OUGD602: Placements & Events // Work In The Web at MIXD

Over the past week, I've attended the Work in the Web programme at Mixd, a web design and development company in Harrogate. Work in the Web is a three day intensive workshop for students who want to learn about the real web industry. 

The week began on Tuesday at a Hey! event at The Belgrave in Leeds. Talks from Chris Murphy (who also ran the design session on the Thursday) and Richard Eskins. All of which was fantastic, and I was able to meet the Mixd team. 

The course itself was broken down as follows. (See screenshot below).

I loved every moment of the workshop. I learned so much about Design and Web Development, which isn't really my area, however it was a weak point I wanted to develop – which I did. The opening day consisted of the fundamentals, the workflow and the tools needs, which were all fairly new to me. All of which were industry standard, so if I were to move into the web, I would be familiar with the programmes – which would make me more employable. 

The second day was more design based. I was lucky enough to attend a talk from Chris Murphy, who teaches design at the University of Ulster (an MA course). The content within his presentation was extremely informative, and inspiring. A masterclass in design, I'm so happy I had to opportunity to attend! 

The third, and final day consisted of content management based lessons, mainly Wordpress, which I'm familiar with, as I use it host my own website. However, they taught me how to download the code to my own machine, so I'm able to modify the code locally, and then push it at a later date. Also working with command lines (stuff in terminal, or similar), which was all new to me. And finally speaking with the Mixd team, all the staff present, about how to get a job, the questions to ask and what you need. In the form of a impromptu Q&A chat session. 

From a networking stand point, I was able to meet a fantastic team of designers and developers at Mixd and the other attendees, some of which were amazing – and are definitely going places. We set up a Twitter group, so we're all able to keep in contact, which is ace. 

OUGD602: United By Design Meeting

Following a series of emails between Lucy, the studio manager of UBD and Owen, the creative director of UBD we finally agreed to meet on Friday the 16th of January, at their studio in the centre of York.

Meeting with Owen, I showed him some work which I haven't yet sent to him via email, and we chatted about design, the industry and rugby union. Turns out Rugby was something we both had in common, both playing for Malton Norton RUFC in the past.

It seemed to go really well, we had extremely interesting conversations - which eventually lead to talk of a placement. We agreed that I would do one day a week, from the week commencing the 26th of January 2015.

OUGD602: Work in the Web 2015

OUGD602: Placements & Events // Back at Bloom

After a successful and enjoyable summer internship at Bloom - the discovery agency in Leeds. Where I gained a wealth of knowledge in my first formal design position, I've been asked to go back for a couple of days during the coming week to do some work for them at the rate of a freelancer rather than an intern.

I only received the phone call on Friday evening so this is fairly last minute - I won't include it in the mandatory 10 days of placement we have to complete throughout the year.

OUGD602: Placements & Events // United By Design

As part of my personal and professional practice - I'm in the process of branching out to some studios which practise similar specialisations as to that of what I practise; Identity and Web Design. I'm also, obviously, looking for studios which I admire the work of.

United by Design is an independent creative agency, based in York, UK. They specialise in brand & communications design - a large part of which includes web. With a great track record for creating & nurturing brands, they work with individuals & organisations across a range of sectors in the UK and overseas.

I send over an initial email enquiring about a studio visit and the possibility of an internship in the future. 

They weren't able to offer any placements at this time of the year, as they're booked up until the first quarter of the next year. Instead, I have arranged to meet them, for a studio visit, on the 20th of November. 

OUGD602: Studio Brief 1 - Design Strategy Presentation

Level 6 Presentation 02

OUGD602: Placements & Events // Bloom Agency

Over summer, between level five and level 6, I was lucky enough to work at Bloom, in Leeds, as a Design intern as part of their fantastic team of creatives. I found Bloom, honestly, by a fairly random search of design studios in the area. I was amazed I'd found this place - the standard of work was extremely high, it looked ace.

I sent them an email, enquiring about a summer placement/internship, a quick interview and showing them some of my work a week later and I was in. I don't know what I was worried about to begin with.

I was at Bloom for a total of eight weeks, from late July to late September, just before we came back for our final year. I worked on a range of projects, for a range of different clients - all varying in size. Clients from small start up businesses to well known companies such as National Trust. I'm not really a loud to say exactly what I produced there, at least not on my blog. But I can say what the projects helped me improve in terms of how I work as a professional.