I've been working as a graphic designer for 15 years now, in agency, in-house and freelance settings. April 2020 saw me working as a Senior Designer in a job that often felt like a bit of a factory assembly line, as well as dealing with the recent introduction of something called the 'Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown', (I prefer 'Ongoing Viral Bastard'.) Spending more time in my day on video calls than flexing my creativity muscles, my good friend Gary (@PittAlunG) put me on to OMB and some of the briefs he'd been working on there.
They were GREAT. Interesting briefs with real brands and organisations that were actually looking to action real change, alongside fun briefs like 'Advertise Gazebos' that were just pure creativity. The people seemed cool too. A bit mad, but cool.
I took a punt. I think my first brief was advertising One Minute Wonders. Basically OMB itself...which I had no idea about. Imposter syndrome swelled, I'm pretty sure I forgot how to use Photoshop for about 20 minutes, but I eventually got there with an entry.
I got a couple of likes, a few 'welcomes' and that big OMB Retweet...and I was hooked. Briefs on Lawnmowers, Toe Rings and International Dance Day followed. I got a few more likes, a few nice comments and a couple more retweets. I started chatting to more and more of the OMBLES, and they were all lovely and really encouraging. An entry for the NHS got shared by one of their social media accounts, which even after 15 years in the industry was a big thrill. I put half of my lunch hour aside every day to work on that day's brief, and most of the time it was the highlight of my day. I even picked up a few shortlists and wins.
In May 2020 I got my first big win - promoting the awesome Maisie Catt and her incredible fundraising efforts. The prize was a thankyou video from the girl herself, which was a huge boost and actually made me a tiny bit emotional, (which when I'm essentially a robot 80% of the time is saying something.) A few weeks later I volunteered to join the OMB Board, having more involvement with briefs and helping welcome and support new people - one of my favourite parts of OMB now. As time has gone on, I've started working more and more on my copy skills, something I always struggled with previously.
Redundancy hit in July 2020, following a pretty harsh and very messy consultation period. I felt angry, cheated and worried about where I'd be able to get money from during a pandemic. Nobody would buy one of my kidneys, (not that I really asked around...much...) but I knew from OMB that whatever my old job had made me believe, my work and ideas WERE good enough for some pretty big companies. I took the plunge and went freelance in September 2020, and have been doing so ever since.
Though working for myself has meant that I can't always enter OMB every day, when I do put something together I try to go BIG! I make an effort to stay involved with the Board as much as possible, as well as liking, retweeting and commenting on amazing entries that take my eye. I try to support newbies and those looking for job opportunities as much as possible, as I know how horrible it is to be in that position. Getting a win or shortlist for an OMB you've put together is a huge boost, but getting tweets from other OMBLES saying they love your work is a massive confidence boost and helps stave off that all-encompassing imposter syndrome.
Ultimately, OMB is a community that goes beyond creating amazing ads - it's about encouraging and supporting people and helping them develop - whether that's their work, their confidence or their portfolios. I'm not 100% I would have gotten through the last year without it to be honest!
