A Guide to Placements
One of the most valuable (and daunting) parts of a students progression from education to working in industry can be the experience of ‘doing’ a placement. Over thirty years ago UCLan (then Preston Polytechnic) helped transform design education by pioneering the first sandwich course in the UK. This effectively gave industry an active role in the training of young designers and art directors.
The below newspaper was created by ex-students who experienced placements and took the time to collate their (and others) experiences.
We also recommend looking at some second year portfolios which indicate the quality and number of projects you're likely to require.
A guide to placements and internships in the design industry
Foreword
The information in this publication was acquired over a period of 5 years, from 2007 - 2012.
The majority was sourced, collated and written in 2007 when we were plucky students in the last throws of a 4 year degree in Graphic Design. We’d spent a year in London doing placements at some great agencies, and had subsequently realized how unprepared we’d been for that year. We wanted to pass on as many of the tips and tricks we’d picked up along to the next batch of students heading down to the big smoke, so we wrote and designed a book.
Now a few years later, we’re finally getting our tome to placements published and the temptation was to jump in and re-design, re-write, tweak and perfect.
But - we wrote this as placements, to pass on to other students and recent graduates. So as much as we would of liked to design it all again, rewrite some of our clumsy and at times overly cock-sure words of wisdom - we have tried our best to do as little to it as possible to it. The real words of wisdom have always been from the contributors, our commentary has to remain as a reminder of the innocent ideals (and poor copy writing) of youth.
It was an honest attempt from two students to pass on some stuff we learned form being amongst some top design agencies for a year, and that it shall, on the whole, remain.
Disclaimer
The opinions and views contained in this book do not reflect those of the University of Central Lancashire or any of its staff or associated parties in anyway. They are the views of the authors and are intended for the reader of this book only.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the authors.
