I was sitting around with some of my old work mates having a moan about how much we hated our jobs. I used to work as a client manager for an event registration company; we printed badges for people who would attend trade shows and conferences. We started chatting about what we really wanted to do and the discussion ended along the lines of 'why the hell aren't we doing it?!' Enthused, I jumped online to do a search for graphic design courses. Shillington College popped up first and luckily there was an opening day the following week. It all seemed to piece itself together from there and I enrolled a few weeks later.
The course was pretty damn tops! From the very first day we were on the computer being taught the basics of each program; very hands on. We then went into a lot more detail as the course progressed. It's amazing how much we were taught in such a short period of time. The briefs you work on cover all different aspects of the design industry from packaging design, corporate stuff and designing for the web. The deadlines are realistic and even though you are working non-stop it's a really fun atmosphere. There are 21 other students and two teachers and you all get to know each other really well. You are all there for similar reasons and it's great to be in an environment with like minded people. The teachers are fantastic, they are all designers themselves and their enthusiasm about design really motivates you.
It's really only after finishing the course that you realise how damn good your work is. In interviews people constantly commented on the commercial relevance and the quality of the work in my portfolio. Shillington College wants you to pride yourself on detail and that really pays off when you graduate with a really professional portfolio. You do so many pieces that it can be difficult to choose which briefs you want to use for your portfolio. The different variety of briefs enables you to shape the direction you choose to take, whether it be advertising, publishing, packaging or freelance. You receive a lot of help and constructive feedback from the teachers and because they are designers you really trust their opinions. The best thing though is that at the end of the day it's up to you what you choose to put in your portfolio and the work is all yours.
I got my job a week out of college, I couldn't believe it! I started off by showing a few friends my portfolio and one of them who works in recruitment could not believe what I had produced in 3 months. She told me that more than 80% of the portfolios she looks at when sourcing for a designer don't even come close to how mine looked. I forwarded my portfolio to a design recruiting agency. I was a bit unsure about going down this route because a lot of agencies don't bother with juniors but I figured I had nothing to lose; I was 3 days out of college and broke! I had a really positive response from people wanting me to come in to see them. Next thing I knew I had two interviews lined up and the possibility of more to come. I arrived to my first interview a little nervous but the casual atmosphere of the place helped me relax. I knew my portfolio inside out and could talk pretty easily about each of my pieces. I think the most gratifying thing from the interview was how stunned they were to see what I had produced in 3 months! The interview was really casual and it was more of a chat than a grilling of questions. They offered me a weeks trial to to get feel of the job and to see if I liked the place. I was pretty excited as you could imagine, this was all happening to me less then a week after graduating. The trial was great; I got a taste for work the studio does and the people I would be working with and come Friday my boss offered me a fulltime position.
The studio I work for is called “Studio Woo”. They are a small (growing) design/advertising agency who works predominately in the fashion industry. We work with the labels to develop their brands and products by handling season range launches with photo shoots and print collateral. The great thing about this place is that I get to do a range of different things involved with design ranging from logo design, packaging design, window displays, style guides, label swing tags, brochures, and look books. Also the best thing about being in a small agency is that I'm actually helping come up with the creative, my designs actually get presented to clients. The team I work with are great as well. There's a wealth of knowledge, and its also nice to be occasionally asked questions that they don't know the answers to; an advantage of being fresh out of college! Its a damn sweet job, I'm getting my hands dirty and learning a heap of stuff every day.
Shillington College was great, I mean it's thanks to them that I'm now a designer! I love what I'm doing and am starting to get a taste for avenues I would like to persue further along the line. There's so much out there I can choose from. I am damn glad I decided to take the course. I met a bunch of great people along the way and hope to keep doing so.