-- Kite Kids brochures
(May '09) After handing in my B&M outfitting/layout project to be marked by Jo, she said she was quite impressed with my work and asked me if I wanted to do some layout work for her childrenswear business! I was more than happy to accept! It initially involved putting together a mini catalogue for her AW09/10 range, and I was also invited to help out at the photoshoot aswell which was good fun, although manic at the same time! (9 children let loose in the woods.. you can imagine!) To produce the brochure I worked on Adobe InDesign, and Photoshop to edit the flat garment shots. I also produced a second brochure shortly after, to show the CAD flat drawings for the following range SS10, for them to use at trade fairs to present to buyers/retailers. The CADs had already been designed by Mudpie, so this brochure was more of a simple layout brief. But still, I learnt quite a lot during the week or two I spent working with Kite on the brochures, and it really helped me brush up on my computer skills. Things went so well in fact that we arranged for me to come back after my Debenhams placement and do some website building for Kite, as they needed to set up a new website! So I had lots to look forward to!..
-- Debenhams work placement
(June '09) Debenhams finally came through in the end! I successfully carried out my 2 week work placement in June, at their head office in London. I found it really useful as I got to learn a bit of an insight into industry and the highstreet retail design process. It made me realise more about the industry as I had a few misconceptions. I now feel a bit more clued up about the way things go for a big name fashion retailer. (I obviously wrote a more in depth report about my placement so not going to repeat on here! So that's just a summary.)
-- More work for Kite
(end June '09) So back to Kite and building the website. We used a website provider which already sets up the basics for you, so my job involved inputting products, details, images, etc, creating links, ensuring the technical things worked properly, and I also was able to create some of the Kite Kids artwork, again using Photoshop, to be displayed on the site. I also learnt a few more Photoshop tricks whilst at Debenhams so it was really good to be able to come back to Kite with some new skills to put into practise! I think I spent about 2 weeks with Kite working on the website, after which I had booked a summer holiday to Greece, so now it was time to do some relaxing and enjoy a bit more of the summer hols!!
-- Mudpie work placement
(Sep '09) Back at Kite again for another week to put together another brochure, this time for the SS10 photoshoot, to be used more for direct selling. Meanwhile, with Jo using Mudpie for the majority of the Kite artwork and CADs, both Jo and Mudpie decided that it would be much more cost effective if we both could be trained on the software they use to produce the CAD flat drawings. They use a programme called CorelDraw, so we arranged for us to go to their design studio for a couple of training sessions. This is a great opportunity for me as it means I can broaden my computer skills even further, and that Jo is kean to have me on board for some more ongoing work at Kite in producing the CAD designs!!Jo also enquired for me about arranging some work experience. September is a busy time at Mudpie as they have lots to do in the lead up to the release of their seasonal trend books, so they were happy to have me. I went for a week in September, and helped with various jobs, like imaging sourcing for their forthcoming trends for AW1011 and the usual scanning/photocopying etc, but I was also able on a couple of days to get a bit practice in on Corel, and have a play around with the new things I had learnt from our training session the week before. I was quite lucky to have this opportunity.
I enjoyed my time at Mudpie, and in comparison to my placement at Debenhams I felt much more 'at home'. Not sure if that's the right phrase to use, but I definately felt more comfortable in the workplace, probably because I had already experienced an industry work placement so was a little more prepared and knew what to expect. But comparing the two companies, I was much more at ease in Mudpie's smaller working environment. They have around 20ish employees I think and it was definately a much more friendly atmosphere! I think now I'd be much more inclined to apply for a job with a smaller design company than with a retail giant like Debenhams. However, I think its just a case of needing to build up my confidence with more work experience and then I think I will feel more prepared for the professional industry, in particular the big name fashion retailers. I'd like to do some more work experience for smaller design companies, so am open to anything that comes my way, and am thinking about putting out my CV when I've got some free time like in holidays, to see if there are any good placements going.
-- Kite/CorelDraw
(Oct '09) Now back at uni, in order to juggle my studies with work for Kite and also my part-time waitressing job we have agreed that I will do one full day a week (when possible) on a Saturday. I have done a couple of days already and its going really well. Im learning new things all the time and constantly improving, but the hard part is that it does take a long time!! And obviously the more accurate and detailed the CAD must be, the longer it takes! However, practise makes perfect so im getting there..!
