OUGD602 - PPP Session - Off the Beaten Track

Off The Beaten Track

Sometimes internships can be high layouts and high risk things to go into after finishing university especially when living costs can exceed £900 pound a month and not all internships are paid.

Internships can be great ways of getting experience, contacts and mentorship however the level of this can vary depending on the internship. Jobs often expect people to have experience before applying which makes internships important however how can you get experience if an internship isn't right for you? Making your own experience can be a way of getting around this and getting what you want from the experience.

Nomadic Designer - Daniel Cooper

https://daniel-cooper.com/The-Nomadic-Designer

- He traveled to various cities in Europe moving from one studio to the next on a prearranged loop
- He would ask the studio for 1 day mentorship for 2 days of him working for them

The Cool Bus 

http://intern-mag.com/cool-bus/

- mobile graphic design studio 
- it allowed them to combine interests (travel and outdoors) , a lifestyle and graphic design with getting experience 
- used $1000 from summer jobs 
- documented each day through a blog 
- One person from the Cool Bus applied for a Junior Designer role and got the Art Director job instead

Soren Danielson 

http://soren.works/

- Went viral with his motion graphics CV / promo video about what he liked to do 
- Posted on Facebook and Reddit and it spread allowing him to get job offers and freelance work 

The Pop Up Agency 

- would help a business / company solve a creative brief in 48 hours using their design process 
- did this at weekends
- 15 briefs, 15 cities in 15 weeks 
- got the companies to pay for travel and living costs in each place which created a sustainable business
- worked with creative teams to help them solve problems 
- made this into a full time job charging £40,000 for each job 

Kate Darby 

https://www.dovetailx.com/

- created Some Assembly Required at university which was an app
- went on a social enterprise accelerator programme 
- created Dovetailx a website for creatives to find reliable work and collaborate 
- the social enterprise tapped into all her creative passions and interests 

Ikigai - Life Balance 

https://medium.com/@WeAreHowDoI/how-ikigai-can-be-applied-to-early-stage-companies-bce2c5d92bfc

Ikigai is a Japanese concept which considers how a job which falls equally between a profession, vocation, mission and passion creates life balance and the most satisfaction. Jobs that meet aspects of this more than others can lead to satisfaction in some areas but not in others.

Other key points:

- If you are going to take risks are the rewards truly worth it / make them worth it
- Use uni to experiment and dream big 
- Turn heroes into collaborators. Show that you can add value to there studio and work alongside them 
- Mindfulness important when working / freelance  

Things learnt:

- internships aren't always the right thing to do for everyone
- not all internships will give you the skills you are looking for
- there are ways of integrating passions and interests into 'work experience' you just have to be creative in how you approach 'making' your work experience. Letting these passions influence you will make the work experience more likely to be a success
- getting this balance between interests and work is most likely to bring the most job satisfaction
- There isn't a one size fits all approach and everyone is different
- Make it worth while and something you will enjoy  
- 'work experience' can be created on a small budget with careful planning 
- Creating your own 'work experience' makes you stand out from other people and sometimes can lead to more opportunities