Graphic design work experience – a real account at the Brio offices
I just just finished my first semester of uni where I study Applied Design and was about to embark on four months of summer break. After immersed in a full time schedule of schooling since July, coming to an abrupt halt was a little daunting because I had this restless thought that I may slowly start forgetting the majority of ‘skills’ I had learnt during this lengthy time off. So when Belinda Vesey-Brown, managing director of Brio Group and one of my uni lecturers, offered me the opportunity of work experience at Brio Group, I snapped up the chance.
I’ve been predominantly working within the hospitality industry since I graduated from high school. I’ve worked at bunch of places, from pretentious cafes to wild night clubs, so entering an agency environment was, for the lack of a better word, ‘intimidating’. On the way to my first day I was starting to feel like I had bitten off more than I could chew. Walking into the boardroom at 8.30am, my nerves had mustered up the idea there would be all these corporate scrooges who would look at me like I was a burden and these successful designers would all see right through me, as if the ‘Fraud Police’ were going to bust through the door and say “Aha! You don’t know what you’re doing!”
But this thinking was a little off-track (thank God!). So the first two things I learnt:
1. ‘Fraud Police’ a metaphor I learnt from Belinda for feeling intimidated.
2. Brio Group isn’t the 1987 movie Wall Street.
I couldn’t have been more wrong about the people at Brio Group, everyone here was pretty awesome and they’ve all been really helpful and encouraging. I was given two briefs to work on, which was pretty exciting as after working on assignments in which you strive to get a great mark, these were the real deal – and could actually lead to working with a client. The briefs explained that two small businesses needed branding.
So here’s what learnt about creating a business’s brand identity:
1. A good concept is great but giving that concept a personality with a great concept story will bloom your concept idea so much further. Being able to tie your every move (i.e. logo design, typeface, colours and novelty notion) together will create a powerful fundamental for an identity.
2. Your tag-line alone needs its own brainstorming session; it’s the only quote your logo can say, so keep it snappy, original and something that will stick.
3. Your typeface should complement your concept. A good font is exactly that, but not necessarily the best one for your design.
4. Keep all replications of your logo consistent, whether it be displayed on business cards, the website, brochures or products. Branding all material in a uniform way keeps your brand streamlined and instantly recognisable.
5. Be creative with how you get your brand out there.
Above all, what I have learnt out of this experience is your idea is the most important element; it’s not if you’re an Adobe wizard with all the tricks. I only have five months up my sleeve, and when I discussed my work with Belinda, it wasn’t my Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign skills she was impressed with, it was my ideas.
Yours in Brio Group work experience,
Waylon Palmer
Waylon is a first year design student at Billy Blue College of Design.
