BBH - Agency Visit


BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) is an advertising agency based in SoHo London, with a global range of clients such as Nike, Google, Audi and Samsung. I got the opportunity to look the agency and talk to some of the people who work there. 

Initially I wasn’t too sure how valuable the visit would be seeing as its an advertising agency and not a design studio and therefore didn’t align with the sort of place I wanted to work. Ultimately however, having been given the opportunity to look round, via a a contact who worked there, I thought I might as well go and see what designing for an advertising agency is like. 

Initially when I arrived I met with the head of Creative Resources who showed me round the  massive 4 floor agency, broadly explained how they go about things, talked about some recent projects they’ve done and showed me the different departments and their roles. It seemed like a really lively and engaging environment and having seen it and been there, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to working in a studio of that scale. 

I then sat down with the head of the graphic design department for an hour and a half. He explained what everyone on the design team did and then talked me through some of the most recent projects he’s been working on. The main project he showed me was a set of advertisements for Ladbrokes online betting, and I didn’t really find that project, or some of the others particularly engaging or exciting. I can accept the fact that obviously you’re going to have to work on projects every once in a while that don’t excite you as much as others do, however I think the general format of working as a designer in an ad agency and the nature of that role is what doesn’t appeal to me. The people in the advertisement team come up with the ideas, and it kind of seems like the design team are just left to visualise those ideas a lot of the time. Also in the case of, for example, the ladbrokes posters that the head of design was working on, the design was kind of mundane and very commercial, and I think I’d like to work more so in the cultural and public sectors of design. 

I then showed him my portfolio and got some feedback which was really useful; he said the design and format of it was really good, and that in general he liked my work, especially the strong application of typography. He pointed out that it would be better to have some nice photos of my work, which I absolutely agree with and moving forward with extended practise, I’m definitely going to photograph every project I do. Having shown him my portfolio, he got more of an idea of my style of work, so showed me a few projects that they’ve done which were a lot more in line with that. One project in particular that I really liked was their in-house magazine/publication which documents some of their most recent projects. They give a copy to clients so they can get an idea of the work they’ve done. The editorial design in this publication was incredibly bespoke, and I thought it was a lot more sophisticated than the other projects I’d seen, with interesting typesetting and bold typography. 

In summary, going round BBH was really useful and was a great insight into a creative professional environment. What it taught me was that I definitely want to work in a design studio as opposed to an advertising agency because of the difference in client base, approach to projects and application of design. However it also taught me that I’d be really keen to work in a similar environment; in a large studio in a big city such as London. It has definitely given me more of a direction for my future and applying for jobs, I’m going to keep working on my portfolio and hopefully get some really nice photos of projects for it, and I’m also going to research and start compiling a list of London based design studios who’s work I find engaging and interesting. 

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