Placement guest speaker- John Lewis
Iain Ewing, the head of design at John Lewis, spoke about how they work in the studio at John Lewis, there are a team of 16 designers, small for the amount of work they have t produce so they do value the student placements, they don’t see them as placement students but as employees.
He spoke about what they want from us...
Technical skills
- Creative talent
- Computer skills (CAD)
- Artistic ability
When he says computer skills, he expects the basics and some advanced techniques but companies are aware that you are only 2nd year students and you have a lot to learn whilst on placement, that’s the point of going into industry, to experiment see what you like and what you don’t.
Attitude
- Be open/brave
- Be proactive
- Be organised ad plan
- Be professional
Creativity
- Be bold when getting across ideas and sharing.
- Be curious- always be looking around for information and what u can do with that information, and we are expected to always be switched on.
- Be creative
Some key things
- Talk a lot
- Be passionate
- Work hard
- Love design
Although this talk was aimed at fashion students in our placement conference I think it has given me an overall view of what employers in the creative field are wanting rom us nothing that really surprises me has come up so it makes me confident that I am on the right track.
