My fourth week at Premier Print and Promotions started encouragingly as I was CC’ed into an e-mail inviting all members of the company to an upcoming drinks and quiz night in a couple of weeks time. It feels good that even though I am technically a temp I am being included in work socials where I will be able to get to know my colleagues even better, in a relaxed atmosphere. I’m hoping that some senior members of the Studio team will even be able to share some advice with me on how they got to the positions they are in now and what I can do to help my progress as a professional. As I have just finished my first month at the company, this feels like something of a celebration of how well I have settled in and how nice everyone has been to me so far.

In terms of work, my general day to day responsibilities have stayed the same on the whole, however this week I started noticing how much quicker I am getting through tasks such as sending artwork and replying to e-mails. This is certainly down to the fact that I feel more confident with the workflow than when I started and the speed of things has picked up as a result. I can’t help but liken this to my time at The South London Club, where around a month in I also started to properly step up the speed an accuracy in which I was completing jobs. One job that does stick out from the norm this week was a brief to create some sticker for a tech security company called Thyrotic. Not only did they want my company to produce the physical stickers, but to design them as well. Thyrotic met with our company MD Jamie, and one of the sales executives Lucie to discuss potential ideas. I was first given an idea to create the client’s current logo out of multiple small versions of the logo in a patterned clipping mask technique. After creating mockups of this idea it was mutually decided by both sides that a better idea was needed and that was when I was given a new brief from the client to create a sticker based on a slogan of theirs – “Password status: It’s complicated”. The client had the idea to have four basic male and female figures but with their heads replaced with little asterisks. The idea was immediately clever and simple so I was able to put it together using their brand guidelines as a reference for fonts and colours. They loved my design immediately and after a few simple amends they were happy with the final design which should be sent to print next week. From a personal and professional development perspective its encouraging to be doing some client work once again and it feels great to be able to flex my design skills.

There has also been talk in the Studio of the possibility of me being trained up to start taking on “Cases”. This is where a client’s design is sent to a member of the Studio to be positioned and laid out correctly on a chosen product. This could be anything from a logo on a pen to a design on a pack of sweets, Premier Print and Promotions really do offer an extensive range of products ready for printing! This is an important role within the company as it the physical stage of making a client’s wishes come true once they have been convince by the sales team to use our companies’ services. Whether or not I do end up taking on some cases it’s good to know that they could potentially be trusting me with a big responsibility within the Studio department. I am continually inspired by the efficiency in which the Studio is run and how effective group work can be back to University next year. I know that a big part of the course in Third Year is the Degree Show, where a lot of opinions and ideas will be put out there on how best to raise money and brand the show. Through what I have learnt from my old boss Tom at the South London Club and now Charlotte at Premier Print, I hope that I can show others that it is possible to work almost seamlessly as part of team when everyone follows adheres to a professional level of communication and respect.