Over the last six weeks we have had Fraser Deacon interning at the Glasgow studio. Fraser is currently in his third year studying BA (Hons) for Communication Design at Gray’s School of Art.
Fraser has done a great job getting stuck in learning about different aspects of the company, working alongside the team to give unique design insights and a fresh perspective on projects.
Having Fraser join the team for this period has been a great experience for us all and we are incredibly grateful for his contribution, we wish him all the best for the remainder of his studies.
To mark the end of his internship, we took some time to ask Fraser a few questions about his experience at Form…
What made you decide to approach form for an internship?
I really liked working with Cameron during the Industry project in my second semester of third year. The studio’s work was very inspiring, and I liked the studio’s style. After having a tour of the studio earlier in the year and chatting with Andrew and Siobhan on the tour, I felt that I would work well with the team.
Is there anything you have learnt during this experience that you will put to use in years to come?
After being on client calls and listening to how Cameron and Mark present the team’s ideas and concepts, it was great to hear how an idea gets packaged up to create extra meaning and connections to the client, which are either of the business or to themselves. I also learnt how speaking up about your ideas is important, as I might not be sure how they could be visualised, but someone in the team could develop and create a concept from this.
What was your favourite task during your time here?
I really enjoyed working on the branding for We Are Wildings. It was great to help bring the ideas from the research stage to life. I also enjoyed working with the team to help visualise each other’s ideas and suggestions. It was great to see how a couple of my ideas were developed by the team.
Were there any challenges that you faced during your internship?
I think the hardest aspect of the internship was working in a different way than I am used to, as I haven’t worked with a real client before. The project operates slightly differently from completing projects at university. So, I had to quickly adapt to the change of style in order not to slow the project down. Another challenge was thinking about the big picture for every idea. Previously, I thought of a concept and developed it and then thought about the streams that would work, but working in Form, the big idea needs to fit with the client.
Are there any aspects of the work within the industry that you felt drawn towards that maybe you hadn’t previously?
After speaking with Jasmine about her role as Project Manager, it was really interesting finding out how much admin and keeping on top of projects is involved with the studio’s practice. I didn’t expect so much detail and planning to be involved with the client and team to make sure both the client and studio are happy with the project’s progress. I also enjoyed speaking with Siobhan when she talked me through her final checks before a print run. It was intriguing to learn about what checks you must do to ensure there are no errors in the run.
What is a lesson you didn’t think you would learn during your time here?
Not to be precious about ideas. When we were developing concepts for We Are Wildings, we kept coming up with different ideas, which allowed for different ideas to come through, for instance, the idea of tree rubbings. Usually, I have an idea and develop it before going to the next, but by constantly adapting and changing ideas allows for different solutions to arise, which can be implemented with other concepts.
Is there anything that surprised you about the industry?
Yeah, I think the importance of voicing all your ideas or suggestions. It was great speaking to Andrew and Cameron about ideas we had and then listening to the feedback, as this allowed me to bin ideas that wouldn’t work and develop those where there was potential. It also sped up my thinking as we could bounce ideas off each other and suggest previous examples of how these ideas have been done before, so we could be inspired.
What will you take away from this experience as a whole?
My design thinking has improved greatly, as well as being able to think quicker on my feet. When speaking with Cameron, I needed to make sure I had another idea or be able to adapt my design to better fit with the overall theme or comments. The speed at which I work has now increased as there was always a deadline when I had to either present an idea or show what I had completed in the allocated timeframe.
What did your usual day to day look like during your time here?
This varied each day, but it mainly consisted of developing my portfolio and tweaking the overall look and feel. This consisted of changing the image sizes, type, layout and hierarchy. I was also involved in the We Are Wildings project, so I would complete tasks that would help develop the concepts for the client meeting. Some of these tasks were logo design, texture design, theme exploration and research in the Folklore of Lincolnshire, which presented some interesting stories. I also helped the studio with tasks such as resizing images for a client’s website redesign.
Would you recommend doing an internship to any of your peers?
Yes, it has been such an amazing experience. I am really sad to be ending my time at Form. I have learned so much from Cameron and the team and cannot wait to put my learnings to good use for my final year at Gray’s. I think the experience was fantastic for developing my skills and developing those which I struggled a little with.
Interested in future internship opportunities with us? Don’t hesitate to get in touch by sending your portfolio and cover letter of why you feel you’d be a good fit with us at Form to hello@form-digital.com.