Freya’s Work Experience at Agency UK

My name is Freya Taplin and I’m currently in my second year of college, studying a two year Graphics & Digital Design Level 3 course. I’ve been passionate about graphic design ever since I studied it as one of my first GCSE options where my spark for design started. I’ve always found that options are limitless in design and I feel I can express myself through my work. Since being at college I’ve had the opportunity to briefly touch on social media content design and digital marketing. This has intrigued me to see what is involved in a career in this area, and so I started looking for work experience within the media industry. 

For the last 10 weeks I have been working with Agency UK as an intern. Within this time I have had the opportunity to shadow the Design Team, attend meetings and have been briefed to complete tasks. Some of these tasks include but are not limited to: creating a social media post for the AUK’s 14th anniversary, designing an internal news bulletin, sourcing images for blog posts and much more. 

Along the way I have developed my technical skills and learnt many new techniques within design, enabling me to create more complex work. This has not only impacted my work for Agency UK but also for college. I’m regularly receiving feedback, which has given me a deeper understanding on what makes a good piece of work, for example the spacing, colours and layout. 

This placement has given me extensive insight into how an agency/office-based environment operates and how the different departments collaborate together to work alongside clients. I’ve learnt the importance of deadlines for client work and how time is so valuable in this environment. This has allowed me to improve the way I manage my time. By dividing the day into sections and setting deadlines to complete certain tasks this has improved the way I approach my college assignments.  

Everyone at AUK has been so friendly and welcoming towards me. When I am working on tasks I’m checked upon regularly to make sure I am aware of what is being asked of me and when I have asked for some direction/help the Design Team shared their knowledge and expertise of the software with me. 

In the future I would like to have the opportunity to have some more client experience and work on client based projects. Since starting at Agency UK, it has given me an invaluable insight about what to expect in a job in the creative sector, specifically content design and it has furthered my passion for digital design.