The meeting was basically just for a cup of tea and a chat . Ten has only recently moved into the Studio at Mirfield and its fabulous. Everything felt right from the high ceilings, to the exposed brickwork and the huge Wall print in reception.
After an extremely informative chat with Michael and meeting the MD David Worthington I asked if it would be possible to come back for some experience in their studio. Michael emailed me a few days later and said I could go in two or three days a week for three weeks - This was fantastic news. (I think the cake I baked may have helped!)
Week one
Tuesday 7 August to Thursday 9 August
Felt part of the team almost straight away which was definitely helped by them being a friendly bunch of people and also a small team.
Research for two briefs.
1. Recruitment Consultants which Ten had already re branded. Potential Training/ Sales Academy and also employee engagement. Research large corporations what so they do/say to employees.
Found a great website for researching large business practise which has several business cases of large companies: The Times 100 businesscasestudies
2. Rewards schemes in general for a potential Reward Scheme for an Airport.
On the Thursday I was invited into a client meeting with the training manager which explored the ideas/research around the Sales Academy and employee engagement.
This work made me realise that my background has definitely a benefit in this industry especially as I have worked for both large and small businesses as well as the public sector. I have a lot to bring to the table!
Week two and three
Tuesday 14 August to Thursday 23 August
1. Research and ideas for a new website for Will Lake who is a copywriter. Michael recommended a standard browser format of 1024x768 and also consider how it would look on a smart phone. As part of this also consider branding
Current homepage
Some Scamps
2. Research for inspiration for photographs suitable for Case studies. This was for promotion of traditional crafts using real life case studies.
3. Research for mood/style boards for presentation to client. High end recruitment, Exclusive gifts high end clients/affluent. Attention to detail
4. Research for Folders for training collateral
5. High resolution Images of Pret a mange style restaurants and stylish offices/reception for s specific presentation for a client to use.
6. Research for stock images suitable for Banners on an Intranet aimed at employee motivation.
7. Design ideas for Banners
James and Michael also offered to give me some feedback on some of the briefs I was starting to write for the third year. James had a great idea of using my dissertation research to produce a design outcome.
Michael offered to share a brief they were writing for Huddersfield University students for branding for a micro brewery. Jill said she loves anything which demonstrates great typography skills.
David the MD also gave me some useful feedback about my branding and website. He gets loads of portfolios and CVs emailed everyday so I really appreciated this.
He recommended I think carefully about how I position myself in the industry and what I actually want to do. He did not think the Accountant/Designer pitch worked. He said why do I need an Accountant I have already got one? I said I was trying to promote the other skills I was already armed with. He recommended I actually use this in how I promote myself ie strategic thinker, project manager etc.
He recommended I actually have an 'about' on the homepage so it is clear who I am, where I am based and what I have to offer. He also recommended I put the timelines of each project on as the perception in industry can be 'they had six months' to do that....he said it is more impressive if we only had two weeks. I asked him if he would feedback again once I have re branded myself and my website.
This has been a fantastic opportunity to see how a design studio works and the 'real' client facing side of the business. Seeing first hand the challenges presented day to day really brought home to me as a freelancer you really need lots more hats than just 'designer'. The research and idea development has been really enjoyable. I can see how beneficial it is to be part of a team where brainstorming ideas leads to stronger ideas.
Michael, Jill and David all said to keep in touch and I asked if they would provide feedback on projects over this year.
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