Last week I attended Glug, a creative networking event that celebrated the abundance of creative talent that Leeds has to offer.
As well as talks from only studio and Intern magazine, there was a talk by 'She does digital' a Leeds based women in tech group. The talk was extremely insightful into the world of digital design, something whichI had not really considered previously.
As I'm in second year now I have really started to think hard about the paths I want to go down after university and which seem the most prosperous and abundant routes to follow.
The world of digital is getting larger every day however, being new to graphic design the thought of designing for screen has always terrified me as I always thought the ability to code was essential for this area of design. This particular talk however was particularly eye opening as it threw my previous perspective completely out the window.
The talk explained that the market for design talent working in digital media is vast and only getting bigger, there aren’t enough people working in digital and the problem is getting worse meaning there is an abundance of jobs available for this area of design. Women in digital especially is a huge problem. Most of the ‘technical’ roles are filled by men.
Women are also continuously conditioned to think that they’re not good with technology with mums in particular get branded as technological fools, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, where many smart women are deterred from learning digital skills.
After the talk I went and chatted to Rose from Leeds advertising agency epiphany and the co founder of she does digital for more advice on what to do if I wanted to crack the digital world after university. She advised getting some more digital work into my portfolio and to stand out from other members of my class and to practice my skills, enhancing my interest in the area. She also listed the number of potential jobs that were available in the world digital design which was absolutely immense. It was definitely food for thought and I'm certain I will try and enhance my practice by incorporating more digital design in future projects.
Another stand out message from the night was that sadly a huge amount of creative talent is leaving Leeds and the north in general to head down to London. One of my major aspirations in life has always been to move down to London after university and make a living for myself there as to me London is the epitome of business and creativity in the UK. However after hearing the talks this seems to be no longer the case as many northern cities such as manchester Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool all have booming creative industries. Despite still wanting to live in London for at least a few years of my life it has somewhat alleviated the pressure of having to live in an extremely expensive and somewhat daunting environment if I find it isn't for me.
Overall it was a very inspiring evening and I will definitely be going to the next Glug event.
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