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Careers in the Creative Industry… Be Inspired!

While it is tough to break into a creative career, the benefits can be extremely rewarding. Given that you have chosen carefully, your job can provide plenty of satisfaction and fulfilment. The offset to this are the potentially long hours and low pay, at least in the beginning for the latter.

There are plenty of places you can go to get advice about this industry – media careers fairs, websites, and last but certainly not least, right here!

The people featured in the following pages are all successful in their jobs, and have experienced the trials and tribulations associated with getting that foot in the door and then working their way up from the bottom.

This collection of case studies will hopefully give you an idea of what is needed of you in a number of different jobs, and how to actually break into them. Read on and feel inspired!

While it is tough to break into a creative career, the benefits can be extremely rewarding. Given that you have chosen carefully, your job can provide plenty of satisfaction and fulfilment. The offset to this are the potentially long hours and low pay, at least in the beginning for the latter.

There are plenty of places you can go to get advice about this industry – media careers fairs, websites, and last but certainly not least, right here!

The people featured in the following pages are all successful in their jobs, and have experienced the trials and tribulations associated with getting that foot in the door and then working their way up from the bottom.

This collection of case studies will hopefully give you an idea of what is needed of you in a number of different jobs, and how to actually break into them. Read on and feel inspired!

ARCHITECTURE

Does the thought of transforming a city’s skyline excite you? It did for Daniel Liston, who writes about his seven years training and a pink castle.

Everyone has a favourite building, right? Well most people anyway. And most people would love the chance to design their own house. I always thought it would be the best way to earn an honest living, designing buildings that might one day become someone’s favourite or even my own! Or at least it will when I finally finish studying.

It is not such a secret that it takes a long time to become an architect, at least seven years in fact. But as the proverb goes, good things come to those who wait, or in this case, study.
One important point to make is that it is not seven years of boring lectures at university. There are three parts to becoming an architect, these are required to register as an architect which is a legally protected title.

You start with a three year Bachelors Degree known as Part 1. This can be either a BA or a BSc. During these first three years you will learn a range of skills, from drawing and model making to theory and history.

This is followed by a ‘year out’ of work experience, although it is advised that students spend more than a single year working. Alternatively, you may decide to finish after this first degree and choose to work in another field of design, if you do a degree in architecture it’s a great way to get your foot in the door to related fields.

Following the ‘year out’ you enrol once more at university to study your Diploma in Architecture, or Part 2, which can be studied two years full time, or you can choose to study part time over four years to allow time to earn money.

You aren’t obliged to return to the same university that you completed your Part 1 and many students move for either personal or educational reasons.

Once you have graduated again, you are eligible to undertake your professional management exams or Part 3 at the end of a further year in practise. This is the final step in reaching your dream, if it is indeed your dream.

It sounds like a marathon, but remember that the whole course is life experience and you will finish with a professional qualification that can open all sorts of opportunities, in particular the chance to work both here and abroad.

The role of the architect is changing and you will only know if it is the career for you once you have experience and found the area that suits your particular interests.

I am half way through my training, and I am beginning to see how it’s more than just a job, it’s a way of life and will condition your train of thought in numerous subtle ways. You will never look at a building in the same way again; you will analyse and metaphorically pull things apart to understand them.

It is a highly subjective and controversial profession which is guaranteed to get you into heated debates at dinner parties, but remember it is still ok to say that your favourite building is the Pink Castle at Disney World!

FASHION DESIGNER

Nicola de Main discovered that placements, experience and contacts are key to cutting it in the fashion industry

After excessive partying and subsequent ejection from my first university, I went off to Leeds to get my head down and study. I enjoyed it loads, though it was really hard work!

While at university, I did various internships and placements with different designers, which gave me an idea of what kind of work I liked.

At Leeds, a friend called Jo and I started Kniki, a T-shirt label, which we showed at alternative fashion week. We managed to get two shops to buy some pieces: one in Leeds, and one in Japan, which seems amazing now I look back on it.

After uni, I went to get some experience with Hussein Chalayan, where I worked really hard, and was taken on as a design assistant, then promoted to studio manager.

Working there was great, Hussein makes ‘conceptual’ clothes, which got me working on some very unusual projects. The most memorable time I had there was sitting backstage during a show hoping that a piece I had worked on wouldn’t fall apart in front of the fashion pack like it had in the rehearsal!

I had always wanted to start my own label, which I did in January 2005. It’s hard work, and you never know where your gaps are until you discover you can’t do something. I’ve become a much better pattern cutter and maker in the 2 years that Nicola de Main has been running.

Every time a new challenge comes along you have to figure out a new way of working, and a new solution. I can’t count the number of times I thought I was done for, but with enough work I’ve managed to solve all of the hurdles so far!

My advice is to get good contacts and friends who you can ask for help when something doesn’t work. You can’t know everything, so it’s all about getting others to help you do things you can’t, then you’ll know for the future

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

Fancy yourself as the new Nick Knight? Julia Kennedy did, and now her work is featured in national newspapers and magazines

After picking up a camera on my foundation course and trying my hand at photography properly for the first time, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else. My friends had to drag me out of the darkrooms at lunchtimes to eat!

The foundation course was great for experimenting, and by the time I left, I was sure I had chosen the right career, so I chose a university course in Manchester.
It was D&AD and the course tutors said I could complete the projects purely in photography. It was a good base for learning about the industry and I did all the workshops both there and on the photography course next door. I didn’t go for the photography course at the time, as it was too fine art based.

While I was there, one of my favourite photographers, Elaine Constantine, was in town for a lecture. After the talk, I spoke to her assistant who gave me some great advice on moving to London.

So when I was finished at Uni, I headed down to London with lots of hopes and a couple of friends. I got a job in a photography studio and it was here I gained a lot of my experience.
I learned more about lighting on the job than I ever did at university and was lucky enough to help out some of the best photographers in the world.

I met lots of really helpful people, and the studio still helps me out now with low budget jobs. From there I assisted some photographers.

Now I have stopped assisting, and work on my own. The hard work has only just started. Getting in touch with magazines, publishers, stylists, advertising agencies and agents is relentless.

I have to constantly be on my toes to make sure the next jobs come in. It’s paying off though, and there are always new opportunities on the horizon.

I would say the most important thing to remember if you are really serious about getting into fashion photography is that you need to work hard and be persistent.
If you always work hard, especially as an assistant, you will be recommended and you will learn loads. Assisting is also important because it gives you a lot of contacts.

It takes time to get where you want to be, so make sure you are patient, unless, of course, your best friend is the editor of Vogue!