Ollie graduated from the Studio in summer 2019. Heβs currently living in London, working with big names as a graphic designer, as well as offering conceptualisation, branding, copywriting and moreβ¦
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 β an intensive night school programme that lets young creatives learn from the best and develop their craft. βThe fact that I already had a portfolio of my work βΒ a lot of that coming from school β has helped me to get jobs and get on to courses,β 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.
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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: βIβve been using all that since I was about 15, which you definitely wouldnβt get anywhere elseβ¦β he says. βWe 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 helpfulβ¦ thatβs what was really good about the Studio.β
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For those who are deciding what they want to do in the future, Ollie says βget as much experience in actual companies as possibleβ¦ I didnβt go to uni and itβs been really valuable. Iβve done a few internships with different agencies in London, and Iβve worked with loads of cool clients like Cadburyβsβ¦ Those experiences β working with big companies, senior designers, creative directors, working with agencies β are so helpful. You can learn so much going into the industry straight away, if you can do that.β
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Ollieβs 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.
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Find out more about Ollieβs work and the exciting things he has to come on his website, www.oliverbielby.com.
