I found out about WPA Pinfold's design academy through a friend. I'd never really heard of this studio before but the design academy sounded like a really good experience.
What is the Design Academy?
"Our Design Academy programme is a fantastic career opportunity for graduates that helps bridge the gap between university and working in the design industry.
On a 6-month paid placement as a Junior Designer, you will join one of our multi-disciplinary teams, specialising in: Brand Identity, Brand Communications, Digital Design, Brand Packaging, or Retail Design.
Graduates go through an induction, learning and personal development programme that helps them build up their expertise and confidence.
Each graduate is assigned a mentor and they work with our teams on live projects, whilst also carrying out personal assignments and undertaking specialist training."
After looking at what it actually is it sounds very promising. To have a 6 month paid placement would be very helpful over the summer and it would mean I could stay in Leeds like I planned to. Also I really liked the idea that they would teach you new things that you wanted to learn more about. They held a taster event and portfolio surgery so I decided to sign myself up to go.
I attended the event and was a bit baffled if I'm honest. We were sat down to have a presentation, to what I thought was going to tell us about the placement opportunity, but they proceeded to brag about all the awards they win for their work. It felt like they were trying to sell themselves to us, which I appreciate you might need to do this for a client. But having looked at their work already and attending the event showed my interest enough without them blabbing on for a good hour about their various design effectiveness awards. The bit that was interesting and relevant about their design academy was cut short at the end with a few words from people had done the academy.
After this we were split into groups for group portfolio surgeries, this was a nerve-wracking but interesting experience because it meant that I got to see other people's portfolios from different institutions. I didn't really get much feedback for my portfolio, other than I could talk about my work confidently so I was a bit disappointed about that, to not get any constructive criticism. I left the event feeling a bit odd and unvalued. It would be a fantastic experience but some of the people working there left me feeling a bit cold. We were told we might hear back if we were selected so I shall see what happens.
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