Graduates: A chat with some of last year's grads, Alex, Josh and Signe

With just 11 days to go until the It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 competition closes its doors, we’re continuing our look back at last year’s grads and seeing what they’ve been up to for the past 12 months. So without further ado, let’s find out what these little scamps have been filling their time with. Quite a bit, it turns out. Alex, Emma, Josh – take it away!

And when you’ve read it if you can follow in their footsteps apply NOW!

Above is a postcard I’ve made for you and all your readers. It’s of some sights around my local area in Nottingham. Despite the photos, it’s actually quite nice but the combo of bad weather and rubbish camera phone made me want to embrace the grimness.

Anyway, the past year has confirmed that making the decision to work freelance was the right one, as I sort of jumped in without any business expertise whatsoever! Things are going smoothly now and I’ve built up a great client base including Wired, The Sunday Times Magazine and Usborne books. I love the variety of projects I’m getting and it’s always nice to receive emails seemingly out of the blue about work. For the moment, it’s fun not knowing what’s around the next corner.
www.alexjwalker.co.uk

After finishing my BA at Kingston and a very loooong summer break which included an amazing trip to Japan, painting hundreds of tiny window frames on my Mum’s ramshackle sunroom and having a nail biting conversation with my super-supportive and always understanding boyfriend (who lives in Copenhagen) about how I had decided to stay in London at least two more years to continue my studies.

I’ve also started my MA in visual communication at the Royal College of Art. I am now half way through the two-year programme and it has flown by! I have met a bunch of great people, collaborated a lot, worked on projects that were completely out of my comfort zone and spent way too much money on pints socialising at the college bar. 

At the moment I am working on several projects from promoting marriage equality, proactively using predictions to create a better future and collecting patterns photographically. I am also still hoarding random vintage photographs from flea markets and online. The one here with the piggy-dog is my latest finding.
www.signeemma.com

Since uni I have photographed some snakes in the shape of a dollar sign, made my own fireworks, got published in New Graphic Design – the 100 best contemporary graphic designers, got chased by cows, squared up to a kangaroo, helped brand a record label, made a Channing Totem Pole photographed a gangsta baby crocodile and most recently got a job as a junior creative at advertising agency lean Mean Fighting Machine, along with my creative partner Andy Dawes. 

A few weeks ago Andy and I claimed to have Sir Alex Ferguson’s last piece of chewing gum. We made a fancy case and auctioned it on eBay. The highest bid reached £150,800, not long before eBay suspended our account. The story got on Spanish TV and into newspapers all over the place. Lean Mean Fighting Machine encourage these fun ideas and I’m looking forward to an exciting future at the company.
www.josh-king.com

Represent

We are very pleased that The It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 will once again be supported by Represent Recruitment who are themselves celebrating being ten years old this summer. The graphic design recruitment specialists have developed a peerless reputation working with designers of all levels and matching them up with the right positions in some of the top agencies around. Represent’s support has helped us grow the Graudate scheme over recent years and we are thrilled they have partnered with us again in 2013.
www.represent.uk.com