TEN Liverpool creative agencies will be throwing their doors open for a day as part of Liverpool Design Festival.
The agencies will be letting people into their offices on Friday, October 7, to showcase their work and to show graduates what life working in design is really like.
The companies work in areas from graphics and branding to web design and PR.
Agencies taking part include Uniform, which has recently worked with Carlsberg and Unilever, and Smiling Wolf, which worked with Liverpool architects BCA Landscape on a scheme to regenerate the centre of Burscough, West Lancs.
Meanwhile, Mercy will be using the day to show off its Young Pines “agency within an agency” scheme, which it says will be an alternative to the usual intern experience.
Hope Street-based Nonconform says visitors can “see the studio busy at work and chat to the team about the latest projects on the go”.
And Blundell Street-based Splinter Design says design students can “Pop by for a peek at the team's new work for the BBC, some giveaway goodies, tea, coffee and of course biscuits”.
A Design Show spokeswoman said: “If you are a potential client wanting to check out the best local design talent, or a graduate wanting to see how it all works behind the scenes, or even just a curious design aficionado, check out the work places of the great and the good of Liverpool's design scene and drop in for a chat.”
Gary Wheat, business development director at Old Hall Street- based USP Creative, says the first ten design students to contact him about the open day will be given a place on a half-hour workshop with a member of the company’s senior team.
That will include a free critique of their work, and advice on how to secure work after graduation.
Mr Wheat said: “The open studios offer serves two purposes.
“It enables potential clients to see how we work.
“It also enables us to give students the opportunity to experience a well-established agency and gain some vital tips on how to go about getting that all-important foot on the career ladder.
“In an ideal world, we'd be able to offer them all a start, but, short of offering everyone a job, we want to give them some real world advice on how to get their foot in the door.
“We would also look to keep in contact with the students who attend the workshops, as we are genuinely interested in helping the next generation of designers get to where they want to be.”
TO SECURE a place on one of USP’s workshops, email Gary Wheat at gary@uspcreative.com
