Who better to hear about Next Gen. than from some of our previous interns? Find out what they learnt and enjoyed most about the experience.
What was the most valuable thing you learnt during your internship?
That in reality, everyone is just making it up as they go along. As soon as I got that in my head, I stopped worrying if people were judging what I was doing and feeling like an unqualified imposter and started putting forward my ideas. RY values ideas and input from everyone and everywhere – whether you’re an intern or a Design Director. It sounds cheesy, but if you work hard and put yourself out there, you can really do anything at RY. (It’s the reason I’ve stuck around so long. That, the brilliant people, and the fact dogs are welcome in the studio).
What was your favourite memory of being an intern at RY?
It’s a toss-up between lugging a giant sign across Brighton Beach for a recycling campaign, one of our colleagues getting sh*t on by a seagull shortly afterwards... Or, helping to run ‘The Data Dollar Store’. It was a pop-up shop-turned-social-experiment we did at Old Street Station to make people think about value of their data and why they should protect it. Capturing the public’s reactions to our concept first hand was a really memorable experience. (See the film we made about it here).
What was the most valuable thing you learnt during your internship?
So much! But one that I still try to follow is that being an intern means you can go wild! Speak up, don't limit your creative thinking because you're in a professional environment. You've come into this without the baggage of budget, rules, limitations and being overly familiar with potential clients or how things work. It means your ideas are unrefined which is great because the team are there to help and trim it down. Better to cast the net wide than limit your creative output. Come as you are, be a sponge and you'll find yourself much happier!
What was your favourite memory of being an intern at RY?
It's a little sad but making teas for the teams (don't really get to do it anymore)! Though I should have kept it to the team I was working with at the time, I couldn't stop myself from getting orders from everyone on the floor. This meant I could peek over people's shoulders to see what they were working on, connect with designers, directors, and creatives in a much more casual way. It's hard to pass up a chat with a curious intern who's handing them a tea! Those six months working at RY really gave me the confidence and curiosity to jump into the freelance world with little hesitation. Now I'm currently at my dream job and I'm so thankful for the experience.
What was the most valuable thing you learnt during your internship?
Time… being at a ‘creative’ uni, college or school you have all the time (deadline time) to get it to work, as well as those last-minute all-nighters you pull because you “forgot” you can mould to your own brief anyway… HOWEVER, time is not always your friend in the ‘real world’, you don’t have weeks or months to get an idea back to a client, or to digest the brief. My internship at RY really taught me the meaning of “think fast”. How to bounce ideas around the whole project team and learn from those around you who’ve been in this game for a few years, and let your idea evolve in a few hours/days as a-pose to weeks!
What was your favourite memory of being an intern at RY?
Oh wow, erm, tough one, because I’m still here, 5 and a half years later, so my intern and not-intern time have all rolled into one. The people make RY great, so I guess the fact I never really felt like an intern that was doing a short stint at RY, but I just became part of the team (or family if we're going down that route).
What was the most valuable thing you learnt during your internship?
Being involved in the whole design process from conceptualising an idea right through to implementation. It gave me a better flavour of how these projects work and helped me have an eye for detail when working on client facing and internal projects. The internship gave allot more confidence and made me realise everyone is always learning, whatever part of their journey they may be on.
What was your favourite memory of being an intern at RY?
A route I was involved in was chosen for a GSK publication. It was a great opportunity to incorporate illustration (which was my stronger skill at the time) within layout and really helped enhance my typography and editorial skills. I still have the photos of the project now and makes me feel nostalgic when I occasionally come across it.
