It has been an interesting four months or so. A steep learning curve in many regards. I am currently working in a design/prepress place where (unfortunately) the design is fairly template driven so the steepness hasn’t been so much on the physical design aspect where I would genuinely like it to be – but very much in the work environment. As some of you already know, it’s not exactly job I’d hoped I’d get straight out of finishing my design degree but…

Let me share some things I’ve learnt:

• Never, ever underestimate the value of good colleagues. It makes everything so much more bearable
• Asserting yourself (when appropriate) is okay, good and healthy
• Always recognise and honor the immense value of a company who places high priority on taking care of their staff (Ergo you were and are amongst the cream of the crop – now morph into a design studio please and take me on!)
• How to operate a digital press (2 kinds actually), laminator, programmable guillotine, shrink wrapper, drill punch
• Much improved knife skills (Scalpels and metal rulers friends! Nice not nasty!)
• Better understanding of paper and paper grammage/stock etc.
• The secret joy in watching the plastic shrivel when you shrink-wrap something
• Keep tabs on your pay
• The importance of correctly designed fonts
• A full day goes very quickly
• Task Lists are ALWAYS fun to tick off
• Some jobs (as in tasks) just suck, and always suck, but they have to be done so you just get on with it
• I am more detail focused than I even realised – I think this may have developed further over the last year, so much so that I have been told several times to ‘Stop being so anal and just get on with it’.
• The later you eat lunch, the quicker the rest of the afternoon goes, sometimes it is only by necessity
• Phones are not the scourge, they are actually quite useful
• Questions = faster learning, smarter doing