We know internships are a thorny issue. At James Good, however, we like interns for all kinds of reasons – and free labour definitely isn’t one of them (unlike many agencies; at James Good, we refuse to allow any of our interns to work on live projects). As a successful consultancy, we like to support fresh blood because they bring new ideas which stop us getting stuck in our ways.
Young creatives help us see our work through a fresh pair of eyes – an alternative prism. The moment we try to teach somebody else, we have the opportunity to challenge ourselves by asking if our time-served ways are still the best. And what better way to teach old dogs new tricks than by learning from the young pups?
Our intern for the next five weeks, Bethan James, arrived today. In fact we found her outside our front door this morning – the first to arrive, making hers an impressive debut. By 10am, fortified by a piece of Rich’s wife’s homemade Battenburg cake, Bethan was already head-down into her brief.
I caught up with Bethan mid-afternoon on her first day to hear her first impressions of James Good the company, her hopes for the next five weeks, and her journey so far in graphic design.
What’s brought you to James Good?
I’m a second-year student at University of Plymouth, studying Graphic Design with Typography, and when I was told in early January that I had the option to do a placement, I jumped at the chance. I was really keen to take a break from the classroom and dip my toes into the real world of graphic design. The process was ‘self-directed’, meaning I had to find my own placement, so I looked around my area and I really love branding, so the website really stood out. I wrote James an email and he invited me to interview a few days later. We had a chat and a game of ping-pong. That was in early February – and here I am.
What do you hope you’ll gain from working with us?
I’m looking forward to working with the designers here, especially to see how they work. Perhaps I’ll pick up new tech skills – some new tricks in Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign. I’m really looking forward to getting a new perspective, because it’s easy to get boxed in at Uni. There’s no chance to work with real clients and, although it’s good to run ideas past tutors and other students, it’s not a commercial reality; we can’t really know if our ideas would actually work.
I understand you were set a task earlier today. How’s that going? Have you found time to hang your coat up yet?
Good, so far. I found my chat with James very inspiring; we talked about how to market photography that takes dry subjects, like machinery or heavy industry, and makes them more appealing and interesting. So, I’m creating an imaginary photography company and building a brand identity around it – a profile that should appeal to large corporate and commercial clients – plus a website and the marketing collateral to go with it: corporate colours, logo, business cards, letterheads, posters, brochure and so on.
What challenges do you foresee?
The first thing I’ve noticed is the fast pace. I like it. When we get a new brief at Uni, we take quite a while to mull it over before we actually get stuck in. Here, I went straight to my Mac and began my research. Actually, my biggest challenge right now is getting the drinks order right. I’ll be pinning up a notice in the kitchen tomorrow morning...