Graphic Design: Professional Practice Week

12 January 2021

Graphic Design student at a laptop with papers
Graphic Design - professional practice week
Type: Text
Category: Student stories

Second year Graphic Design students were given a unique insight into the design industry as twelve leading agencies and organisations created tailored industry content for our students during Professional Practice Week – a semester highlight for our second-year students.

Professional Practice Week usually provides students with the opportunity to visit studios in person, but this year, because of the pandemic, things had to be different. Despite their heavy workloads during testing times, representatives of twelve huge brands created videos for our students, which detailed their daily experiences as designers and offered their insight into the industry. The videos came from big names including Apple, Grey and the BBC, alongside independent designers such as Luke Tonge and award-winning designer Peter Anderson.

Kate Christman, Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design, believes that moving Professional Practice Week online provided some benefits for students. "I found that the videos offered a more honest representation of life in the design industry. When we visit the studios in person, our guides have to act in a far more formal manner. Being able to listen to designers speak candidly from their homes gave a more honest representation of what a day in the life of a designer actually looks like."

 

 

Student Carl Lamb was extremely appreciative of the efforts that studios went to.

The in-practice videos were excellent. The content was extremely inciteful and I really appreciated the time and effort that went into them during such a tough time for everybody."

Despite the pressures that coronavirus is bringing to industry practice, Kate believes that the future is bright for Falmouth's Graphic Design students. "For me, it was incredibly encouraging to see that there are some really great stories out there. Some really great work is being generated and, as the students saw in the industry videos, these design studios are still extremely busy."

You might also like