GCA Graduate Open Call is being launched to support recruitment into the industry and to raise the profile of greeting cards with the designers and senders of tomorrow!
The aim of this project is to develop a pathway for graduates wishing to come into the greeting card industry, and for GCA members to be able to connect with new arts graduates.
How to meet the next generation of greeting card talent and help them, as well as meet your own creative requirements.
Following on from our recent blog post the section below aims to dive deeper into the benefits of work placements and mentoring and to introduce the 2022 graduates looking to work in the greeting card industry.
This GCA project is being led by Geoff Sanderson, who has spent many years recruiting and developing greeting card designers in businesses such as Tigerprint/M&S, Hallmark and Moonpig.
If you need any further convincing about the benefits and opportunities that exist, or indeed if you already are but are looking for additional information or justification to support your process, I hope this helps. And please come and join in.
Geoff Sanderson
The academic perspective
I discussed the opportunities and benefits of our plans to link with creative academia with Ian Whadcock, from Manchester Metropolitan University BA(Hons) Illustration with Animation Course. Ian is also the Employability Lead for the Design Department so can speak with authority and experience on the mutual and symbiotic benefits leading from your possible involvement.
I started by asking Ian his views on design education working with partners in industries such as ours as well as the value of work placement and mentoring to a student. Ian explained
With a growing emphasis on the employability and graduate outcomes of our students, we increasingly recognise industry mentorship often via work placement as the most impactful intervention into the professional practice development of our students and curriculum
Ian Whadcock, Senior Lecturer Manchester Metropolitan University BA(Hons) Illustration with Animation Course
“Whilst awards and prizes bring the opportunity for headlines and visibility, the value of mentorship and work placement is of extended support that imparts, professional values, industry insights and critical feedback over an extended period of time”, continued Ian. “This kind of intervention can significantly accelerate and develop confidence in a student through the difficult transition from undergraduate uncertainties into the workplace as confident young professionals.”
I have to admit that this comment sums up my greatest joy from such involvement in mentoring or work placement; in that you’re not only developing new and exciting content or designs for your ranges but watching the development of that talent right in front of your eyes. A work placement lets you not only asses the graduate’s talent but their personality and fit to your business. Like an informal interview.
Ian continues, “Another often over looked value of mentorship is the way it can enable the recognition of the range of roles that exist within an industry alongside and beyond the creation of creative content. These are the transferable skills a student may not otherwise value, these could be in writing, service design, project management, social media content development or marketing. The recognition that you do not always have to be the content creator to find rewarding work in the creative industries can be a revelation to a student that is hard to create within the confines of a course.”
This comment also rings true. There’s been many a time that a graduate has come on a work placement and exhibited other stronger skills, or finds more interest in other areas of the process or business. In one case a product designer who had a folio full of automotive design became an ace packaging designer and I’ve seen many illustrators who have become fantastic copywriters or humour caption writers, as well as many who also multi-task in social media content or marketing support around their illustration practice.
Ian further expanded to say that, “A mentor does not need to be an illustrator or a designer to provide the support and guidance that can build confidence and enable significant recognition of an individual’s potential to locate a meaningful role in the creative sector.”
In short the experience a post graduate can pick up from the simple act of working with you not only expands the creative potential of your product ranges, but can help build your teams as well as fledgling careers.
This is why more than anything we are asking you to consider involvement.
Mutual marketing – Social Media, PR & awareness
Tracy Allanson-Smith is the Visual Communication Employability Coordinator at Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts within Birmingham City University. Like Ian I’ve worked with Tracy for many years on term time projects and post graduate mentoring and placements.
Tracy recently swapped lecturing in Graphic Design to that of graduate employability. Part of Tracy’s new role includes assisting potential employers or industry partners to tie up with the right courses and lecturers within the University, encouraging cross collaboration between disciplines – as well as promoting the eventual outcomes through the universities social media and PR channels. Critically Tracy’s main focus is to promote the progress of post graduates to the wider world. As Ian, Tracy is a passionate exponent of the work placement and mentoring process but also knows if fully harnessed can incredibly rewarding.
Showcasing the talents of our illustration students and graduates across the spectrum of the UK’s vast creative education spectrum will not just have a huge impact on individual publishers but in potentially reshaping the greetings card industry
Tracy Allanson-Smith, Visual Communication Employability Coordinator, Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts
I think we’d all be thrilled if that’s where we get to. Please feel free to join the journey.
Meet the 2022 graduates!
The graduates below are all selected illustration graduates from three Universities, who will be attending our Conference on 29th September at Nottingham Trent University.
Since we don’t want to blow the surprise of seeing the work on the day and share too many details of our showcase in advance here’s a small teaser / taster of who and what you’ll see on the day. To meet them book your Conference ticket! and see How to Get Involved below.
Betsy
Hi! I’m Betsy. A visual archivist and collage maker based in North Wales. I have ADHD and dyslexia but I don’t let this get in the way of what I want to do. I’m a Record collector, Avid Sock wearer and Mess Maker.
Eleanor
Hi! I’m Eleanor, A highly motivated, positive, and creative illustrator, with an imaginative approach and great attention to detail. Interested in the greetings card industry for the never ending variety of creative topics and designs that develop illustrative skills and ideas.
Erin
Hi! I’m Erin, A illustrator who loves creating handmade looking work digitally, that’s full of colour and quirky details! I’m enthusiastic when it comes to anything creative and therefore willing to explore a variety of sectors if it means my creative mind will not be able to rest!
Katie
Hi! I’m Katie, A printmaker and illustrator with a love for bright colours and bold composition. Working on greeting cards seems to be the right fit to me. Most recently I’ve been experimenting with how cutouts and pop-up features can create dimension to a card and wanting to design every element so opening the card itself is a memorable experience.
Meg
Hi! I’m Meg I love all things cute and spooky and my magic filled childhood is a big inspiration for my work! I have always had an interest in greetings cards as it is a tradition that I always make my mum a card for Mother’s Day and birthdays. My work focuses on character design and children’s books, but I am looking to expand my work into design and other areas such as greetings cards, packaging, print and graphic illustration!
Georgina
Hi! I’m Georgina, I’m an illustrator and maker, who adopts an organic and hand-crafted approach to my work. With story-telling at it’s centre, I try to find innovative and creative ways to playfully tell a variety of narratives, often focussing on nature, people and the simple joys in life. Experimenting with surface and texture has led me to want to explore how my designs can be translated into bespoke and innovative cut-work products, and how these can sit within the greetings card and giftware industries.
Poppy
Hi! I’m Poppy, I am a designer and illustrator. My work is playful and I often experiments using pencils, oil pastel, ink and gouache as well as paper-cut shapes before editing digitally. Interesting colour palettes, intriguing characters, and hand lettering, coalesce to produce a variety of outcomes from editorial pieces to book cover designs. Throughout university, I designed and sold greetings cards though my Etsy shop and in 2021 I undertook a short placement with Hallmark which have both inspired me to pursue my career within greetings cards. I am excited by all things design and hope to have a flourishing career in this industry.
Eve
Hi! I’m Eve, I studied Illustration with Animation. I create illustrations, cartoons and animations surrounding social, mental health and climate issues, containing pinches of wit, cynicism and sarcasm. Humour is the centre of most of my work, and my aim is to bring a smile to people’s faces in a world so full of doom and gloom. I would love to see my work on the front of greeting cards or in newspapers, magazines, and other editorial mediums, as I believe there is a lot of fun to be had in portraying relationships, communities and events.
Anna
Hi! I’m Anna, I’m a MA Illustration graduate. My illustrative practice is routed in themes of nature and optimism. Colour, pattern and design are important in my work and this has been identified as being decorative and well as commercial.
Kirsty
Hi! I’m Kirsty, I’m an illustrator focused on children’s illustration, print and stationery design. Previously I’ve taken part in competition briefs with clients such as Next Home and Oliver Bonas. I was highly commended for my Next Home project which was a sustainable Christmas stationery range including a range of greetings cards. I’m really interested in character design, creating narratives through illustrations, and sustainability.
How you can get involved
1. Attend the Portfolio Showcase – meet the graduates at the GCA Conference between 9.30-10.15am on 29th September
The graduates above will be attending from three Universities, along with several academic leaders, and be there to meet you between 9.30-10.15am pre-conference. They will be set up in the foyer and be happy to chat and show you their portfolio’s, and also have business cards and social contacts at the ready for speed because we know your time will be short.
Please contact us if you would like to book a slot, otherwise just turn up at 9.30am.
If you haven’t yet booked your Conference tickets please book here.
2. Pledge a work placement, mentoring, project or freelance brief.
Whether you wish to do this with or without our selected graduates, already do this yourself, or are interested in how to set up your own scheme – please contact us.
3. Help us develop the industry standards and steer what GCA Open Call could become
We are keen to bring together a group from across the industry to develop this project, providing a gateway for graduates into our industry and helping our members to find the next generation of greeting card designers.
4. Help us select next years showcase
If you’d like to put your name forward we’d love to hear from you, and will arrange future meetings and communication. We’ll be arranging next steps soon so grateful if you can let us know by weekending 14th October, please contact me through the GCA
Further Information and resources
For more information about the launch of this project please see our blog GCA Open Call, and the Secret to Creative Innovation and Succession Planning
Also read about our How to Get into the Greeting Card Industry project when we teamed up with the Illustration & Graphic Design team at the School of Creative Arts University of Hertfordshire. This includes a useful handout for schools and colleges which can be downloaded.
If you want to visit your local school, college or University there is a presentation and toolkit in the members’ library that you can use – adding in your own slides to promote your brand.
Download Geoff’s presentation on this initiative at the 2022 GCA Conference and AGM below, including feedback and quotes from a number of members with experience working with Graduates and keen to get involved.
Downloads
