'PAB Studios limited have more than 20 years experience working in advertising/marketing and cover a variety of disciplines including: press, radio, on-line and TV advertising, direct mail, website, PR, print and point of sale. They are one of Yorkshire's leading full service media agencies, with a broad mix of clients, ranging from Automotive through to retail.'
Some of their clients include: Stoneacre Motor Group, RNLI Lifeboats, Ringways Motor Group, Ridings Shopping Centre and 96.3 Radio Aire.
Here is a link to their website: www.pabstudios.co.uk/
With around 15 people working there, it is a small yet busy team enviroment, consisting of 2 directors, 6 account managers, 4/5 graphic designers, a web designer, and an accountant.
The work experience came about through using my own contact, the director of the company, who knew I was studying on Graphic Design course and offered to let me spend a week there. It was an exciting opportunity for me to see not just the design studio, but all the different aspects of the company and how it works, as I had never been in this type of working environment before.
My Daily Dairy:
Day 1:
I was excited, yet nervous, on the first day, not knowing what to expect. I was shown around the building, in the offices and studio, and introduced to everyone, before sitting in with one of the account managers to see what exactly her job entailed. She already had a list of clients ready that she had to ring to discuss their advertisements, before sending them up to the studio. Mondays are always one of their busiest days with all the press deadlines. I spent a bit of time up in the studio, to see the work the designers were producing. I was surprised to find out that on Monday, between 60-80 ads were created and sent for press. The company is known for the amount of work they can produce in such a short amount of time.
Day 2:
Not as nervous as day one, having met the friendly team already, I looked forward to another day. I spent some time with a different account manager, who had a different set of clients. I then had a one-to-one marketing lesson with the Director, who explained that 50% of advertising is wasted, but that they knew how to cut this down, through knowing how to reach the right target market for each product, and the media in which to do so. They also build their marketing strategies based upon facts. I also learned about demographics and how this effected the distribution of the advertisements.
One of the Directors, was working with a new client, who had just started their own relocation business, called 'Spencer's', and as a little task she asked me to try and come up with a logo for them. Spencer's wanted to come across as a more up market company, with four types of relocating services including moving home, office, and artwork. They should be portrayed as 'Relocation Experts'.
Here are a few logo ideas:
This is the logo I thought worked the best:
Carrying on with the Spencer's brief, I was then asked to create some stationary for them including business cards, compliments slips, flyer's and letterheads.
Here is the brief written on one of their Creative Job Sheets:
Business Cards:
Another of the accounts managers was doing a fund raising event to raise money for her to go to Mexico and cycle to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. She was organising a 5-a-side football event and asked me to make a poster for it, that she could put up locally around town, to get people involved.
Here is the brief I was given:
With never having done web design before, today I was asked to mock up a homepage for the Spencer's relocation company (that I had previously created a logo for) and spend some time with the web designer, who showed me how I would get my design up and running, and active. I found this really interesting as it was new, and although it got a bit complicated, I realised that web design was something I would like to learn more about.
My Macmillan Poster for the 5-a-side poster was adjusted/approved/finalized and printed today.
Day 5:
With the directors PA (also an account manager) today I went visiting clients, to see the places were the briefs come from for the work produced at PAB. The first was Radio Aire, situated in Leeds, who showed me around the building and introduced me to those who deal with PAB Studios, and how they come up with the briefs. I was then allowed to sit in with the presenter, Griffo, whilst he was on air, and before we left I was given a Glee CD and some Radio Aire mugs!
We stopped off at another client, Ringways, to drop off some stationary, and then went to the printers to pick up some posters.
I really enjoyed today, meeting their clients and seeing the other side of it all, and seeing the design work from PAB in context.
My overall time with PAB was definately a positive and influential experience. I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I became as the week went on, once I knew everyones names and became familiar with the environment, and I now know that a business of that size is what I would enjoy working with and feel comfortable in. I felt that I learnt alot about the company as a whole and also about the design industry, and how it works.
The quality and amount of work produced in a short amount of time was a real eye opener, and I now want to focus on using software more quicker and conveniently, but I know that speed will come with confidence and experience.
If I could go back again I would like to have a longer placement, and work within the studio, because with it being such a busy place, and the week that I was there they didn't have many new projects, just ongoing ones. So I would like to see new briefs/campaigns and how they progress over time.
I know that if I go to another design agency for a placement, that I'll have more confidence, after already gaining some experience within a professional, busy working environment.
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