Featured Artist in: The Cambridge Art Book By Emma Bennett

I have been lucky enough to be features in a beautiful new book due for launch in July called the "Cambridge Art Book' by Emma Bennett.  I have been lucky enough to call Cambridge home for most of my life so its really exciting to have one of my prints of the city featured.

Take a look inside and come to the launch on July 18th 2017 a Heffer's Bookshop.  Click here to register a place.

The Cambridge Art Book showcases one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Inspired by Cambridge’s unique architecture and historic university, over 50 artists have produced a unique collection of contemporary images illustrating all aspects of the city and surrounding area. The city is shown in a new light through a range of media, from screen print and computer aided design to hand-cut collage.

You can pre purchase the book here.

Does Working for Free Pay Off?

Over the past few months, I've received a number of design enquiries that when I've replied with my rates and charges, people have come back to me saying they were hoping I would do it for free!  These are not small design projects or projects for worthy causes (like charities) but actual people and businesses that want projects like wedding invites or fashion ranges designed free of charge!  This got me asking myself the question when should you or should you ever work for free?

Over the past decade, working for free has become something we have all become familiar with.  During the recession loads of people took pay cuts to carry out their usual jobs, working more hours in return, just to survive.  Anyone who's been a students is likely to have completed an unpaid internship in return for experience and a leg up into their desired industry but where do you draw the line?  We all have to pay rent, buy groceries and have lives that need money to survive so how much does working for free really pay off?

Major celebrities are in on the conversation too - recently Taylor Swift has been in the headlines criticising Apple for their new streaming service which offers three months free as an introductory offer and results in artists not being paid as a result.  She's quoted as saying "We don't ask you for free iPhones.  Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation," Swift wrote in a blog post titled, "To Apple, love Taylor."  She's got a point but then again she's a global star, can the rest of us get away with the same attitude?

As a freelance designer, a good chunk of my schedule includes time spent working unpaid.  All my blogging I do free of charge, as a hobby and because my blog draws in a huge amount of Internet traffic often bringing work my way.  When I was first starting out as a freelancer, I would set myself projects to build my design portfolio up in my own (unpaid) time.  All my teaching days also require a huge amount of background work and planning which is all unpaid but I guess all these things are essential in the day to day running and success of my small business.  

In reality I probably wouldn't get to where I am today without working 'free of charge'.  The first job post graduation from University I got on the basis that I had 'real' experience of design work from (unpaid) internships.  There was also a lot of unpaid hours I invested in self promotion to start my business and also numerous prints I designed when I started out that never sold that in essence was also working unpaid.

However, designing a set of wedding invitations for someone (who I don't know!!) free of charge or designing a fashion range to help someone else (I don't know) start up their own business seems a little too generous even for my beliefs of working for free!  I mean, I too had to start up my business from scratch, without handouts and on top of that (like most people) I too have a family to care for, rent to pay, food to put on the table and hopefully some free time to enjoy a few of the the finer things in life like holidays and the (rare) meal out for example! 

So when should you work for free?  I think if you are investing in yourself to start up or drive an exciting business forward, then working free of charge is essential to get yourself off the ground.  Set time aside to blog, self promote, guest write on other blogs (with higher amounts of traffic) in return for a link to you blog for example.  If you're a graduate, take on internships, set yourself extra projects contact bloggers etcetera and get yourself featured and promoted.  All of these are smart moves in my opinion and will set you way above the rest and eventually get you to where you want to be!  

Working free for a good cause, to help out a student or a charity is also great and I'm a great believer in 'giving back' to society which is why I love teaching and although I get paid for my lectures, I put in a huge amount of unpaid time creating lesson plans, sharing work presentations and answering student queries in my own unpaid time.  I also think 'giving back to society' is great for your mind and soul and gives you a personal sense of achievement (that's often better than financial rewards) but that's steering this post off in a different direction!

So to summarise; when working free of charge, be sensible, set limits, don't get taken advantage of and above all remember to give yourself free time to enjoy life too!  I've so often worked through weekends and the sunniest days of the year stressing about work (and during dry freelance patches rather the lack of it) only to be flooded with it the following week having not given myself any unpaid free time in between! Which brings me to another blog post - getting a work life balance!

Recommended Reading for the Aspiring Fashion Student

I have received lots of e mails over the past couple of months from followers of my blog and Facebook Page asking for advice and information on getting into the fashion industry.  You can read my personal post of how I got into the fashion industry by clicking here.  I also promised I would write a post on some book recommendations that I think are must reads for anyone looking to study work or freelance in the fashion industry!

.   .   .   .   .

Marketing Fashion

By Harriet Posner

Marketing Fashion is a must read for all aspiring fashion students. It outlines and runs through all the basic principles of marketing and branding in relation to the fashion industry.  It is packed with great imagery and easy to follow diagrams.  This book gives you a real feel for all the subjects that you would follow in more depth in a good fashion related degree and provides you with a good knowledge base to start your studies with.

You can buy this book on amazon - click here to view.

.   .   .   .   .

Mastering Fashion Buying and 

Merchandising Management

By Tim Jackson and David Shaw

This great book outlines the principles of Fashion Buying and Merchandising, two major Fashion Industry roles that work along side the Fashion Designer.  Another essential piece of academic reading to give you a clear insight into the process of these two roles over the course of fashion seasons.

You can buy this book on amazon - click here to view.

.   .   .   .   .

Fashion Trend analysis and Forecasting (Understanding Fashion)

By Eundeok Kim, Ann marie Fiore, Hyejeong Kim

Fashion Trend and Forecasting is one of the hardest subjects for students to grasp in the Fashion Industry Ive found through experience int eating the subject.  If there was one subject I would recommend reading up on and practising before entering studies in fashion this would be it!  This book gives a great introduction into the subject of fashion trend analysis and forecasting and looks at both from the consumer and industry personal.  It also looks at the impact of fashion consumption - something every student needs to be aware of!

You can buy this book on amazon - click here to view.

To see some real life examples of trend boards click on the trend section of my blog portfolio or click here.

.   .   .   .   .

The Untimate Guide to Running a

Successful Freelance Business

By Meg Mateo Ilasco & Joy Deangdeelert

This book delivers exactly what it promises: A guide to running a successful freelance business.  Its a tough decision to start freelancing in any industry and Fashion is no exception.  This book is a great read for anyone who is considering it an option.  it runs through everything you need to consider and know from time management to invoicing.  I read it cover to cover back when I decided to go freelancing and can't recommend it enough!

You can buy this book on amazon - click here to view.

.   .   .   .   .

Fashion Design

By Sue Jenkyn Jones

Fashion Deisgn is another essential read for all aspiring fashion students.  Even if you are thinking of a career in Buying or Fashion Marketing it is still really important to understand the role of the designer (and vice-versa) The Fashion Industry is all about team work and Buyers etc work really closely with designers so it's good to understand what both areas entail.  This book is a great introduction into Fashion Design and even covers examples of the syllabus for a Fashion Design Degree as well as all the basic principles of a career in Fashion Design.

You can buy this book on amazon - click here to view.

.   .   .   .   .

A week in the life of a Freelance Fashion Designer: Friday

Ever though what its like to be a freelance fashion designer?  This week I am recording each days work and publishing it on my blog - welcome to my fifth and final post FRIDAY!

I get up at 6am and do the usual morning routine before setting off at 8am to dash to my printers to pick up some portfolio pages I sent them to print earlier in the week for me.  I am meeting a stationery company today who I spoke to on Monday regarding a Licensing design project and need to show them some work examples.

I get a brief hour to myself in the car and get the change to listen to some of my favourite podcasts and sing my little heart out on my journey to the meeting.  I arrive at the company at 9am and have a really successful meeting.  The company is looking to expand on what they currently offer and possible venture into apparel.  I will hopefully be helping them on some current projects and will advise them when they decide to venture into new apparel territory!  I help launch lots of small (and large) fashion brands in my day-to-day freelance work so my contacts and knowledge should definitely help them out when they decide to expand into clothing!

I have agreed to come up with a small graphics guide and product concept boards next week so I have booked them in my design schedule for my only two days remaining I have free next week.  I know my following weeks filling up with work now so I will need to discuss Alfred’s care with Jamie!

I get back home for lunchtime and sit down with Alfred and Jamie briefly before getting back to my desk at 1pm.  I want to try to get as much done this afternoon as I can so I can dedicate my weekend to fun and games with Alfred as I’ve not been around much for him this week.

I’ve been briefed a swimwear range for a UK department store for teen girls wear that I need to get completed by mid-next week.  This afternoon I need to get as much done towards this as I can.  Earlier in the year I created a full swimwear trend report for older and younger girls for Spring/Summer 16 so I get these boards out for inspiration along the way.

I don’t do a huge amount of swimwear so I start by drawing up shapes from scratch and get 4 bikinis and 3 swimsuits drawn up in illustrator before the end of the day.

At 4.30pm I open up my blog and prepare and schedule my blog posts for the following week.  While I am there, I brainstorm some posts for the week following week and set titles up in my drafts ready to look at some point next week too.

After attending to my blog, I check my google calendar and make sure I've recorded all the different days and projects I've been involved with during the week in my diary.  I invoice companies at the end of each month and it's important I log all my clients and work to make life easy (and because I can remember most of the time what I did yesterday let alone at the beginning of the month!)  Invoicing and accounts is the most tedious part of being freelance but you have to stay organised and work it all out yourself - no PAYE or last day of month paycheque in my world!!!   Finally I dig out all my recipes for the the week and log them onto my expenses part of my annual accounts excel sheet which brings me to the end of my day and week!

I finish work FOR THE WEEK (!!!!)at 6pm and spend an hour bathing and getting Alfred ready for bed.  Tonight we have some friends over for a BBQ and I looking forward to enjoying it with a glass of wine or two.  Tomorrow we have plans to take Alfred out on our little boat to the coast near Ipswich, which is about an hour away form us – I can’t wait.

I hope it’s been interesting reading my schedule for the week and gives an insight into freelancing?  I love to hear any comments or questions you may have?

A week in the Life of a Freelance Fashion Designer: Thursday

Ever wondered what its like to be a freelance fashion designer?  This week I am publishing a post each day recounting what I did last week on a daily basis.  Here is my Thursdays editions...

I wake up as usual at 6 am and go through and get Alfred and bring him into our room to play until 7am.  I have a meeting in London today and don’t need to leave the house until 9am so this morning, for a few hours, I do my favourite job: play Mum!  I make Alfred porridge and mix it with freshly picked cherries from our cherry tree in front of our house.  I have my morning tea wile he makes a mess getting porridge everywhere while my little Jack Russell Tilly waits underneath his high chair waiting for scraps!

We then play for an hour before I go off and get dressed into ‘proper clothes’.  I say proper clothes because quite often in the chaos of everyday life my morning consist of getting dressed in the dark and pulling on whatever’s clean and closest to reach – REAL life as a (freelance) fashion designer is no The Devil Wears Prada Scene!  In fact it more like The Sleep Deprived, Overworked, Multi-Tasking Designer wears Primark (if it’s clean) if not stick to the Pyjamas (if there’s no conference call today!!!)   But I love my job – seriously!!!

I jump in the car after saying my goodbyes and head down to London to go to one of the University’s I teach at for a planning meeting for the fast approaching academic year 15/16.  I teach on a range of subjects relating to my everyday work experience including branding, fashion management, marketing, design and so on.  My schedule quite often gets very chaotic so it’s important for me to plan my teaching days way ahead of schedule to avoid last minute stress!

I nip to Starbucks before my meeting and grab a snack for lunch (I know this meeting will run through lunch) and a Grande Earl Grey tea to take away.  In the meeting we discuss the units that I will be teaching on in the coming academic year and roughly plan what I will deliver in each session.  I teach across all three years of the degree programme so I can be teaching ‘Introduction to InDesign’ to new first years one day followed by advanced Fashion and Trend Forecasting to third years the following.  You can see how it can all get a little confusing if you don’t plan ahead!

I really love my teaching work and find it really helps compliment my day to day freelance work and vice versa.  Working alone at home each day can get pretty lonely – having one or two days out each week teaching helps keep me up to date with the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs!  It also gives me a grown up and more interactive day of work which I always really look forward to.

I try to keep all my lectures really up to date and fresh!  Any real life project that I take part in my day to day freelance work which I think may be interesting for students to hear I present back to them in my classes.  I think it helps a lot when teaching to refer to (up to date) personal experiences and project examples to give students a real insight into what their future careers may be like.

My meeting finishes mid-afternoon and I make my way home in time to feed and bath Alfred.  Once he is in bed I go back to my computer and answer e-mails I have received during the day.  I have some small urgent amends to the baby layette ranges I created earlier in the week and get these done in an hour.  I then quickly write some notes up from my earlier meeting before heading off to bed at ten!

A week in the life of a Freelance Fashion Designer: Wednesday

Ever wondered what its like to be a freelance fashion designer?  This week I am publishing a post each day recounting what I did last week on a daily basis.  Here is my Wednesdays editions...

I wake up at 6 am and go through the usual morning chaos of getting the family up and ready for the day ahead!  I manage to get to my desk by 8am where I check through my e-mails while drinking a mug of earl grey and slowly eating a Weetabix.  I’ve received an e-mail from a student in the far east asking for advice on getting into the fashion industry and for books I recommend on the subject.  I’ve had a number of e-mails recently asking a similar kind of thing so I set up a draft blog post titled ‘Recommended Reading for any Aspiring Fashion Student’!  Watch this space!

Today I have a range of baby layette to design for a UK high-street retailer that I regularly freelance for.  To get me in the right frame of mind I have a look through some of my favourite baby blogs as well as looking what they and their competitors currently have in store.  As a freelance designer I regularly devote days to comp shopping where I go to either a large scale shopping centre like Westfield or trawl a major high street like Oxford Street, London.  I also visit lots of markets and independent boutique shops dotted about too.  Huumm this sparks another idea for a future blog post hehehe!!!  It’s really important that I keep up to date with current and future trends and am constantly aware of what’s happening on the high street as well as the catwalks.

I open up illustrator and my library of babywear CAD flat templates and start to look through the brief that was sent through.  By the end of today I need to get 2 packs of basic boys and girls six packs of body suits (all with graphics) designed, two packs of two pack novelty sleep suits (both with graphics and 3D embellishments), two three pack up-specked sleep suits for both boys and girls and four packs of boys and girls five pack printed bodysuits designed.  No time for tea breaks today.

Luckily I have lots of inspiration from research I did last week back when this brief came in as well as lots of Spring/Summer 2016 trends I created earlier in the year.  I begin the day by coming up with some colour palettes – in some of the more basic packs I’m restricted to 4 colour prints so I know I need to be quite clever with my colour to make the packs look fun and exciting!!!

At around midday I feel happy with my progress and stop for a quick baked potato for lunch with tuna and cheddar – got to feed the brain on busy days like this – no diets in this household!!!  After lunch I get back to my computer and browse Pinterest for a few minutes to top my imagination and to start thinking about Spring/Summer 2017 (YES 2017!!!)  Working in fashion means working on one season (today SS16), finishing off the previous season (AW 15/16) and creating trend for the next season (SS17)!  It’s no wonder anyone in fashion never knows what day of the week it is let alone what month – I can’t count the amount of times I sign the date with the following year at the end either!!!

I get back to my babywear and manage to get the rest of the brief completed by 5.30pm.  I now spend a precious hour with Alfred feeding him, playing with him and getting him washed and ready for bed.  This week is a crazy week so I won’t get to spend much time with him, next week I know I have a couple of spare days in my schedule which I will devote to him.  I’m already thinking of a trip to Ickworth House not far away from me for a nice long walk with the dog and a picnique and maybe arranging coffee with by lovely NCT girls!

At 7pm I go for a nice long swim to forget about the stresses of the day then collapse on the sofa (with a small white wine spritzer) before watching some TV then settling into bed with a book!