January 2014

Thursday, 16 January 2014

Internship no. 2


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.  




Monday, 6 January 2014

Christina Chi


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.

Thursday, 2 January 2014

Summer internship


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.