OUGD502 // Studio Visit // Numiko

Numiko are a web based company that are located in Leeds. They came into uni and did a presentation to our year about the company, showing what they did, how they did it and what they offered. The were looking for designers within the companies and wanted to take on internships, which was the reason for them coming to us.

I have recently began to be interested in web design and found it more and more interesting to work with, creating more digital work across the web media. Numiko were something different to that though, they were completely different in the work that they created and the style they had as a web design company. Everything they created looked like it was a print product, but on the web. This is because they use graphic designers within their team. They have a team of graphic designers to come up with the concept and generate ideas and to create the artwork for the sites, which then gets passed on to the web team which creates the website, by having the two teams that work together they create some amazing websites.

After seeing the presentation and they work they have done, i was really interested in the company and thought it would be a great opportunity to work with them and get some experience, it would also be in the web design field, which isnt my main field of design but an area i am interested in.
I sent them an email about it all and asked if i could be considered for an internship and if i could visit the studio. I got an email back the same day with the reply of yes to coming and visiting the studio and i would have a discussion / interview about the placement whilst there.

This was great for me, the second time i have put myself out there and its paid off. So i put together a presentation, just slides of work with a bit of information about each project.

When it came to the day of the interview, i printed off some business cards and took my CV, so i could give it to them at the end, also putting all this onto a CD to give them, made sure they didn't loose any details etc. 

The interview went great, it was just me and the head of design and it was a really casual discussion about my work. I spoke through my presentation, explaining the different projects and the ideas behind them, talking about the processes and other things involved within each project. As i was talking through the presentation, Matt ( the guy who was interviewing me) would say what he thought about the work and ask me more questions about it. 

At the end of the presentation he gave me some feedback on it all. He said that he really liked the work i had shown and thought that it showed a wide range of capabilities with what i could design and the areas that i could design within. he particularly liked the projects with the added illustration within and the photo montage projects, they would be skills and assets that would work well with working for them. He said that in terms of the presentation he thought it could have been better if i showed less projects but went more in depth with them - taking 3 or 4 slides to show every part of the project and the different aspects of it instead of having more of a brief overview. 

But he was still impressed with my work and we spoke more in general about my course and Leeds for design in general, which was interesting to get his opinions and views on the area for graphic design and what he thought about the other unis around us. I also found out about is background as a designer too. Through all this discussion i got a real insight into the world of a graphic design outside of university and what it would actually be like when i left uni and got a job within design. 

At the end of the interview i was offered an internship for 2 weeks within the summer break. We were going to sort dates out at a later date over email. 

I was really happy with the result of this and it did again boost my confidence within myself. This was the second placement i had gone for and got it, so i must be doing something right in order to be getting them. Also the best part of this was that it was at a web design company, which i would of never thought about approaching in the first place, let alone getting an internship from them, so this was the best news for me. 

Now i have 2 placements over summer and looking forward to both of them!

OUGD502 // Studio Visit // The Engine Room

Within the Easter holiday i have been and visited a studio in Huddersfield. I got in contact with the creative director of the studio through my mum as it is a friend she knows of. After many emails, we met up at the studio which had everyone in working too.

To start with we had a discussion about graphic design in general and where i am studying etc, along with the sort of design that i am interested in. We then spoke about the studio and what the sort of the design work they did.

From the website i was interested in the work they were doing - they are a brand agency, i initially thought they would only do branding work, but they have a large portfolio of print and digital work. The way they work is by creating a brand for a project and use this throughout the project and the outcomes. They do obviously rebrand companies etc and do campaigns too. They had examples of work within the studio which i was able to look through, a lot of this was print based work, which was really interesting to me, i loved the design of these and the sort of style they took throughout these. We spoke briefly on the printers they use, which was impression and some local ones. I was able to talke about impression as they came and did a talk with us, i also asked them about team as they had done a talk with us too.
After all this i was shown around the studio, which wasnt overly large but a nice environment to work within, its a converted flat, so is over two floors, the bottom floor has a main working area with a kitchen and a meeting room, upstairs there another working space which is the same size as the one on the bottom floor. There are 4 designers that work in the studio, with two creative directors and a copy writer. The four designers work downstairs, with the other three working upstairs. They all seem really interesting and easy to get along with. The main area downstairs is centered around a large working area, which is a oval desk split down into four working areas. With the designers being close to each other there is always the connection of working in a studio and being able to show work around everyone, so this seems to work well for the studio.

After a chat with the creative director more about the design aspect of the studio and how they work on their project and with the clients. He did seem really interested in talking to me and discussing design. I then decided to ask about placements, which i didnt know if they did that, but he said that they have done it in the past, with Huddersfield Uni, but they were finding the students were getting worse over the years and not that good at actually doing the design work. So they said they had become more selective on the placements, but he said the way i spoke about design and about the work they have been doing, he could tell i was genuinely interested in design and showed that had a desire for it and wanted to do it.

After speaking some more about it, we agreed on a two week placement in summer, this was only an initial starting point, as he said if i wanted to extend this i could do and just to let them know. I was over the moon, the studio seemed really good and i liked the design work they were producing. The close net studio was something i liked and definitely what i would want to look for when i was going out to work in industry. I would much rather work in smaller studio with less members as theres more of a group feel to it and the fact the work can be discussed throughout the day and shown between everyone. I did really like the feel of the environment the studio worked in and cant wait to go do the placement there now.

They asked me send over some work, so they could see the sort of design work that i do and the standard that i am working at. I emailed over the portfolio on the previous post and asked them for some feedback. What i received back was:

Hi Nathan,
We really like your work - some nice touches and a good eye for typography.
Let me know when you're available. We'd usually do this in 2 week stints but its up to you if you want to make it a little longer.

Speak soon.
Darren

I was really pleased with the feedback, not only did they like me when i met them in person but they all like my work, so now i am really looking forward to the placement. We have agreed i will do this placement in June, i just need to specify dates, which i will do when we start back at Uni and find out specific dates for the next term. Hopefully the beginning of June will be okay to do this.

The Studio is called: The Engine Room
http://www.engineroomdesign.com

Some examples of work from the studio: