Design Werk, Wapping, London.

Week 35 -  Monday 23rd June 2014

Day 164

Travelling to work with Dad was a different experience! But being my first day, it made me somewhat relaxed. We arrived at the very modern, converted warehouse and got an earful from Dad about it's olive distributing history. The studio on the 4th Floor overlooks the Thames and you can see parts of the Canary Wharf skyline. My first day was mostly made up of getting to know the place and people and arranging my new desk. I was shown their past work and explained what the company was about. 

Day 165

Today I was briefed about what I will be doing within the company - I will be assisting the new business and marketing team to research future target markets. A girl called Amy helped me get set up and showed me how to use the server and what kind of companies they currently work with and ideal prospects so I had an idea. 

Day 166

This morning I was invited to the weekly meeting about goings on and where abouts everyone is in projects and observed business discussions. Later on I started making an excel of the best commercial directors, marketing directors and comms directors at some top sporting companies along and spent the day hunting their contact emails/phone numbers through Google and LinkedIn. 

Day 167

There are only 18 people in the Wapping branch, the rest are situated in the USA and Copenhagen. I enjoyed this small number though as it meant I was quickly starting to recognise faces and made me slightly more confident when approaching people. Today I did a bit of running (with a huge help from Google Maps) for an upcoming shoot. Later, one of the designers asked if I wanted to have a look at some of his creations and he went through with me the ideas behind them and how they are developed with the use of strategy. 

Day 168

I couldn't believe Friday was here already! The week had flown past. The long commute was starting to catch up on me though, I was very ready for a nice lie in. Today I started to have a look at competitors and get an idea of what they were doing so I could form a powerpoint next week about them. It was really interesting to work in a sports-based company as it was something new and I was amazed at the knowledge the company had about sport. After lunch I was invited to a relaxed meeting about the progress of an on-going project and watched as the different teams communicated their thoughts to each other. 

Week 36 - Monday 30th June

Day 169

This morning, with my notes from Friday, I started a competitor review. I was really starting to enjoy research after doing so much and knew some good websites and what to look for. I started a SWOT analysis to demonstrate some useful tools for Design Werk and get a clear understanding of what works well and future areas to attack. 

Day 170

Today I worked on my competitor review and starting finishing it off and proof reading it. I sent it to my Dad to be double checked before I sent it off. 

Day 171

After the weekly meeting today, I had a talk with Chris who asked me if I could create and update a budget sheet for one of their current projects. I sat down with him while he showed me a previous one and what information goes there. After that, I sat back at my desk and used the template he gave me to start punching the information in. I was to update it every time he sent me a doc with new info in. 

Day 172

Today they asked if I wouldn't mind covering the front desk as Lisa was unwell. I got showed how to answer and transfer calls as well as organise the day's going ons. I quite enjoyed a switch of role temporarily and it improved my confidence when talking to new people on the phone. 

Day 173

Today a presentation/workshop was taking place as a new design software package was being shown and taught to the designers and they asked if I'd like to sit in on it. After my Photoshop use in South Africa and previous work with InDesign I was quite interested so took up the offer. 

Week 37  - Monday 7th July 

Day 174

This morning Amy asked if I was familiar with Twitter, and of course I said I was. She sat me down and asked if I could help this week on reviewing their social media and looking at what content competitors are posting. Twitter was their main push so I started scrolling through all their tweets to get a feel for what they tweet about. I made a note of the most common themes such as awards and their latest work. Then I started trawling through competitor's content to see what extra things they were doing and if it would benefit Design Werk to follow suit.

Day 175

This morning I showed Amy my findings and she asked me to send it to her so she could show the person in charge of social media. She said it was really helpful and to now think and email her any ideas for new content I could think of which would benefit Design Werk so I had a little brainstorm in the afternoon.

Day 176

What I had noticed the most over this year was that the saying: 'It's not what you know, it's who you know' is completely correct. This industry in particular works almost solely on connections and networking and thus I made an extra effort to connect with my co-workers on LinkedIn and really try and make them notice me. It had brought out an inner confidence and the ability to network well will hopefully pay me back in the near future. 

Day 177

This morning I was asked to optimize and organise the video library on the server. Over time videos had been put anywhere and folders weren't being used so I created my own colour co-ordinated system and filed the videos into different dates and projects etc

Day 178

Today was a very fun day (and not just because it was Friday). I got to go along to a shoot where they were filming to create idents for a sports channel. Shoots have always been a passion of mine, I love working hands on and seeing how the cameraman directs everything to the lighting and probs and all the goings on behind the scenes!

Week 38 - Monday 14th July

Day 179

This morning I met with some of the designers and people in charge of the website to discuss SEO-optimization. They wanted to try and increase SEO and be noticed more on the internet amongst the endless pages of Design filled companies. They asked if I make a list of words that the website hasn't included that relate to sports branding and design etc and perhaps look at competitors to get an idea. 

Day 180

Today I was emailed to try and bargain with a manufacturing via phone-call about an order they wanted to put in on bulk. My negotiation skills were put to the test but I managed to do it!

Day 181

I was back to researching and looking into more potential clients for New Business today, this time in a broader field so it was easier than last time. From my research I created a spreadsheet to lay out the name, nature of business, and contacts etc in an easily readable format. 

Day 182

This morning my Dad asked if I could research into past branding work involving the use of motorbikes so I spent the day trawling through endless campaigns and advertisements to pull together a pack of where and when they were used. 

Day 183

Today Design Werk won 2 awards at the inaugural Clio Sports awards, so they asked if I wouldn't mind having a go at tweeting about it as the Twitter-er was on holiday. 

Week 39 - Monday 21st July 

Day 184

This morning I helped prep for an up-coming client pitch that was taking place here. I put together packs of info that was sent to me and binded them to give them a professional feel. I was then to make a list for the food delivery tomorrow, given that the pitch was over lunch time I had to think of nice ideas for nibbles and snacks. 

Day 185

Today there was a sense of 'stress' in the air as everyone was desperately conducting last minute preparations for the pitch tomorrow. I offered my help here and there where needed and was handed little jobs from following up leads to making phone calls to setting auto replies on emails. 

Day 186

This morning I helped set up the room for the pitch and moved in the whiteboard and set up the table with refreshments. I was allowed to sit in on the pitch which was hugely insightful and spent the whole time fascinated at watching Design Werk sell themselves and making notes as I went. 

Day 187

Today I went with some of the team to a shoot to take pictures of Dr Dre Beats headphones for some print work they were working on. They were custom designed and I was desperately hoping they'd offer me a pair but sadly this time it was a no. 

Day 188

I had the day off today to have an operation.

Week 40 - Monday 28th July

Day 189

Today I was asked to spend the whole day creating a social media review. Where DW currently are, strengths and weaknesses and other platforms that could be beneficial and why. I included what content was best for each platform and which is best for interacting etc

Day 190

This morning I was asked to research upcoming industry events 2014/2015 that are relative to what DW do and which they could attend. Having done a similar task for Brothers & Sisters I knew exactly what to do and remembered the template layout they gave me. I looked into directly relevant design events to slightly newer digital events to give a variety. 

Day 191

Today I was sent to run some errands and pick up a couple of items. After that I came back and continued my research into up coming events. 

Day 192

Second to last day! I can't imagine what it feels like to finish. But I worked hard to finish off all my projects and tasks today to ensure I left everything completed. 

Day 193

My last ever day of placement! I could not believe it!! The 40 weeks had flown by and I remember starting back in September like it was yesterday. I had a very easy day and everyone finished at 4 due to the good weather so we all went to the pub for a drink and I was given a lovely card.