My first placement was for a small company in Wakefield. I spent 2 weeks with the design team helping to create so of the designs for various clients. The company specialise in design for the motor industry with many clients being car dealers or related fields. I was able to assist with a number of layout tasks, updating and redesigning advertisements for local news papers. I enjoyed my time in the office, however it was a small space with only 5 people so the atmosphere was not as lively as i am used to. I believe i work more productively with a large team or lively studio space.
The second placement was for my existing employer first direct, simply within their internal communication department. i volunteered for a week unpaid experience. I was able to redesign a selection of existing internal adds and sections within our intranet. I also offered a few possible options for a new calender for next year which hopefully will be in production in december. Again I really enjoyed the placement, the work was fun and familiar and the team and atmosphere was lively and energetic. However the projects were still relatively small scale which could become repetitive and boring quite quickly. The projects and work i completed there were well received and many of the projects are now in use. I would happily return to this department as a stepping stone for further job opportunities. I learnt from these experiences about the type of design and environment i would like to work in. I would prefer to be in a larger office or design team as i thrive on the atmosphere and energy it creates. I am happier creating design for a digital production rather than print based.
This year i am going to be concentrating on increasing my skills base within adobe creative suite. I would like to evolve my animation and flash skills, along with dreamweaver, illustrator and photoshop. I love typography and layout so i hope to engage with projects that enhance these skills increasing my indesign and quark knowledge as i go. My photography is a hobby that i don't intend to be my main source of income but may develop into a lucrative sideline, it will definitely help with projects this year as a good documenting skill and a possible method of animation (stop frame)
I am sure this year will be very busy so it will test my organisation skills, but it should provide me with a lot of quality projects for my portfolio and a large skills base that i may take to next year and hopefully a fun and rewarding job.
