During my final year studying BDes Hons Graphic Design and Illustration at Belfast School of Art, I was given the opportunity to work part time at Kaizen Brand Evolution. I finished my degree and completed my end of year show at the start of June and I have been working full time at Kaizen Brand Evolution ever since! It is amazing to complete my studies and start a full time design job before I have even graduated. I have always been a jack of all trades when it comes to art and design (I still love fine art too!) but I realised I wanted to specialise in branding when I completed my placement year in a branding studio – so a year later to get a full time job in branding, is a dream come true. The great thing about KBE is the team, I fitted in and was welcomed straight away – they even gave me a photo of my cat Pumpkin in a frame to put on my desk! (you can follow Pumpkin on Instagram!)

In the past month I have got stuck in, working on a very wide range of projects. I have got to work with big clients and small local businesses. I have even had the opportunity to speak to and meet clients myself which is something I have never experienced before – it’s also something I could not have imagined myself being able to do this time one year ago!

One of the highlights so far for me has been my illustration skills being recognised and put to use. I got to work with Ryan, our Design Director, on the Down Royal logo update, seeing this rolled out in the Ulster Tatler and on Billboards around Belfast has been incredible!

At KBE each persons skills are recognised and you are given the opportunity to grow in any area you choose! For me, at the moment I am just developing my design skills in general – so I get to work on a bit of everything!

One thing I really enjoy is getting to be involved in research and brand concepts for clients, I think this is an amazing process – to design a brand’s logo, language, imagery and work it up to be presented. I think it is a great thing for me to be involved in as I learn a lot from the process every time I do it! The results that come from branding for businesses is eye opening – branding really does work wonders!

While working at KBE I have also got to work with our sister company Kaizen Weddings, so I have designed a lot of wedding stationery which has been great, I have even seen some of my designs get foil blocked! Recently I went to the Quirky Wedding Fair with Kaizen Weddings which was great because I got to help design our stand and help guide future brides on their stationery needs!

I think working here full time for a month has helped me develop as a junior designer already. I get to be involved in a lot of projects, it is such a great privilege for a junior to be trusted with work (I do get great guidance from the other designers!). It is great to work with people who inspire me to become a better designer and who are involved and up to date in the design world! At Kaizen Brand Evolution it is so important to attend design events and keep up to date with design trends, so that we are constantly evolving as designers (no matter how long we have been designers for!)

I look forward to the future and seeing where my journey with KBE will take me! By future I mean next week – I can’t wait to see what the next branding project is!