PREPARATION FOR EMPLOYMENT | LTS DESIGN by LTS design

Preparation For Employment Active Portfolio AAP607 Lewis Sewell

Action Statement

Intro

What do I want to do? After University I want to go traveling for roughly 6 months before heading into Product design Industry either in the fashion or medical industry, having a key interest in these particular areas although they are quite different. I’ve known this for a while I have been doing actions, so that when I leave Uni I can get a job in that sector and improve my career. Early 2020 I started the job searching thoroughly, using applications like LinkedIn, Indeed, TotalJobs, started to save the Job titles that were of interest to me. Then looking at the skilled requirements and seeing how they matched up to mine, or what I could potential change or add to mine to make me the perfect candidate. How will I do this? I will do this by hopefully graduating with a 2:1 or higher, I will be looking for other ways of how I can make my CV more attractive and gain experience. This is where the work experience I have done in different design sectors over the years will beneﬁt me and the skills I have learnt I can develop and use in later opportunities. Hopefully do an internship to further my experience before heading into full time work. Following on from this I have, gone through my Creative and normal CV tweaking different parts to make sure that I’m satisﬁed when applying for jobs, this is evident later on in the Portfolio. Along with this I have also made a social media design account, presenting my recent design projects, and matching business cards with the same theme.

Action Statement

September/October 2019 - At the start of the year until Xmas 2019, I hadn’t done any job searching as I was focusing on my design assignments.

January 2020 – The Job hunting started; however I wasn’t actively searching for jobs, but I was browsing hoping that a Job title captured my eye. Knowing what sector, I was interested in within Product Design helped me when searching for jobs, both sharing similar aspects about design that I loved. Knowing what I wanted to do now I have to get the ball rolling and start applying for jobs.

October – December 2019 – Prep for Employment was making me aware of where I should be in terms of job searching. At this point in my ﬁnal year of Uni I had ﬁnally decided what my dream job would be a although stuck between two sectors Fashion and Medical design, my options are fairly open in both of these.

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

Feb/May 2020 – Continually browsing sing different applications like Indeed, Total jobs, etc adding my CV, and understanding the job role and skills needed of me. Mostly applying for jobs near my hometown Yateley in Hampshire, and that’s where my accommodation is. My Plan will be too work part time (preferable within in Design to gain more industry knowledge), but to also be focusing on my studies at the same time.

Initial - Timeline June/July 2020 – Part time Work Hopefully securing my part time job within design, this will help me gain more experience with the industry and adding valuable contacts. Making sure that I show a good impression and being presentable at all time, taking every opportunity and shaking hands with as many people as I can. This could also be a reference for future jobs I apply for.

July/Aug 2020 – After graduating I will have more spare time, so I will start looking for jobs in more depth. Using Networks out there like LInkedIn to get in contact with more people within the Industry. Constantly browse Indeed/Total Jobs to see any job opportunities. Start letting friends and family know that I have just graduated and looking for full time work ideally within design.

July 2020 – Hopefully Gradating with a 2:1 or possibly higher.

Creating this timeline has really helped me structure my life for the next year and has given me an accurate plan . Hopefully it all goes plan and come out the ﬁnal end with my dream job. Living in my own place couple of years on nearer to London, sharing with my friends. Achieving this I will make sure that my CV and Portfolio are shaped to the speciﬁc job role and present the skill set requirements.

Aug/Oct 2020 – Hopefully by this time I would have secured myself a full time job within the design industry, gaining more experience everyday. If not continually look for jobs that or interships that could help me get some experience beforehand.

Srengths and Weaknesses

15th Febuary 2019

Strengths

Weaknesses

Hand Sketching

Time Management

Organisation

Written Communication

Teamworker

Reading Communication

Problem Solving

Literacy

Positivity

Worrier (Fear the Worst)

Self Motivated

Impatient

Creativity

Presenting my work Stressed

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

2019

Srengths and Weaknesses

15th Febuary 2020

Strengths

Weaknesses

Hand Sketching/Rendering

Time Management

Organisation

Written Communication

Excellent Teamworker

Reading Communication

Problem Solving

Impatient

Positivity

Procrastination

More Self Motivated Creativity Less of a Worrier Good at Presenting my work

2020

Srengths and Weaknesses - INITAL

My Initial Strengths and Weaknesses was an honest opinion of what I thought they were, but I can’t lie it was one of the hardest things I have done. Talking about myself is always something that I have found really difficult whether its positive or negative, I found it hard to identify my characteristics and write them down. Throughout the last year I have learn’t a lot about myself and my persona especially in Solent creatives and taking part in weekly tasks, writing reports and creating a CV reflecting on my skills and abilities. Working with external clients, participating in group assignments, discussing to other students and mine and their work, these all gave me transferable skills I began to understand to skills that I was good at already and the ones that need improving. Some of the strengths I have put down I know before last year, but most of them I learnt last year, after understanding myself in a lot more depth. Considering that my initial strengths and weaknesses were done over a year ago and looking at my current ones now I would say they were fairly accurate. Time Management is something that I have suffered with for as long as I can remember, this has improved since coming to University having to be more independent and attending lectures on time, this is defiantly something that’s gradually improving and giving myself more time before having to do something. This has also contributed massively to stress levels and worrying less about situations being on time makes me feel more positive resulting in days becoming more productive. Procrastination was something that became noticeable at the start of second year this was mainly due to family problems back at home, this stopped me from making a start on work straight away like I had been consistent with In first year. This got on my nerves me a lot as my mind was focused on other problems that were completely out of my control, therefore I wasn’t puttiig much concentration into my studies showing with the grades not being as good as I expected. I’ve always been a self-motivated individual and always had a positive mindset since first year, so this helped me when the family problems started happening as I started working on myself by regularly attending the gym to keep myself occupied. I’m a a very organised person and I always have been this is both with and without University work. creating daily to do lists to ensure that everything gets done.

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

Srengths and Weaknesses - FINAL

My Final strengths and weaknesses were done roughly about a year after the initial one, this time to understand myself in more detail I done questionnaires based on ‘Self Assessed skills’, this benefited me and taught me more about myself. On the questionnaire I scored a total of 146 out of 192. This is the highest category you can get, considering myself highly confident in all areas, being able to apply all my skills in a variety of different situations. I agree with the final result, as I confidence has always been a trait of mine but I have defiantly become more confident in the lasy year through having to produce my work and what I have been working on with external clients, this is something was something slightly out my comfort zone as I hadn’t previously done this. Being a design student and having a creative mindset, this helps massively when producing concept ideas. Hand sketching has no doubt improved since the start of University by learning new techniques but has always been one of my strong points through doing Art at GCSE’s and studying Art and Design in college. My sketch technique has developed but the biggest improvement has been my rendering, therefore has allowed me to produce really professional looking sketch pages more efficiently. I’ve always wanted to make myself a better individual, an example of when I’ve done this my practicing my rendering in my spare time and drawing for people this has been noticed by the feedback my tutors have given me on my recent assignments Over the last year, I have managed to put my confidence into practice when presenting my own work. Confidence in speaking to people on an informal level was something I was fine with but having to present to external clients I always let my nerves get the better of me. Preparation for employment unit has helped me with learning about how to talk about myself and how to prepare before interviews and presentations, taking these skills forward for after I graduate and enter the real world.

SWOT - 2019

23rd March 2019

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportnities

Positive,

Worrier

Digtial sketching

2d Sketching and Rendering

Impatient

3D printing

Stresser

Solent creatives Jobs

Adobe Photoshop,

Laser cutting

Physical modelling

Adobe Indesign

Interships within Design

Adobe Illustrator

Project Management

Masters Degree

3d digital Rendering

Time management

Creativity

Technical Writing

Create my own Company

3d CAD, (Solidworks, Rhino)

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

Threats After graduating most employers want experience Updated 3D CAD softwares Cost of Travel Meeting expectations and deadlines Competition

SWOT - 2020

16th January 2020

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportnities

Threats

Positive,friendly, approachable, enthusiastic

Worrier

Digital sketching

2d Sketching and Rendering

Impatient

3D printing

3d CAD, (Solidworks, Rhino)

Stressed

Solent creative Jobs

Updated 3D CAD softwareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Adobe Photoshop,

Laser cutting

Cost of Travel

3d digital Rendering (Rhino)

Time management

Freelancing after Uni

Creativity

Technical reports

Internships within design

Meeting expectations and deadlines

Physical modelling

Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree

Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign

Project management Anthropometrics (Task Analysis)

Creating my own Company

Employers want experience

Competitors with Jobs Unpaid internships

SWOT Analysis

A noticeable change is my Adobe InDesign skills growing, this was a particular area that I unfamiliar with and a programme that I had never previously come to terms with but using transferable skills from other adobe programmes my knowledge has improved massively. Project management is something that I knew in the first year was problem but since them I significantly try to improve by taking on new responsibilities outside of my course within my social life. Another key management that I have struggled with throughout my whole life and especially since being at Uni is time, this is something that wasn’t new to me. Since the end of first year this gradually improved, something that has really benefited me with this is have a Daily To do list, ticking it off as I go, and creating a weekly plan. However, I’m still not fully satisfied with it yet and still improving on it. Originally my physical modelling was something that I thought was one of my strong abilities, but as time went on, I saw the standard of work people were producing and soon realised that it my work was quite at the same level. This is something that I noticed very quickly and I’m still not the best now but understanding and accepting that find ways to practice and improve.Adobe programmes are something that I thought were one of my strong points, getting more practice with InDesign has helped me improved my knowledge in the programme I achieved this by using my transferable skills from illustrator. Photoshop is a lot less used than the other two programmes so slowly I starting to come to terms with it. I’m looking into taking a test which gains me a certification in all these 3 programmes. 2D sketching and rendering is something that has progressed throughout the years, and something that I am most proud of, I have put a lot of time and effort into perfecting my sketches which I can say has paid off through my feedback, and getting noticed by my course mates. Freelancing in the industry is a potential opportunity, but for me personally isn’t something that I want to do, maybe in the future when I have gained experience in the design industry I may consider it but at this current moment in time it isn’t something that appeals to me. I’m more interested in a job role that involves me work within a group of designers. My confidence is communicated through my personality. My communication has skills has grown over years, having to present my concepts and final ideas, presenting these has given me more confidence speaking in front of groups of people, this will benefit me when going for job interviews and doing presentations. In all aspects of life, I am very big worrier, this isn’t something has is new to me, but I naturally think of the worst in all situations. This contributes to my design, making me redo layouts and designs to ensure that I’m satisfied with it, I have started to plan a lot better through producing drafts before the final design. This has defiantly helped me.

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

How have I become different? The original Swot analysis that I done I complete over a year ago in Solent Creatives. The Swot analysis wasn’t fully accurate as I don’t feel as if I was 100% honest with myself and I felt that if I have put some stuff down anticipating that they would improve. When I completed my swot analysis, I put down a lot of my Weaknesses as things that I wanted to work on but realised that I should have put these in the Opportunities section. I have learnt that me not completing my Swot analysis properly hasn’t really benefited me and that doing my self-assessment I have realised it’s important to be honest otherwise you won’t get anything out of it. Some of the most important things that I have learn since starting all of this self-assessment things are it important to be honest with yourself to ensure you get accurate and beneficial results. Understanding your weaknesses is equally as important as understanding your strengths and finding solutions to improve them. Learning is about developing yourself by knowing on what to improve on to better yourself and identifying things that you know could be improved. Most of my Weaknesses are things that I have been aware of and aren’t a surprise to me, although the list has got smaller over the years. Performing these sort of exercises makes me recognise them more of ways of how I can learn and improve myself. The most important thing from doing this is that has noticeably become different is how I am aware of my weaknesses and how to deal with them. Although having confidence is always something that I have had, I have continued to build more confidence with the skills that I have gained. Getting in touch with more people within the industry through phone calls and email, enquiring about possible job opportunity knowing that my skill set meet their requirements.

What have I learnt?

Since starting Prep for Employment, I have learnt more about myself in terms of how I learn and why I learn like that. During these lessons they have taught me to understand myself in more detail, teaching me that I have more skills and strengths than I thought. Learning how to structure my CV to make it to match the Job title and demonstrate my strengths in an interview. Before starting Preparation, I had a lot confidence, but wasn’t sure how to show it on a professional level. I’ve learnt how to be more confident about my strengths and weaknesses in Product Design and understanding my weaknesses to improve on them. This will no doubt help me in later life, when in the Industry. This Unit has helped massively to have faith in myself, I have learnt a lot about what type of person I am and the best that I learn. Throughout the last two years I have understood that one of my weaknesses was time management, over the last year I have found ways to improve this for example, creating to weekly plans. Since first Year I have learnt to project manage a lot better through not going out as much and having to rush deadlines, therefore has had a positive impact and become visible in my work and attitude towards Uni. Overall, I am satisfied with what I have learnt from these self-assessment’s tasks, they have taught me a lot about myself that I didn’t know previously. Understanding what I need to improve before I head into the industry and have a permanent job. Participating in Adobe program tests is something I have defiantly considered to improve my knowledge, and attending the sessions Gordon does on solid works which is helping me understand the programme in a lot more detail.

Understanding my Strengths and Weaknesses

My Learning Styles

Kolb’s Learning Theory

DEFINITION

David Kolb ’s learning styles model was developed from his experiential learning cycle theory in 1984. These theories have largely to do with the inner cognitive processes of one’s mind. Kolb believes that effective learning occurs by a cyclic process of experiencing, reﬂecting, thinking, and acting; which he elaborates through his 4-stage experiential learning cycle theory (1974):

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

Concrete Experience - a new experience or situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience. Reflective Observation of the New Experience - of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding. Abstract Conceptualisation reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept (the person has learned from their experience).

ACCOMODATING

DIVERGING

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

CONVERGING

ASSIMILATING

Active Experimentation - the learner applies their idea(s) to the world around them to see what happens. ( McLeod, S. A. (2017, Oct 24) ABSTRACT CONCEPTULISATION

My Learning Styles

Kolb’s Learning Theory

MY DEFINITION

Kolb’s learning theory involves 4 main stage cycle, I found that this theory was very beneﬁcial for me. As you can see this cycle helped me as I started to understand my main priorities and managed to get out of my normal habits and cycle and improve on myself. After I understood the 4-step cycle process of Kolb’s theory it was easy to put it into practice with my own experiences and using his method structure I have been able to make my own learning style. DOING A TASK

ACT

What happened?

Throughout the ﬁrst and second year I was enjoying the social side of Univerisity and not focusing on my studying as much, being part of the football team I wasn’t balancing the two like I know I should have been this started having an affect on my grades becoming noticable in second year.

ACT

WHATWOULD I DO NEXT TIME?

REFLECT REFLECT

APPLY

How could I change them Results?

REFLECTING ON THE TASK How did it go?

After seeing my grades i realised that something needed to change, so I started training one day a week instead of two and going out once a month. My studies were my main priority and found a healthy balance which has helped me massively.

RESPOND RESPOND

After putting into practice and getting good feedback from my tutors and seeing my attendence percentage rise,and being very happy with my grades.This gave motivation to keep this up and continue to strive for better results.

APPLY WHAT DO THE RESULTS SHOW?

Since understanding how to balance my social life and studies, this has deﬁantly helped me improve as an Individual and taught me a lesson. This is no doubt something that I’m going to continue to do in the future.

Honey and Mumford Test

Understanding that everyone learns differently, I wasn’t familiar with the learning styles until I took this test so for me this was interesting. Before we took the test looking at the 4 possible outcomes (Activist, Theorist, Pragmatist, Reﬂector) we were asked to predict what we thought we were. I chose activist and a reﬂector, with evidence to back these up it seemed to be a fairly accurate guess. ACTIVIST

ACTIVIST Why Activist?

REFLECTOR

PRAGMATIST

I saw a lot of similarities for the way activist learn and myself. The handouts showed that activists learn best by doing stuff not hanging around and getting stuck straight in, having a very open-minded approach to learning and when solving tasks. Involving themselves fully in group discussions and contributing the most. They learnt best doing tasks, like brain storming, problem solving, and role play etc. I could ﬁnd evidence in my life that backs this up, like contributing a lot in group concept reviews within class, and in football meetings always coming up with potential solutions. Why Reﬂector?

THEORIST

The Honey and Mumford test results said that I was a activist, so my prediction wasn’t bad. I think I am a activist because activists usually have a very open minded approach, and get stuck straight in immersing themselves fully in all situations. I like to think of myself as someone who likes to dive into tasks both feet ﬁrst with knowledge to achieve a positive outcome. This also leads me back to also being a reﬂector as if I’m not familiar in a task topic I will hold back slightly rather than being my usual self and diving in and leading. I would say activist matches my personality type ESFJ (Consul).

My Learning Styles

The handouts we were given referenced that reﬂectors learn best by observing and thinking about what happened, although I linked myself with activist and this is different, depending on the topic I still thought sometimes how I learn ties into this. Reﬂectors don’t jump to conclusions they prefer to stand back view experiences from a number of different perspectives. They learn best by doing tasks like, paired discussions, observing activities, and feedback from others. As an individual I am observant of everything around me and very aware of situations, this helps a lot when understanding a piece of design, but when it comes to group discussions, I naturally get stuck in.

VAK Tests

The VAK test is a Under !8s test with a multiple-choice questionnaire, which tells you whether you have a Visual, Auditory, or Kinaesthetic Learning style. This test is available online and easily accessible. After completing the test twice both results said that I was a Kinaesthetic. Knowing how I learn and studying Product Design a hands-on course and having played football since a young age, this is something that I had predicted as Kinaesthetic people prefer to learn through physical experience. This links with my results of the Honey and Mumford test, I still believe looking at all 3 results I feel I could use all of them in different environments. In the paper test I got 8 A’s, 8 B’s, and 14 C’s. Evidently my results weighed towards Kinaesthetic, depending on the particular situation I think I could be all three of results. The best way for me to do that is to assess the situation and to plan in advance if possible, to ensure I get the most out of it. All the definition of a Kinaesthetic learning I could relate too, throughout my whole life I have been very hands on. I always want to try new challenges, and for me the best way for me to do that is by doing it not observing someone doing it. For example, my Dad built our house at home from scratch and whenever he used to do DIY work around the house I was always eager to help and willing to learn, I would always help him when I could. As well as learning best from experience I also learn best from the popular phrase ‘ Trial and Error’ although it is common it sums me up perfectly. On a Personal note, I don’t see any of the definitions of Kinaesthetic that don’t define me as a person. I’m happy with the result and believe that it’s a good reflection of me as a person, I’m sure my close friends, Classmates and Tutors would agree.

KINAESTHETIC VISUAL 8

AUDITORY

KINAESTHETIC

Tests Summary

After taking both these tests, they have taught me a lot about myself both my Personality and the way in which in learn best which I didn’t know before. The results from both tests I felt were very accurate and a good representation of myself, and now I have my results of a ‘Activist’ and a ‘Kinaesthetic’ after understanding the definitions of these results it shows that they link and are very similar. Knowing these Learning styles will help me so much when applying for jobs in the future and showing my personality at interviews. My specific learning styles showing me that I a Practical person that likes to experience rather than observe, this narrows my job search down to more hands-on roles. Jobs roles that involve sitting one place all day wouldn’t appeal to me as I need to be on my feet more as sitting down all day would drive me insane, external clients and meeting them face to face appeals to me, rather than a call over the phone. Ideally, I would like the work in the Fashion Product design Industry, that would be a great achievement, after having good fashion knowledge and being a graduate of Product Design this would be an perfect opportunity to gain more knowledge from more experienced people that can guide me to be the best I can be. Kinesthetics’ learn best through experience so at first it will be a test but as long I’m physically doing something, I’m certain I’ll get the hang of it quickly.

My Learning Styles

My Personality

My personality test showed that I am a Consul, before this unit I have never really thought about my Personality type. I done the test more than once as felt the first couple of tests I done were half hearted and I wasn’t true to myself. Before we done the test, we were encouraged to think of what we thought we were and why and see how good our predictions were. After I had got my results, I had to read what they were as I didn’t understand, but once I read them, I fully agreed along with my classmates. A specific word that keeps popping up in my personality type is positive and outgoing. This is something that I can relate to and I’m sure my friends would agree, I’m always the person to liven up an atmosphere whether that be with my family or friends. Usually being the person to organise celebrational events, open ended activities and generally getting people together. Extraverted is something that I defiantly agree with, I’m always up for anything usually the main reasons that most meet ups with my mates get sorted. I’m sure they would also agree. Thrive on staying uo to date with my friends and how they are doing. I would say being good at connecting with others is something I would describe myself as, always wanting people to feel comfortable therefore being well liked. Valuing stability very high making me a trustworthy person, I believe that I am the first for many of my friends if people want advice or just to tell me something.

E S F J xtravert

ensing

eeling

udging

One of my weakness is not being able to step out of my comfort zone, this isn’t something new to me. I often like to have a good understanding of what im doing or have done it before. I’m quite reluctant to new tasks, this is something that I would like to eventually overcome. Needing a lot of reassurance of how I am valued. ESFJs is a very common personality type making up 12% of the Population and making up 8% of males. Consuls tend to be Altruists, willing to help and put others before myself. For example, of this, during assignments I am always eager to help my classmates when needed whether I know the answer or not I will always give it my best shot. During design development I am always open to providing and receiving constructive criticism when appropriate and available when someone needs some feedback. This often helps me producing work to the best of my ability and focus on certain parts I really enjoy like sketching and design layouts. One of the weakness ESFJs normally suffer with is being vulnerable and not being able to take criticism, but as discussed earlier I always open to advice as I constantly want to better myself in everything i do. I don’t think it will have a huge impact on me as I like working as part of a team and listening to everyone’s contributions. I hope that in the future will be working in supportive team, taking leadership eventually and accepting I will have to work my way up to get there. Hopefully taking this forward into interviews and coming across as determined.

My Personality

After completing the Myers Briggs test, I then done the 16 Personality test which gave me a result of four letters being ESFJ (Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) which means both results from the test were the exact same. The definitions that describe this personality type defiantly relate to me as a person, being a supportive and outgoing person with constant positive energy. Overall, after completing both test and the results being the same my personality, I’d defiantly consider myself ESFJ. After graduating and finding a job the employers are looking for the ideal candidate to suit the Job Description to be able to put their skills into practice in order to bond well with a team or organise people. Although they are looking at you as how you come across as a self-motivated, determined individual, they are also looking at if you are a good team worker and whether you would fit into their current team. The results from both tests show that this describes me as a person. A Job role that involves working in a fast-paced hands on environment, that requires attention to detail, with a positive and supportive team sounds ideal to me.

My Learning Styles

Understanding the Industry Sector

Possible Careers FREELANCER

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

FURNITURE DESIGNER

FASHION DESIGN

INTERIOR DESIGNER

LIGHTING DESIGN

YACHT DESIGN

AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN

PRODUCT DESIGN DEGREE

ANIMATION

PRODUCT DESIGNER

KITCHEN DESIGNER

CAD TECHNICiAN ARCHITECTURE

EXHIBITION DESIGNER

Understanding the Industry Sector

BRANDING

VISUAL MERCHANDISER

What Jobs Interest me?

Job Role

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

Product Designer

SKETCHING

MODEL MAKING

ENTHUSIASTIC

Fashion Designer

KNOWLEDGE

NOT EXPERIENCED

Interior Designer

PASSIONATE

SOFTWARE

Exhibition Designer

CREATIVITY

CAD VISUALS

Graphic Designer

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

THREATS

WILLING TO ACHIEVE

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

JOB PROGRESSION

NOT EXPERIENCED NEW SOFTWARE

IDEAS GENERATION

All these different Jobs interest me for different purposes, and I believe that within each Job description I ﬁt into the role. Using my transferable design skills, I could go in at a Junior level and gain more knowledge to progress to more of a senior level. Since I study Product Design, I would like to combine that with my interest, for example fashion, sport, gym and see what’s out there. Graphic Design has always been a key interest of mine, before coming to University I wasn’t sure whether to study that or Product Design, so it is deﬁantly up there with job choices.

Creating Experience

These examples are emails that I sent to Tutors within University they are both Graphic Design Lectures, but Brent is the Course Leader. The reason that, emailed them is to see whether they had any advice for me, them being a tutor to see what they say to their graduates before getting a job. Additionally, to this wanted to see if throughout their time as being a lecturer, they have had anyone from Product Design make this transition. Overall, to just see their thoughts on it. Brentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response was really positive and as you can see he thought it was a good idea, his advice was to potentially think abut studying a MA to get the experience, as it would be quite hard to break through without a graphic design degree. That is coming from his years of Industry knowledge.

Understanding the Industry Sector

Creating Experience

After emailing the Tutors I decided to email some Graphic Design Companies, to see if they had an different advice from my of the industry side. I wanted to see if they could help me prepare before applying for jobs. I asked for whether for me being someone who has no experience it would be necessary to do a masters or internship. Them being a company in the industry I was wondering if they offered an internship as this would be amazing for me to gain experience. This would also give me opportunity to work ina a professional environment to get the feel for it before I head into real world myself.

Job Applications I’ve got good communication and presenting skills

Having a creative mindset

Location is close to my hometown I’m skilled in these Programms (although I’d like to Improve Photoshop) High Starting Salary

Opportunity to Expand the Company

Attention to Detail is a strenght of mine

Small Supportive team appeals to me

Understanding the Industry Sector

Good Perks of the Job

Guest Speakers- What? So What? What now? ‘Driscoll Theory - What?’, ‘So What?’ and ‘Now What?’ were developed by John Driscoll in 1994, 2000 and 2007. Driscoll matched the 3 questions to the stages of an experiential learning cycle, and added trigger questions that can be used to complete the cycle.

Ocean Safety - Tom Sharp

Solent Lecturer - Tychonas Michailidas (Dr.T)

Tom Sharp is a Product Designer at Ocean Safety Based in Southampton, he studied Product Design at Solent University and graduated in 2017. Ocean Safety design and improve on marine safety equipment such as man-overboard equipment, life rafts and lifejackets. Covering the whole process in house, from design, testing and market all of their products.

The last guest speaker was Tychonas Michailidas also known as Dr.T he is a Solent Lecturer while studying a PHD. The talk he gave us was based around Electronics, focusing mainly on sensors and Arduino circuits showing us some of his work that is primarily music based, you can tell he is very skilled in what he does.

Tom gave a brief talk about his time during university but mainly spoke about his Journey as Product Designer from graduating, speaking about one of the recent Products that he designed called the Jon Buoy, this was a overboard buoying aid, giving us a demonstrating of it at the end. Tom’s talk I found interesting at times purely down to the similarity to what we do at University, but on the hand when he was explaining his work it sounds like he does most of the work himself from the sketching down to the marketing, but personally I want to work within a design team.

During Dr.T talk I didn’t feel that I was very interested in what was he was talking as I don’t have a musical background and electronics have never really been of much interest to me. Although what he was talking about was very technical, I feel as if it was very relevant for me being design Orientated. After listening to `Dr.Ts speech I’m almost certain that a PHD isn’t something that I want to do after graduating and to stick to original plan of just getting my degree.

The lesson that I took from the most is that I’m certain that I want to work for a company in a design team, working individually doesn’t appeal to me, this also links back to my personality and how I learn. After understanding what product design is like in the Industry, this is also something that didn’t interest me because of the responsibility of idea generation whereas part of a team you gather ideas from one another.

Guest Speakers- What? So What? What now?

James Darios - Kinneir Dufort

Simon Yates - HP

James Darios is a Design Researcher for Kinneir Dufont based in Bristol, he was a Product design Student here at Solent University much like me and graduated with a First-Class honour in 2017. Kinneir Dufont is a user-created innovation and product development company, focusing on designing a better world creating value through tomorrows products and experiences. Covering a variety of design sectors Industrial design, Research, Electronics and Software, Graphic Design, Prototyping, Innovation, Product Design, Packaging Design and many more.

Simon Yates is a Category Manager, Product Manager, Business Manager and a Strategic Innovator and Problem Solver at HP he also studied here and graduated in 2004. Experienced in Product Managing, with a demonstrated history of working in the Information Technology and Service Industry, skilled in Sales, Enterprise Solutions, Retail, HP Products Partner Management and many more.

During his presentation he covered many different areas the company cover, first he spoke about his time at University what how what lead him up to specific Job roles, he also spoke about his Application process of applying for company and journey since he has been there. Since he been at the company, he had many trips to trips to different countries across the world James describes his role within the Design Research team as the person that focuses interaction and User Experience, he showed us photographs of recent projects that he has been working on. Before James’s Presentation I didn’t really consider myself as someone that is interested in Research, from my time on this course and not really enjoying the Research side, however I was very interested in what James as a person and felt very engaged listening to him. Originally, I didn’t consider myself as a Researcher but after his talk it has defiantly made it a consideration. J ames covered a recent Project that his company had been working with called Ossur this is a Prosthetic company. was intrigued as for my FMP I’m looking into Prothesis. Lucky enough I got to a 1 to 1 chat with James after, and he gave advice and areas to look into. Overall a very useful talk.

Understanding the Industry Sector

Simon’s talk included his talking about his career at HP and his development in the Company, he also spoke about his life and the different Job roles he has had since Graduating, including places like Sainsbury’s where grad scheme. He was very confident talking about HP and his life, he made me feel very reassured when was talking his career after graduation. After hearing from someone that pathway has changed quite a few times has given me more confidence, as I was quite nervous before over the thought of the real world. After the talk Simon I had a completely different outlook on my career after University and felt a lot more confident about the whole situation. The most important thing that I’m going to take away from the talk is that it is alright to no have a clear pathway that you want to go down after Graduating. However, I knew I didn’t want to go straight into work and wanted travel, but was still very beneficial for me to know for when I do go into full time work.

Self Promotion

CV’s - INITIAL

Photo is too casual and doesn’t ﬁt the context of a Creative CV, although I like the positioning in the page.

Proﬁle Section is written in 3rd Person, and the font is quite hard to read but the content explains me well

There is a lot of Open Space, although this makes it easier to read and more Graphic, it seems like a waste on this layout (For Example the bottom right side)

Pointless Icons at the Bottom that came with the Template.

Self Promotion

Description about myself is OK, but is very similar to the Proﬁle and could be ﬁlled with achievements

Information on work Experience is basic and could be more detailed, with necessary information

Icons don’t link, they are hard to read!

Good Layout but as I got it from a template there aspects I’d change (Colour Contrast).

CV’s - FINAL Product Design

New Professional picture

Work Examples

Professional Skills

Lewis Sewell Product Designer

Updated Proﬁle Section, describes me more of an individual, only found this out after doing some of the tests

Layout design myself on Illustator, making it unique

Product Designer

Adobe Photoshop

Rhino 3D

Adobe Illustrator

Hand Sketching

Adobe Indesign

Hand Rendering

Solidworks

AutoCAD

I am a Product Designer with a creative background, fascinated about how design can inﬂuence modern life from a simple idea to a complex solution. One of my key skills is problem solving and delivering effective solutions, that meet the set criteria.

Examples of some of my work in my 3rd Year (LIve Competition, Design Futures)

Education

Work Experience

Proﬁle

Lewis Sewell

Yateley School - September 2009 - July 2014 5 GCSE’s Grade A* - C

Farnborough College Of Technology September 2014 - July 2017

Ashby Signs - October 2015 Designing Signs on Illustrator Shadowed Senior Designers-

Art Design, and Fashion ( Distinction )

Art and Design ( Distinction, Merit, Merit )

Worked in the Workshop

House of Fraser ( Visual Merchandiser ) - November 2015 Dressed Mannequin’s Designed Outﬁts for inside stores Built stands

Southampton Solent University - 2017 to Present BA ( Hons ) Product Design

Sportography TV ( Photography ) - March 2016 Set up Professional Studio Spaces

Contact Me

Helped create content for Clients Learn’t how to use advanced software

Marks and Spencers ( Visual Merchandiser ) - August 2019

Added a Jobs Section, to show my experience in the retail industry

Promoted images and products Created window/stand displays

07732339626

Icons that are more relevant

Jobs

Designed wall displays through sketching

Lewis.sewell98@gmail.com

55 Newcombe Road Southampton So15 2ft

Achievements

Next - Sales Assistant 2014- 2017 Providing consistent outstanding customer service

Advising and Serving Customers Managing Stock Levels

Solving Customer issues and complaints

Football Cup Winner - September 2012

Maintaining a clean, tidy and attractive shopping environment

Captained my Football team to win our ﬁrst Cup win

Student Ambassador - September 2014 - 2017

Personal Skills

Better colour theme, the layout is much easier to follow

Creativity

Organised

Teamwork

Positive

Dynamic

Attention to detail

@Lewis Sewell

Saints Events - Bartender Serving Customers

Presenting and talking to school students about my college experience and the opportunities I have gained.

Wren Primary School Competition Winner - April 2016 Won a Competition in college of the best Bird Design for a local school, currently still displayed in their school.

@LTS_design_

@ Lewis Sewell

@LewisSewell98

Cleaning, Restocking Changing Barrells Welcoming Customers

Saints Events - Beverage Assistant Restock Berverages

Sort Through Deliveries Changing Barrells Managing Stock Levels

@Lewis Sewell

@LTS_design_

@ Lewis Sewell

@LewisSewell98

Social Media Displayed at the bottom for a reference

Linked - In

INITIAL

My Initial LinkedIn proﬁle I made last year in Solent Creatives as this was something that they advised. Originally, I made it but then didn’t make any connections use it, as you can tell it was very basic and just uploaded any photo that I had, that wasn’t very Professional, so it needed to be updated. At the start of this year I wanted to start building myself as a brand, making a logo, website, and Instagram account, and before I graduate I want to design some business cards. The Cover photo is just a default one on LinkedIn, I changed it to a design that represented me with my sketch pages in the background

Self Promotion

FINAL My Final LinkedIn I was really pleased as it represents me more as a person and a brand. A new Professional photo was taken last week at the Maritime Fair, it was free so was deﬁantly worth it. My cover photo I changed so that it’s my own identity. The about me page I haven’t ﬁlled in yet purely because I want to focus it on the Industry I’m looking at going into, it will also give a slight overview of me as a person this will be written in 3rd person. I’ve started making necessary connections with or both ex-students that are currently in the Industry, lectures and designers.

Physical Portfolio

These are some examples from my Physical Portfolio, the content is a variety of my best work throughout my University time, mainly my 2nd and 3rd year. Personally, I would say that my best work is the work that I have done in the third year, both the Live Competition and Design Futures. Considering one of my key strengths as being a really good hand drawer, I have evidence of these in the start of my physical portfolio as it is the first page you see when you open it. The content is a range of different pieces of work, for example, sketching/renders, 3D CAD Models, Infographics and Technical drawings, this variety shows my various skill sets. Since haven’t started applying for jobs yet, this isn’t my final portfolio and depending on the job I’m going for I will tailor my portfolio to suit that specific job role, for example if the Job role is Graphic design, I will have more Graphical Content and layouts rather than 3D CAD. As I’m only at the start of my journey I plan to strengthen my Portfolio as I develop as a designer.

Online Portfolio

LINK - https://issuu.com/lewis.sewell98 This is the Link to my Online Portfolio that I made on Issuu, showcasing some of my best throughout my time at University. As you can see here i took some screenshots of what it looks like. Each piece of work is split into different Publications so that it is easier to me to edit. This will be an ongoing document that I will keep adding too as I produce more work, as you can tell I keep my brand identity and logo on the thumbnail photo so its easily recognisable.

Self Promotion

Pitching

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons of being Unwell I wasn’t unable to attend this pitching lecture by Alan Messenger, after asking my classmates about how it went, they said it was so useful and very interesting which I was gutted about. After having conversations with my classmates and them kindly willing to share their notes with me I started to get a rough idea of the pitch Presented by Alan, this annoyed me even more as I knew I would have found it fascinating. Alan’s speech covered points about Sales, Pitching and interviews techniques as well as how to sell ourselves as designers or even our products. And primarily how to get a job Providing techniques that you think sound quite self-explanatory but are certainly things that I didn’t know, for example the average pitching time is 2 minutes. A saying that I ﬁrst heard from out lecturer Simon was ‘ image you have a 2 minute conversation in a lift with a Owner of a company and you have to explain your product ’, this is a quote that I relate to regularly now within the studio when trying to get my Idea across, this really works for me personally. Being a design student pitching would be more focused on presenting your design journey or work, one of the key points highlighted by Alan for us as designers, that the product has to have a purpose and be beneﬁcial for the user, no matter how good the idea is being pitched. Once you have pitched your ideas, be prepared for questions being asked and when you answer these questions to tell the honest truth and not to lie, communicating that you know the market inside out. Overall it sounds like I would have been very intrigued with his pitch as I have learnt a lot that I’m going to take into the future, I’m still frustrated to this day that I couldn’t go, however I got the chance to meet Alan at the the Mock interview where he was very useful and a very nice guy.

Sales Pitching Background on the Company? Who are you Presenting to? What is their roles in the company? Why would they be interested in your Product? How long is the Presentation? How are you Presenting? Introducing Yourself

Networking Networking is very important within the Industry, independently and as a business. Networking is a great way to build knowledge and learn from others, especially being a graduate with no experience. Having a strong network opens up loads of different opportunities, developing friendships and meeting people within the industry to gain extra connection, these also boot your personal ProďŹ le. Networking can be done through social media like LinkedIn or face to face. LinkedIn allows to connect with a range of people in different Sectors, this makes it easier to build friendships with people, it also recommends anyone that could be relevant to you. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simple and easy to use with many with the option to private messaged people. Once I get more familiar with using it, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to add an about me section with more details of who I am, and my experience.

Self Promotion

Networking

“Your Network is your Net Worth” Porter Gale

The quote above was a quote that I Learnt in Solent Creatives in Second Year, this is a very powerful phrase that I have remembered since. Porter gale describes it as the connections you have in the industry determines how successful you will become. Social media ia a big platform for showcasing talent in this modern day, so i decided to create myself a design Instagram account aside from my public. Since doing this I have been able to get some inspiration myself through following different design accounts and had some excellent feedback which was nice. On there I have uploaded my recent Projects and kept my brand identity and logo. This is a great way to build a network through following these accounts and gaining followers myself. ¬ Business cards are a a interactive way of networking with people in person, for example they are ideal to give to people after presenting your work, at exhibitions and many other events. I wanted my business cards to be really minimal, so I created this simple design with just contact information, keeping my brand identify. In the future I will improve my business cards when. become part of a company.

Business Cards

Lewis.sewell98@gmail.com

Action Statement

September/October 2019 - At the start of the year until Xmas 2019, I hadn’t done any job searching as I was focusing on my design assignments.

Self Promotion

Feb/May 2020 – Continually browsing for full time as well as part time summer jobs while I save up go travelling and gain more experience. Using different applications like Indeed, Total jobs, etc adding my CV, and understanding the job role and skills needed of me. Mostly applying for jobs near my hometown Yateley in Hampshire, and that’s where my accommodation is. My Plan will be too work part time (preferable within in Design to gain more industry knowledge), to save up for 6 months to then go travelling, once I return come back and get a full time in design save and eventually move out in another 2 years.

Final - Timeline June/July 2020 – Part time Work Hopefully securing my part time job within design, this will help me gain more experience with the industry and adding valuable contacts. Making sure that I show a good impression and being presentable at all time, taking every opportunity and shaking hands with as many people as I can. This could also be a reference for future jobs I apply for.

July/Aug 2020 – Consistently applying for a temporary job to save with before I go travelling preferably in the design industry so I can build my portfolio in an professional environment, keeping an eye for any Job titles that interest me for the future making a note of them and the requirements. Applying on all the applications I previously stated and networking with family and friends and people they know to help get into the industry. While travelling also networking and socialising could potentially gain some contacts, in different countries. This temporary job would around my hometown (Yateley, Hampshire) making travel costs at a low, so I can save more.

July 2020 – Hopefully Gradating with a 2:1 or possibly higher.

After 6 months of thinking time to myself and reviewing the last year since I produced my ﬁrsty timeline, I had a deep thought of what I actually wanted to do. Many questions went through my mind, Am I ready for the real world yet? Do I know what I want to do? After Travelling had always been something I spoke about to my family and friends about I ﬁnally came to the conclusion that I wanted to go travelling after I graduated for about 6 months. Then by I would have hopefully have decided what I want to do and start applying for full time work.

Aug/Oct 2020 – Start working on the temporary Job saving up for travelling until `December then go Travelling for 6 months, then June 2021, come back home and start looking for a Permanent Job in the Design Industry in the new year.

Summary

Overall, I would say this Project has been exciting journey for me personally, but at the same time a huge eye opener. Preparation for Employment Unit has made me think a completely different way to what I would naturally, but I think that has really benefited me. Its allowed me to understand my strengths and weaknesses, my learning style and personality type, and help me prepare in the best possible way for jobs. Initially, at the start I didn’t really believe in these online and paper tests and thought the result were just random, but once we done them the results were actually quite scary as some of them describe me very well. They gave me more of an insight of how I learn as an individual, as I [knew briefly before but not in as much detail. This helped me when looking for job as I knew what jobs roles would suit my personality and learning style (Defiantly not ones where I have to sit down all day). I’ve never seen my weaknesses as a bad thing I’ve always seen them as a challenge to strive and do better, as I feel some of my weaknesses are associated with my age and develop a I get older. After graduating and getting a Full time Job in the Design Industry, I had a rough idea of the requirements, but this unit has made me look at them on a whole different perspective. Understanding the whole process of applying for a job from the preparation, pitching, presenting and interviews I have learnt skills that I didn’t have a clue about beforehand, it’s made me realise that I only really knew the basics. Once I knew that I wanted the pursue the Graphic Design route, it was about knowing the skills requirements and if any further education was necessary. Creating experience I emailed design companies in the industry to see if they had advice on someone making this transition, and also Graphic design Lecturers in the University. The feedback I received was very promising, advising me to consider doing a MA in Visual Communication, which I’d never thought about prior as breaking through within that is rather difficult. The next few months until I graduate are going to be me continually learning and developing myself, but most importantly enjoying the rest of my University experience, what a journey it has been!

References

16Personalities. (2020). Free personality test | 16Personalities. [online] Available at: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personali ty-test [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020].

Eln.io. (2020). Honey and Mumford Learning Styles. [online] Available at: https://www.eln.io/blog/honey-and-mumford-learning-styles [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020].

Jones, M. (2020). Your Network Is Your Net Worth - An Interview With Porter Gale. [online] Coxblue.com. Available at: https://www. coxblue.com/your-network-is-your-net-worth-an-interview-with-porter-gale/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020]. Simplypsychology.org. (2020). [online] Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020].

The WritePass Journal. (2020). Nursing Reflective Essay using Driscoll’s reflective cycle – The WritePass Journal. [online] Available at: https://writepass.com/journal/2012/11/nursing-reflective-essay-using-driscolls-reflective-cycle/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020].

Appendices