I recently completed a 4 week internship at Leeds based branding and design agency GOLDEN, who specialise in a wide variety of projects and have clients including Nike and Google, providing a steady stream of interesting projects on a regular basis. One of the reasons I chose to work with Golden was, because their work from what I had seen was so polished and art direction based. I knew my previous skills, training and passions lied in physical design through print and editorial and that's where I see myself in the near future but I think placements should also be about trying something a bit different and improving in weaker areas and I feel Golden definitely gave me this opportunity. Especially in terms of more digital conceptualisation across in-store campaigns and visual merchandising on a large scale. It was a really valuable, and rewarding experience I feel has developed me as a creative.
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In my first week, I was given an old brief of theirs to work on, and kind of show how I think and where abouts I am in general ability - the brief was for a London, and Berlin based Record label that Golden had done the identity for a few years ago. It was good to start designing and settle in, right from my first day. One of the biggest changes for me was the different role you have as a designer, as part of an agency - rather than basically a freelance roll like we have at college. I was now part of a team, and had a boss and it took a little getting used to and my first week was spent a little in my shell and not trying to step on any toes. I really enjoyed spending a week on the record label brief and was given the opportunity to present a set of identity guidelines and application to the studio and got some really good feedback!
In week 2 I feel I was starting to settle in much better, and the shock to the system of working in a design agency and being a little intimidated by how amazing the work I was seeing around me, was wearing off a bit and I was starting to design at the pace I'm used to. I got good feedback on the record label brief, and on the whole I think Golden were impressed and I intend to push on the record label brief as a college project.
I then worked on another past brief for a Brasilian architecture festival, celebrating the work of Brasilian architect - Oscar Niemeyer. This was simply a poster brief but I saw the potential in pushing it on and branding it as design and architecture festival - I was really happy with how it was coming along, and again I have permission to push it on as a college brief.
After finishing up some visuals for the Brasilian brief, I was given a bit of a boost in actually working on concepts for a live brief the studio was working on, which was a lot of fun and again I realised how important it is to adjust to a different system and how a studio works and presents its concepts in it's own way.
For example - Golden initially present concepts and reference imagery to the client and allow the client to see what kind of vibe they like, and then go from there. Each designer is tasked with visualising up as many concepts as they can, for the briefs that come in - so when it's time to send the concepts off there's easily around 30 collated concepts. It also takes responsibility off just one designer working on the brief, taking the load off and allowing us to have fun. That's absolutely loads more than you achieve on your own and is brilliant for the client to look through - I will now take on this same approach when I work with clients on a freelance basis - it makes the client feel more of a collaborator, and not simply a client.
After my second week I was planned to finish up but I was offered a further 2 weeks, which was great as I think 2 weeks isn't a long time and just as you're beginning to settle in, you leave so taking up the extra 2 weeks was great news.
In my 3rd week I again was given the chance to work on a real live brief for a cosmetics company, I spent the next 2 weeks pushing the brief to near completion from my viewpoint. Again, as with other briefs a good number of designers work on concepts and early visuals for the brief so my effort was simply an option. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and it was pretty good for my own standards and I really enjoyed working on something a bit more print and branding orientated.
Towards the end of my final week I was tasked as one of the designers working on concepts for a Nike boot launch - it was cool to see how studios work on briefs well in advance of release date, sometimes working on stuff a year in advance - showing just how much planning and intent goes into the brief.
One of the coolest things about Golden is, the studio is at a stage where basically any concept they have in mind they can bring to fruition in terms of visual ability, rendering, video, project management and generally just the resources they have at their disposal. It definitely showed where I want to be heading towards in terms of a studio I work in, or set up.
Consequently, when we were working on concepts for a boot launch campaign, we were free to think up wild and amazing ideas like explosions, lasers, meteors, models etc as we knew it would be taken care of and there weren't any limitations. Definitely one of the coolest things about Golden.
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Overall I really enjoyed my time at Golden and learnt alot about how projects are brief, conceptualised, meetings and generally how professional studios work - especially the pace studios work at. No time was spent muddling about needlessly researching, the experience the designers had came through as they knew what ideas and avenues to explore quickly. Much quickly than I did, and that's where I think experience comes in. At first, i felt a bit daunted by doing 'pretend' college briefs to being around studios working on stuff for Google and being on the phone to Nike, but after a while I feel I definitely settled in and felt like my skills were good enough for Golden. Especially for someone in college, and I feel that's a testament to the course we have at LCA.
I'd love to work at Golden again one day, but at the same time working in studios has made me realise also where my passions at this stage lie. In the short term future I want to continue my exploration of print and identity, and organically expand my portfolio in terms of video / art direction / installations etc just as Golden are doing. Until the right opportunity arrives. If an opportunity comes to work at Golden again, I'd definitely be happy to go back as I learnt so much in such a short time the first time.
I've always said to myself from the start, that I would trust myself enough to continue my own development as a designer individually and not 'sign my life away' to a studio as soon as an opportunity arrives. Obviously, the studio you work at has a huge effect on you as a designer and your development - one of my main fears post-uni is messing up the massive steep learning curve I think we've all had on the course, but instead keep on that upwards trajectory of development and discovery. Consequently decisions I make post-college are absolutely vital.
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