Black & Ginger Internship

Learning Objectives: 6A2, 6B2, 6D2 

After contacting Alex Frech, creative director of Black and Ginger via email I was offered a two-week internship running from Feb - March. Overall the internship went really well as it was interesting to see the different roles within a small studio and understand the role of an intern/junior designer more. Furthermore, it was interesting to learn the different ways of working within the studio rather than how I work in uni, such as different ways of presenting work and prefered programs within the studio.

During the first week, I mainly worked on research and idea generation for pitches for new client briefs such as ad concepts for Nextbase and design proposals for the arrivals section of John Lennon Airport. This week was really helpful as I hadn't been part of the beginning of a brief in a studio, therefore it was interesting to see how they layout there proposals and present their ideas and references. I was surprised by the depth of research into brand strategy that was used to help explain and solve the problem within the pitch which then allowed the clients to understand the creative aspect as they had been taken on a 'journey' throughout the pitch that explained why the creative was necessary. Initially, I expected to do more designing throughout the week however research and ideas was the main focus as two pitches needed to be prepared. Normally they would have more of a split however both briefs happened to come in just before I started.

In the second week, I mainly focused on in-house projects as they had just sent a new brand book to print detailing all the work in the last year. Due to the production of the book the studio's branding is shifting more towards the style of the book features more block colour and offset text. Therefore I explored how this could be incorporated within their current website to move away from the current structured grid aesthetic. This involved exploring the brand book and column structure used within, allowing for consistency. During this project it was interesting to find the balance between the studio branding and client work, as I didn't want the studio branding to interrupt the work/branding made for different clients. However when I presented my ideas/designs Alex and the other designers where please and are looking to implement the designs within the website. After recapping over the two weeks there Alex invited me back after summer, stating I was a good fit for the studio and he was pleased with the work I had done.

Overall I enjoyed the internship as I found it interesting to observe how a small studio is run and the opportunities available to learn from others. Due to the small nature of the studio the atmosphere was chilled and helpful as I was working alongside the other creatives within the studio. Furthermore, I was treated as another member of the team rather than the 'intern' which allowed for more opportunities to learn as I was involved in creative decisions and discussions surrounding work within the studio. Overall it was a very positive experience, however I would like to explore the possibility of freelancing as I think this is an avenue I would also enjoy due to the variety and ability to have full control over a breif. I enjoyed learning how a studio was run however missed some of the elements that I enjoy at university such as seeing a whole brief through from research to final design. However I only interned for two-weeks so it is unrealistic to think I coule of been able to acheive this in those two weeks.