Inspiration

Inspiration

   08:02       Dav31d

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I subscribed sometime ago to David Airey's email list he is one of my favourite designers in the brand identity field so I always like reading articles and discussion forums that he takes part in personally. I received an email about finding design work in another country, and I suppose it got me thinking about what it would be like to go & find design work in another country so I went on to read the article it can be found http://www.davidairey.com/design-work-new-country/ .

After reading the article I felt so moved & inspired about what I had just read and really got me motivated, so I decided to privately email Iancu Barbărasă, people had already made comments in the comments section, but I preferred to send a more private and personal message. To my delight he responded in fact, almost instantly.

I can't share everything that we spoke about as it might take up a bit of time (and would be several pages to add if I'm honest) but we were messaging for quite a while & I was just letting him know about my current situation as a graduate graphic designer, and asking questions about his process of finding work. I couldn't have been more happier receiving regular responses from Iancu who is also a brand identity designer so that made me even more excited to email him and get responses. I have been taking a number steps to find design work either at an agency, a studio or anywhere else I can get experience, but I needed a fresh approach and reading Iancu's story inspired me to take that further action that is/was needed to just feel more in control of things.

I had sent him my CV and asked for feedback regarding where I can improve on certain things and from there I knew what steps I could to take to improve my approach. I have had help with university lecturers, friends and family but I really didn't want to miss an opportunity of getting advice from someone who has worked (and is currently working) in the industry and field I wish to eventually specialize in, I felt that kind of moment is invaluable and as it doesn't happen frequently (at least for me) I wanted to take a chance, even if I didn't get anywhere with the email but sometimes taking a chance actually means getting somewhere, I guess it depends on who you come across. I have added Iancu on LinkedIn and will try to continue to stay in contact with him, but I genuinely couldn't be more grateful for the advice he offered and the help that I received from him I was very appreciative of his input.

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Portfolio Feedback

Portfolio Feedback

   13:17       Dav31d

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I find this rather strange, I wrote a post recently about not receiving feedback from an interview about my CV or portfolio that I had with  Anthem Worldwide back in September. I checked my emails literally the next day after I made that post and what do you know..? I receive an email from Rutger (the man who actually interview me on that day) giving me some pointers about my portfolio. I thought I would share what he has written, simply because I personally feel it's very useful when planning for the next interview, not everyone gives you feedback so I was very appreciative of his  time.

Anyway below we have the feedback that was sent to me: 

Hey David,

I owe you some feedback on your portfolio.

I believe you have a great presence and you seem like a really great guy.

This is important when you apply so that’s great.

When I saw your book I think you should put a little more work into presenting it.

It did not look as finished as it could and I think you can make some good steps there.

It is  very simple, the more effort you spend on your book the better the opportunity you receive.

Scan your work and put it in ‘one’ tidy book.

The design of your book is as important if not more important (as this is where you show the world who you really are!) the the work you show.

Also you gave yourself high marks in Photoshop but the photoshop work you presented was not of a top standard.

This is totally fine as you are at the beginning of your career but you should be clear about this whilst applying to jobs so that you do not set yourself up for any misperceptions.

In short I would love to encourage you to design your book with great care.

Once you have done this I would be very happy to look at it again.

Best of luck!!

RUTGER THIELLIER

Creative Director

Again I said to Rutger that, I was very grateful for the response he gave me (though it was two months overdue) I was more than happy to receive it in the first place. From what I've experienced not everyone will dedicate their time in expressing why they didn't pick you, or where they felt you fell short during the interview process. So this gave me an insight into what steps I can take to ensure that when I go to my next interview I don't fall over the same hurdle and I'm a bit more prepared.

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Unofficial Interview

Unofficial Interview

   11:46       Dav31d

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I had an interview at a company called Anthem Worldwide earlier this month and the way it came about was very unusual considering I never actually applied for the position that was on offer but I will go into detail regarding how it came about.

My dad is a cab driver and was going about his business having conversations with clients as per usual, one of his clients that day said they were a graphic designer at the aforementioned company (although it was a subsidiary company called SCHAWK that he initially worked for in the same building). My dad mentioned to the customer that my boy (me) has a degree in graphic design, and is currently looking for experience either an internship, placement or a full time job and wondered if you have anything going at your company that my son could be interested in applying for.. Or at least it was something along those lines. Jacques (the customer) gave my dad his number asked him to give it to me so I can make contact later. 

Once my dad gave me Jacques's number I contacted him letting him know who I was, the conversation went rather smoothly and in the end Jacques asked me to send him my CV and portfolio so that he can forward it to his managers and then take it from there. I initially didn't hear anything for about week or so and decided to contact Jacques again to find out on the developments of what I sent, he responded saying there was some interest from the the managers at the company but they haven't been able to get back to me as the one that needed to was on his travels, but ensured me that he (Phil, the managing director) will contact me once he returns.

A week had passed and Phil had contacted me letting me know that his team would like to interview me for an initial paid internship and if things go accordingly then they would take it from there, so he gave me the details of interview and  I went away to prepare. When I was looking for the building on Google maps I noticed the area of the location was very close to my first primary school, not only that... But when I found the location of the building it was the EXACT SAME building my dad had worked at, as part of security more than over a decade ago I was amazed and shocked by this discovery.

On the day of the interview my dad's old friend who he use to work with was still there so we caught up briefly and then I went to the waiting area. Looking around the inside of the building, it had changed so much from what I remember but there was still some things that were still the same I won't go into that now. Anyway the actual inside of the studio was really inspiring and I already naively started picturing myself working here (I probably shouldn't have done that but I was just so enthused to be there it was an incredible feeling).

Long story short, (not that I can actually say that anymore) I was unsuccessful in getting the paid position, the managing director Phil Jones (who didn't actually interview me on that day) mentioned that something had happened, which required them to bring the other interns contract forward and have her start a lot sooner than originally planned. I never did find out what the circumstances were that forced them to make that decision, but Phil said he didn't want to just turn around and say thank you for everything but unfortunately you didn't get it so they said I could come into the studio at some point and they can work with me on my portfolio and CV, but unfortunately that hasn't happened as least not yet anyway. I was a bit gutted of the outcome in all honesty but because I didn't officially apply for that role (I didn't even know it existed) I just took it on the chin.

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Packaging design

Packaging design

   15:56       Dav31d

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Okay, I have not been blogging lately as often as I should be and I do apologize for that, but I hope you can forgive me, my internship had me working even when I'm not technically working but as it's over I will be trying a lot harder to keep on top of my posts.
So at my last internship, I had to look at the social media aspects of design which I didn't really know I had an interest in until I was exposed to that part of it. My director gave me a task to come up with some social media posts that I find interesting, this included me looking at blogs, articles, books, design magazines based on branding, packaging, typography, colour and the like.

As I mentioned earlier I didn't really know how interesting I would find this task but I rather enjoyed it as I was able to learn quite a few things, about different areas of design I hadn't necessarily opened my mind up to. Whilst doing the research and forming my ideas about what to post I came across a few articles about packaging design that really grasped my attention they can be found via the links: http://bit.ly/1gnOMOC
http://bit.ly/1lFziWV
http://bit.ly/1kjxcLk

So after doing research and coming up with ideas I created the social media posts, some of them can be found here https://twitter.com/creativeiduk There's quite a lot on there, but I focused on topics like logo design, print advertising, branding, colours, typography etc (There should be a Marge Simpson image somewhere on the timeline those were the kind of things I was working on). But doing these made me want to try a packaging design task, so I did.

I have a book by David Sherwin called the 'Creative workshop 80 challenges to sharpen your design your skills' with a list of tasks to do, as you could imagine I chose the packaging project to see how I would fare against it. The task was to design packaging for a single type of shaving cream three ways: for women, for men and a gender neutral fashion, however all three packaging ideas must be systematic and convey that they are a cohesive line of products. The sketches I done for the name and the product can be seen below:

My first point of call was to come up with the name of the shaving cream, I went through quite a lot as might be able to see from my sketches but in the end I chose to go for the word 'Lathair' which I saw as a play on the way it is usually spelt lather. Simply done to communicate the froth aspect of shaving but also including the hair, it is the hair on your skin you are shaving after all.

Once I had the name and the sketches of what I ideally wanted it to look like I started
designing it on software, here are some images of how it started to look:

Even though this was a personal project I did decide to show some of my friends for feedback, to see if they understood the project some did, some didn't, and one quite rightly pointed out that the symbol I'm using for the cream slightly resembles poo, which would be giving off the wrong connotations for the type of product. Funnily enough I didn't actually see poo (directly) until they mentioned it because I was so focused on what it actually stood for in relation to the product rather than other associations, so I was glad someone had pointed that out & that made me change my approach to a traditional blade however, I still wasn't entirely satisfied with the blade so opted to go for a simple razor.

Once I had completed the designs, an additional task was to demonstrate how your shaving cream concept could be sold in a point-of-purchase display or on the shelf at a local drugstore, so I simply put the designs on its appropriate packaging, here is how the whole shaving cream packaged looked once finished:

 I was pleased with how the final result looked, as I've never attempted a design project like this I don't think I did too bad of a job, I'm sure with a few brush ups and minor adjustments I could use this as a portfolio piece and I would be happy for this to go in my portfolio.

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Flat vs. Skeuomorphism

Flat vs. Skeuomorphism

   15:36       Dav31d

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Flat design or Skeuomorphism.. which one are you?

I will list my own personal views on both flat design and skeuomorphism, as it was only about 3  months ago that someone mentioned the actual term skeuomorphism to me, and as a designer I was a bit unimpressed with myself that I didn't know the correct term I always referred to it as 3D, realistic design (..as If that's a thing) and realism. So I decided to research into it, learn and make myself more aware of what the skeuomorphic design encompasses and some examples, it also gives me a chance to compare with the now on trend flat design.

What is skeuomorphism you ask? In it's simplest term I have found realism or skeuomorphism to be the design of objects (or near enough anything nowadays) on a website to look how it should if it were in a real life format, in 3D essentially. With the use of textures, gradients, shadows or what have you these design elements come together to create a pure visual style that tries to imitate real-world materials and textures. Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with it, it certainly helps distinguish the theme of an app or even a website for example, as the consumer knows what to expect because it is being clearly communicated via the design style. As humans we analyze the things we feel, see, hear, smell and taste. So when we visit a website and we see skeuomorphic designs across that webpage, it may well have the tendency to appeal to our senses (apart from smell and taste maybe) as the designs resemble what it would look like in reality.

An example of skeuomorphic design:

My Itunes interface (I'm an eclectic listener of music what can I say) is an example of skeuomorphic design and a lot more apple products do use skeuomorphism which adds that sense of realism to their designs, it also helps identify them as brand (for example) if I took any apple related elements away from my print screen I'm more than certain that one would be able to state whose interface it belongs to.

Advantages of skeuomorphism (from a personal point of view):

• New users of the internet may well be attracted to the skeuomorphic design simply because of how it looks

• The idea of skeuomorphism is a 'familiar' and 'safe' approach for both viewers and designers

• Skeuomorphic design helps users comprehend the use of an app or a webpage more effectively

Disadvantages of skeuomorphism (from a personal point of view):

• An app that uses skeuomorphic design may suffer from being deemed dated as design trends adapt and evolve overtime.

• Unlike CSS, skeuomorphic design tends to largely depend on images

• With skeuomorphic design, larger files take longer to 1. download and 2. render in an internet browser

What is flat design? (you're probably not asking now so I'm just gonna tell you) As designers we are well aware of the term 'less is more' well I suppose you could argue and say flat design is ultimately the essence of this term. At it's most scaled back flat design is present among designs to look clean, beautiful but most of all simple, it is a minimalisitc approach to design that removes a lot of (if not all) the effects seen in skeuomorphic design. There are no uses of textures, gradients or the like when it comes to flat design. I feel flat design embodies a designers passion for simple yet communicative minimalist concepts, not only for designers but viewers have agreed that flat design web pages (for example), are simple colourful and clean. Flat design continues to populate many websites and companies as well as application they are becoming or being known more as modern. As flat design embraces a simple layout it makes it a lot easier for usability and most importantly (or arguably) user interactivity.

An example of flat design:

This was an illustration I created at one of my internships for ideas for a landing page for Vistence (an instant messaging app) it is my own attempt at using and creating flat designs as I've never tried it before, I feel I didn't do too bad of a job, they didn't use this design in the end however and opted for something else which can be viewed via the link.

An example of a website I came across when I was doing my research was a site called Dolox if my representation of flat design (above) isn't clear then I'm sure the link I provided will extinguish any doubt left. The use of colours, shapes, typography, layout, icon and images all mix together to create a simple yet affective piece of design.. Flat to be exact.

Advantages of flat design in my opinion:

• Flat design makes user experience simple and easy, a minimal amount of time (and energy) is spent trying to locate things in order to navigate the website

• Flat design is useful for responsive webpages (responsive referring to the format of a site or application you open) the the fact there isn't a lot of realistic design means it's easier to load pages.

• It's trendy, modern and clean.

Disadvantages of flat design opinion:

• Though it is one of it's greatest asset the two dimensional viewing of nearly everything may make it difficult to separate the action buttons, interactive objects and images meaning a lack of clarity for the page being viewed

• As mentioned earlier skeuomorphic design relies more on images as opposed to CSS, flat design on the other hand focuses on CSS which has a tendency to make production for flat designed websites more difficult as the outcome may not be as high a quality as originally expected.

• Flat designed websites may begin to look very generic and similar as more websites adopt the use of geometric shapes, colours, layouts etc. 

So those are my pros and cons on the use of flat and skeuomorphic design. The use of either one is purely down to personal preference and whilst we're on the subject I personally prefer flat design simply because in my eyes it looks more appealing and it's a lot easier to use; and given a designer uses the right combination of text, colours, shapes or the like you can create some stunning pieces of flat design all the more pleasing to the eye. From an objective point of view though depending on what you want to create and who you are creating it for one design could be deemed better or more useful than the other.

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Ravensbourne - The Degree Show

Ravensbourne - The Degree Show

   18:18       Dav31d

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Ravensbourne - College of Design and Communication in North Greenwich were having their degree show today, so I decided to attend seen as I had a couple of friends who were showcasing their work so I thought it would be nice to show my support and I just kind of felt like I needed that bit of inspiration for the day. Two birds one stone anyone?

Ravensbourne have actually been doing the degree show since the 16th of June and it will finish on the 20th, I chose to go to today's one because of what was on Motion Graphics at 6pm, Graphic Design at 7pm and Product Design and Interaction at 8pm.

Here are a few images taken from the event below:

This was the first piece of graphic design work I saw was by a student called Chiamaka it's really hard to tell from the image I took but her work was based upon the artist Tyler the Creator, and she went for a funky piece of work where her sketch of him (in felt tip might I add) almost looked 3D based on the folded pieces of paper, it was bursting out the page each strip had a different piece of him that when finally accumulate looked as you see above. I definitely think she captured Tylers energy and wacky creativity, good piece of work.

Work from a student called Josh.

This piece of work was from a student called Milly Huynh I really liked her information design piece, (follow the link). Her work demonstrated the consumption and danger of our sugar and fat intakes which have not been made aware to majority of the public, the poster basically shows all the ingredients in each of ten foods that she chose that contain 50/50 sugar and fat. The foods chosen can be broken down based on the categories provided. But i really did like this piece one of my favourites from the event.

 Simple infographic about coffee, being a coffee lover I was certainly intrigued by this piece of work.

A bit of branding work, this mainly caught my eyes simply because of the colours on show and 2. because it's branding work which is also what I love doing, so it was nice to see someone elses for a change. I didn't catch the students name for this piece of work unfortunately.

The other day I was looking at the D&AD website for the yellow pencil winners, new blood awards and others and I noticed this brief for the competition it was to repackage Purdey's but it was nice to see a different kind of solution to the brief here is one yellow pencil winner I came across online http://www.dandad.org/awards/new-blood/2014

Having spoken to some of the students we discussed areas of graphic design we were both interested in and spoke about prospects after university (at least for them), some students have already got something lined up in either a job or a paid internship so the moment they finish they are walking straight into a job, which I guess is what the benefits of going to Ravensbourne is, as they do have ties to a lot of industries (i've heard) so in this case it would definitely be it's not what you know, but rather who you know.. But it was certainly nice to hear from students, as I was in this position last year, (in fact i'm still actually looking for something full time in my field) so it was helpful to hear how these students (that didn't have placements lined up already) plan on breaking into the industry and what step they were going to take if they were unsuccessful so on and so forth.
Overall though I can say it was a brilliant degree show with some really good quality and inspiring work which I know will spur me on to continue in my path as a graduate designer, just that bit of inspiration I needed.

Once the show was over a host of people gathered to unfortunately watch England crash out of the world cup.. sad times.

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Christina Chi

Christina Chi

   16:03       Dav31d

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Christina recently got in contact with me again and informed me on the development of her company as I said I would share the images as I went along so here they are latest's.

(Emboss of the logo)

(Bag zipper)

Again it's really exciting to see the process of how everything is being made and slowly put together piece by piece. I'm also very grateful she's chosen to share the images with me it's almost like I'm on the journey with here and I honestly can't wait till it launches. I have updated my behance with this project as she continues to send me over the files, so as long as she keeps sending I'll keep updating, feel free to have a look at the updated version on https://www.behance.net/gallery/10777029/Christina-Chi and if you like what you see give it a little appreciation :)

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Christina Chi (Development)

Christina Chi (Development)

   09:02       Dav31d

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I did say I would keep you posted on the development with Christina Chi, (who I had my first internship with) I heard from her sometime last month and she told me she was doing well, not only that, but she got her first samples of the handbag she is creating. They were created in Spain and she sent me the images (see below).

On the yellow sample bag it is a bit more difficult to see, but the logos you see on the sample bag are the ones I created back at the studio during my internship. Very proud moment for me, (I've gotta say, for many reasons I won't get into now) it's like I'm seeing my dream all of a sudden come to life and the feeling I got when she originally sent me the images were immense.

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T-Shirt Design (Dazz Media)

T-Shirt Design (Dazz Media)

   14:40       Dav31d

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My brother had approached me in November of last year with a brief from people he knew, it was simply to design an idea for a T-shirt for a company called Dazz Media. They were a music group in the genre of Hip-hop and rap. At first I was a bit skeptical because I haven't really seen myself as someone who designs T-shirts simply because 1. I've never done it and I was admittedly worried at how the designs would turn out and 2. It's not really where I see myself as designer like it's not one of my key interests to put it.
But once my brother explained why it'd would be a good opportunity, I decided to take it on. One of my reasons for taking it is, that I thought that as a graduate I should definitely invest in different areas that I could possibly use as a way of gaining experience and adding to my portfolio at the same time.

So my brother sent me over their sketches of what they wanted their designs to look like (they can be seen below):

Once I had that I was good to go, I started the implementation on Illustrator CS5 (I can't get enough of that software at the moment).

This is how the designs looked once I had finished designing them in Illustration CS5

At this moment I made it clear to them the design is unfinished and to not pay too much attention (if any) to the choice of colour and the font, I was just trying to focus more on the conviction of the idea based on the sketches they had sent. I reassured them that once they had officially settled on a design idea I would begin to incorporate the corresponding design elements to fully complete the design... Only thing is it never actually got to that stage, which is a shame because I felt it was progressing rather well from when I first started.

Anyway a few months ago my brother sent me the picture of the T-shirt designs already printed, I said to him they were actually unfinished but he responded saying they were happy with how the designs looked, even though I had reiterated that I am willing to fully complete the design, as it stood (for me) it was unfinished, but if they were happy with how it was there's not much more I needed to do.

Here are the images of the printed shirts:

The things is now, even if I wanted to complete the design myself I'm a bit unsure of what choices of colour and typeface they would want to use, so I guess I was a little stuck on what to do to complete the design but as a creative I'm sure I can think of something. I remember my brother said they would pay me for this, let's just say I'm still waiting for that payment... But overall, I'm rather pleased that I was able to produce something that they were happy with, even if it was unfinished I feel it's a nice and different piece to add to my portfolio and in the end both parties were happy. 

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Interview - Futureproof Internship

Interview - Futureproof Internship

   14:53       Dav31d

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So as you can imagine my confidence was knocked at this moment in time, simply because of the termination of the internship such a small thing but with big implications (for me), however I didn't want the disappointment to affect me too much, Just entered a new month (November 2013) and I had to quickly get back on with applying for jobs and internships.. Time and positions don't wait for anybody.

After applying for another batch of design internships and jobs I heard back from a company called Futureproof, I had interview with them but unfortunately I was unsuccessful this was my response:

Hi David,

Good to hear from you and apologies for the delay. As predicted, preparation for training rather took a hold this week!

It was lovely to meet you and we felt that you came across really well in the interview and your answers were impressive. Unfortunately however, we're not able to offer you an internship at this stage. 

Competition is really fierce and we felt that your ideation skills were strong, but executionally, we look for a bit more breadth of experience as we work on such a range of projects and media. The teams are tackling major client projects at the moment and, although the internship is a learning opportunity, our interns need to be able to have a certain level of knowledge across a range of media to be able to develop at the right pace, as the creative team can only dedicate a certain amount of their time to supporting and teaching.

I hope that you find this feedback helpful as, again, we did very much enjoy meeting you.

Best,

Sarah.

I was slightly gutted about this response but I totally understand why I wasn't able to get it. When I first arrived and entered the building, a guy came down and lead me to the waiting area we started talking about work/internships and we slightly went off topic (due to my excitement) and form that I dared to dream. I instantly imagined myself coming in every morning and saying hi to everyone, whilst I was sitting in the waiting area waiting for the interviewee everyone kept glancing and smiling every now and again, which kind of relaxed me and put me at ease and thus presumptions of me working there continued.

Anyways I was very happy with my feedback from Sarah it's not everyday where someone explains why you weren't able to get a position at least from what I've experienced, so I was very grateful for that. But on this hand there was nothing I could've physically done better to get this internship, except to have more 'breadth of experience', the interview itself was actually really enjoyable so I'm glad I went however, of course disappointed I didn't get anywhere but onwards and upwards.

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Internship no. 2

Internship no. 2

   12:05       Dav31d

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So after my summer internship with Christina, I opted to do another one simply because it was an enjoyable way to gain experience, but to also not fully commit to a position that I may perhaps regret six months down the line or something like that so I continued searching for them. The main websites I used to search for these internships were indeed, gumtree,  internwise and a host of other ones, the list is fairly long for me to write every single one, these were the core sites I used.

After applying for another batch of (I'm sure it must be mid double figures) internship positions, I got an interview from a company called the orderbox they were offering a Graphic Design internship that specialized in print, web and branding. Branding and print being the main areas I wanted to focus on and develop my skill set.

I was able to get the Graphic Design internship, however the woman who hired me Halima Ali, insisted that I should work from home for the first month, to see how I coped with briefs on my own. You see during my interview as I was showing her my portfolio and she picked on the pieces of work that were group work, (there were only three pieces of group work the other five were all my own). I was really proud of those pieces of work so I was not gonna not include them, but anyways she wanted me to prove that I can work on my own, so arranged for me to work from home for the first month. I was a bit apprehensive of the whole arrangement when she mentioned it, but I assured myself to go in with the right attitude, for it to hopefully be a similar experience to my previous internship with Christina.

So I started the the internship from home in September, Halima and myself stayed in contact via Skype and phone calls on a day to day basis (or at least she tried). She gave me the brief via an email, the brief was to create a slogan and logo for a company called Big Money Clothing as they were looking to re-brand and reach out to a bigger audience. I had done the initial research as Halima had asked me to do and then began coming up with ideas and designs. I sent her my first draft of ideas for the logo and slogan and she gave me feedback on how to improve but... This is where it all went wrong.

 A few days had gone by and I had made the improvements that Halima had requested, so I sent them to her to review and to then get back to me once she received it. This is where the problem occurred with this internship. I informed her several times to let her know that I had made the amendments to the designs (by this time we were in October) but their was still no response and once she didn't respond to my emails, or Skype messages I decided to call her instead. But it seems every time I called and got through she would state "David, now isn't a good time, I'll call you back later". The only thing is later never came and it would be a couple of weeks before I eventually heard from her without me initiating contact.

When she did finally get through to me several weeks later, (although it was her assistant) she had decided to terminate the internship contract, for the reason that I supposedly didn't get the brief, that arguably may be true, however at the same time I was always trying to reach out to her whenever  I didn't understand something or just wanted to ask questions about the brief (as it wasn't very concise), it's just I kept receiving the same response... "David, now isn't a good time, I'll call you back later" but to stress again she never did. Overall I was left fairly disappointed with the outcome of this internship, I did try to make a go of things because of how much I enjoyed my previous one, I wanted that same feeling to resonate for this position, however this certainly wasn't the same kind of experience I regret to say.  

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Christina Chi

Christina Chi

   12:56       Dav31d

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So Christina Banjo of Christin Chi is who I decided to embark my first internship journey with, it was a Web and Graphic Design internship that lasted four weeks but ended up being six weeks, each week though was as enjoyable as the last if not better. My first project was to design a website and blogging template whilst the second project was to design the brand identity for packaging & promotional use, the packaging consisted of: a label tag, compliment slip, gift box, gift bag, dust bag and wrapping paper. The work I produced for the internship can be found via the link: https://www.behance.net/David_o.

I mainly want to mention a few things about the behind the scenes of the placement really, as I feel the link (if you visit it) covers pretty much everything I worked on there. I wanted to share what it was like working for Christina. Christina's vision was to set up her own handbag and accessories company with an exotic twist. Admittedly I was out of my comfort zone for the first few days, simply because I didn't know how much was expected of me as an intern and I was nervous about whether everything I had learned at uni would be enough and come across in my work, I guess these were my main doubts about the role I had. Not health for the journey in on my first day. But once i had got there and started the work those fears and doubts subsided and Christina made me feel comfortable with the role and environment as well as with the other intern. There was only 3 of us in the small office.

  (Team Christina)

I think for me the highlight of the internship was going to the Pure London 34 trade show in Kensington (Olympia). I've never been to a trade show and I felt it was a good opportunity to look at other up and coming entrepreneurs as well as well established ones, all have their market stands filled with their innovative, fashionable products. Christina's aim was to also be there one day and I'm sure she will one day get there if she carries on just as she is.
I got to see a catwalk, quirky styles of fashion and other interesting products, it was rather unusual for me to be honest, because I didn't really know I had an interest in these kind of fashion areas, but I guess if I never stepped out of my comfort zone in the first place, I also wouldn't have found out, so I'm very glad I went.

I wasn't allowed to take photos of anything so i didn't ;)

Christina's friend from France (I've forgotten her name) is also planning on producing her own range of accessories and handbags, in addition though she will be opening a store in France that will have all of hers and Christina's products on sale, they are both looking to launch quite soon, but will first sort out samples of their products before they bring it to market.

Below are a few images of me and Sara (the other intern) in the small studio working hard as always we worked of our laptops sharing a desk as you will be able to see, this is where the brains of Christina Chi happened.

Funnily enough on our last day of the internship there was leakage in the studio, but it didn't take away from the memorable month and a bit I had working there, I really enjoyed it and found it a very useful experience, it was a way for me to put my foot in the door and start somewhere. I was very  grateful Christina gave me the opportunity in the first place, and couldn't thank her enough for giving me that much needed start. Me, Christina and Sara continue to stay in contact with each other and let each other know how we are doing and what we are doing, hopefully we can all meet again at Christina's launch! Watch this space..

The leakage in the building on the final day.

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Summer internship

Summer internship

   14:31       Dav31d

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Once university was completely over (and I moved back home in June 2013) I began applying for jobs to try and secure my future career, but I kept receiving the same feedback from everyone I applied to, 'unfortunately you have been unsuccessful with this application, as you do not have enough experience required for this role'. This seemed to be the common pattern I heard from nearly everyone that actually responded back, which wasn't a large number if I'm honest. However I totally understood and saw their point of view, I'm a graduate who has just completed my degree course and have no real field related experience so why employ me right?! On the other hand my argument for this, was how do I then go about getting the experience, if no ones willing to offer me any experience in the first place, I concluded this will be a vicious cycle until I get that first little bit of experience under my belt, which i was determined to get. 

With the amount of rejection emails I had received, I opted to change my approach on how I can get this much needed experience. I then remembered about design internships, one of my university lecturers was discussing with me prior to leaving uni, so I then continued applying for jobs but just solely focused on the internship aspect. I found a number of good ones (paid and unpaid) which I applied to and the response I received was slightly better than that of a full time job. Though again some still said I don't have enough experience (LOL I just had to laugh when I came across those words again). However...

On a better note i had heard back from two employers who were interested in me Chris Minett of Action for Ageing (http://www.actionforageing.com/ )and Christina Banjo of Christina Chi (https://twitter.com/Christina_Chi). I was very grateful at this moment to have even heard back from the pair in the first place, but for them to also arrange an interview filled me with much hype. However before my interview with Chris he asked me to fulfill a brief so I did. I had my interview with Chris and Christina respectively and got offered internships from the two, so the final decision lied with me. In the end I went with my gut and chose the Web and Graphic Design internship with Christina.

Before the interview with Chris, he had asked me to design an infographic;

The poster above is the original that Chris sent me.

The above is my try at an infographic, it was my first attempt at one so i felt i didn't too bad considering. Chris had offered me the interview and digital design, internship after this process.

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