William Lyons - Written, November 16th 2019 It is mid-November and since the commencing of the year, I have struggled with reaching out to prospective employees over work placements and internships. I created a successful piece of self-promotion however which got me into contact with several large design agencies. From this, I managed to get in touch with a designer named John Richmond, the founder of R Design; a packaging design studio based in Kentish Town, London. I found out that my mother briefly worked with him in the 1980’s at the design firm Smith & Milton so I used this to my advantage. He was very kind in offering me an interview and a quick chat about my portfolio with the possibility of me gaining a few weeks as an intern at his offices. I got on the tube with my portfolio last week on the 5th in order to talk with him over my work. Before I arrived, I had looked over the firm’s portfolio and had done a fair amount of research on the kind of projects they take on. I immediately recognised that R design is quite a commercially orientated agency, with their main focus being packaging design for consumer goods (FMCG); something which I had been consciously trying to avoid within my professional practices. Although I wanted to stay clear of commercial graphic design within the year out, I felt that it would be an interesting opportunity to work alongside a successful agency specialising within a field that I have very little knowledge about. During the chat between Dave Richmond and myself, he expressed an interest in my portfolio but commented on the fact that the reoccurring style I had used had very little context especially within the world of fast-moving consumer goods and commercial design. I assured him that my employment at his offices would be an incredibly enlightening learning experience and that despite my lack of knowledge within this lucrative field, it would give me a beneficial insight. He agreed to give me a couple of weeks work for which I was incredibly grateful. I am now a few days into my internship and it has been a challenging yet rewarding experience. Although I have had experience visiting and working within a traditional office setting, I have never worked in an agency with so many employees. Being the youngest of the three interns currently at the design studio, It seems clear that my role is fairly insubstantial, however I am trying my hardest to enjoy my time here and to prove myself useful when and where I’m needed. So far the most beneficial learning experience I have received has been talking to the other employees about their experiences as interns. There are around 20 employees in total, including freelancers and the business management staff. I have been having some great conversations with the two mid weight designers that sit across from me about what my next steps in the year should be. They expressed that now more than ever, it is extremely difficult as a graduate designer with little experience to push out into such a competitive industry and commended me on the proactive and unique ways I had been reaching out to prospective employees. I hope that these conversations will lead to lasting connections in the future as well as any potential employment at other design firms. So far, the design work itself has been pretty mundane. Although working on fast moving consumer goods is completely new to me, the work that I have been asked to complete consists mostly of art-working, image research and sourcing, and icon design, all of which I have experience with. The studio is currently working on a long-term project with the German supermarket chain Lidl, to develop a wide range of labels for an unreleased series of Gins and other Liqueurs. The concept of working with such a high-profile client as well as developing a product that will be produced and sold globally is incredibly exciting. I have been given the small task of creating a series of icons that correspond to the flavours of the liqueurs, which are to be included on one of six potential design routes the client is encouraged to choose from. I have been working on this project for a couple of days now and I have become increasingly aware of the different roles allocated to a variety of designers. As an intern, it feels as if there’s an understandable leniency in the work I’m expected to hand in. My work is then passed onto a mid-weight designer or a creative director who oversees the project and all its internal elements.
It has been an incredibly enlightening experience so far, however I feel that as a whole, the studio works unlike any other I have seen. Despite their success in the field, being a multi award winning agency, I was surprised about the lack of collaboration between the team, as well as the strict direction and influence of the creative director role. At R design, Dave Richmond is both the Creative Director and the founder/partner. Despite his role as a leader of the team, it was still interesting to see how much he influenced the final outcome of a project. This is something which I had not anticipated, and while I believe this is not the case for all design firms, it was definitely a learning experience for my first experience working in a renowned studio. All Photos are my own or found on the R Design Website (https://r-design.co.uk/about/)
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