Internship report Seria

INTERNSHIP SERIA - NORWAY, BODØ

Ymala Antonsen CIBAP vocational college for the creative arts OM401 - Design and Media, Graphic Design 12 - 02 - 2018 / 22 - 06 - 2018

67° 16’ 48” N, 14° 24’ 18” E

Saltstraumen, March 18th, 2018

PREFACE Heia!

You are now holding the internship

report that I designed and wrote for the closure of my last internship of the study Grafic Designer I did at Cibap in Zwolle, the Netherlands. This little book is about my five months as an intern at Seria in Bodø, Norway.

This internship wasn’t possible without the help of many others. First of all a thanks to my school for making it possible to go on an internship abroad. With the scholarship I have gotten from Erasmus+, the stay has been made financially easier and last of all a big thanks to everyone from Seria who have not only helped and learned me a lot during my time as an intern, but also provided support during my stay in Norway.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy this little book about my internship at Seria in Bodø, Norway.

Ymala Antonsen Bodø, May 4th, 2018

Ymala Antonsen, May 24th, 2018

CONTENT Introduction 008 About seria 010 Leanring objectives 012 Research 018 Projects 020 Reflection 022 Work 024 Recommendation 026 Summary and conclusion

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INTRODUCTION The time has come and I am on the verge of applying to companies for my last internship to complete my study to Graphic Desinger at Cibap. For my last internship I wanted something else, I wanted an adventure. After the exchange with students from China I knew I wanted to travel more, and since Cibap has the opportunity to go on an internship abroad, this was my chance to live for 5 months in another country.

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from Seria. It said Whitefox was bankrupt and the website is now Seria’s. After some clicking through Seria’s website I found out that this company had what I was searching for in my internship.

Since I have Norwegian blood, can speak the language and the country is just simply beautiful I chose to go on an internship in Norway.

I translated my portfolio website, cv and application email to Norwegian and started searching for companies I could imagine myself working for 5 months.

On my previous internships I had done a lot of printed matters such as on my first internship; patterns, newspapers, magazines and more designing for crafts. On my second internship there was a lot of handwork such as; screen printing, stickering but also design work for posters, flyers and other printing matters. That Seria wasn’t like this at all really drew me to apply as an intern for them, because I wasn’t too sure about what I liked best in my field and this way I could try out something new.

After some research on Google and tips from the coordinator of internationalization I came with a company called Whitefox in Bodø. When I tried searching the website I came directly to a message

After I applied I received an email with that they were interested in this kind of collaboration with the Netherlands and after a call the internship was settled and the preparations could begin!

Where is the line between art and not art?

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ABOUT SERIA Seria is a company with eight employees which is located in Bodø, Nordland, Norway.

Customers can turn to Seria for websites, graphic design, advices, workshops and ssl certificates.

Websites

Seria has created their own CMS program called WIPS. But customers with WordPress can also come to Seria for help with their website. Seria gives the opportunity to create a website for you, but it is also easy enough for customers to redesign the website

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themselves.

Customers who have a WIPS website can get a workshop so that they know how to use the program and change the settings as they wish.

The customer will have full control over their website, but can always fall back on Seria if they need help.

Graphic design

Seria delivers several graphic design services for digital but also printing matters. Such as logo design, business cards and corporate identities.

Nils

Tommy

Tore

Ă˜yvind

Viktor

Reidar

Rasmus

Anne-Stine

Ymala

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES For my study it is usual to write down five learning objectives which fit my chosen internship. Throughout the five months I am here, I am going to try to fulfill these goals.

The five goals were made up together with my internship tutor. It contains four professional and one personal learning goal. For me it is not necessary to complete these learning goals all the way. I think it is more important and enough if I at least get a little better at the goal.

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Learning objective one I will be learning how to use digital communication as Seria practices it.

This is one of the first things I got to learn at Seria. How do I use WIPS? I got an assignment from one of my colleagues to design my own website with WIPS, the same way customers get their website too (The course and website with template which I can adjust to a design I like). After I had made my own website I gave a little feedback about the program WIPS about what I liked and what I disliked. They appreciate feedback a lot, they use the information to improve the program.

Reflection

Before I got to make my own website, I got a little course about how WIPS works, the functions and so on. Then I got the chance to try it myself. I made a multilingual website and designed the website as I like. The program itself is very easy to use, but as a designer it is a little hard that I couldn’t adjust the design exactly as I wanted, but for costumers with no design experience its just better because makes it easier to maintain the website themselves without messing up the website while just wanting to change a little thing. For this learning goal I think I can say I achieved it and the website can be found on www.ymala.wips.no.

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Learning objective two I will be learning how to use advertisements with inbound marketing Inbound marketing means that you create relevant content for your target group, optimize the findability, promote this content online which will result in more website visitors. This process will be analyzed and measured throughout the process.

For this learning goal I am going to learn how to make a good article that ends up high in Google search. I learned this in the first few weeks of my internship. First, I got a small course in how SEO works and then I learned a few tips and tricks to make it work. After I made the article ‘Typografie design, hva er typografie?’ we uploaded it on www.seria.no and it showed up on the first page of google search with ‘hva er typografi’ and several other equal search terms.

Reflection

It was very interesting to learn how to get on the top

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of Google search without using advertising. My colleague also explained to me why it sometimes is better to just pay and why not. For the article I got to pick my own topic and I chose typography.

While writing this article I used the new tricks and followed some SEO rules that I learned. I first wrote it in Dutch and then translated it to Norwegian. After a check (Because my Norwegian isn’t very good yet) the article was uploaded on the Seria website and it showed up on the first page of Google search when you search for ‘hva er typografi, typografi design (-regler, -for nettside), typografi definisjon and skrive med typografi.’

Learning objective three I will be learning how to use advertisements with outbound marketing.

This learning objective is about how to use the design that I have made and make it work. It will be done through outbound marketing which means that companies will pay for advertisements to make costumers go to their product to buy it.

Reflection

I haven’t quite achieved this learning goal, but I have

helped in several stages. For example, together with my colleague Anne-Stine did we a lot of brainstorming and made we some first designs for an advertisement. Later on we discussed this with Tommy and then AnneStine and Tommy took it from there. I have never done something with paid advertisements before so it was very interesting and I learned a lot about how to use the right pictures and text to make it peoples time worth to klick on it.

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Learning objective four I will be learning how to make proper use of B2B marketing B2B marketing means business to business marketing. With B2B you aim your products and services to other companies. This is different from B2C (Business to consumer). With B2C you aim your product and services to customers.

This learning goal is going to be achieved by working with customers. I will practice

this while being present at costumer meetings and present my own work to costumers or colleagues.

Reflection

With this learning goal I don’t think I can stop learning. This learning goal is more about experiences, and the more, the better.

I have used this kind of marketing with designing campaigns, Facebook posts and participated in meetings with costumers.

Learning objective five Being more secure about my strengths In my past internships I had the feeling that my skills were underestimated because I didn’t ever really speak about that I could do more than I did. This is not the fault of past internship tutors but it is all myself. That is why I wanted to change this because it is just positive for Not only myself, but all.

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Reflection

By getting more secure about what I make I get prouder and it is easier to take new challenges. Instead of just waiting and taking all the small tasks and respond insecure. This learning goal is not achieved at the end of this internship, but I think this rather is a lifelong learning goal which I can improve the rest of my life.

MADE IN THE SHADE

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RESEARCH How does a project arrive at the host company?

Projects arrive at the company on several ways.

One way is word-to-mouth marketing. Another way is that people come across the Seria website or Facebook get curious or find that they need it and order a website or another service. Seria also calls people and does meetings to convince them why they are so great. Seria doesn’t quite have a regular customer. The customers Seria has differ from big companies to small ones to design bureaus.

Does it have sales staff whose job it is to go out and look for business?

The company has a sales consultant, Tommy, whose job is to go out and look for business. It is his job to look out for business, but everyone is working in collaboration here with different directions they are educated in, which makes it a stronger team. Seria doesn’t use a fixed marketing calendar, but sometimes there are trips planned to promote WIPS to other companies.

How are projects handled at my host company?

At Seria projects are handled the following way: people call and say that they would like a new website, then set an appointment for a meeting to clarify the customer’s needs, then the website is being made and afterwards the customer gets a small course in how to use the website.

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Who provides the first briefing?

It depends on who needs to take part of it and who it is relevant for and if it is necessary. The same counts for the design, it depends on the product that has been ordered and whose responsibility it is.

How does the idea for the project come about and who is involved?

There usually is a brainstorm between the ones who are involved with the subject.

The customer explains what his or hers wishes are and Seria tries to fulfill to those wishes as closely as possible. After the idea the designers are

involved if they weren’t already. The designers are Anne-Stine and Tore.

What are the starting points that determine the design choices?

Customers choose between templates which one they like and then the template will be adjusted to how they like it. Then the solution is showed to the customer and he or she can come with input. After the structure and design is edited to the customers wishes the design will finally be published. While this process it is important to have clear appointments about what the customer gets and what it costs.

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PROJECT How the project came about The general manager of the company, Nils, had contact with one of his customers, Hemis. Hemis wanted a portrait picture off all their employees for on their website. Because Nils knew that I have had some experience with photographing, he proposed that I could take portrait pictures of the employees.

That is how I got this assignment.

The assignment

The assignment that I got was first to take pictures of all the employees of Seria and if Hemis is satisfied with the outcome I will take pictures of them too at their location.

The phases Practising for the first time For the first time I only had

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my camera and my colleague to practise on. First we searched for a place that fits the idea we had and which had nice lightning. Then we tried taking some pictures and after a while we took many pictures to test poses, lighting and camera settings.

After we took a look at the pictures we made we quickly came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t work out like this.

The light was too hard and I had to Photoshop the whole background away because it looked so messy.

Getting proper equipment

After some research we ordered a portable studio set.

The set contains three soft boxes and a black background drop. From my colleague Tommy I borrowed a flash and tripod. With these new things I practised again and got way better pictures with good, soft lighting, calm background and I was in

control of everything. After a few test shoots with my colleague Anne-Stine I made a portrait of all the employees in Seria.

The outcome

The example pictures for Hemis are now on a hidden page on the Seria website.

Hemis will now choose what kind of photo they prefer, with black or white background and then I will be coming to photograph. This project is not done in time to include the whole progress in my internship report, but the most important things are included.

Reflection

This project was something new for me. On school I have made a few portrait photographs but not this way. I learned new things from the moment I began.

With the help from my colleague Anne-Stine and the internet the outcome became quite professional.

The hardest thing for me was directing the people I had to photograph and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera. For this I had to practise a few times and there is still room for a lot of improvement.

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REFLECTION My experience as an intern at Seria

Before I came here I didn’t have a clear image about what Seria really was and what they do here. Now that I have been here a few months it has become clear and come to the conclusion that I had a different view of what Seria really is. My stay here has been great. I have learned a lot of new things and the people are kind. They are willing to help me with anything and not only work related things.

As an intern at Seria I have mostly gotten the chance to gain a lot of experience. I have learned new skills such as how to get your designs to work, how SEO works and

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how to use marketing. I got to practise that a lot at my time here. At Seria I got to see a new way of how a graphic designer can be working.

The work that I have delivered at Seria is work that I am proud of. With the feedback and tips from my colleagues I got to take the best out of my designs skills and created a good article and a nice corporate identity.

Plusses and minuses

While there aren’t exactly minuses at my internship here at Seria there are a few things that weren’t that amazing the whole time, for example writing an article that is made SEO. It gets a little boring writing a text

as my attention goes away a little too quickly. But this isn’t exactly designing so probably that’s why.

The plusses are that I have gotten the chance to try a lot of different things that they do here, and even some new things. I have for example used the WIPS program to design a website, designed new layouts for WIPS templates, designed Facebook posts for the Seria website to promote their products or just to get more activity on the Facebook page. Written an article that shows up on the first page of Google Search and made portraits of employees.

Areas for improvement and the future

As for improvement I think that I have to go after if something has to be done and isn’t done yet instead of waiting for it to happen. I have a tendency to just wait and waste time while doing that. But for the most I am satisfied with how the internship went.

After this internship I am done with my study and will I receive my diploma for Graphic Designer on July, 17th in Zwolle the Netherlands. My plans for the future are to continue to study. Because I am not so sure about what my next study will be I am going to take a gap year.

In this year I want to travel as much as possible and orientate for different schools and studies.

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WORK Facebookposts Facebookposts

In the time I have been at Seria I have made several Facebookposts for the Seria Facebookpage.

The posts have to be informative, interesting if possible with a little humor yet it has to stay professional. Some posts that I have made are an animation which shows simple features in WIPS.

North Tours

For North Tours did I design a new corporate identity containing a logo, business card, icons, business letter layout, presentation layout and a corporate identity manual.

The logo comes in three versions, summer, winter and silhouet and the business card is also in premium version.

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North Tours

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RECOMMENDATION RECOMMENDATION For an internship at this company I think not every student will fit that well. There are different conditions I think a student should be capable of handling in. As well as in the company, the city and even the country.

Seria

The student that fits Seria is interested in marketing. Marketing is a big part of this company and is used with almost everything.

The student must be willing to learn new things and also show initiative to learn new things. An interest in coding could also be useful at this company.

The city and country As for the city and country the student must be ok with extreme weather. The winters are cold, long and dark and the summers are also quite cold, but short and with lots of sun hours. In June the sun doesn’t go down for the whole month. But don’t worry, it sounds worse than it actually is! The nature is beautiful and there are some quite unique sightings here. For example, in the winter it is possible to see the northern lights and in the summer the sun doesn’t go down for a few weeks which is called, the midnight sun.

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I ’m so happy you ’re happy - All About Eve

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Bodø, May 13th, 2018

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SUMMARY SUMMARY AND AND

CONCLUSION For my last internship I decided that I wanted to do this abroad. Since I have Norwegian blood and speak the language already I chose this Norway.

After some research on internet and help from teachers I came across Seria which is located in Bodø. I applied and after a call I got the good news that I could come and have an internship at Seria.

After lots of preparations I finally flew to Norway to live here for five months. While my stay in Norway and with Seria I have learned a lot of new things. I got to try many different assignments which made it very interesting and exciting to work here. I have for example made portrait pictures of employees and designed a corporate identity. Beside some designers work I also learned a lot about marketing. I have made an article that has a good SEO and comes up on the first page of Google Search and learned how to make a design work for the target group too.

This internship has been very good to me. I have learned a lot about myself, such as that I can handle to live in a strange country. But I also learned a lot of new things about my profession.

I got a very clear image of what my job could be after I finish my study and I got a lot to think of about about what I really want with my future. But thanks to this internship (and also my previous internships) I know what I am capable of and what I like and don’t like.

Vi sees igjen Bodø, ha det bra!

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Keiservarden, May 13th, 2018

Seria