Duration: 28th March - 8th April
I spend two weeks working at The London Fashion Agency in Brixton at a PR agency. LFA help to build small fashion brands, Rosie was big on only taking on small fashion clients that she felt that, and if the task was not in her skill set she would recommend an agency that would be. she could help I was I charge of all of the graphic design. On the first day, Rosie tasked me with rebranding her contracts and proposal forms. She wanted to show their more creative and fun side on the dull paperwork. I was given complete creative freedom to do what I wanted with these. Durning the first week I was working on rebranding 3 PDF documents all about how PR works that were then for sale on the website.
While I was there I got the chance to watch them interview possible interns. It was great to see the reasons why some of them weren't taken on and is something I can use in the future. For example, one girl was wearing too much makeup, and Rosie felt that the agency needed to represent a more neutral look when working with a wide range of clients. Also, another two got turned away because they hadn't included her name in the email. I myself found it very easily on the LFA website and included it when I first emailed Rosie. Rosie thinks it's more personal and shows that you took time when applying. I also was able to see how successful interviews went. Although she was interviewing for a PR position, I can still use what I learnt from this experience in the future.
Another thing that I gained from the experience was seeing how Rosie worked with clients and discussed with possible clients. Although it is just a very small company (4 girls) Rosie was very professional with her clients and possible clients you wouldn't realise it was such a small agency. She would ensure the room was immaculate, offer them something to drink as soon as they came in, and would even go out of her way to meet them at the nearest tube station to ensure they didn't get lost on the way. I got to see her take on new clients and you could see her genuine excitement about working with them and how she was full of possible ideas. However, on the other hand, I got to see clients that Rosie wouldn't work with. One was a street wear brand, very edgy and Rosie was honest and felt she hadn't worked with brands like that before and would be out of her debth. Rather than just taking them on she recommended other agencies that would be a better fit.
On the second week, I was required to get up and go to a flower market at 5am to get props for an upcoming photo shoot. It felt like a true intern horror story moment, but I had a lot of fun. I was working very long hours for most of my time there, 9am until 6pm usually, sometimes later if I was in the middle of something. and with an hours tube journey at either end if felt like a very long day. But the day never dragged, it actually seemed to fly by when I was actually doing something I enjoyed. I was worried that in the future I would not cope well in a 9 uuntil5 working environment, but I seemed to adapt well, which gives me hope for the future.
Designing on a whole was a great experience, and working solely on one project non-stop for two weeks was something new, I am usually used to juggling at least two briefs at a time. Being able to work with an actual client right there was a difference experience to. I was able to get constant feedback on what to change and improve and after the long process I am really happy with my finished deliverables. I also learnt how to organise files properly, although my file organisation skills aren't that bad, I am used to haveing subfolders for each module and separate briefs. But Rosie really stressed labeling everything clearly and separating everything so that she could find everything easily in the dropbox. We all worked in a communal dropbox which made finding all the files really easy.
Also during the second week I was asked to do a photoshoot for the last three days. Rosie had seen some of my own Instagram photos and wanted me to take some of her Instagram. Their online presence is very important to them and the LFA Instagram is where a lot of possible clients find her. She wanted the photos to show a professional yet fun image. Other things I had to shoot were photos for her website and photos for the PDF PR guides I was creating at the time. Rosie also wanted photos of iPhones and iPads that could have websites photoshopped onto it at a later time. She had stacks of patterned papers and fabrics to use during the shoot, and loads of probs to include as well as others I was asked to find. It was a fun experience being able to take this style of photographs, and Rosie was very pleased with all of them and said she would love to have me back to take some. (Who knew taking Instagram photos could be a real job?)
Also during the shoot, I was asked to do some product shots of Toolally's new line. Mags is the founder of Toolally, an independent jewellery range based in yorkshirethat is all hand make and the materials are all sourced in the UK. Mags was really pleased with some of my photos that she offered for me to come with her in the design studio she works at in Skipton, called The Fabl. It was really great that from doing this placement it opened up new networking and internship opportunities.
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