Claudia Aggett: The power of online presence
INTRODUCTION
Self-professed Northern Girl, Claudia Aggett was born and raised in a small town in Lancashire, but has spent the last three years studying in sunny Cornwall, at Falmouth University. She has previously interned at Design Bridge, Pearlfisher, Fiasco Design and is currently at Supple Studio.
In 2020 alone, Claudia has been named the Overall Creative Champion at the South West Design Awards, featured on D&AD's 'One's to Watch' at the New Blood Festival 2020 and commended for a Creative Conscience Award.
During the turbulent times in which Claudia graduated, she put her positive and can-do attitude into action by creating the Class of 2020 Slack channel. Designed to support and create a network of graduates from around the UK, the group now has over 100 members.
This interview took place via video call in September 2020.
When we first started The Arena, yours was a name that just kept coming up over and over again. You seem to be everywhere, all the time! What advice would you give to someone who was feeling hesitant about sharing their work or opinion across social platforms?
Hahaha, I am flattered!
First of all, I want to say that I was in the exact same position not too long ago. Sharing my work or opinions online was something I found very daunting. As creatives I believe it is in most of our nature to be perfectionists and to get protective over our work, wanting to hide it away from any criticism and with the additional pressures of social media, particularly Instagram, this is amplified. For a large portion of time, my Instagram feed was highly curated which limited my creativity and spontaneity to post. Most of the time I did not upload what could be really valuable key parts of my design process and thinking, as I believed it ‘didn’t match my theme’ or ‘didn’t look good enough’. I was very aware of this and it wasn’t until the start of this year, that I became freer in the content I uploaded.
I understand it is a lot to overcome, but the outcomes of putting yourself out there massively outweigh the negatives. I have only had positive experiences after showcasing my work online and it has been the best thing I have ever done! As a result, it has given me a wide range of opportunities (like this one!) which I definitely don’t think I would have received if it wasn’t for getting my name known. If this isn’t enough to sway you or give you a little boost of confidence to do the same, I don’t know what will!
In short, share your work, what is there to lose? Share your thinking, share your recommendations, inspiration, process, anything that has got you to where you are now! It is all a part of the package and is just as important as the final outcome.
“I understand it is a lot to overcome, but the outcomes of putting yourself out there massively outweigh the negatives.”
© Claudia Aggett - Eastern Roots
What’s your relationship like with social media on the whole? Do you ever suffer from imposter syndrome or stress about not being ‘online’ 24/7?
Social media, as a creative, is a wonderful thing and on the whole my relationship with it is relatively positive, but it does have its fair share of downs. I definitely suffer with feelings of guilt on the regular, particularly when I am a little ‘less active’ - for example, at the moment, due to my internships and ever increasingly busy schedule!
To be completely open, parts of me believe that because of this I will ‘fall into the background’ or be ‘forgotten about’ if I am not constantly posting, commenting or sharing content. However, I have realised that everyone else is also busy and probably won’t notice if I have a week or two offline. I believe periods away from social media gives you a good chance to ‘reset the system’, allowing yourself the time and space to breathe, so you are able to continue uploading authentically and it not become a chore (important!).
“To be completely open, parts of me believe that because of this I will ‘fall into the background’ or be ‘forgotten about’ if I am not constantly posting, commenting or sharing content.”
Have you been able to continue to grow your network during lockdown? If so, what are your top networking tips?
100% yes - I would go as far to say lockdown has been the catalyst for my networking! As everything headed online, it was almost a kick-starter to make a name for myself and it felt like the right opportunity to do so!
The first things to suggest for people looking to ‘network’ would be getting involved in live streams, commenting on other creatives work and sharing posts which inspire you. They were enough for me to ‘stay in the loop’, get to know the industry and other creatives inside and outside of your field.
I shout about it a lot, but I would advise everybody, if they haven’t already, to get on Linkedin and Twitter - both have been the best and most rewarding platforms to date. The design community on Twitter is great. It allows you to build connections, and in some cases friendships, with established designers, fellow graduates or students, and it feels a lot less formal than an email. I use it as a space to comment on new work, ask questions and generally just to keep up to date with what is going on in the design world. Linkedin, however, allows for more formal, opportunity-focussed conversations, which could start off as a simple hello, but you never know where that might lead!
In short, get your name known, be present, be proactive, but most importantly be yourself - people cannot offer you your dream job if they don’t know you exist!
© Claudia Aggett - 45RPM - Riding Powers Manchester
Did you face any challenges at all showcasing your work or building your portfolio considering the circumstances in which you graduated?
In my opinion, graduating in this climate has been both a blessing and a curse. As many other students will empathise, the quick change of plans, cancellation of events and what should have been a nationwide celebration of graduating, became very anti-climactic, very quickly and left me feeling deflated. However, I soon managed to adapt and seek the positives out of what was, and still is, an unprecedented situation — which when looking back, I am glad I did so!
In some respect, being part of the infamous ‘Class of 2020’ has definitely opened many doors and opportunities which I wouldn’t have experienced. With a lot of graduate shows moving online and designers, such as Craig Oldham, using their platforms for promoting young creatives, I feel as though we, as a year group, have had more exposure than previous years, standing us in good stead for when ‘normality’ kicks in.
If you had to give one portfolio tip to fellow creatives what would it be?
Portfolio building is such a difficult thing to comment on because everyone has their own way of doing it, but one thing I have always stood by is that I would personally rather read a 60-page portfolio with good pace, rhythm and flow as opposed to a 20-page portfolio which is crammed full with content. If an extra slide allows your work to breathe, I think it’s an important addition. Since studios will be going through your portfolio relatively fast, I would advise including pages which are visually quite striking, such as full bleed photography or project dividers which provide a pause. However, that said, each page has to say something different, constantly ask yourself – is this slide adding value? If not, remove it!
As long as your portfolio represents you and the work you create and you are able to talk through it passionately, then (in my opinion) that’s what matters!
© Claudia Aggett - Project Together - Awarded the Overall Creative Champion at the SW Design Awards 2020
Let’s talk Class of 2020! Firstly, a round of applause to you for starting such an incredible community and reacting to the climate so positively! When you first started the Slack group did you think it would blow us as much as it did?
Thank you so much, it really means a lot! I did not expect to receive this much support, not only from students, but people like yourselves, the industry and creatives that I look up to - it is incredible! I am still feeling positively overwhelmed by the responses and traction it gained. I woke up one mid-June morning with this idea that I just knew I had to make happen and I am so pleased I did. As I initially said when announcing the channel - “we got through all of this together, so let’s stick together”.
I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for the Slack Channel, which I hope I will be able to make real - so keep your eyes peeled…
What was your motivation behind starting Class of 2020?
Whilst I prepared to graduate from Falmouth University, I began to feel as though entering the industry remotely would make it too easy for people to lose confidence and contact. ‘Class of 2020’ was an opportunity to stop this from happening. Pretty organically it became a platform for exchanging and sharing ideas in a safe and supportive environment. I was very aware that it was difficult to be honest online when the industry seemed to be watching, so it was important for me that ‘Class of 2020’ became an industry-free zone. Without added pressure and in a world where networking events and final shows were off the table for the foreseeable future, this online community allowed young designers to foster creativity and connections between courses across the world.
It’s now developed into a group of 150 inspiring creatives (and growing!), recently graduated from Birmingham to Brazil and everywhere in between!
“I was very aware that it was difficult to be honest online when the industry seemed to be watching, so it was important for me that ‘Class of 2020’ became an industry-free zone, without added pressure.”
© Claudia Aggett - The Bookcase
Now you’re interning full time, how do you make time to balance your freelance work, networking, Class of 2020 and retain a social life!
I really do not know! I must admit, it isn’t easy, it’s a big balancing act. My day to day life consists of reams and reams of lists, a lot of tea and a good support network who help me along the way – keeping me sane! Importantly, I find ‘networking’ and staying active all very exciting, so it doesn’t feel (too much!) like work, and as long as it stays that way everything will be okay. But I am aware there is a fine line - design can become all encompassing. My best friend and extremely talented photographer, Sophie Preston (@soph_v_preston), joked about the ‘Triangle of Life’ whilst at University. In life, there are three essentials: Sleep, Social Life and Work, but you can only pick two. If you choose Work and Sleep, you will have no Social Life, yet if you chose Social Life and Work, you will have no Sleep. It is a tough balance and I am still yet to perfect it!
From your CV we can see you’ve already got a fair amount of experience under your belt! How did you go about securing those placements? And what advice would you give to any other recent grads who may be struggling right now?
I benefitted from the fact that I was active before I was actively looking for opportunities, but it doesn’t mean you’re too late to start. It isn’t easy right now and I have never seen what ‘normal’ looks like, but I genuinely believe that things are starting to look up!
Whilst many of the studios I’ve contacted would love to be in the position to recruit, the majority simply can’t. It stings at the time, but never means the conversation is closed. As graduates entering the industry right now, the message we all need to take from this is that patience is key. It’s a bit of a waiting game, however what goes around comes around!
© Claudia Aggett - D&AD Creative Bridge Exhibition
You’ve interned at both small and large studios, which must of all been quite different experiences! How do you think the attitudes and cultures across studio sizes vary? Do you have a preference for which you see yourself working at longer-term?
Yes! I have been fortunate in that all of the internships I have had have provided me such eye-opening experiences. It has been useful to understand the studios that I like as much as the ones I don’t. Ultimately, it has been less about the size of the studio, but more about the people who work there. I originally imagined working in a large studio environment, like Design Bridge, would have been daunting, but the reality was it had a lively and supportive family-feel.
All in all, my experience has resulted in teams who have not only been filled with brilliant designers but have also become great friends!
“Ultimately, it has been less about the size of the studio, but more about the people who work there. ”
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
I try to avoid planning too far in the future – I believe that when you start your journey, what might be your ‘career dream’ at stop no.1 might not be your ‘career dream’ at stop no. 2! This time last year I had confirmed plans for moving to London, starting my first position as a Junior Designer. Unfortunately, that quickly changed due to COVID-19, but I believe these things all happen for a reason. Now, I am in the South West and couldn’t be happier. It is such a great, close-knit community and I have thoroughly enjoyed interning at both Fiasco Design and Supple Studio. Fingers crossed I stick around for a little bit longer!
I was asked this question a couple of months ago and after rethinking, even in such a short space of time, my thoughts have changed a little. In five year’s time I will be turning 27, and that’s my lucky number, so I hope it will be a good year, whatever happens!
However, that said, as a recent graduate, I felt the benefit of having a network of inspiring creatives to look up to, particularly female figureheads. Within this next year, I would love to have the opportunity to lend a helping hand to the next wave of emerging designers, supporting them in finding their own feet in industry.
Recommended reading
Designing Graphic Props for Filmmaking by Annie Atkins
Recommended listening
Assume Form by James Blake
Recommended follow
@presentandcorrect (Instagram) / @presentcorrect (Twitter)
Follow Claudia
Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn // Vimeo // Behance
Website: www.ClaudiaAggett.com
If you’d like to reach out to Claudia, send her an email to: hello@claudiaaggett.com or drop her a DM on Instagram. “I will always respond whether it's just for a chat, advice or for a second pair of eyes on work! :)”
