What Interns Want

CR blog recently wrote of a project by LCC graduates called Mind the Gap. This project is based around various agencies giving advice to students about their move into the real world of design. They also compiled this list of things that Interns really want when on a placement. I know this has caused a lot of reaction from my fellow design students, and I personally agree with every point!

This is what they wrote...

One:

For young creatives the basics to a good internship are being in a place that allows them to prove themselves whilst learning the trade. Every student wants the chance to show what they're about and feel part of the team.

Two:

Many students would like more insight in terms of being present with designers/creatives when they attend or conduct meetings so that they can observe how people in the industry interact and work with each other.

Three:

What interns find really beneficial is if the studio regularly informs them about current projects and spends a couple of minutes updating them and going through work with them.

Four:

Always try to get interns working on live projects rather than setting intern briefs, even if the work is sometimes monotonous or simply researching. The most rewarding internships are the ones where students feel they have contributed to something 'real'.

Five:

The question of money is always a difficult one. Covering costs makes doing the internship more possible, but contributing towards the interns' time will also make them feel valued, resulting in more commitment and a better work ethic.

Six:

Young creatives want to soak up as much information as possible, whilst interning they would like the team to be helpful and proactive when they have questions or problems.

Seven:

Structure in an internship is very important. Students often find working for free offers little reward, but as with college, having deadlines and grades to achieve is rewarding. They feel it would be beneficial to be mentored so that it is clear what they are doing right, and what they need to work on.

Eight:

To avoid any embarrassing mishaps, interns would like agencies to spell out what is expected of them; what time it's OK to go home/have lunch etc.

Nine:

A brief introduction to everyone on the team will make the intern feel much more comfortable and less hesitant to ask questions and get involved.

Ten:

One of the advantages of doing internships is the opportunity it creates for students to build relationships. Without suggesting the need to hold their hands, students appreciate the effort made to introduce them to other creative professionals and develop their contacts.

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http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog

http://www.mindtheg-a-p.com

RIP Grafik

I was extremely disappointed to see that Grafik magazine has had to stop printing as their publisher, Adventures in Publishing, has gone into liquidation. In my opinion Grafik was the best magazine out there for Graphic design and was one I had been subscribed to for the past couple of years.





They have a full page of bereft comments from readers on the post to which they have replied with...

"We're working on a way of bringing Grafik back—either with the same name, or in a new guise. Things are very up in the air at the moment, rest assured that we will keep you posted.

In the meantime we will be keeping the website, Facebook page and Twitter going— though we may be a bit quiet on those fronts for the rest of the week. "

I think it's really sad and disappointing. Many of the comments have suggested that the magazine should instead take a digital format, iPad style, which is no doubt cheaper and will soon be a very popular format. Many magazines are already providing their magazine in a digital format- such as Wallpaper. However I think it just won't be the same. I loved a nice chunky edition of Grafik coming through my letter box. Call me old fashioned but I like to read things in my actual hands, not just on a screen, and I really appreciated the paper and quality of printing Grafik provided.

Who knows what the future will hold for Grafik, but I will still be following them online. It'll be interesting to see how many other printed magazines will also stumble into the same problems Grafik had.

x


http://www.grafikmag.com

Olympic Brief - Skeet Shooting

So have been meaning to blog about this for a while. In the summer semester we were set an Olympic brief where each of us were randomly given one of the more underfunded, less popular Olympic sports to promote to a randomly designated audience. Our tutors all came round with a hat containing bits of folded up paper of which we had to pick out. My sport- Skeet. I had absolutly no idea what Skeet was which didn't fill me with much optimism from the start, but after a quick google search I discovered it was a form of clay pigeon shooting. And my audience.... women aged between 25-30.

Basically we had to promote and encourage engagement with this sport to this particular audience. I found it a particularly challenging brief knowing next to nothing about the sport and fairly little about the target audience so I had to do a lot of research. Many thanks to Bisley Shooting ground as well who were kind enough to help me out and actually gave me an interview with one of the female shooting instructors which was unbelievably helpful!

From my research I found that Skeet shooting is a sport with massive gender disparities. This is a major weakness in the sport which puts off women getting involved and leads to stereotyping and assumptions that the sport is for men only and is conducted in an intimidating environment. To get women aged 25-30 to take part in Skeet shooting, I believed this was the area of the sport that must be amended, therefore I chose this strategy in order to get a sustainable growth in participation in the sport.

My concept in which to do this is Ladies Day.






From my research I found that these days do in fact already exist at selected clubs around the country, such as Bisley, however awareness of them is extremely poor, particularly to women who aren’t already a member of a shooting club. Ladies Day is the best way to fight the gender disparities in Skeet whilst also encompassing other strategies such as promoting Skeet as a sociable sport, and also providing a way of attracting newcomers to the sport. My audience are a busy and sociable group, who would like more time to participate in more sporting activities. Ladies Day provides a sociable, enjoyable and active day out for my audience, giving them a day to themselves as a time out from their busy lives with other like minded women. It also allows them to try to sport with friends in a much less intimidating environment and will encourage them to have a go at something new.

The ways in which I chose to digitally promote Ladies Day was through moving banners on female orientated webpages, such as Marie Claire and Handbag.com, a Facebook community page and a central website. My aims with these media channels were to raise awareness of Ladies Day, making it an attractive choice for a day out, also getting women talking about it between themselves and influencing each other to participate, whilst also providing them with more information about the sport. These are all media channels I found my target audience particularly responded to, so together I thought they would provide an effective package in promoting Ladies Day, and in turn raising participation in Skeet shooting.

Here is my banner in action...



youtube probably isnt the best thing to show it on but wasnt sure how to embed a flash file otherwise!

And stills from my webpage and facebook community page!

x


http://www.bisleyshooting.co.uk

Brussels!

Haven't blogged in SO long!! Life has been pretty hectic at the minute. Did 4 weeks of work experience with a digital design agency called Cloudspotting in Leeds. Was definitely a good experience, learned a lot and everyone was really nice to a big thank you to them! Just got back off holiday with my friends from uni as well which was a lot of fun. Summer for me now is a couple more placements which I'm really looking forward to and hanging out with all of my friends at home. Good times!

Thought I'd just quickly write about a trip I took about a month ago to Brussels for the weekend. I'd never been before and I have to say I thought it was a really cool place. We walked around and explored the city a LOT and I loved the quirkyness of it- lots of old beautiful buildings, together with scruffier parts with little splashes of design, wall murals, graffiti and interesting side alleys to see and explore. Some pics for you...

This was a tourist information centre aimed at young people. I was immediately drawn to the window where hundreds of post it notes were stuck on the exterior...

On a closer look all of these post it notes had been written by people who had visited Brussels with their recommendations of what to do in the city. I thought this was such a good idea, really personal and visually looked great. You could also tear off a post it and take it with you if you wanted to.

So that was my trip! More blogs to come more frequently hopefully!

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