For the over five years, I have given talks and lectures to graphic design students at The London College of Communication.

The objective of the talks are to give students insight into the business of design and presenting them with the realities of everyday life in the graphic design industry. The students at London College of Communication's Foundation Degree (FdA) are encouraged to seek work placements as part of their curriculum, so the lectures are designed to prepare them for their placements as well as giving them a taste for the industry.

The talks usually start with a brief overview of graphic design and it's implact on society, from everything we see and feel around us. This is followed by a breakdown of some of the areas in graphic design and visual communications that the students could get in to, i.e. branding, corporate communications, advertising, web design, magazines and publications, digital media.

The talks finish off with a description of studio life and making the transition from student to professional, dealing with deadlines, clients, costings and budgets, time and project management.

More extensive workshops are given to 2nd year degree students and we go into more detail on issues such as:

• Briefs: interpreting and getting the most out of briefs.
• Scheduling and planning a peoject
• Research prior to design begins
• Presenting design ideas and concepts to clients

The students are then given a pretend brief and asked to split into groups and discuss the project,, working out a schedule, project plan, budget and if necessary, ascertain what team they would need on the project, i.e. outsourcing photography, illustration, digital media.