UPB Graduate Interview: Claire Wilson

Today we are delighted to share with you an interview with Claire Wilson who is a graduate of The Ultimate Portfolio Builder which she took in September 2015.

When did your interest in design first start and how did that come about?

My love of drawing started from a very young age and I could often be found surrounded by paper and pens, doodling away for hours when I was little. I loved drawing pictures and creating my own cards to give to people to make them smile. All throughout school, I loved being creative and getting involved in anything arty and found that art was a subject I really enjoyed and was quite good at.

What steps did you take to get to where you are now as a designer?

After finishing school, I went on to complete an Art Foundation Diploma at the Oxford and Cherwell College in Banbury. I originally thought that I wanted to be a fine artist but during the course, I realised how much I enjoyed designing and making products, and actually loved working with clay and exploring surface pattern design. From college, I went to De Montfort University in Leicester and graduated with a Design Crafts degree in 2007. During my second year at university, I was fortunate enough to gain work experience at Next as a designer in the homeware department, working on a variety of projects, including 3D design and surface pattern design. After graduating, I was then employed by them as a full time product designer in homeware. I loved seeing my designs on real products that people could buy and put into their homes and realised that this was something I wanted to do more of but under my own name. So in 2012, I left to set up my own business and started to create my own surface pattern designs. I began producing my own greeting cards, art prints and wedding stationery, and also started working as a freelance designer for a few different companies. I wanted to learn how to develop my own unique style and create a recognisable brand, so when I came across the Make it in Design courses, I jumped at the chance to develop my skills, knowledge and business further and signed up to all 4 modules – I’ve never looked back!

How would you describe your style?

I’m a flexible designer and can turn my hand to a wide variety of styles but I’d say that I’m still trying to find my signature style! I like to hand draw my designs, working in pen and pencil onto paper before scanning them into the computer and adding colour. My work is illustrative and I love to create fun and bright designs, sometimes with cute or quirky elements to make people smile

What kind of designer do you want to be known as?

I’d love to have a recognisable style within the industry and be known as a friendly, approachable designer who’s hardworking, reliable and fun to work with. I love to create designs to make people feel happy and loved.

What are you working on currently?

I’m currently juggling a few different projects at the moment which is great! I’ve been busy freelancing and am looking forward to seeing a few of my designs launch later on in the year. Alongside the freelance work, I’ve been designing some brand new greeting card collections which I hope to have live in my online shop very soon. I’m busy working on my portfolio too, developing and collating my designs into a professional format to enable me to showcase my work and approach companies for potential licensing opportunities.

What advice would you give emerging designers wanting to build their portfolios?

I think my biggest piece of advice would be to just be you and be happy! Believe in yourself and your own ability – advice that I need to listen to more myself sometimes! With so much incredible talent out there, it can often feel intimidating and make you feel like what you’re doing isn’t good. I’ve come to learn that every designer does this, even the really successful and established ones that I admire and it’s reassuring to know that it’s normal to feel like that! I’m trying not to compare myself to others, and to be inspired by them rather than intimidated. After all, they had to start somewhere too and have worked really hard to find their own style and make their own path. My aim is to just go for it and find my path too. Lots of drawing, designing, experimenting and pushing myself to try new things which will help to shape my style and define who I am as a designer. Try not to over think things and just do what makes you happy!

What would be your dream design gig?

There are so many areas I’d love to get into so it’s really hard to narrow it down! But I’d love to have a range of homeware products licensed and it would be great to see some of my cute designs used across products within the children’s market too, perhaps with someone like the Land Of Nod.

Looking ahead what are your major goals for the next couple of years?

I’d like to increase the number of stockists I have selling my own products and also try to expand the type of products that I offer. I’d also love to gain some experience of having my designs licensed with companies before considering exhibiting at a large trade show.

If you were a pattern what kind of a pattern would you be and why?

Something fun, bright and colourful to make people smile!

What was the most important lesson you took away from The Ultimate Portfolio Builder?

Keep pushing yourself and experimenting to find your own style and place in the market. Don’t be scared to try new things and really think about who your target market is.

What difference did it make to have a supportive community of fellow students and how important do you think that will be going forward?

The support of fellow students was amazing. Working alone in a small studio can sometimes make you feel quite isolated – I miss having people around to talk ideas through with! But being able to share my work with other like-minded, friendly and creative people to ask for advice and opinions was great. It really helped me to develop and I look forward to seeing how we all progress in the future

Please tell us about your experience of the live briefs and student work reviews.

I enjoyed the challenge and diversity of the live briefs and it was good to develop more work for my portfolio. It was great to have the opportunity to submit my work to some of the big companies that I’ve followed and admired for a long time and would love to work with one day. I was fortunate enough to have some of my designs selected for one of the briefs set which felt amazing and gave me a huge confidence boost. I’m looking forward to seeing them launch later in the year! It was also great to get some feedback about my work from someone working in the industry and to hear their advice on how I could push myself further and experiment more.

Claire is a surface pattern designer and illustrator based in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, where she lives with her boyfriend and crazy Springer Spaniel, Bertie. She’s inspired by the world around her, from everyday objects in the home to all things bright and beautiful outside. She loves to create fun, colourful designs to make people smile and likes to draw and sketch in pen or pencil before adding colour digitally. After graduating from De Montfort University in 2007, she began her creative career as a homeware product designer for Next. She set up her own design business in 2012 and has been developing her design portfolio and brand since, working as a freelancer for a number of companies, as well as producing her own range of greeting cards, art prints and notebooks.