OUGD602 - Skype Call With Hungry Sandwich Club 17/4/17

Today, Amelia and I took part in a Skype call with the Hungry Sandwich Club instead of completing a studio visit in person. We were really grateful that the guys from the studio were willing to give up an hour of them time to help us out by answering a few of our pressing questions. It would have been more insightful to pay a visit to their studio space, but we gathered more than enough information from just speaking over the internet. 

Amelia and I came together for this because we both really admire the work that the Hungry Sandwich club produce and are also really interested in their studio setup/general ethos. It also helps that they went to LCA, did the same course as us and can probably relate to the way we are currently feeling this close to graduation. 

All three members of the studio were present for the video call which was brilliant. Amelia and I found it really great to learn out about all of their different backgrounds and creative interests. We recorded the interview and the responses are transcribed below:

How did you guys collaborate and come together to form the collective?

'We basically did every brief together in third year, using every opportunity we could to collaborate together to develop an aesthetic which represented both of our styles and creative concerns. We even tried to get a joint placement together which didn't go so well. We also just went to every show, exhibition and event that we could together so that people started to notice us as a pair. Showing up to everything helps, as people begin to remember you and that usually gets the conversation flowing. Once we had graduated, we knew that we wanted to start the hungry sandwich club, as we had sent out a few paper cut outs of stereotypical sandwiches to studios in various attempts to attain a placement. We just ran with the whole sandwich concept after that really!'

James, their most recent employee is a motion graphics specialist who is self taught and did not come from a university background. It was interesting to get his perspective. He basically knew that he wanted to work in the field, so just approached a load of studios and taught himself the basics - from there he managed to land the full time positive at the Hungry Sandwich Club.

What are your favourite typefaces?

'We both used Futura for pretty much every brief we did in third year, because its a timeless, beautiful font. Once we started working professionally however, we realised how annoying it really is. It's so pointy, and that proved to be more of a problem the more commercial we went. It's still a lovely font though!'

What's your opinion on Behance and other portfolio platforms?

'Online portfolio platforms are amazing, because they showcase the best of your abilities to a global audience. Sites such as Behance can elevate you to the next level. Having a profile on such a site can certainly lead to big opportunities, but so can personal websites. The major draw back of sites such as Behance is that people just view highly polished work and can often lose sight of its real world value. With everything being online nowadays, its easy to forget the levels of research, idea generation, experimentation and other considerations that go into a fully realised graphic design project.'

What's the biggest challenge you've faced in the industry so far? 

'Budgeting and keeping a steady stream of working flowing into the studio have been some of the biggest challenges to date. It does get slightly easier as the months roll by, but we are still learning every day.'