Hello everyone! I hope things are going well for you all and that you are enjoying your experiences so far.
Okay. This has been by far the busiest summer of my life. But has been very enjoyable and rewarding and I am glad that I jumped straight in to placements and whatnot as soon as the second year was over. I have neglected to contribute to this blog so far, so for this week, I plan to deliver three installments(!) as in to help break down what I have been up to so far.
So my DPS year officially started back in June, where I did a two week placement at creative agency and shopper-marketing experts Vivid Brand in Holborn. It was an interesting place to be an observer; I learnt about the psychology behind how shoppers navigate stores and how different design elements can attract a customer to look at a product and then crucially, make the purchase. As far as design went, it was generally super-imposing other designers’ work on to blank product images and retouching, plus composing internal and client presentations, so I did not really have any creative input, but for two weeks I felt it was beneficial because of the knowledge I absorbed.
Examples of what projects I worked on
The main task I had whilst I was there was to create an internal film for the world’s biggest soft drink brand, which consisted of me going out into the streets with a camcorder and proposed new product samples and interview people from the demographic they were hoping to appeal to. I then had to edit it and present it as a short film. It was interesting and quite a character and confidence-building exercise for me and helped me think more about my own approach to future research and considering what the public actually want or need.
As my first-ever industry placement, it was a nice place to go to. It was a small studio of about 15 people, who made me feel welcome and I worked with just about all of them, so got to see everyone’s roles in the agency. Although it was a positive experience, truthfully I can say that it is not the type of agency I aspire to go to later on, just because I am interested in more of the branding and packaging sides of design, rather than analysis and application.
Keri
