NTU - Industry & Internships

This is a talk I gave to final year design students at Nottingham Trento University. I discussed graduating, my experiences in industry and the lessons I learned along the way. The majority of the talk was a back and forth Q&A, so my slides are quite short.

Transcript

1. THE DESIGN INDUSTRY Chris Allwood NTU A+D 18/11/2013 Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013
2. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Your career path will be messy Your first job may not be your dream job, think long term, create goals and strategies.
3. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Broaden your horizons Interesting people make interesting designers, they also make for good company.
4. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Do it for yourself No-one else is going to fight your corner quite like you are. Learn quickly to do things for yourself.
5. Expect less from your Uni University is an experience above all. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013
6. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 I believe internships are the future for the web industry. In partnership with a degree, they will allow students to actively work within industry, being trained how to be a good practitioner, while giving them the time to explore the wider concepts and principals of our medium.
7. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Don't be afraid to experiment - it's where you'll get the best learning. @GFNNottingham The underlying techniques and practices never go out of fashion. Very valuable considering how quickly things change. @WestleyKnight Don’t wait til third year to think about life beyond uni. Build your portfolio and links with local agencies/companies. @KBlathers To join @creativenotts and blog about interesting creative things in Nottingham. A great way to start a career :-) @Johnwithbeard Really important to show enthusiasm and be able to explain clearly 'why' you choose to do something @ctdesign Never under-estimate the positive effect alcohol and hookers have on the creative process... @Chikkensoop Build a portfolio showing capabilities as soon as possible, don't participate in "spec work" + think what you actually want to achieve @rbairwell Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer to something, rather than saying you know how to and wasting lots of time. @whiteboxwebby For me it would be “don’t be afraid what people think if you don’t know something” — I was petrified of looking stupid for so long. @bagwaa
8. Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Quit Uni ;) @mathayward To better their communication skills mainly regarding their work and process, problems and solutions. @kyle_shrives
9. Erskine Design http://erskinedesign.com/blog/getting-started/ Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013 Kyle Shrives http://www.ecliptik.co.uk/speaking/ncn/presentation/ Chris Allwood http://www.cdja.co.uk/featured/upon-reflection-was-my- degree-really-worth-it
10. Thank you @_cdja • www.cdja.co.uk • chris@cdja.co.uk Chris Allwood - NTU A+D - Design Industry - 2013