Ollie graduated from the Studio in summer 2019. He’s currently living in London, working with big names as a graphic designer, as well as offering conceptualisation, branding, copywriting and more…

At the Studio, Ollie studied business BTEC, an A Level in graphic design and a Diploma BTEC in business media. From here, he went on to be part of the D&AD New Blood Shift class of 2019 – an intensive night school programme that lets young creatives learn from the best and develop their craft. “The fact that I already had a portfolio of my work – a lot of that coming from school – has helped me to get jobs and get on to courses,” he says. Through the D&AD course, Ollie took the opportunity to work with big brand names, such as Starbucks, giffgaff, and Powerleague, less than a year after leaving the Studio.

Alongside building his portfolio whilst at the Studio, Ollie says that the practical experience he got he here was integral to getting into work. At the Studio Ollie was able to work with a wide range of software including the Adobe suite, Trello, Slack, and more: “I’ve been using all that since I was about 15, which you definitely wouldn’t get anywhere else…” he says. “We also did a lot of stuff around KPIs (key performance indicators), so having that knowledge already allowed me to go into businesses and sort of know what was going on already, which was really helpful… that’s what was really good about the Studio.”

For those who are deciding what they want to do in the future, Ollie says “get as much experience in actual companies as possible… I didn’t go to uni and it’s been really valuable. I’ve done a few internships with different agencies in London, and I’ve worked with loads of cool clients like Cadbury’s… Those experiences – working with big companies, senior designers, creative directors, working with agencies – are so helpful. You can learn so much going into the industry straight away, if you can do that.”

Ollie’s impressive portfolio ranges from co-creating CHAIN Magazine to brand identity and design for Lovezzo (a fictional coffee shop designed as part of his A Level work), about a third of which Ollie says is from his days at the Studio.

Find out more about Ollie’s work and the exciting things he has to come on his website, www.oliverbielby.com.