Colin Davies - Guest Speaker

Today we were treated to an inspirational talk by Colin Davies of 'one nine four' design studio based in Heaton. Colin is a self taught graphic designer and has learnt all he knows from books, in fact he is still learning from books and can't speak highly enough of this method of education. Colin began university education studying business but soon decided that it wasn't for him and began learning the basics of design, Colin now runs his own successful studio, one nine four, which is the number of the flat the company first originated from, today he shared 10 lessons to live by on the road to becoming a successful graphic designer...

Lesson 1: trust your instincts

Colin advised us that if your instincts tell you that something isn't right for you to trust them and not do it. Colin refers here to the fact that he hated studying business and knew that it wasn't for him. 

Lesson 2: develop your own identity

I like this one, Colin's work is colourful and fun. His business branding is fluent and consistent from the business card he gave me to the one nine four website

Lesson 3: make yourself appear bigger than you are

You don't have to run a massive organisation to take on a big job, Colin told us how he has, on occasion made out that his studio is bigger than it is to secure a job. You can always collaborate with others to get the job done, Davies is a fan of collaboration.

Lesson 4: get everything in writing

This is to ensure you get paid what you are due, as verbal agreement can often change. If it's written in black and white there can be no discrepancy, speaking from experience.

Lesson 5: have a good idea before you do anything

If the idea is good then the design will generally work. If it's not a good idea then why bother.

Lesson 6: if you don't think you can do it - do it anyway

Push yourself, see what happens.

Lesson 7: if you are using a different language, get it proof read

Don't just take an internet translation and run with it, find someone who knows an check. This could save time, money and embarrassment.

Lesson 8: if there is a problem, discuss it,  then there is no problem

Get things out in the open. Discuss issues with clients, it makes life easier. Discussing the issues with Go North East's busses with their head office lead to a big job for Colin and his team, he spent hours travelling on the busses, taking photographs of conflicting design issues and confusing displays, when he presented the findings to the head office, they asked if he would design a streamline brand to run throughout the company.

Lesson 9: be nice, clients will warm to you more as a person

It is great to build rapport with a client, they will be more likely to contact you for future jobs and recommend you to others. #befriendly

Lesson 10: develop your own intellectual property

This could serve you for life.

This talk was truly inspirational, I am keen to get my hands on some good graphic design books and expand my creativity. I will definitely be thinking about Colin's words of wisdom and taking his advice on board in the future.

I have been enjoying looking at the work on the one nine four website take a look :-)