OUGD502 - Industrial Experience - Workshop

Today we looked into how important it is to gain Industrial Experience.

We started by writing down 10 questions that we wanted to find out about Industrial Experience. Here was my selection...

1. How do you manage your client base and pricing to clients?
2. How do you go about getting an internship, home or abroad?
3. What is the best way of gaining contacts? through online presence or in person?
4. What will be expected of me when in placements or studio visits?
5. What is the best way of organising studio/printer visits?
6. Is Industry Experience a good way of getting a job?
7. How can I push myself further into the creative Industry?
8. What is the best way of presenting your portfolio to a studio/potential employer?
9. How do I find the right studio and environment for me?
10. Whats the best way of gaining Industrial Experience?

We then pooled together our ideas and came up with a final list of burning questions to be asked and tried to answer them in the session:-


Questions about Industrial Experience

1. What is the best way of presenting a portfolio to a studio/potential employers?

Ultimately your the person who needs to drive your portfolio and it's only worth including work that is relevant to where you are interning/working. The tutors can help when putting together portfolios professionally.

2. What mistakes do people make when interning at a studio? 

The only way to find this out is by going doing it! or by asking the studio. It's also better to ask 3rd years and peers around you to see how their experiences went.

3. How do I make the most of the opportunity?

The answer to this is just basically do it! be
pro-active and confident and ask to get involved but not arrogant or cocky and always maintain professionalism.

4. How to get an internship? and overseas?

Again just start doing it! emailing work out, getting in touch with studios but NEVER start an email with 'can I have an internship." start showing them work or chatting to them and more often than not you will be asked to come in for a day or even a week, then you can go from there. The same process for overseas but more organising and money!

5. Is it better to work at a big company or small studio/freelancer? 

Again this is all up to me. It's better to do both and everything in between. Get as much experience as possible but choose appropriate places to intern for you.

6. What's expected of me when I'm there? 

Skilled, Polite, Friendly, Professional, Eager and wanting to learn.

We then looked into what forms of industrial experience there are available for us to take...


Forms of Industrial Experience

1. Internships
2. Live Briefs and Competition Briefs
3. Visiting Professionals (in Uni)
4. Freelance Work
5. Online Networking
6. Trade Events/Lectures
7. Festivals
8. Exhibitions
9. Studio Visits
10. Business Support
11. Work Placements

It's not just about getting internships, that is just a part of Industrial Experience! There is so much more to it! We when on to look at how we can get Industrial Experience...

How Do We Get Industrial Experience? 

1. Direct Contact
2. Requesting Samples
3. Tailoring your Portfolio
4. Creative and Professional Networks
5. Appropriate places to Intern
6. Asking for Feedback
7. Ask studios for Feedback
8. Confidence and Professionalism

What can we get from Industrial Experience? 

1. A clearer sense of your design practice
2. A different perspective of your ambitions and your opportunities
3. Confidence in your professional self
4. Contacts and fame (getting your name out there)
5. Learning from mistakes
6. A job and money
7. Enjoyment - the buzz
8. A new set of skills and development.
9. A sense of the speed people work at and the quality.

What do I need to get Industrial Experience?

1. Commitment
2. Confidence and Professionalism
3. Portfolio of Work
4. Samples of Work
5. Online Presence
6. Knowledge of the Company/Studio
7. Design Identity - Business Cards and CV!