Bucks Animation Graduate Ben Chalk Launches a New Campaign for United Agency

United Agency

Bucks Animation graduate Ben Chalk works for the design agency United Agency, doing digital and social campaigns for commercial clients. We asked him to tell us about his latest work, how he got started, and what advice he can give to our students at Bucks in order to forge a successful career in the world of design, animation and motion graphics. He has just finished the design work for a new campaign, The Great Outdoors app for Thomas Cook and Brand USA, which launched this week.

Design by Ben Chalk

Bucks: You do digital design for United Agency - what does that involve?

Ben: We are a social media-marketing agency, we come up with digital & social campaigns to support or promote artists, brands and products. My job is to come up with & design ideas for apps and microsites, I also get to work on short motions graphic animations or video work depending on the campaign.

Design by Ben Chalk

Bucks: What is your most recent project?

Ben: We have just launched a new campaign, The Great Outdoors app for Thomas Cook and Brand USA, which just launched this week.


Bucks: How did you first get the job with United?

Ben: Originally I did a three months internship after finishing my degree; which then progressed into a full time job.

Great Outdoors app for Thomas Cook

Bucks: What is the best thing about your job?

I love the variety. As an agency we get to work on projects for a number of different clients, which means each design and executions is different from the last. This keeps the job exciting and a lot of fun.

Great Outdoors app for Thomas Cook

Bucks:  What skills did you learn at Bucks, which helped you to prepare for a career in digital media?

Half of my course at Bucks [Animation, Games and Interactive Media] was interactive design, which has played a huge part in what I use every day.  Digital design doesn't just stop at the visuals, it extends further into designing the user experience and how people interact with the designs.

5. What advice would you give to a student at Bucks to get the most out of their time at Uni?

Go wild and make the most of your first year - then look for an internship, or some other way to get out and get some studio experience. Experience is the key - I wish I hadn't left it until I finished university.

You could also possibly submit live projects as University, doing work that would depend on client approval. After all, you would be working in exactly the same way as you would for real clients.

Ben Chalk

You can see more of Ben's work at www.benchalk.com. For our guide to internships and how to get them, follow this link.  To see the impressive work done by our students and recent graduates here at Bucks, check out SuperFergy in 3D by Anton Alfy, see the work of Jens Kopke,  Ben Gray's Moonbeam, and the architectural visualisations of Sabah Masood and Anton Alfimenko. Also take a look at the work of Andy Thomas here, see our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan. And don't forget to see the simulation work of our students done in RealFlow. To see our student demo reel, click here.