Placement Reflection

Image via French Knot

I've just completed my four week placement at Big Communications in Leicester interning as a junior designer. I had a great time, got some fantastic real life experience and met a whole host of lovely people. During my time on placement I learnt a great deal and it helped me clarify some of my thoughts and ideas about employment.

I'm a real worrier; anyone that knows me on a personal level will know that I worry about everything and will endlessly contemplate the smallest details. My advice to myself for the future and other graduates is just don't. Don't waste your energy and brain power on worry - it's unnecessary. At times I found myself worrying about timings and tried to work on projects as fast as I could when, in some instances, time and reflection were required to achieve the desired result. If you are concerned, ask! I did and was reassured to know I was working at a good pace, which leads me on to my next point...

I enjoy getting feedback, it helps me to understand where I may be going wrong or right in order to improve and it's also nice to hear positive words about work you have done. During the placement I tried to get feedback wherever possible but still wish I had got more. In future I would take every opportunity possible to get some constructive criticism from those around you in order to better yourself as a creative.

Be interested in everything. Generally I ask a lot of questions, about everything, to anyone, on any topic. Because of this I learnt a lot of several things I previously had little knowledge of; internships, advertising, copywriting and digital, for example. Because of this I have a clearer idea of what I want from future internships and jobs and am excited by the prospect of diversifying into new areas.

I'm really thankful for the knowledge I gained in Leicester because it has helped me clarify what I want. Internships are part and parcel of this industry and it can be frustrating not to walk in to a job straight away but it is so worthwhile when you better understand and come away with invaluable knowledge.

Next up is finding my new creative endeavour, watch this space.

Placement Update

This past week I have been enjoying my first week of placement as Big Communications in Leicester as a graphic designer. My previous blog posts had charted my application and interview so it seems only right that I post a quick update on how my placement has been going so far...

This week I have been working on emailers, livery, print work and branding so it has been a really varied few days but great for experiencing a whole range of tasks in a short space of time. I think I have been keeping up with the fast paced work place well and loved that I was working on real life campaigns that might actually be used!

I hadn't had a great deal of real studio experience beforehand so it was a steep learning curve the first few days as to how the studio functioned. Many of the people in the creative team work in pairs of copywriter and art director; something I was aware of but had never experienced first hand before so took the opportunity to quiz an interning copywriter and art director on their experiences. I was interested to find that both had studied graphic design (as I had) but diversified into their new roles. It made me feel positive about the various opportunities I could expand into in the future if I wanted.

In general I have had a productive, educational, creative and fun week. Being on placement has really taught me so much in such a short space of time and it's really satisfying to do a job that I have been trained for and working towards for 3 years, especially with such a respected and successful agency.

One of the benefits aside from the actual creative work is meeting like minded creatives and being able to have a fun work environment as well as a creative and interesting job.

N.B I didn't wan't to shove an SLR in peoples' faces on my first few days so decided to include this quote from one of my favourite designers, Saul Bass (from here) that I think is quite apt.

The poster is taken from my Pinterest board "Inspiration" which you can follow for typographic and design based pins.