What is professional/industrial experience? Firstly, I'd like to start with a personal response, perhaps a summation of my hopes for work experience: To me industrial experience is the opportunity to learn from those already doing what I want to do, those who not only have a great visual flare, but the ability to translate it into real world employment. From this I can figure out exactly how I may fit into this real world, and what my future roles might include.
It's learning about free-lancing and what it takes to become a full time free-lancer, here is an example of some freelance work by one of my personal heros, Micheal Sieben:
Here is one t-shirt of a series that he has done for upper playground. Other clients include Adidas and Thrasher magazine, for whom he submits illustrations that are used in articles. Industrial Experience is a chance to see how these people got these amazing opportunities and how they communicate with their clientele.
Industrial experience is a chance to work with design firms, as part of a team of designers, such as
thomas.matthews to see what potential roles there may be in the future for me as a member of a team, and how I might communicate or work with other designers.
It's a chance to see how other designers may apply similar ethics as yours to their design practice, in order to perhaps implement these measures yourself when you venture into the real world.
The Paper Crane is an ethical design company I just stumbled upon that work mainly in the environmental sector. Their work isn't all to my taste but there are some amazing pieces in there too! Industrial experience would allow me to see how they interact with the environmental sector, to learn what are the do's and don'ts of working in that area, and importantly how they built their client base etc. Another company that I like in terms of ethics is
Idressmyself who have siezed the print proccess for themselves and hand screen all their products, just to control their environmental wastage etc. It'd be interesting to work with them and see how they work as a design/print team and what kind of clientele they have, whether it's a specific ethical market or they have wider appeal.
To fully understand how the real world works, and perhaps appreciate the quality of the briefs we're given here at the studio.
Why is it an important part of PPD?
It's an important part of Personal and professional development because, without it, how do we hope to progress into the real world of industry with any chance of success? or any idea what we're doing?
It can lead to real world employment, which is extremely important in terms of proffessional development:
"I was lucky enough to be offered a job at Design Fusions shortly after completing work experience at another local design agency and before i had een completed my degree."-Daze at design fusions.
In terms of personal development, work experience can help us really get to grips with who we are as people and how we can apply that to design:
"I think a real connection with the work and purpose of the work is the real meat and bones."-Jason Wiley Graphic Design graduate, speaking on work experience.
There are certain things that only real experience in the Industry can teach you, how to build up a client base, how to communicate with your clients, how to communicate with a printers, etc.
When working with someone in the industry, they can give you real advice on what they would look for in a portfolio, what kind of design invigorates them etc. and can give you a real insight into how to maximise the opportunities for jobs you can get.
How do you gain professional/industrial experience and what form does it take?freelance work is perhaps the most accessible way to get Industry experience, through organisations such as
Threadless t-shirts a company who ask designers to submit their designs to a vote, they pay those who win quite nicely. It's a good way to get experience, though it doesn't really have a deadline and often no real brief, which seems not to be like real life. Don't Panic are another organisation that ask designers to submit designs for their outer packaging and their posters, because it is a monthly package and deals with a specific theme every month, this is more like real world design in terms of deadlines, and again it can give you great exposure and experience.
Asking designers who you feel you have an affinity with whether they can give you work experience could work quite well, as the quote from Jason Whiley in the last section suggested from his own experience, designers who share similar passions in terms of what they're about with design are more likely to give you placements. Whilst Micheal Sieben is based in America, I'd still love to go their and see what his studio is about, I'm looking to email him after this tutorial, when I feel a little more confident with what I should say to him, with some help from the PPD tutors and my classmates.
Small briefs for local companies and people you know, i.e. gig flyers for someone you know's promotion night can be a good way to get exposure and also build a reputation by word of mouth, allowing you to gain some experience working with a real client (as a pose to don't panic who couldn't give a monkey's if you submit or not!) and a deadline that is very real! In my year out before I started this degree, I did promotional flyers for a small promotions copany called sherlock promotions, including a basic flyer template if I wasn't available to do a fresh flyer. Other promotions people started slowly inquiring as to who was making these nice designs, and if I hadn't had a bit of a meltdown then I probably still would have a few clients from this kind of experience.
Asking questions of a well established designer can be a way to source information from their experience and can also lead to work placements if dealt with tactfully, or other experiences. An example of this would be a third year managing to secure a college wide lecture from Johnny Cupcakes through asking questions about work experience etc.
Going on college visits! A trip is planned to visit a printers, I believe, this will give us valuable insight into how a printer works, what they're looking for a designer to say and know about that will make their jobs easier etc. This experience will become invaluable in real world situations where you're looking to make a transition as smoothly as possible.
What should you aim to gain from professional/industrial experience?From professional experience, I think I should be aiming for a few things, Primarily, I think we should be looking to understand how real-world design practice works. I imagine it to be a much different place to college.
I hope to get an idea of what design ethics and practice suit me best and exactly where in the design world I want to end up, hopefully it will also give me a few tools to help me achieve this.
Hopefully, as long as it's a good experience, it will provide me with a few industry contacts that I can draw upon to give me a little leg up in the way I want to work. Earlier example of Johnny Cupcakes, this (now) third year will most likely have him as a significant contact in industry for life, which is an amazing opportunity for him.
Hopefully it will also give me some insigt into exactly what they would want to see in a portfolio. If I get enough placements (2-3) in places where I have an affinity with the designers, what they would like to see is probably going to be highly beneficial in terms of getting future employment.
It would also be nice to get further placements or experience with these people, providing I do a good job and they see me as a satisfactory designer, etc.
