Each year we offer work experience and internship positions to second-level students interested in a career in the creative, communications or marketing sectors. We love to host them, we value their energy and the fresh perspective they bring to our project discussions and in return they get immersive exposure to busy agency life. We asked one of our most recent work experience students, Ciara Morrissey, to write a blog post on her experiences here. Read on!
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My work experience at Threesixty exceeded all my expectations.
I’m Ciara, a student, currently doing a course in Kilkenny, which I needed to complete 60 hours in a work placement, in order to finish the rest of my course. Personally, I am interested in pursuing a career in marketing or branding, so Threesixty was an obvious choice for me. They have years of experience, working with a wide range of brands, on developing websites, re-designing logos, forming strong and lasting relationships with clients and lots more.
On my first day I was beyond excited yet also a little apprehensive, but all my worries were put to rest, when I was greeted in the agency by Mary (the account manager), who then introduced me to the Threesixty team and my mentor Martin (one of the graphic designers). Martin informed me on what I would be working on during my 2 weeks at Threesixty. He gave me a design brief, where I was asked to re-design a photography studio logo. The brief had a loose schedule of what I was expected to have done each day, for example research images for your mood board or sketch out a rough design for your logo.
So, then I started to work on my brief, while everyone else worked away to the sounds of the studios Spotify playlist.
Simon (the managing director) would often come into the studio to catch up with members of the team to see what progress they had made on the project they were working on, he would give this critique or ask them for their opinion, keeping the project going in the right direction, keeping the team up to date with the clients requests, this was also done by Mary Paula (the client services director). I liked that everyone’s opinion counted and there was never a right or wrong answer, I was even ask my opinion on a project at one point, which made me feel valued as I knew the team working in the agency had twice the knowledge I had, in this area.
Then Simon asked me, James (one of the graphic designers) and Mariusz (the digital developer) up to the meeting room upstairs. Where we had a video call with a client. The client talked about her business and the ideas she had for changing and visually developing the company. During the call everyone took notes on what the client wanted, and we talked to her about what the Threesixty team could do for her and the business.
Throughout the rest of my first day, I continued to work on my design brief, Simon emailed me an article about iPhone photography, which I found interesting and relevant to my brief and it also spark inspiration for the name of my logo.
While I was at Threesixty, Martin was working on a re-design for a logo, which I got to help assist with, finding suitable fonts and sending him over stock images to be used in presentations.
Clearing out, organizing and doing general housework was also apart of my daily tasks at Threesixty. While cleaning might not be the first thing that comes to mind when working at an agency, it is an integral part of the job that needs to be done when working in any company. Plus, you get to come across odd things like inflatable Christmas wreaths, an Xbox and horse feed you know the usual.
My last few days at Threesixty were spent finishing up, designing and laying out my mood board on my laptop using my software, Affinity Designer, with assistance from Martin, to get ready to present my brief to the Threesixty team.
Martin printed out my mood board and advertisement onto boards and then everyone went up to the meeting room and I presented my brief to the Threesixty team, which was daunting, but I had gained so much confidence throughout the 2 weeks while working with everyone and getting to know the team, that it was easier than I expected. I had a truly amazing 2 weeks at Threesixty. I would definitely recommend anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in design or branding to go to this agency for work experience or an internship. I am so delighted that I got the opportunity to experience the day-to-day workings of the Threesixty team. The team members were so accommodating, and I want to say thank you for having me for the 2 weeks.
