There I stood, with my shiny new design portfolio. Fresh out of College, I was finally ready to embark on this new journey as a Graphic Designer. The first hurdle was getting through the interview.
At first I was nervous as it was the first time showing my work to an industry professional, but once I walked through the doors of BlueMelon’s studio my butterflies soon fluttered away.
My initial thoughts were focused on the beautiful space, with walls full of artists work, photography and plants. Lots of plants. I was drawn in immediately and warmly welcomed by the Art Director into such an inspiring work environment.
Luckily for me the experience was more of an eye opener and friendly chat rather than an interrogation (which I know can happen). Thus, I landed my first position as an intern. Yipee!
When you first start out in your internship I think it is natural to have some feelings of self doubt. Perhaps feelings of worry that you won’t be up to the task in hand. However, you should bear in mind that your employer is aware of your inexperience. They have taken you under their wing with the knowledge that you have next to no or no exposure to the design world. I was fortunate enough to be told in my first week there were lower expectations of me, the pressure of making mistakes or asking silly questions was somewhat relieved.
To my surprise, this low level of expectation was immediately followed by quite a high level of trust. I had not expected to be involved on live projects so early on in my internship, yet straight away I was involved in the design process of BlueMelon’s client work. This sort of experience gives a great feeling of purpose and pride knowing that something you helped create is now out in the world for anyone to see!
Some of the most valuable aspects learnt have been those on filing and housekeeping. You become aware that there are so many things you’re not taught when studying. The whole working structure of the studio with its deadlines and organisation of files was pretty overwhelming to start with. There was this constant fear of dropping a file in the wrong place or accidentally losing them completely – never to be seen again! I can’t say that this situation never happened to me… when it does, you literally feel sick.
The benefit of being an intern before jumping into a junior position is that you have space to learn and make a couple of minor mishaps. You get fed bitesize pieces of information so that once your internship is over, the bigger picture makes a lot more sense!
On to the next chapter. Becoming a junior…
Meet Vicki
