Friday, 17 April 2015

Conclusion/Evaluation of Module.

Conclusion of Report
From looking at Neil Springham, who I believe is the master of art therapy across the UK, I have been able to reflect his career accomplishments on to my own personal aspirations. The writing and research I have put into this report has helped me greatly understand the person I aspire to be and what I need to do to get into that profession.
I started by discussing where I fit in industry along with who my market is and who my competition are. After this I went on to talking a little bit about Neil Springham, The head of Art Therapy across the trust. The feeling of helping someone less fortunate in terms of their mental health state can be more rewarding than a highly paid salary.
After this, I began reflecting his career on to the person I aspire to be in future, which is an art therapist. I looked at what art therapy is, who uses it and how it can help people who use it. I went on to looking at what I would need to do to become an art therapist along with career prospects in the profession. I looked at courses I could apply for after my current university studies to gain the qualifications of an art therapist.
I asked questions to members of the charity I volunteer at to see if their time spent at The Artrium has improved their mental health, I also asked the project manager if I could include some comments made by the members on a similar subject. This helped me a lot and it proves that a community art studio, which uses art therapeutically, can improve the state of a person’s mental health.
I then went on to putting together a personal development plan for myself in terms of what skills and experience I already have, what areas need growth and development and what I can do in the future to gain the qualifications and experience to become an art therapist.
If I were to do this module again I would include interviews with service users to give me a wider range of primary research.

Evaluation of Module
All of the research tasks that have been set, have helped me understand what needs to be considered when going into industry as an illustrator. I have learned a lot about defining markets and understanding consumer needs, conceptual branding, communication, understanding commissions, writing commissions, delivering work professionally, contracts and legal requirements. I mostly looked at the UK government website to find certain parts of information regarding contracts and legal requirements because I felt it was a reliable quality source of information and it related to the legal requirements in the UK which are the regulations in the country I live in. I could have done better regarding book research since I didn't really research the tasks heavily, which I should have. Looking at master of trade helped me a lot to visualise my career as an art therapist in the future and helped me understand what I need to do to reach my career goals. If I had the chance to do this assignment from scratch, I would use more research material and research each task further to gain more knowledge on the subjects. 

Legal Requirements of a Contract.

Contract Terms
The legal requirements of a contract usually refer to the terms. If an illustrator has a contract to do some work for someone this is called a 'contract to provide services'. The contract is an agreement between the illustrator and the person they are doing the work for which sets out their conditions of employment/duration which services are being provided, their rights, responsibilities and their duties.

Agreements
All agreements must be made before work is started to ensure everybody knows what they want and how they want it without changing their mind. No changes can be made to the agreement once everyone agrees but either client or illustrator can ask each other if they can make changes and if the other person agrees, the changes can be made.

Written Statement
A written statement should include;
  • The business’s/clients name 
  • The illustrator's name
  • Description of work
  • Start date
  • How much the illustrator will be paid and how often
  • Deadlines
  • End date of contract
Reference
https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions
http://91.109.3.30/~theaoi/theaoi/members/contracts.html


Contracts within Industry.

Small job = Small contract.
Big job = Big contract.

Knowing who you're working for
Before an illustrator starts any job they must research and understand the company they may potentially be doing work for. If they agree to do work for a company that they haven't looked in to, they may be faced with problems such as the company not being able to pay them.

There is a service on the government website which lets anyone seach for details about a company. It lets a person find out its office address, previous company names, directors details, if it has been dissolved, when its accounts were filed or due, a history of its files or documents and a person can check if a companies name has been taken, all of these details can be viewed for free. There is a charge of £1 to use the service if a person wants to view details and filed documents such as accounts, annual returns and reports.





Pricing work
This depends on what exactly the job is. The price may be calculated depending on how long it will take to complete and how much money would need to be spent on certain materials, this may be a hourly or daily rate, then this could be calculated as a lump sum.

Copyright laws in different countries
If an illustrator is doing work for a company or person in a different country, different laws regarding copyright may apply, they will have to look into this for the specific country and decide if they want to go ahead and take on the work.

Exchange rates
In the contract, there will be the price that the illustrator will be paid for their work. For example, if the illustrator is working for a Japanese company, it could say that the illustrator will be paid 50,000 Yen which seems a lot of money, where realistically, 50,000 Yen is worth around £280 British Pound Sterling.

Understanding terms and conditions
An illustrator must understand the terms and conditions fully before agreeing to the contract. The words used in a contract can sometimes mean the illustrator may lose money because he/she does not understand what they mean. They may be able to seek advice and be fully aware of what they are agreeing to before they sign the contract.

Where is your work being published?
The illustrator will need to know where their work will be published and in what countries, may that be in the UK or Worldwide.

Royalties
This means that the illustrator will get a percentage or fixed fee for every unit sold. For example if the illustrator is creating a book, every time their book is sold they will get money from it.

Agency clause
Agents can look over a contract if it is needed by the illustrator, to ensure the illustrator isn't missing anything such as words used in the terms and conditions.

Reference
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Week 8 - Current Master of Trade Presentations.



























Week 7 - Current Master of Trade Research.

This week we had a 10 minute talk/presentation for professional studies. In the talk we were asked 'Where do you fit into industry' We need to be able to place ourselves in the field, understand our chosen markets and understand our competition. We were then asked who we aspire to be and why. Next week we will be expected to answer this question through a powerpoint presentation. This week I will be researching someone I aspire to be and explaining why, ready to put into powerpoint.

Ideas.
I do have my favourite artists such as David Shrigley but to really cater this module personally to myself I will be researching someone from an art therapy background since this is the field I am more interested in and would like to go into when I complete my degree.

Research.
I have decided to choose Neil Springham. He is an art therapy consultant and Head of Art Therapy across the trust. I aspire to become someone like him in future because He works with people therapeutically using art. Most people he works with may have schizophrenia, other forms of psychosis, serious depression or personality disorders. He enjoys his job and describes it as fascinating.

In my powerpoint presentation I will be explaining what I am doing now and what I will need to do in the future to become an art therapist.

Reference
http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/allied-health-professions/careers-in-the-allied-health-professions/arts-therapists/art-therapist/


Week 6 - Professional Delivery.

How to deliver work professionally
Be polite to people, if a person is grumpy or not well-mannered, the person paying for this work will not be impressed and would most likely get a bad vibe. Work must be professionally finished or printed with no scraggy edges or marks on the paper. Everything must be crisp and clean along with the person's appearance. Whilst showcasing work to someone, an illustrator must explain their work from the theory, to the concept and the conclusion.

How will people feel about this kind of delivery?

  • They will get a happy vibe from the illustrator and believe the work is a success.
  • They will be impressed to see a professionally finished image/product.
  • If the illustrator is dressed professionally and appropriately they are more likely to take the illustrator more serious and show respect.
  • If the illustrator presents their work by explaining their theory, concept and conclusion, the person paying for the work will likely be impressed and will be more in touch with the work because they will know exactly what it is about. 


How to deliver work unprofessionally

  • Turn up hungover with a bad attitude.
  • Dressed in clothes from the night before. 
  • Take the final piece of work in a carrier bag. 
  • Final piece is ripped and marked with fingerprints. 
  • Work is thrown on to a desk and illustrator leaves in a hurry without explaining what they have created. 


How will people feel about this kind of delivery?

  • The bad attitude will put people in a bad mood
  • Clothing choices will give off a bad vibe and the illustrator will most likely not be taken seriously. 
  • Appearance of work is poor and unacceptable.
  • No explanation of work so the person who is paying for it does not understand the theory, concept and conclusion of work. 

Week 5 - Writing a Commission.

What is a Commission?
A commission is when someone wants you to do some work for them and they tell you what they want. A contract will be made to make it binding and this will guarantee that the artist/illustrator will get paid.

How can it help an illustrator?
It can help the illustrator because it will have a guide or instructions of what they should be doing so they can refer back to it if they get stuck.

What needs to be in the commission brief?

  • Deadlines
  • Sizes/Specifications
  • Description of content of work, what do they want you to draw exactly?
  • Colour scheme if any
  • What materials they want you to use
  • How do they want the finished work presented?
  • What file type if submitting work digitally?

What does an illustrator do after he/she has read it?
The illustrator may negotiate the commission in terms of the work they are doing, deadlines or the price they are being paid for the work. If they are happy they may create a timetable including checkpoints for certain aspects of the work to be completed by a certain time or date.

How and when do you communicate?
Progress meetings will take place at certain points throughout the commission for the commissioner to see if the illustrator is meeting deadlines and to see if they are going in the right direction with their vision. How an illustrator communicates depends on their preference or the preference of the person giving the commission, this could be by E-mail, phone, text, video call (skype), written letter or face to face. If a person has a quick question they might find it easier call the other person on the telephone rather than setting up a face to face meeting.

Week 4 - Communication and Understanding Commissions.

Communication within a commission. 
To make the commission as straightforward as possible, all parties must identify their needs and expectations at the beginning. It will also make it easier for the illustrator and the person/company commissioning them, if written confirmations are kept and to have an agenda or timetable for the duration of the commission.

Managing expectations.
Regular meetings/communication between illustrator and commissioner should be had to ensure expectations are being managed and any changes that need to be made can be identified before it is too late.

Communication Methods.
  • Telephone
  • Email
  • Skype
  • Text
  • Letter
  • Face to face
Confirmations.
Make sure to keep written confirmations where possible and sign off all points on the agenda at all times. In all circumstances this can not be done but it shows that you are being kept on track and doing what you need to be doing in order to get the commission finished in time and at the best quality. 



Week 3 - Identifying Conceptual Branding.

Branding.
What is a Brand?
A brand is the name, symbol or design of a product which helps it stand out to the consumer market.

Conceptual Branding.
I am using these two examples of fish and chip shop branding which includes the packaging, logo and name. One of these examples shows no attempt at branding a business and the other shows that a lot of thought has went into the branding of their business.

1st Example - This is not a particular fish and chip shop, it is an example of the packaging an everyday fish shop uses and which I have seen throughout Hartlepool. This shows that most of the fish and chip shops haven't really thought about their brand and they don't really stand out from one another since they probably buy their packaging from one particular place.















Example 2 - This is an example of branding that has been thought about. This would stand out from a regular fish and chip shop and customers would probably be more attracted to it because it looks fresh and professional, rather what everyone else has.































References
https://www.behance.net/gallery/23979655/Fish-Chips-Branding
http://www.colbeck.co.uk/shop/c-packaging/p-white-kraft-fish-chip-bags-500-035888

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Halloween Party - What went wrong.

Why didn't it work?
In my opinion, the reason the planning and the execution of the halloween party didn't work out, was down to bad communication within the group. Another reason why it didn't work could have been a lack of research or experience with planning a party within the college. The main reason we had to cancel the party was due to lack of interest from the students, this may have been because of the cost of tickets which were £5, I feel this price was too much as we weren't offering them much in return such as a free drink on arrival or prizes for competitions such as best dressed.

Damage Limitation
We damaged the reputation of the illustration group in terms of planning parties for the college.

What could have the group done to make it turn out better?
Offer incentives. On the facebook page that the group made for the event, we could have created posts along the lines of 'Like and share this post to win a bottle of vodka with mixers'. This would have got the word around by people sharing the post and also may have got students to buy tickets if they thought they had a chance of winning. We had posters and people selling tickets around the college but obviously this wasn't enough since it had to be cancelled.

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Week 2 - Defining Markets and Understanding Consumer Needs.

This week we are defining markets and understanding consumer needs. We have been asked to figure out the market, identify our competition and find out who they are selling to. Our task/project for this week is to plan the universities halloween party.

Things we need to consider...

  • Venue
  • Back up venue
  • Door staff
  • Alcohol licence
  • First aid member of college staff
  • 3 other members of college staff
  • Safety at all times
  • Respect of the local community
Mitigating risks.
Mitigating a risk means to reduce the risk of something happening to someone at a planned event. The best way to reduce risks is to come up with a risk assessment. Here is an example I have mocked up to show the risk, the severity of the risk and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.


Persuasion.
We will have to be able to persuade people to come to the halloween party. The WHOLE group need to also have great communication skills with one another because this is key to getting the best ideas from everyone. If we made a facebook event for the party and invited as many people as possible then that could get the event advertised, also everyone loves a freebie so we could write a post saying something like 'Like and Share this post to win a bottle of vodka with mixers' This would get the event around the social networking site and maybe encourage others to share the post to get the word around. This is probably the best way to do it in this day and age.

Approach.
How will the market want the group or individual people from the group to approach them. It's probably best not to hound people of the market we want to target by sticking tickets in their face and saying 'buy one'. We decided as a group to set up an events table in the main reception and let the market come to us, make them think they approached us and not the other way around. We need to let them know what they are getting for their money. The ticket price is £5.00 which I think is very steep for a college party so the market will be wanting to know what they are getting and if it is worth parting with their money.

What students spend their money on.
What do students spend money on? [stats]
This is a pie chart I got from
http://www.savethestudent.org
It shows that students spend most of their money on rent, this of course only applies to students who are living away from home (their parents house). For me personally I wouldn't spend anything on rent since I live at home and I am not required to pay anything, I don't really go food shopping either. I think I mostly spend my money on going out for meals and going places. Another big chunk of money goes on car insurance/petrol etc... so this makes up for the rent I don't have to pay. This student money survey was really helpful for me to understand what other students are going through regarding money.
http://www.savethestudent.org/money/student-money-survey-results.html

Markets.
A market is a specific group of people that buy a product. The market group can start from as little as ten people to any amount. Two can make a group but it is better to have a minimum of ten in order to gather data. There are many different types of markets and market settings, These include...

  • Seasonal - Christmas, Easter, Halloween etc... 
  • Annual - Anniversaries, Birthdays etc...
  • Captured - Such as being in an airport or train station, you're stuck there so you have to pay a ridiculous price for something like a sandwich or a drink. 
  • Psychological - A person can make their self believe they are in a captured market, for example, a person may be at a concert/festival and want to buy a t-shirt when they could have went home and bought the same t-shirt online for a much cheaper price. 

My Market.
For the Halloween party we are planning our target market will be Men and Women 18-25 who may attend CCAD. I think the prices of the tickets need to come down because students don't really have any disposable income after bills, rent and everything else they have to pay for. Maybe £2 a ticket would be better because it doesn't seem pricey and that's around or even below the average price of getting into a nightclub in Hartlepool that charges. 

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Level 5 Week 1. Introduction to the Module

Today we were introduced to the new module, we got our brief and new scheme of work. Things have changed with the delivery of professional studies this year because we know what is happening every week we are expected to research a week in advance and have a discussion about each subject each week and share what we have found out with one another. For example next week we will be defining markets and understanding consumer needs, therefore, I will be researching what I can on the subject this week ready to discuss for next week. We are also expected to base our research on our specific career paths so that it all links in to how I can fit into the industry to help me develop my personal professional practice.

Friday, 11 April 2014

Week 11 - C.V.

This week we were asked to either create a C.V. if we did not have one or update our current one. I already had a C.V. but the only things I had to update were adding that I gained a full UK driving licence and my current education. Below is my updated C.V.

CV
Claire Bartlett
D.O.B 19/12/92
62 Miers Avenue
Hartlepool
TS24 9JE
07885633764 (01429) 281468
clairenettabartlett@gmail.com
Driving License – Full UK
PREVIOUS EDUCATION
I attended St Hild’s Church of England School 2004 – 2009
I attended HCFE and studied Travel and Tourism from 2009 – 2010
I attended CCAD and studied Art and Design and Graphic Design from 2010 – 2013
I am currently undertaking Illustration for Commercial Applications at CCAD 
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT
I have had work experience at Tweddle Children’s Animal Farm in 2009 where I handled the animals and cleaned out their living areas.
In 2010 I worked in a club called Showroom, the job consisted of taking photographs of people on their night out, and this also included handling money and a camera.
In 2012 I worked as a shop assistant at Home Bargains which involved dealing with customers, handling money and cleaning the shop on a daily basis.
I currently volunteer as an artist at The Artrium Hartlepool. My duties include helping members develop their art skills and help them overcome mental health issues through art and design.
QUALIFICATIONS
English Language                   C                     2009
English Literature                    C                     2009
Travel and Tourism                 Merit                2009
Food Technology                    C                     2009
Religious Education                C                     2009
Art and Design                        D*                    2011
ICT E3                                     Pass                2011
Maths L2                                 Pass                2012   
Graphic Design                       D*D*D*            2013
PERSONAL QUALITIES

I am punctual, creative, hard working and committed with everything I do. I am very well presented and always ready to learn new skills from others. In my free time I enjoy reading and meeting up with friends.

Week 10 - Intellectual property rights - Copyright

How can you protect your work through copyright if it is an automatic right?
Your work can be protected through adding the copyright sign to it.
If you say your work is copyrighted it will not count unless you put that sign onto it, it does not matter how it is added to the piece of work you want to protect. It can be hand written on just as long as it is on.


How does copyright affect you?
Copyright effects you because it restricts you from copying or editing someone else's work that is protected by copyright.
https://students.shu.ac.uk/shuspacecontent/lc/copyright-does-affect-me

How can you make sure you don't infringe on someone else's copyright?
To make sure you do not infringe on someone else's copyright there are various steps that can be taken, never use anyone else's work as your own, this can also mean that you do not search the internet for drawings of a certain thing that you are struggling to draw in order to work from someone else's creations and steal their style.  

Thursday, 16 January 2014

Week 9 - What can you do with your degree?

Graduates may have 2/3 jobs when they leave university to make sure they have a steady income in case they don't get any work for a long time, they have something to fall back on.

Transferrable skills we have gained

  • Communication skills
  • Using machines, technology
  • Work to a brief
  • Drawing skills
  • Computer skills, photoshop, quarkxpress
  • Creativity/Imagination
  • Printing skills, printing press, digital printing
  • People skills
  • Collaborative working skills (working as a group)
  • Time management to meet deadlines
  • Punctuality
  • How to be professional
  • An eye for detail and design
  • Self promotional skills
  • Self motivation
  • Wide interest in visual arts 
  • Problem solving
  • Visual culture
  • Planning
  • Organisation
  • Trends
Career Opportunities - CCAD Website.

• Freelance illustrator or studio illustrator
• Book illustrator, including children’s books
• Fashion illustrator
• Greetings card illustrator/designer
• Illustration for magazines, editorials and advertising
• Illustration for products, eg. homeware, fashion accessories, stationery
• Working in publishing
• Printmaker
• Styling
• Project management and community arts
• Postgraduate study, eg. MA Illustration
• Postgraduate teaching qualifications
• Teaching and lecturing

I started researching post graduate courses 

  • Communication design: Illustration MA
  • PGCE- one year full time, two years part time. 
  • School direct training programme 
  • School centred initial teacher training (SCITT)
  • Teach First
  • MA Education following PGCE
After looking at these courses I decided to research teacher salaries as it would be helpful to try and become a teacher to make sure you have some regular income coming in. 

Teacher Salaries
Minimum of £21,804 (or £27,270 in inner London) The starting salary is higher compared to other graduate starting salaries. Leading practitioners can earn up to £64,677 in London and £57,520 outside London, Head teachers can earn between £42,803 and £113,303.

Week 8

We had a talk from Pat, The head of enterprise and employability at the university. He talked about goals, personal development, knowing yourself, knowing where you want to go and creating a path for yourself. He told us how blogging is important because you are documenting your journey as a creative. He talked about professionalism, time, image, intellectual property, product, character, passion, enthusiasm and charisma. He explained that we should have a good portfolio, hygiene, communication skills, dealing with customers, working as a team and showing respect. This talk was very useful.

Week 6/7 - Pitch

We were asked to pitch a product and try to sell it to a few people on the same table. We had electrical products to choose from on a list. I decided to choose an Iphone 5.

I made notes on what I was going to say, these included things like it has a thin, light design, loads of apps to choose from, ultra fast system, perfect for business or personal use, 4 inch retina display, thousands of apps for business, thousands for personal use, games etc... Powerful yet simple ios system. High security, strong encryption methods for protecting business critical information. Easy to use

We were also asked to make notes on things that other people said about their chosen product.
Imac Notes

  • Industry Standard
  • Expected to use it in this industry, colour collaborated  
  • New Imac has a thinner and better screen
  • Icloud
  • Faster than a PC
  • Software

Week 5 - The Consumer

The Consumer is the one who pays to consume the goods or services produced. The publisher is meant to know the consumer/market. Money only comes from the consumer.

Consumer Marktets
General, Children's, Journals, Educational, Professional, Medical, Newspapers, Magazines, Editorial.

Understand your consumer as well as your agency.

For a book to be completed and published there must be a writer, illustrator, agent, publisher and consumer. The writer gets the most money.

Task - Research consumer markets from your chosen field. Looking at target markets. How old are they? Where do they get their money? Are they working? Demographics.

Children's books. They must be colourful and attractive for the children but it's not them who buy the books. It is also not really the parents that buy the books. The main buyer of children's books are friends of the parents and family of the child, they are mostly bought by grandparents.

According to The Telegraph some of the best selling children's books include

  • The Lord of the Rings
  • Harry Potter
  • Narnia
  • The very hungry caterpillar 
  • The faraway tree
  • Barbar
  • Treasure Island
  • The Railway Children
  • Winnie The Pooh
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • The Gruffalo
  • Peter and Wendy (Peter Pan)
  • Watership Down
  • Tracey Beaker
  • The tiger who came to tea
  • The tale of peter rabbit
  • Where the wild things are
Maybe older children's books are more popular because the children are able to ask for them, if they are babies they can't ask because they can't speak

Maybe books that have been around for years are still coming up as popular because people buying the book remember the book from when they were younger and they want the child to share their own childhood experiences by reading the same books

I think The Lord of the Rings is named the most popular children's book because it appeals to both older children and adults so the market is widened by the adults buying the books for their selves and the adults that are not interested in it may buy it for their children.

Week 4 - Agencies

Agencies have a House Style or market specific.
Task - Research agencies that relate to a market that interests you. Research the structure of these agencies. Decide if they have a house style and document your reasons why.

Contracts, Commission, Legal Rights

  • bigarchive.com
  • Debut Art
  • Advocate Art Agency
  • Bright
  • Column Arts Agency
Column Arts Agency
Artist Representation - Focus of nurturing careers of artists by giving them help with the most boring part of their lives - business. Find artists new projects and commissions in the advertising, publishing and design industries. Win projects for artists, mediator between client and artist, negotiate the artists contract, organise the brief, market and manage the project so it runs smoothly and they make sure the artist gets payed. They usually take 30% commission from the project price. 

Book Keeping
  • Logging monthly invoices and receipts
  • Send updates
  • Calculating tax position 
  • Filing tax return 
  • Advice/guidance 
Cost
  • £0-£25,000 = £30 per month with an £85 joining fee
  • £25,000-£35,000 = £50 per month with £150 joining fee
  • £35,000+ = Negotiable 
Promoting your art
Public Relations (PR) campaigns, create collectives and exciting events.
  1. Create exposure
  2. Build a number of followers
  3. Bring you more work
  4. Make you more money
Partners
  • Art grab - Fine arts agency that builds links between artists and buyers through studio tours and exhibitions.
Debut Art
The artists provide the artwork, they cooperate with agents and provide rough drafts. The client may terminate the contract at any time. Promoting the world's finest leading visual communication artists. House style, A company's preferred manner of presentation and layout of written material.
Some Illustrators on Debut Art include - Cath Riley, Oliver Jeffers, Michael Streich, Webbo, Vince Pastiche, Walter Newton, Kim McGillivray, hitandrun and Christina K.

Boss
  • Andrew Coningsby - UK
  • Mimi Rich - New York
  • Arnaud Mayet - France
Advocate Art Agency
Managing Director, CEO, Ed Burns.

Week 3 - Types of Publishing

We were asked to look at different types of publishing and decide what type would fit best with the way we work.

Children's Book Publishing
Growing sectors since 2009 and continues to grow.
Children's books are broken down into age groups.

Journals, Educational, Academic, Reference, Scientific, Technical, Professional and Medical publishing are good for graduates because they are cheap and quick work, there is an expanding market for this.

Newspapers, Editorial, Periodicals, Magazines. In house as well as commissioned work. There is usually a high turnover of images needed along with tight deadlines. They have a solid intake of graduates but they will try to pay them less so they need to be careful when doing work for newspapers.

After thinking about it I decided to research into children's book publishing. We were asked to go and find out how we would be able to get in touch and get our work published in books as if we were doing it for real. This included finding out things such as what publishers exist and who do I need to speak to if I want to submit work, who works there and the managing director of the company.

I looked at publishers such as Random House, Penguin, Transworld, Walker and The Chicken House. I decided to research further into The Chicken House. I found out the Managing Director is Barry Cunningham, OBE. He joined Penguin Books in 1977 as Marketing Director for Puffin, He was there til 1988 until he was headhunted by Random House. He was responsible for signing up J.K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I started thinking of how I would get in touch with him if I were to want to talk to him for real, I found him on Twitter and started following him, I found that he follows books for keeps, Imogen Cooper, Rachel Ward and Phillippa Dickinson, The Managing Director of Random House. I found that he tweets regularly sort of every day, He doesn't have Facebook. He has 500+ connections on Linkedin, You can contact Barry on Linkedin for job enquires, business deals, getting back in touch, expertise requests and reference requests. He is interested in fishing, reading and live music. Viewers of his profile also viewed Imogen Cooper, the senior editor at Chicken House, Elinor Bagenal, the rights director at Chicken House and Jane Johnson, the publishing director at Harper Collins. I think to get in touch with someone like this from being a stranger it would be wise to get in touch with people below him at first and get to know them and work your way up.