My first week at my new job has been fantastic. Its been exciting, not too stressful and overall has been a huge learning experience for me. I’ve started out working on some low–key client projects with small print runs and towards the end of the week started on some more exciting briefs including some work for film titles by Warner Bros. & Disney. Despite having a long weekend here in NZ and huge celebrations currently underway due to the Rugby World Cup, all I can think about is getting back to work tomorrow and what challenges I will face in the process. I’m so enthusiastic about this great opportunity and I’m going to throw myself into it with everything I have.
Its a hugely different world working in a fast paced design studio. Work needs to be produced to a high standard and also produced at a fast rate. This will take me some time to get used to. Despite working on a number of freelance projects over the years, I’m still in a artist heavy focused mind set and every piece of art, design, illustration or whatever I embark on creating generally tends to take a long time to create. Now however, I need to channel my knowledge into producing solutions in a quick and efficient manner with important time constraints. University did however teach me to be efficient and work to a deadline, but nothing prepares you for the industry in this way.
The largest challenge I am going to face, is learning everything about prepress, colour profiles and printing methods for high quantity print runs. The studio I now work in does a lot of work for film studios including huge print runs with numbers anywhere between 5,000 & 20,000. This leaves small margin for error when it comes to design. But is a fantastic opportunity to get involved in some great work. Unfortunately whilst I was studying, any printing that I ever undertook generally didn’t require much prepress and the printers just carried out what ever needed to be done. Now I have to do it. Everything has to be press ready. So I have a lot to learn. On a side note– I recently subscribed to Lynda.com and I can’t recommend it enough. There is so much great content on this website its just overwhelming! From; InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator to HTML, CSS and ActionScript. I’m content at getting more knowledge with the software I use on a daily basis, and already I’ve learned so much.
I will continue to write on my experience in the design industry as this job progresses. Also, I will continue to use this site as a means of displaying any work I create outside of the studio I work for. Thanks for your interest.
Congrats on the job and thanks for sharing. Its interesting to hear what challenges you are finding in the industry. di
Thanks di. Hope the Nayland College art department is still going strong!
Good to hear you loving your new job, all the best to you, I will look forward to future updates.
Kelly
Thankyou Kelly.
I will endeavor to continue writing about my experiences over the coming months. I think the advantages of expressing my thoughts about Graphic Design through not only images – but also writing, is becoming more apparent to me.
Sounds like an awesome job opportunity! I share your same views on transitioning from College to the “real world” of design. It’s mindblowing how fast and efficient they really want you to be. It is a learning curve, for sure. But, it seems to be getting easier as I do it more. Hopefully, you’re having that experience too