Q1. So, what have you been up to since you started at Earl & Thompson?

Just about everything. 

I’ve been working within the studio and therefore have been doing everything from artwork to coding to photography. Over the year I’ve done work for pretty much every client we have, so the work has been a real mixture of different things.

I started with smaller tasks to do, such as small amends to existing artwork, however in time, with the help of the Head of Studio I started getting my own full jobs and tasks to manage which has been a great responsibility to have.

Q2. How have you found it working with us?

It’s been an absolutely invaluable experience and I would encourage anybody thinking about doing a placement to just do it. My university lecturers won’t thank me for saying that I’ve no doubt learnt more during my time here than I have in 2 years of university. Everybody here has been friendly and helpful and the chance to develop my skills within a “real” work environment has been fantastic.

I’m not one for being built up to a task and would much rather just get thrown in at the deep end and see how I cope, which luckily for me ET had the confidence to do. They really trusted me and my abilities (perhaps more than I did at times), which has been brilliant.

I expected to really struggle with the transition from the near-nocturnal student lifestyle to a working 9-5, but in fact it was much easier than I thought, with my sleeping pattern changing to what I’ve been informed is considered “normal” within just a couple of weeks.

Q3. What have been your highlights and why?

I suppose it would have to be seeing some of the larger projects I’ve been involved with over the past year finally coming to fruition. When you’ve put a lot of hours (and in some cases the full blood, sweat and tears) into a project it’s very satisfying to see it finished and presented in front of you. The Cavell FUNdraising Pack and some of the Nuaire brochures we have produced are good examples of this. It’s been a new and pleasant feeling to know that things I’ve worked on are out there and are actually being used.

Q4. What have you learnt during your time here?

Studying a Multi-media Web Design degree, most of the stuff I’ve been doing in the first 2 years of university have been digital based, which is a contrast to here where a large amount of the work is print. I’d never done artwork for print before so learning all about specs for print have been a big part of my learning curve.

This placement has really given me an opportunity to develop and refine my own existing knowledge and skills, largely gained at University, in a working environment. My skills with HTML, CSS, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and more have really progressed by simply being given the chance to apply them to actual jobs.

It’s also been hugely insightful to see how a marketing agency works, with no formal marketing experience or training behind me I had no idea what to expect. From this I can definitely say that this is an environment which I could happily see myself pursuing in the future. I can also say with confidence that this year has confirmed my belief that I should continue to take a step away from the nightmare of advanced coding, which is quite heavily involved in my university course, and head in the direction of more creative design based pastures.

I have also really had the opportunity to perfect my tea making.

Q5. So, what are your plans for the future?

I will have to get back into the student life as of September to complete the fourth and final year of my Multimedia Web Design course. That should all be wrapped up by next June, what I do after that is a little less planned. 

I would love to do a bit of travelling before getting into a full time job again but I haven’t quite worked out where, when and how yet.

This placement has confirmed that working in a marketing environment is what I want to pursue rather than sticking too closely to my course. After graduating I will look for a creative marketing job or grad scheme across the UK, or perhaps abroad for a short time if the opportunity is there. We’ll see what happens...