I came into the 3rd year after transferring from Furniture design. I had very little experience in the digital design world. All work that I had produced had been practical; hand drawn designs and cutting lists. I had some basic CAD experience in sketchup but I felt as though I lacked in this area.

This year I have learnt how to use Adobe indesign, adobe XD, Illustrator and solidworks. Within the first 3 months I had already got to grips with Indesign and was able to produce a book. It was quite a difficult transition with the pandemic and limited sessions, and most was self-taught, watching what felt like hundreds of hours of YouTube tutorials. Once I got to grips with indesign, I moved on to solidworks. My tutor helped at first and again, I watched several youtube tutorials to catch up to my peers.

All the work and progress this year within digital design has paid off. I’ve gone from feeling very overwhelmed in certain areas to being able to do things very easily. A lot of what I have learnt has been transferable in other packages. This is helped with being more efficient with my work load and time, especially with trying to juggle two young children and homeschool during the pandemic.

With the skills that I have learnt this year; With designing the blog, producing 3D design CAD drawings and preparing for practice interviews… It all helped with securing a job within design. It took some hard work, I can’t tell you how many jobs I applied for and my application was never even opened. The real world taught me that if you don’t put the time in to making your work stand out from others then you likely won’t be seen. Even if you do put the time in, it’s extremely competitive to get a job within design. Despite it’s difficulties I was chosen out of hundreds of applicants for a 3D bathroom designer position. I think the main reason for securing the position was my portfolio. Had I not complied all of my work together to show my capabilities easily to the interviewer, I doubt I would have gained the position.

It’s only my second week but I’ve already learnt so much. I met my first clients today and was able to show them the design I had been working on. What they initially wanted had changed, however I’ve got to grips with the CAD package I use at work, thanks to the transferable skills from solid works and sketch-up and was able to make their changes quite quickly.

Reflecting on this year, I never thought that I would have a career before the degree even came to an end! I wasn’t really sure of what to do next, or what position I really wanted to go in to. I just knew I wanted to design. I get a great deal of satisfaction when designing and watching a product go from initial idea, right through to finished product. I kept my options open. I applied for varying positions and even sent a ucas application for teacher training, to keep that an option too. I’m quite happy with the position I am in now though and even have the opportunity to become executive designer within 12 months. They’ve paid for my training courses in different software packages which will help build my knowledge and experience even more! Here are some of the fun things that I’ve done within the two weeks I’ve been there (It’s very fast paced!)