Meet Ryan

24 August 2020

“Woah this is amazing, I’m loving every moment of this.”

What were you doing before you started the course with Create Jobs?

I was working full-time in a cinema this was after my degree in animation.

I was in the process of working on my showreel and applying for other creative jobs.

It was through WorkPlace Stratford that I found out about flipside.

How was your experience on the course? Did you gain anything from it?

It was really good for me. I enjoyed my time on the course because of the way that the course was structured. We spent the first two weeks on personal development and reflection.

Before we even worked on the projects we sat down with Ped and Priya and we went through many different mindsets and workshops. We discussed the mindsets and attitudes we should have when going into these organisations

There was an element of self-reflection and we had a safe space to talk about things that were quite personal and reflect on things and it was such a healthy environment.

Especially after leaving the cinema where I didn’t really have the space to speak so freely about certain things and the contrast of the coming onto Flipside where we were discussing such thought-provoking things.

That was one of my favourite parts of Flipside.

Another part that I really enjoyed was being able to speak to all the different people who work at these agencies. Being able to sit down with some of the designers, researchers, UX Designers, Creative Directors and Managers. They were so accessible, you could literally go up to them and speak to them at any time. Everyone was super helpful and supportive.

I gained loads from it. Through Flipside I had the chance to work on creative practices, mindsets and how to use those mindsets different scenarios.

Because we had to create and design a potential digital product for our brief, it was utilising the different skills that I hadn’t used. For example, I hadn’t done much to do with research and going out and interviewing, so this was the first time I got to go out and do some work like that. It was such a useful skill I think.

I learnt a lot about active listening and how to really listen to what someone is saying. I learnt about listening to understand instead of listening to respond.

How did the course impact your life both personally and professionally?

I came out of the course equipped with loads of new skills.

Flipside, allowed me to be in a Healthier environment mentally, which has helped me learn to be more reflective in a positive way. I'm able to have richer conversations with people.

What did you do after the course and what are you doing now?

Professionally, since Flipside thing has just been amazing. Through Flipside I was offered a 3-month digital design internship at one of the agencies that we had worked with during the programme - The BIO Agency. The Head of Strategy at BIO at the time asked me if I wanted to come along whilst we were still on the course.

I was able to sit down with different members of the cx, design and research team and then ultimately choose where I wanted to work for the rest of the 3 months. I ultimately chose Design because that’s what closely aligned to where I wanted to be in the end. But I found all of the conversations I had in cx and research really useful.

Even after the internship ended BIO still allowed me to use the space to create a portfolio.

Now I currently work as a Full-Time Junior Designer at Designit. I’m having such a good time learning from all the other designers here.