Personal Development Planning – Companies I would like to work for

At this point in my year I am starting to consider companies that I would like to work for during my placement year, which would be my 3rd year of study. I am thinking big, and would like to work for major design companies that partake in interesting promotional projects where I can learn a lot about my chosen profession as I feel it is important to learn on the job.

Pentagram is one of the top design agencies and has bases in London, New York, San Francisco, Austin and Berlin. It has completed work for prestigous companies such as Christian Leboutin, Penguin, The Savoy, 21st Century Fox and Boots. There portfolio of work spans 5 decades, and they employ one or more of their 19 practitioners to attend to clients. I would like to work for Pentagram as they focus on everything in the world of design; from magazines to books to advertising fashion.

The Chase is a graphic design company based in Manchester and Preston. Whilst at high school, I completed a weeks work experience at this agency which I found to be very interesting and I enjoyed the work I did, therefore going back to get involved in more projects would be a great experience. It has created design work for Adidas, Natural Source and stamps for the Royal Mail. The company has won many awards such as the prestigious Pencil award.

Magpie Studio is based in London, where they speak in black and white but think in colour. The studio placed 6th in the UK by design week Creative Survey and has worked for solid companies such as channel 4, BAFTA and the Houses of Parliament. Their design work is minimal yet innovative, using negative space well and a lack of overpowering colours. I feel this would be an interesting experience and I would be able to work in London which is full of design inspiration and a different lifestyle.

APE inc is a design agency based in London which works with graphic design and photography, which interests me as photography is a hobby that I really enjoy. The company has produced work for the likes of Nike, BBC and various book and publishing designs. The work interests me as it ranges from simple to detailed and uses a variety of media. Again being in London would be a great experience for me and I would like to learn a lot more about my passion.

Planning for my personal development

 

Today in our seminar we completed this personal learning plan to help kick off our personal development.

Introduction to Personal Learning Planning

In our seminar today we were introduced to Personal Development Planning, which is the ability to reflect upon skills in order to develop and refine the working practice. This idea of addressing the pros and cons of individual learning allow us to improve our problems and recognize our strengths by identifying how to overcome the various obstacles throughout the design process.

We looked at this practice as described by four designers: Kolb, Schon, Baud and Eraut. They pledged the practices of:

Experimental Learning model:
-Concrete experience
-Observation and reflection
-formation of abstract concepts

Reflective Practice:
-Thoughtfully considering experience
-Applying knowledge to practice
-organisational learning

Problem Based Learning:
-Student centered learning
-Challenges
-Collaboration
-Tutors as learning facilitators

Informal Learning
-knowledge created through informal learning

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I will use this section of my blog to record and plan my time and complete regular SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) to address my needs of improvement. If I feel I need to then I will create an action plan and a timetable to balance my time between university work, recreation and relaxation. This will help me to be more organised and address where I am achieving and lacking, which will help me through my studies this year. I will also use thiis blog space for research, planning and situations to do with my 3rd year placement; this includes working towards my CV, portfolio and my research into companies that I would like to work for.