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I was given simple tasks to do during the first couple of weeks at Burobraak, such as removing a background from a series of photos using photoshop or editing the format of a presentation file. This allowed me to reacquaint myself with Adobe software including Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop however I felt like I wasn't challenged or learning new things such as Blender or After Effects. After bringing this up with my boss, I realised that I would need to spend much longer at Burobraak in order to be part of the exciting upcoming projects they have in mind. During the next three months though the projects that I was working on wouldn't require the skills I wanted to work on so I will have to learn and practice these tools in my own time.

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Eye Magazine: Article about data visualisations

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Eye Magazine: Article about data visualisations

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Building resilience & accepting rejection

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Building resilience & accepting rejection

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On the 24th of September, 2 days before the DPS year started, my offer to start a well-paid 9-month design internship at Ernst & Young a consulting company based in Canary Wharf was withdrawn and I was spun completely off balance. For 4 weeks I was certain that all the hard work I had put into getting this role was worth it and now that I didn't have this security or peace of mind, I was completely disheartened and exhausted. The reasoning behind the withdrawal was because of the unstable economy and recession that was looming at the time. I now had to make the time-pressured and tough decision of either going back to uni or taking the DPS year without an internship. The idea of starting from square one and applying to places all over again, which I had done over the whole summer, was miserable. However, going back to uni without having done any mental preparation felt like a waste of a final year where I would just feel like I'm catching up the whole time and not being in control let alone enjoying it, so doing DPS was the best choice. I took some time to recover from that setback and I hope I can recover faster when I am faced with rejection again which is an inevitability.

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A screenshot of my internship application file:

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A screenshot of my internship application file:

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A photo of Python code on my laptop as I learnt how to use the AI developer tool, Prodigy

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A photo of Python code on my laptop as I learnt how to use the AI developer tool, Prodigy

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Museum of the Mind

The Museum of the Mind is fascinated by the work of art inside your head. Because nothing is as diverse, unique, powerful and yet so fragile as the human mind. Through its art and cultural programmes, the museum helps to bring mental health and neurodiversity into the open.

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: A (Not So) Global Design Manual for Visual Communication / Caps Lock : How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It

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: A (Not So) Global Design Manual for Visual Communication / Caps Lock : How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It

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I've been going to the library alot at uni the past month and taking out lots of books to read over my DPS year. I want to absorb alot of information on subjects including, Indeginous design, ecology, post humanism, design research, and decolonialist design. I intend to take notes on the books that I think will be relevant to my dissertation subject, so that I am prepared for when I return next september. I'm sure Ill change my subject matter entirely and I hope the books I read will guide me to something I is even more personal and interesting to me.

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I found it hard to choose something to do my SIP on as the brief let us have all the freedom we wanted and I am interested in so many different things. I thought about the things that I struggle with and what came to mind was a fear of failure related to most things and particularly art which resulted in a sort of creation paralysis/procrastination. So my first idea which I wrote a proposal for, was a project that forced me to create something new every day and document this and work on it further, letting go of the idea of it ever being fully complete.

BUT as I was writing this proposal at the library at uni, I turned to Pinterest for ideas on what kind of outcome I would like for this project, and I stumbled upon a data visualisation by a designer called Giorgia Lupi, who happened to be the co-founder of Pentagram. For the past year, I've been fascinated with this niche design discipline and have wanted to explore it further in some way. It's something about organising data using visual tools that I think I would love and excel at. As I saw more and more visualisations I realised that this is what I want to do for my SIP and perhaps in my career. I then looked in the library for books on this subject and realised that a lot of the books related to my course were in this section too and it felt like it was all linked and I had a lot of clarity about what I wanted to do. I don't think I would've found this out about myself or let myself explore this area further without taking the DPS year and going into the library so I'm very grateful for that and I am excited to see what I create for my SIP.

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By the end of October, I had applied to 80 internships in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and New York. I am looking for new placements to start in January where I could go abroad. Wanting to explore working with data in a visual way this year, I realised that I would have to brush up and learn new technical skills such as coding and digital design, so I applied to tech industry internships that would allow me to practice these skills and would expose me to an area of design that I may want to go into after graduation.

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My first few days at Burobraak were very relaxed and I was given some time to settle in without being overloaded with work, however this also meant that I was often bored during the first week and I felt confused as to if I should be doing more but not knowing what. I was told to research the past and current projects that Burobraak was working on and even do a walking trail around a small district in the west of Amsterdam.

The studio was very small with only 1-3 people working there most days making the small studio feel very quiet, which I was expecting before starting however I didnt expect so much Dutch to be spoken during meetings and conversations about design work. This was quite isolating as it was hard to pick up on things through osmosis if I couldnt understand what was being said, unless I asked a direct question. I did feel like through this experience I did learn that I must ask more questions and not be afraid to be a disctraction, but I didnt think Burobraak made this environment easy for that.

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Oost Cast Project walking trail created by Burobraak 

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Oost Cast Project walking trail created by Burobraak 

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I started this blog post assignment after starting my internship at Burobraak in Amsterdam and I found it hard at first to balance reading/writing and also exploring a new city and working full time in the Burobraak office. But I also found my experience of working in a social design agency really influenced what I was writing about and the context I situated my ideas. I enjoyed writing in this way as I felt like I was granted the freedom to express my personal opinions and ideas for something that wasnt marked but hopefully other people would find interesting. I intend to continue writing about design subjects that fascinate me in a professional blog post in the future.