portfolio and we’ll do our best to answer any direct questions you might have about what’s on display.

Check out our work today to explore the range of projects we’ve worked and let us all know what you think…

Elan Garden Design

+ Location

Bristol

+ Market Sector

Gardening & Landscaping

+ Project Outline

BML Creative were approached by Elan Garden Design in Bristol to help them develop a new website.

Elan are only start-up business, so they had a very limited budget available. This meant that we needed to make sure that the project was tackled in correctly right from the word go in order to minimise costs.

The new design is bold and colourful and incorporates a dynamic Flash header, where we brought the dragonfly from the Elan logo to life. As well as a comprehensive online case study section, the website also includes a simple blogging module, where the owners can post relevant articles about their business – this is a great way to increase website traffic!

BML were also asked to edit the copy for the site to make the text provided by the client sound more professional. Let us know what you think!

+ Deliverables

• Web design on a budget!
• Content Management System
• Blog
• Photo Gallery
• Case Studies
• Flash Website Header
• Website copywriting

+ Links

Elan Garden Design Website

Although it may seem tempting, doing away with your marketing altogether is probably the worst thing you can do in an economic downturn. Without any means to attract new customers, you are leaving the door wide open for your competitors to take advantage. Also, the general nature of a downturn means that less companies and individuals are buying products in the first place. So competition to attract those who are buying is more fierce than when times are good. This means that in many ways, it is even more important to increase your marketing activity during these quieter periods. The real trick is to make sure you are savvy in the way you go about it.

We’ve put together a few ideas for companies on a tight marketing budget, but who still need to generate sales enquiries:

1. Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most cost effective ways of marketing your business to a wide audience. You can either send out individual HTML emails, or you can have a bespoke template designed that will allow you to input your own content. Be careful that you comply with anti-spam regulations so you stay on the right side of the law, and also look out for a provider who offers simple subscriber list management and reporting so you can track the effectiveness of your efforts.

2. Targeted Mailing

Blanket mailing potential customers can be difficult, costly and time-consuming. For companies on a budget, it might seem like a good idea to hit as many people and businesses as possible, but unless you have an exceptional product or service and have a well-cleaned database, the results can be poor.

Targeted mailing on the other hand can be a much more rewarding marketing exercise for businesses on a budget. By taking the time to identify what it is you are best at and who will REALLY benefit from the services you offer, you can put together a marketing campaign that is entirely focused on winning business or sales from those customers. This not only gives you a far greater chance of generating a positive response, but it makes the whole mailing process more focused and easier to manage from your end.

3. Website SEO

Utilising the force of the internet is one of the best ways to market your business. A website requires comparatively little overheads and allows customers to find you, rather than you constantly trying to lure them in.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a phrase that is often fills the uninitiated with fear. Whilst it is true that good SEO needs specialist skills and knowledge, there are many thing that you can do yourself to improve your online presence without being a genius. Writing blogs articles, building links, submitting comments, building your online presence… all of these things will help to push your services in front of the right people and encourage them to make the call.

4. Social Media

Social networking sites like Facebook and twitter are the new powerhouses of communication and they offer a great way to market your business for free! But there’s no point doing things half-heartedly, you need to throw yourself in… Make friends, expand your network, promote special offers, invite comments … Build a relationship with your client base and it will be them who seek you out, not the other way around.

If you want to speak to someone about reducing your marketing costs while still generating sales leads, then get in touch with BML Creative today.

Stepp Recruitment Ltd

+ Location

West Midlands

+ Market Sector

Recruitment

+ Project Outline

Design of a new corporate identity for Stepp Recruitment Ltd to replace their existing brand.

Stepp are a specialist curtain walling and building facade recruitment company based in the Midlands. The new logo design incorporates a 3D wall structure gaphic, designed to capture the attention of the company’s target market.

+ Deliverables

• Logo Design
• Logo Concept Work
• Design and Artwork

+ Related Projects

Stepp Recruitment website Redesign

Premier Stairways and Ballustrades

+ Location

West Midlands

+ Market Sector

Engineering

+ Project Outline

BML Creative were commissioned to come up with a new logo design for Premier Stairways – an architectural staircase manufacturer based in the West Midlands.

The brand that BML designed has a strong, modern feel which reflects the progressive work that the company produces.

+ Deliverables

• Brand Design
• Matching Stationery Design
• Invoice Design

The Vogue Group

+ Location

West Midlands

+ Market Sector

Interior Design

+ Project Outline

BML Creative were approached to design a new logo for Vogue Interiors, based in the West Midlands.

Vogue are one of the UK’s leading showhome design companies. The upmarket new corporate identity design also included a new logo and stationery design for Vogue London – a subsidiary of the company that specialises in interior design services for private clients.

+ Deliverables

• Upmarket Logo design
• Matching Stationery Design
• Subsidiary Company Logo
• Brand Development

+ Related Projects

Vogue Interiors Print Design