My Time at Stand Ltd. (Graphic Design)
From the fifth to the ninth of November, I had a placement in Stand’s Glasgow branch in St Vincent Place.
On my first day, I was welcomed into the studio and sat in on their morning meeting where I got a general sense of how the staff interact with one another and how business is conducted with clients (specifically, how that can be difficult!).
I was then given a desk with a state-of-the-art Apple Mac and was shown the various programs of Adobe’s Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign).
One of the designers showed me how they process a client’s brief by producing something called a reverse brief, which is more directly appropriate for their work and keeps them on track. The brief was for a recently re-opened hotel in Auchterarder, an old client of theirs wanting an entire rebranding to better suit their business in the modern world.
They showed me a presentation file which detailed their design process and was shared with the client. The feedback they got opened up my eyes to how pernickety a client could be. I took inspiration from the presentation and I read about the hotel’s history. I then went on to design a logo for them and – over the course of the week – an eight-page brochure, promoting the hotel.
This experience with Creative Cloud was vital for working in graphic design – it is the worldwide standard for designers. I became fairly adept at the software by the end of the week and enjoyed using it. I appreciated the freedom I was given to express my creativity in the design(s) and the creative director liked my work and appreciated both its aesthetics and my approach to the work.
