Biscuits, brews & banter – an internship at Venn
I remember being very nervous and sure that I wouldn’t be able to do half the things that would be asked of me. Yet on my first day Joshua made me a cup of tea, Andy sat me at my desk and told me to draw some christmas birds and despite feeling weird about christmas decorations in June I started to feel comfortable and slightly more confident.
In some ways I found working in the studio at Venn similar to working in the studio at uni. We have a Monday meeting where we talk about the week ahead, we get together and discuss ideas for upcoming projects and ask each other opinions on work we’ve done, when I don’t know how to do something in InDesign there will almost certainly be someone around that does. These are all things that would have happened when I was studying but there are differences as well. At uni, you can choose any brief and do whatever you want to do with it without having to worry too much what other people will think about the design at the end. When you work in a studio there are more constraints: someone is paying so you have a client to answer to and they have to like the work that you create for them. When you work there’s less opportunity to procrastinate; dropping everything and embarking on a two hour trek to get a coffee and then jumping in the sea for good measure is definitely not on the cards for a normal working day… but that’s ok, at Venn there is never ending opportunities for hot beverages and Tom frequently requesting you have another biscuit. And the sea is always there at the end of the day.
It’s been good to see the dynamic of a design studio and how it works – how people interact with each other and clients and how they approach a new project. Venn has shared knowledge, insight and experience with me and I’ve been able to have my opinion and be treated like a peer. I’ve come out the other end of my internship feeling more open minded, intrigued and ambitious, I hope that everyone at Venn has got as much out of it as I have.
