Category: events

5 December 2025

Albert Parker: UX/UI and Brand design (the blur)

For our third session of Baseline Shift this year, we introduced Albert Parker, UX/UI designer, and Brand Lead at Flipside Group, a creative digital agency known for combining strategy with forward-thinking design working with clients like Papa Johns, Coca-Cola, Covent Garden, and NHS England.

The journey into industry

Albert’s path into the design world began at the University of Kent, where he studied Multimedia Technology and Design, a course that blended coding, digital media and design. Even then, he felt pulled between disciplines, experimenting with a range of different projects to discover where he fit. One of these projects was a record label he built with friends, complete with website, events and visual identity. Looking back, he laughs at the aesthetics, but the project revealed something more important – a fascination with how brand and digital connect emotionally, not just visually. This felt particularly relatable to the student audience, as it allows us to reframe the way we look at our early work. Rather than dismissing projects for their rough edges, Albert’s story reminds us to recognise the intention and find value in the meaning behind the choices made.

A placement year at Warner Bros. became Albert’s first real glimpse into the design industry, creating clothing graphics, digital assets and campaign materials which taught him structure, working under pressure, and importantly the experience taught him how to communicate between teams. With the Typography & Graphic Communication course at Reading encouraging teamwork throughout every year of study, it is reassuring to hear that this follows into industry and is a necessary skill to master. This placement year gave Albert the confidence to step into design as a career, leaving with him the knowledge that “even small details matter when you’re part of something bigger”, and with a newfound appreciation for office basement cinemas.

Albert’s record label, ‘Ritual’, set up while he was at University

In-house work

After graduating, Albert joined luxury watch brand Alexander Meerson, an experience he describes as one of his steepest learning curves. Under the guidance of a creative director who prioritised intention over decoration, Albert was consistently asked the question that many students are familiar with from their tutors – “what message are you trying to communicate?”. As the brand grew, so did Albert’s responsibilities. He shaped campaigns, and evolved the identity, as well as creating experiences such as the Designer in Residence series, which invited watch collectors into the process, making the experience for the consumer (or user) feel collaborative and personal. It’s a great reminder that design does not end at an interface but supports the user’s journey and experience from start to finish.

A visual representing his time working in-house at luxury watch designer Alexandre Meerson

The impact of the pandemic

The pandemic was a key turning point for both the company and Albert as a designer. With physical experiences impossible, Albert had the task of replicating the intimacy of luxury retail into a digital environment. He had to consider “not just how a brand looks, but how it behaves and responds”, and it was here, somewhere between branding and digital design, that Albert recognised the blur. Environmental factors continued to make an impact on Albert’s identity as a designer, as when asked to photograph and document client stories in Florida, he was invited to take the controls of a private two-seater plane, flying over the Florida coastline. Travelling became part of his career, absorbing different cultures, contexts, moods and environments, and Albert encouraged this by telling the students, “when you see more, you notice more, and when you notice more, you design with more clarity.”

Digital design including a website and AR experience designed for Alexandre Meerson

Freelancing and co-founding

After several years in-house, Albert turned to freelancing to broaden his horizons. He worked across branding and digital projects, shaping identities for clients including the US-based beauty brand Beaut-Lab, drawing inspiration from the Fluxus art movement and Surrey Hills Coffee, where he built a graphic system from the walking routes their mobile coffee service travelled around. It was great to get an insight into Albert’s thought process behind these designs and, importantly, why they were right for the client. A highlight of this period was co-founding Goldwyres, a ‘productivity candle brand’ rooted in essential oils that improve concentration and function. The process required Albert to apply every aspect of his design thinking, from strategy to packaging to storytelling. Freelancing revealed the joy of experimentation and the value of self-initiated work, but it also reminded Albert how much he missed teams, collaboration and shared momentum. This realisation led him to the next chapter.

Albert’s very own productivity candle brand, GoldWyres

Flipside and the blur

Joining Flipside Group, a digital-first creative agency, Albert stepped into a space where brand and UX sit side by side, a space where he can design “in the blur”. Albert, and the rest of the Flipside team “think of a brand not as a logo or a campaign, but as a living system”. Now Brand Lead, he collaborates daily with strategists, UX designers and developers in a fast-paced, and highly rewarding environment. Albert walked us through Flipside’s process, one that treats brand and digital not as separate stages but as one continuous conversation. A takeaway from this process was that ‘iteration’, the final 10% of the project, takes 90% of the effort, and this is where the line between good and great is crossed.

An example of this approach is Mesch, an energy startup delivering sustainable power to off-grid hospitals in Africa. Albert grounded the identity in clarity and scientific structure, avoiding sustainability clichés. Inspired by hydrogen bonding, the modular system carried through typography, colour, animation and content. Digitally, he prioritised low-energy design principles, from dark mode to restrained layouts, aligning the product with the brand’s environmental purpose. This was a perfect demonstration of “the blur” that Albert references throughout his talk, and something that will no doubt stay with students moving forward.

Digital and brand design for Mesch, that Albert has worked on while at Flipside

Ever-evolving tools

Albert reflected on how tools like Figma have revolutionised the design process, from static PDFs and endless email chains to real-time shared thinking. Everything at Flipside now lives in Figma: workshops, slides, prototyping, animation and even Albert’s own portfolio site. While this collaboration is powerful, a note from Albert was to protect your “quiet space” for exploration, before every idea becomes a group edit. Then came the topic that is on everyone’s mind – AI. Albert approaches it with curiosity but caution, outlining three patterns designers must watch out for: Firstly, “the temptation to overproduce” – more outputs doesn’t always mean better thinking. Secondly, “the great sameness” – AI trained on existing visuals risks a loss of originality, and finally, “the productivity paradox” – more tools can mean less time to think.

For Albert, AI should support, not replace. True creativity comes from human judgment, not the speed of generation. Flipside never uses AI for storytelling or conceptual thinking, “it always has to start with people” and “it always has to serve a purpose”. Albert closed his talk by reminding students that their value lies not in tools, but in how they think. Curiosity, empathy and clarity are the cornerstones of meaningful design, especially within “the blur”.

A visual showing the collaborative nature of both Figma and Flipside

Key takeaways

Brand and digital are no longer separate, great design lives in the overlap so embrace the blur!
Strong design begins with clarity, purpose and understanding, not decoration.
Early work matters for the ideas behind it, even if the execution isn’t perfect, so stay curious and experimental.
Collaboration drives better thinking.
Your value is how you think, skills evolve, tools change, however, human judgment, empathy and clarity remain the core of great design.
Albert’s three guiding principles of great design are: appropriate, distinctive, and simple

– Written and edited by Tommy Molnar

28 November 2025

Carolyne Hill: Identity design

This week we were joined by Carolyne Hill, who shared her honest and inspiring journey through the design industry, all the way from her A levels to her position now as identity designer, creative director and founder of ChillCreate.

Creative journey

Being “made of Brixton”, Carolyne was brought up surrounded by culture and endless creativity – she credits Brixton as her influence for her passions, for the things she’s interested in, and importantly for the things she wants to design and create. While completing her A levels, Carolyne didn’t receive much encouragement to follow her creativity. After expressing an interest in fine art and fashion, Carolyne was met with “don’t do that, you’ll be a starving artist”. Despite this pushback, her interest in people, problem solving, discussions, and debates, set her up nicely for her career in designing for people, and designing for good.

Carolyne’s experience of getting her first job began after seeing a Craigslist ad, knocking on their studio door, being met with laughter as the ad was about five years out of date, and subsequently being invited in. Carolyne left that studio with an internship, showing that sometimes relying on the power of human interaction gets results. The internship saw her designing retail displays and Christmas decorations for department stores, which was the foundation of Carolyne’s career in the creative world, and this acted as a leg up to getting her first design job.

Made of Brixton visual

Learning by doing

One of her first responsibilities as a Graphic Designer was designing Tesco car-park signage, and while Carolyne described this as an unglamorous task, she had a lot of fun as the job allowed her to travel across the country. This environment was fast-paced, and very hands on, learning how to do most things on the job. Carolyne gave students a useful tip, that when you don’t know what you’re doing, “find somebody who does”.

After that first job, Carolyne went travelling, realising the importance of expanding your environment and expanding the network of people around you. She highlights the importance of making use of the network you already have – your cohort, your peers, and your friends. She even noted that in many of the jobs she entered, there were people from her network, and importantly noted ‘that’s your first in’.

Carolyne’s next job was working for a design agency where she designed for a wide array of clients, from the Royal British Legion, to Wimbledon, to Krispy Kreme. While some were great, some didn’t sit right with who Carolyne is and what she believes in, and while this upset her, it was also the trigger that made her think “what’s next”. While working for this agency, Carolyne always made sure to do things for herself, like poetry readings, club fliers and organising events, constantly building her network. When Carolyne had finally had enough of the ‘corporate work’, her mentor, Jon Daniels’s advice was ‘just go and do it, Kaz, you can do it’.

List of some of the clients Carolyne worked with while at the agency

Finding your spark

After feeling like she had drifted from her roots, and lost touch with what brings her joy, Carolyne created ChillCreate – her personal brand, and childhood ambition combining fashion, identity and positivity. Carolyne was proud of not only doing something that she wanted to do, but also something she was told was ‘not for her’. While she did enjoy fashion, Carolyne soon realised that what she truly cared about was sustainability and the “people aspects to life”. Carolyne found that she wanted to meet other designers, other women, other people that were a bit more like her.

ChillCreate as a fashion brand

Brixton House

One of the first major projects Carolyne took on after establishing ChillCreate was the identity for the theatre, Brixton House, an opportunity that felt especially meaningful given her roots. Knowing how deeply the area shaped her, Carolyne approached the pitch not only as a designer but as someone who understood the community the theatre serves. She joined forces with two collaborators to form a small but powerful team, creating a bold and energetic proposal that spoke to Brixton’s spirit. Carolyne highlighted that “you need a good team to pull off a good big project”.

Winning the project marked a turning point; it was the moment she realised she could hold her own competing for large-scale work. Working closely with architects and the theatre’s leadership, she helped influence decisions far beyond the logo, shifting interiors, injecting colour, and pushing for a more vibrant expression of the building’s identity. Today, Brixton House remains one of her closest clients, referring to herself as “a brand guardian of sorts”.

Brixton House’s brand identity on display

The World Reimagined

Following Brixton House, Carolyne pitched for another ambitious commission, The World Reimagined, a UK-wide public art and education project exploring Britain’s relationship with transatlantic histories. The brief came through a trusted connection, highlighting again how networks and conversations often open unexpected doors. Although the project was complex and difficult to grasp at first, the creative concept evolved from a desire to express learning, connection, and shared narratives.

Working with a strategist, Carolyne developed an identity centred on a globe-like form that symbolised strands of knowledge coming together. What made the pitch successful wasn’t only the visual strength, but the way the idea carried meaning, with the symbol described as a shared vessel for understanding. In Carolyne’s words, “it was a wonderful project to work on… it went round the whole of the UK”, with some of the globes even landing here on University of Reading’s campus.

The World Reimagined’s brand identity on display

Africa Fashion

Carolyne’s work on the V&A’s Africa Fashion exhibition marked a significant moment in her career, bringing together her love of design, culture and storytelling. Collaborating with a young Black-owned architecture practice, Carolyne created “an identity which wasn’t cliché,” as she “didn’t want to trivialise it or make it seem lesser than”. This is an important takeaway for students on designing respectfully and considerately. The team drew inspiration from architectural forms and traditional entryways, developing a system of arches and bold structures that honoured the artistry behind the garments and objects on display. For Carolyne, the project reaffirmed how design can elevate narratives that deserve greater visibility, while also showing how research, sensitivity and collaboration can transform an exhibition into a powerful cultural statement.

V&A Africa Fashion exhibition’s brand identity on display

The Missing Thread

Carolyne’s exhibition work allows her to combine her graphic design experience with her long-standing interest in social history. The Missing Thread at Somerset House, which examined Black contribution to British fashion, pushed her to work collaboratively with curators, architects and young designers. The project challenged her team to visually “disrupt” traditional formats, and one of the defining elements emerged unexpectedly from an intern’s experimental, almost throwaway sketch. For Carolyne, it became a reminder that “all ideas are valid”, and that open creative dialogue is essential.

The Missing Thread exhibition’s brand identity on display

Thank you Carolyne, for sharing such an honest and uplifting look into building a career shaped by passion and curiosity.

Advice for young designers

All ideas matter
Design a life you love
You can always reflect on where you are and think about what’s next
Design a life, not just a portfolio
Prioritise what aligns with your values
Design for Chiropractors and Osteopaths, your back will thank you!
“Ask for the brand guidelines… ask to see what was done before. When you know what was done before, you understand the standard you have to respond to.”

– Written by Sam Buxton

– Edited by Tommy Molnar

21 November 2025

Kate Dawkins: Projection design

To kick off this year’s Baseline Shift sessions we welcomed Kate Dawkins, founder of Kate Dawkins Studio, who shared her fascinating experiences with projection design, speaking about her journey as a graphic design student into her role now.

A designer’s journey

Growing up in a deeply creative household with a father who built furniture and a mother who had a ‘dab hand at making beanbag frogs’, Kate was always drawn to creative fields, in particular the arts, wanting to become a famous ballet dancer. From Helvetica curtains, to drawing with a spirograph, Kate from a young age was curious about patterns, formations and colour. Starting out as a graphic design student, her world then was full of typography, grids and composition, with a strong focus on ‘clarity, order and storytelling on a page’. Her degree was very much about learning the rules about graphic design. She then went on to undertake a master’s degree at Central St Martin’s in visual communication which was an exciting time for creative expression and pushing the boundaries, particularly regarding music and emerging technologies.

‘Curiosity pulled me forward’; there was a real question on what happens when design moves and this is where she began to look at the role of the viewer. This curiosity took Kate into the realm of moving graphics in the form of title sequences, broadcast graphics, commercials and music videos. This is where she would create club visuals for ‘Sound of the Asian underground’ and, more notably, where she would be scouted by American photographer David LaChappelle on her take for Elton John’s ‘Are you ready for love’, finding herself working on a massive live production creating the pop art visuals for Elton John’s Las Vegas show in 2004.

Elton John stage visuals

Designing for live events

Kate proposed factors to consider when designing for live audiences. She expressed you could be designing for 80,000 people in a stadium or one at home sat watching tv, acknowledging people experience live events in different ways; but how do you reach them all? She highlighted 3 key components, the first being instant impact, which is all about creating bold visuals anyone can grasp in seconds. The second was emotional resonance, what emotions do you want to evoke from the audience in that moment? And the last was deeper meaning, looking at symbolism and detail that lingers afterwards. An example of this was her project for remembering WWI Passchendaele. This was the first building projection Kate undertook for the commemoration of the 100 years since the Battle of Passchendaele. Here they created a giant typographic poem by Siegfried Sassoon projected onto the building, breaking up into layers to hit these three components of design.

Projection for Passchendaele

Storytelling at scale

‘At scale storytelling is what carries you from first sketch to the live show’. Kate begins with research and listening to the client, as well as gaining context for the project, the background and history. Moving on to expressing this visually, Kate looks at concepts and storyboarding, crucially through initial sketches. The next stage looks at rehearsal and refinement – depending on how technology is acting up on the day requires the need for onsite technical changes right up to delivery. Something impactful Kate mentioned was ‘One chance, no do overs’ – even reading this quote gives that sense of adrenaline rush when you have one chance to get it right on the day!

Kate’s concept storyboarding

A glance at a case study

One of the many inspiring case studies Kate walked us through was her involvement in the ‘Islamic Arts Biennale’. Here Kate mentions it’s not only the audience you’re designing for in the seat, but the cultural and architectural impact of a space. Starting with a complete blank canvas, an old airport terminal, Kate worked together with architects to design the space. The task was to ‘create an abstract introductory film that set the emotional tone – communicating both the heavenly and earthly aspects of the exhibition’. This was combined with studying and portraying centuries worth of history through the artifacts, looking at how to portray their identity through materials and textures. This translated into a piece of moving images, achieving an exhibition that felt ‘contemporary and timeless’, as well as encompassing the emotional journey of the audience.

Exhibition for Islamic Arts Biennale/Almadar

The power of people

Collaboration is something Kate valued to be most important when it comes to any project. Although her team in the studio is made up of only two people, it takes a lot to get a live production up and running, requiring involvement from producers, editors, runners, choreographers etc. Kate expresses the role of design here is to ‘lead, listen and bring clarity out of complexity’ because live events cannot be conducted alone.

List of job roles involved in the collaborative process

Technology with purpose

Technology serves a crucial purpose, with tools being an important part of the process.

The beginning of Kate’s career used predominantly analogue techniques, with even the Elton John music video being created in this way. Kate mentions computers can feel quite soulless and highlights the need to keep tactile elements – she ensures that there are always materials to experiment with that can be found around her studio. Kate used this in a live event for the 2012 Olympics, where she tore up fanzines and abandoned digital outputs for a Sex Pistols piece. Something that resonated with students was ‘We go to a lot of effort to make things that most people won’t even see, but I’ll know and that’s important’

Sex Pistols piece in 2012 Olympics

Thank you, Kate, for an inspiring talk into this world of live event design!

Advice for young designers

Start small, think big
Learn to love the dark – lean into enjoying what the project could be
Build skills across disciplines
Collaboration is everything, best work happens together
Design for emotion, not just aesthetics
Protect your curiosity

– Written by Amirah Yasin

– Edited by Tommy Molnar

30 May 2025

Gavin Strange: Motion Design

For our penultimate Baseline Shift session of the year, we were joined by the talented Gavin Strange, Director and Designer for Bristol’s Aardman, and “a passion project pursuer under the alias, JamFactory”.

Creative journey

Gavin began by emphasising how important moving to Bristol 20 years ago was in his journey as a young creative, explaining how rich in art and culture the city is. Alongside Bristol being a pertinent source of inspiration, Gavin also highlighted how important his children are for keeping him motivated and creatively-engaged. Producing fantastically vibrant invites for their birthday parties and even creating them their own Duplo pinball machine, Gavin stresses that “the more you do, the easier it is to stay creative” even if it’s “for the sake of it”.

Playful family projects

Aardman

Aardman is a Bristol-based, stop-frame animation specialist studio that most notably animates productions such as Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. Gavin first joined the studio as a Senior Digital Designer while continuing to make passion project films and motion graphics under the alias, JamFactory. Eventually, Gavin’s love for filmmaking bled into his work at Aardman, leading to him officially becoming Director and Designer for the studio. Gavin resonates with the human-natured ethos of Aardman, finding value in working with other humans, opting for “human intelligence” as opposed to “the two letters” (referring to AI).

Showcase of characters animated by Aardman

Gavin articulated how much he enjoys the variety that comes with working for Aardman, for example, in one project he might be making a “stop-frame, live-action, motion-graphic, rap video, title sequence” for the OFFF Festival in Barcelona, and in another, he’s working with “real-life slime and magnetically-puppeteered eyeballs” to produce programme transition cards for BBC Two. The dual role Gavin has at Aardman means that when he’s not directing, he’s designing, for instance, making motion graphics animation scenes featuring Wallce and Gromit’s smart gnome character ‘Norbot’ for their 2024 Christmas special, hiding jokes and gags in segments of the scenes. This way of working is great for Gavin as it allows him to contribute to both creative outlets.

BBC Two slime programme transition card

Working at Aardman also means the scale of the brief can be large, specifically as large as Battersea Power Station, where Gavin and his team projected animations of Wallace and Gromit for a project titled ‘Wallace and Gromit, shot on iPhone‘ onto the front of the building. The animation was entirely shot on an iPhone 16 Pro Max and was in collaboration with Apple. The projection was a whopping 101 metres tall and was shown every night of December 2024. Gavin related all of these projects back to his philosophy of “never knowing where things will take you” and “keeping your tools sharp”, stating that while we all have responsibilities during the day, as creatives, we should allow these responsibilities to spawn seeds of ideas to expand upon at night – which is precisely what Gavin has done for the past 25 years with JamFactory.

‘Wallace and Gromit, shot on iPhone’

Passion projects

Outside of animating and designing, Gavin also has a vibrant passion for combining MIDI audio signals from his retro gaming gear into real-time visuals. Most recently, Gavin created a title-sequence for his friend in Dusseldorf, Germany and performed a “silly musical interlude” live at the event. Gavin mentioned that before pushing himself to expose his passion projects to an audience, he “was so preoccupied with worrying about what others were thinking, [he] was stopping [him]self from pushing forward”. Gavin has even written a motivational book ‘Do Fly‘ – something his English teacher would ‘never ever deem as being part of the plan’. This anecdote of believing in your own ability and pushing yourself to do the unexpected, is something that resonated with many of the students listening.

Gavin’s motivational book ‘Do Fly’

Creating your own space

Gavin emphasised the importance of carving out and creating your own space as a creative to make things happen both physically and digitally. He offered students the valuable advice; “you won’t stand out unless you’ve told someone what you’re capable of”, and while it is important to display your primary skills (those that you’re most capable at), it is equally important to showcase your secondary and tertiary skills. Gavin highlighted his maximalist outlook of presenting work; advising that we choose a method of presenting that represents us as designers. Students were left with one last piece of advice; “if I find my voice, then my audience will find me”.

Key takeaways

Don’t wait to be asked.
Seek creative satisfaction wherever you can get it.
Less thinkering, more tinkering.
Be productive, not precious.
Make portfolio full of work you want to be hired for.
Always keep your tools sharp.

– Written by Oscar Dudley

26 May 2025

Reading Alumni: Multidisciplinary Design

This week, we welcomed back four Reading alumni to talk about their diverse experiences and insights from life after University.

Luke Carter

Being courageous

Luke Carter started our alumni talks by focusing on the key reflections that graduating designers should be conscious of. Luke started as a junior digital designer, but then gradually moved into video editing before making the big shift to starting his own video editing company, BraveBrand. Freelancing wasn’t a smooth uphill journey, especially when he faced challenges bringing his business online during COVID-19. However, these challenges ultimately prompted a shift into a different area of branding: brand consultancy.

Luke’s advice to the students

Be the right creative

Choosing to be the right kind of creative is a point that left students reflecting after the talk. The debate centred around whether you are a creative who brings energy and attitude to your work to produce engaging outcomes, or someone stuck doing the same thing on a loop. It is important to note here that Luke refrains from becoming the second kind of creative but emphasises that if you do, it’s crucial to “recognise what part of the creative industry makes you light up with passion”. He also highlighted that “the difference between those who feel lost or creatively stiffed and those that feel a deep sense of joy in their work is driven by something deeper”.

“Two kinds of creative”

Real world advice

A question posed by Richard Leider, which Luke often quotes to himself, is: “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” This question inspires Luke to be courageous, ensuring he is living his life’s purpose without overthinking his decisions. He explains, “It’s about choosing any path and moving forward, instead of worrying what path you will take … pick one and commit fully. All roads lead home”. This message of courage and commitment is something students can take forward as they navigate their own journeys.

“You find it along the path”

Jannah Holder

Choosing to freelance

During her time at university, Jannah juggled a creative internship, a part-time job, running a business, and content creation, all while completing an intensive degree course. Jannah graduated in 2023, and not wanting to become complacent and reliant on the salary and structure of a nine-to-five, decided to instead jump straight into freelancing, expanding her existing business, knowing that she always had her degree to fall back on should she need it. Jannah now runs a brand design studio, Digitals by Jannah, specialising in strategy-led development and creation, working internationally with a range of businesses, offering core services such as logos and brand guidelines, to bigger productions such as physical displays, and web/app development.

Different types of content creation by Jannah

Long lasting client connections

A client will often find Jannah through her website and reach out through the enquiry page. Every single client is vetted before agreeing to ensure that they align with her ethos. Jannah gave students some valuable advice, “do not take on every client that comes through, being a yes-man can work against you, as it has for me in the past”. This is not the only lesson that Jannah has passed on through her talk – another is the importance of forming long-lasting, professional relationships with clients especially when freelancing as these connections strengthen your security. Jannah explained that once you have worked with a brand, your name is tied to that work, so a clear strategy should always be considered rather than simply aiming for an aesthetic outcome. This supports the design thinking that is taught within the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, with students required to submit rigorous research, and strategies alongside submitting a final designed outcome.

Branding Jannah worked on for one of her clients, KYRI

What makes me different

One of the highlights of the talk was the section on how you market your services and, importantly, yourself. Jannah made it clear that “learning doesn’t stop after university and education is what sets you apart from others”. Students were relieved to hear that learning about en-dashes, orphans or alignment of text can help them stand out from others. Understanding that the typographic knowledge we gain from the degree is valued by others and considered a unique selling point, is a fantastic takeaway for the students.

Sam Garrett

Showcasing your creativity

Sam opened his talk discussing how his dissertation research informed the branding design for the 2023 Degree show, Flux. This involved experimenting with and developing a modular system for scaling up type, which left him with a more open-minded view of what can be done with fonts. While Sam had mixed feelings about this project, it was great for the students to hear there is value in experimentation, and exploration. Sam made the most of the letterpress studio in the department to create a custom Monogram, that he now uses to identify himself across his socials. This inspired him to expand the font, designing a lowercase set to sit alongside the existing uppercase wood-type (even if he did later find that an existing lowercase sits somewhere in the department’s extensive collection).

Flux 2023 degree show branding

Getting a job

The importance of building your portfolio was highlighted by Sam, finding a way of showcasing your work in a format which is engaging and professional. Sam gave the students a great tip on how to find Design studios, which was to search for ‘studios’ under the following lists of large-scale corporate firms such as Pentagram. Once you have gained a list of studios and browsed through to find ones that would suit you, all that’s left to do is to reach out via email. Sam has sent around 300 emails to different studios, his advice is that sometimes you have to ‘take the hit and keep going’, because persistence will pay off eventually, as it has for Sam with his current role at Utile.

Example project Sam has worked on since being with Utile

Nelly Bridger Morales

Confidence is key

Nelly is a recent graduate coming back to inspire students through her talk, just a year after graduating. Nelly began by highlighting the importance of the degree show as this was where she connected with her current employer. Nelly made the point that visitors will only be spending a few moments at your stand during the degree show, so giving them something like a business card to take away with them can allow them more time to view your work, outside of the short time you have their initial attention. One of the main factors that Nelly attributes getting scouted to is her confidence, the way you choose to interact with others has a huge impact on how employers perceive you. Nelly had done her research prior to the degree show, with an idea of an employer she wanted to make an impact on, and that she did by jumping in on a conversation and asking her target employer to come and view her stand that he had previously missed.

Nelly’s stand at her degree show

Junior designer at TDL

Nelly has started her journey at TDL-creative, an information design company based in London. One of their main focuses is ‘Bid design’, which is a proposal submitted by a company when trying to win a large project. Alongside collaborating with senior designers and leading smaller projects, Nelly is constantly learning new skills and finding opportunities to stand out. It was refreshing for students to hear that the first couple of months of employment were dedicated to training, to fill in the more niche skill gaps that are not covered on the course. The ability to stand out is vital and Nelly stated some skills that TDL look for when searching for talent. These include: a good attention to detail (whether this is looking at en-dashes or alignment), having strong software skills, being able to demonstrate your research and explain your work, having confidence in what you do, and lastly showing curiosity and an explorative attitude.

What stood out to TDL about Nelly

Key takeaways

You don’t need to have it all figured out straight away.
Be clear about your purpose.
The degree show is important – but it’s not your only opportunity to get a job.
Rejections are normal – and not always about your work.
It can be difficult to know your value when you graduate, this comes with experience.
It’s never too late to send an email to gain work experience.
You can never apply for too many jobs.

– Written by Tilly Dobson

14 May 2025

Alex Hambis: Magazine cover design

This week, we were joined by Alex Hambis, Art director for Cosmopolitan magazine. Alex shared his experience in designing magazine covers for some of the biggest Editorial names in the UK.

University and graduation

Starting with studying publishing at Oxford Brookes university, Alex explained how he tailored his university course to be print/magazine leaning. Being pop culture obsessed, this allowed him the freedom to explore such topics in the way he enjoyed reading them, through magazines. After getting a taste for setting up a student magazine whilst at university, post-graduation, Alex started an online magazine, which covered culture and music. This not only allowed him to write about his interests but also gained him free entry to PR events.

A quick tour of the CV

Following his graduation from university, came the hunt for work experience. Alex gave students some valuable advice of being persistent, recommending cold emailing designers and art directors of companies that they would like experience at. Even if some emails end up bouncing back, some will go through, and opportunities could arise from just one reply. Alex hit the ground running by starting with work experience at ‘NME’, a small celebrity magazine. He then applied for a job at Closer magazine, and while he didn’t land that specific job, the company were impressed with his application and his name was passed on, securing him a design internship with a different magazine.

A quick tour of Alex’s CV

The print ladder

After completing a design internship, Alex set his sights on climbing the ladder through the stages of junior designer, mid-weight designer, senior designer, art editor, senior art director, and creative director. While climbing the ladder, Alex dabbled in other fields such as a UX role at Uniqlo, where he began to get involved with photoshoots. Ultimately, Alex missed magazine design, and returned to the world of print, applying for an art director role with little hope of achieving this (having not held this position previously). However, Alex proved himself wrong, and secured the role, propelling his career towards art direction for Attitude, Rolling Stone UK, and now Cosmopolitan.

Selection of Cosmopolitan covers

The current magazine landscape

Alex described magazines to be among the ever-changing media landscape at the moment. Students were interested to hear that for the world of print, design is now more important and powerful than ever, with magazines acting as collectibles just as vinyls are to the world of music. Alex used the phrase ‘cover is king’ – not only do celebrities still want to appear on the front cover, but consumers still want to buy magazines featuring the faces of those they admire. Magazines are and will always be a tangible hero product that the consumer wants to physically hold in their hands.

The current magazine landscape

Designing the cover – what to consider?

It is important to know your audience, and Alex gave students a few key questions to consider when designing the cover:

Where is this being sold? Online? Social media? A shop? Something they want landing on their doorstep?
Who is it being sold to? Is this the older demographic/newer demographic? Or is this being sold to someone who directly wants it? Or someone asking another to buy it for them?
Is it an impulse purchase? Or is this something a consumer comes back to buy weekly/monthly?
Where in the world are you designing for? The US and UK have differences in cover image requirements and demand due to differing target audiences.

Design process for a cover

Running a cover shoot

Alex explained that design needs to be considered right from the start, even as early as shooting the covers. “The cover is always the best shot” – at Cosmopolitan, the cover shoot is run with five or six looks, before being whittled down to the top three, followed by each set of photographs being evaluated for which shot is “the best shot”. Alex advised to “Know your crop” during the photoshoot, considering the future placement of mastheads, cover lines, and required copy.

Running a cover shoot

Digital vs print

Digital-only covers can be a lot more experimental due to the demand for immediate attention while scrolling. This can be seen in the cover on the left featuring a close-up of Charli XCX that makes for an “arresting crop”. In contrast, a cover featuring the same artist that has been designed for print (shown on the right), requires a very different crop due to the inclusion of cover lines, barcodes, dates, and other required elements that are not present on digital-only covers.

Digital vs print cover

Key takeaways

Whenever covers are believed to be ready to go, they can be placed into a fake feed on a phone to evaluate how quickly it grabs your attention while scrolling.
Cosmopolitan suggests alternating typography between their resident serif and sans serif to add visual interest and contrast between cover lines.
Even if you’re mainly a digital designer, print can still really help you hone your craft as it allows the eye to pick up things it wouldn’t on the screen.
Show your point of view! Employers want to see the messy work, the fleshed-out concepts, ideas, and your problem solving.
“The portfolio is way more than a website now”. Be discoverable on socials. 80% to 90% of photographers, illustrators, and designers that Alex seeks out are found on social media.
“Knock on side doors, not just the front door” when looking for work experience and job roles.

Useful links

Sites to find jobs in the creative industry

If You Could Jobs

Design Job Board

The Dots

Magazine inspiration

Stack Magazines

– Written by Amirah Yasin

2 May 2025

Miho Aishima: Branding design

This week, we were joined by Miho Aishima, Design Director at Design Bridge and Partners, for an inspiring Baseline Shift session. Miho shared her expertise in branding and the creative process behind building visual identities, offering a deep dive into a few case studies.

Design Bridge and Partners

Miho has been at Design Bridge and Partners for around six years (previously working at Superunion before their merger) specialising in branding. The team is made up of 90 designers, split across three teams, and while this can appear overwhelming at first, Miho made it clear that there is a lot of inspiration to be found by working around and connecting with other designers.

Not being restricted by a set house style, Design Bridge and Partners works with a range of clients, ranging from packaging for a Mondelez client, to a communications campaign for Heineken, and even to NASA.

Design Bridge and Partners locations

Study and early career

After Miho had completed a degree in economics (despite this not being her passion), she sought a creative path and soon found herself graduating from Central Saint Martins with a BA (Honours) in Graphic Design. This was a time that allowed for a lot of creative exploration, before she began immediately looking for a job. Within a year of getting her first job after graduation, Miho was made redundant, which lead her to freelancing, landing a place at design studio, Johnson Banks.

Work completed at Johnson Banks and others

Design outside of the studio

Miho’s immersion in the creative world does not end at the studio; she has also engaged in talks, judging for D&AD, and various events that go beyond the studio. One of these events is ‘Rye Here Rye Now’, a monthly networking group for creatives in Peckham that Miho and her friend Kat Garner created. This was an excellent lesson for the students – that design thinking can be applied outside of the studio, all that is needed is a problem area and you can propose a solution.

Rye Here Rye Now meet up

Case study 1 – Evri

When Hermes had their sight on an ambitious business expansion, they approached Design Bridge and Partners for a rebrand with the aim of better reflecting and connecting with the consumers. It was quickly discovered that the beauty of Hermes was the diversity of their customer base and the coming together of different communities that this encouraged. This is where the name Evri derived from, and the idea to have over 194,481 variations of the logo, perfectly representing the idea behind this concept; ‘Every parcel, every person, everywhere’. It was valuable for students to see that branding can be dynamic and multifaceted, rather than confined to a single, static logo; especially when a more flexible approach better captures the essence of the brand.

Evri rebrand

Case study 2 – Precise

Miho moved on to speak about her and her team’s work with ‘Precise’, a specialist lending company, who were identified as the ‘plain and simple’ in a sea of over-complicated and unclear companies within that sector. It was important for the students to see how the brief was analysed with a fine-tooth comb, much like we are encouraged to do here on the Typography & Graphic Communication course. Extraordinarily, it was one highlighted word in the brief that went on to shape the entire vision of the brand – vanilla. This single word embodied the key feature of simplicity that gives Precise their individual identity.

Miho then showed the students some of the alternate routes that were explored for the Precise branding before the client selected one design concept. It was important to see how vastly different each route was from one another, displaying the breadth of solutions that designers can generate based on a single brief.

Precise branding

Case study 3 – Shelter

Finally, Miho spoke about a rebranding project that was centered in activism, protest, and advocacy for Shelter, a charity dedicated to tackling homelessness and unsafe housing. With the designer responsible for developing the original (beloved) branding for Shelter, being Miho’s previous boss, there was a lot of pressure to deliver on this project, and deliver they did. The branding that was shown was built on one simple shape, echoing the shape of a roof. As well as representing a roof or a shelter, the symbol can function as an arrow, a replacement for letterforms, and in various other contexts. The sheer versatility that was shown within this project was inspiring and perfectly illustrates the difference between designing a logo and designing a visual identity.

Shelter rebrand

Our key takeaways!

Design thinking can be applied outside of the studio, all that is needed is a problem area and you can propose a solution.
Branding can be dynamic and multifaceted, rather than confined to a single, static logo; built on one single idea, it can have flex and still maintain the essence of the brand.
Consider how your design will be used in real life. It’s not just about how it looks on paper or a screen; consider how your design will come to life on merchandise, in stores, or on social media to ensure it’s versatile and impactful.
While AI tools and technology are becoming essential in the design process, human creativity and strategic thinking remain crucial.
Not every idea will be selected, but every piece of feedback is an opportunity to improve. Learn to take constructive criticism and use it to refine your work.

– Written by Tommy Molnar

– Photography by Oscar Dudley

25 April 2025

Chris Margerison: Graphic Design journey

This week, we were joined by Chris Margerison, a senior graphic designer at PlayStation Studios Creative, who shared his inspiring journey from student to professional, offering valuable advice on how to navigate the creative industry.

Who are PlayStation Creative?

Chris explained that PlayStation Creative is the internal creative agency for the entire PlayStation brand. The team operates across the whole company, supporting game development and marketing with creative solutions. The studio is global, integrating many different aspects, from branding and UI to motion graphics and illustration.

Who are PlayStation Creative?

University and graduation

Chris always had a passion for illustration, initially aspiring to become an illustrator. However, while studying graphic design at university, he realised he could combine his love of illustration with branding and graphic work. His final year project, “World and Alternative” a brand and campaign around animation, allowed him to merge these interests.

At his graduate show, he approached someone viewing his work who later became his future manager at PlayStation. Although he didn’t land the job immediately (lacking UI experience at the time), this connection would later prove crucial.

Chris’s ‘World and Alternative’ final year project

Freelance

After university, Chris experienced several highs and lows. Freelance attempts, working in low-paying event graphics jobs, and experiencing a UX/UI role that lacked creativity and motivation, all contributed to a difficult year. However, he acknowledges this period (particularly being made redundant) as a “blessing in disguise” that pushed him toward better opportunities.

Following redundancy, in a search to reignite his passion for character design, Chris attended a trip to the Pictoplasma festival in Germany, which achieved just that. On returning home, he created a personal project around a music video app, specifically tailored to catch the eye of PlayStation’s creative team.

Making the most out of the PlayStation connection he made at his graduate degree show, he reached out with an email showcasing this work. This led to him securing a meeting that resulted in a 4-week placement, which grew into a full-time career. Chris emphasised that his attitude, rather than the polish of his work, helped open this door.

Pictoplasma festival in Germany

PlayStation – Junior Designer

Starting as a junior designer at PlayStation, Chris’s early work included creating in-game icons (such as for Killzone on PS4) and producing posters for game launches and social media marketing. As his experience grew, he leaned more into branding projects.

Notably, he worked on the Champions League app for PS4 and was later promoted to middleweight designer, where he handled broader branding responsibilities, including logo designs and collaborations across different sectors.

Icons for ‘Killzone’

Back to freelance – Different agencies

Seeking to broaden his skills outside gaming, Chris took on freelance roles at various organisations:

Penguin Books – Helped design their Pride campaign, developing animated branding assets.
Manchester International Arts Festival – Worked on traditional and digital graphic design projects, incorporating illustration.
BBC – Produced motion graphics for BBC Sport and CBBC content, expanding his animation skills.

Chris highlighted that moving across different industries helped him evolve as a graphic designer, emphasising that “specific interests guide the work you do.”

Pride campaign for ‘Penguin Books’

Building a brand

Returning to PlayStation as a senior designer, Chris now focuses heavily on branding.

One key project was developing the brand identity for Rise of the Ronin, a 19th-century Japan-set action game by Team Ninja. Chris and his colleagues were tasked with creating a global brand identity that appealed to Western audiences while respecting the game’s cultural roots.

The project involved designing logos, brand guidelines, assets for launch trailers, and digital toolkits, ensuring consistency and flexibility across global markets.

Chris emphasised that building a brand is so much more than creating a logo, it’s about crafting a consistent visual identity that communicates the emotional and narrative experience of the game.

Developing the brand identity for ‘Rise of the Ronin’

Some recent opportunities

In his current role, Chris continues to embrace a wide range of creative opportunities. He had recently been working on licensed merchandise which has been sold around the world through retailers such as H&M. He was even able to experiment with photography, aiding in the promotion of this merchandise.

Chris left students with the advice: Stay curious, don’t box yourself in, and create your own opportunities.

Licensed merchandise

Our key takeaways!

You can experiment with different interests and develop a range of skills through personal projects.
Your attitude can be just as important as your portfolio.
“Keep an open mind, and create opportunities for yourself”.
Freelancing can expose you to many different areas of design, and allow you to explore these more freely.
Don’t value yourself based only on the work you’re currently outputting but instead value yourself on your future potential.

– Written by Amirah Yasin

– Photography by Oscar Dudley

20 December 2024

Niteesh Yadav: AR/VR Typography

This week we were joined by Niteesh Yadav, a pioneer in AR/VR typography who gave us an insight into typography and technology coming together to build on research and shape the future.

Niteesh’s journey

After deciding that the initial University course Niteesh was studying at the time was not for him, he left to follow his design dream. He began working on projects independently, teaching himself from YouTube and expanding his knowledge through real-life experiences. He later returned to his studies, completing a Bachelor of Design at a Design Institute in Delhi, while working with studios and startups on design projects alongside his academic work. This journey that led Niteesh to complete his postgraduate studies at Reading, after which his dissertation on AR typography was picked up by Meta.

Baseline Shift audience enjoying the talk from Niteesh Yadav

Choosing a focus

During his time at Reading, Niteesh decided that he wanted to explore how typography and technology intertwine, specifically in relation to augmented reality (AR) headsets. This proved difficult due to a lack of resources available at the time, and due to the topic of AR/VR typography being one that had not been explored in much depth. This was part of what of the appeal, as his personality is one that enjoys discovering new things, and seeing the influence that fresh research has on the world around us. This exploratory zeal resonated with many students, as we received several feedback responses that this topic was something they had “never even considered before” and that they found “incredibly eye-opening”.

Choosing to focus on AR typography for Niteesh’s MA research

Necessary considerations

AR and VR often get confused with one another, and Niteesh made it clear that each come with their own challenges. Niteesh compared designing for VR to designing a book, as in both cases the designer has agency over exactly what is shown to the user – the content, the layout, but most importantly the material/surface that the design appears on. This makes it somewhat easy for a graphic designer to transition into VR design, however Niteesh makes it clear that designing for AR is very different and introduces new challenges. Instead of immersing the user in a virtual world like VR does, AR designers aim to augment elements within the surrounding environment that the user is already situated in. Niteesh emphasised the importance of considering how the technology effects the user in this environment, highlighting that “it is not just about being a typeface designer, but also an experience designer”.

Considering the differences between AR and VR

A typographic shift

Niteesh highlighted several aggravating factors that force AR/VR designers to consider the design of the typefaces used. The background in an AR scenario is ever-changing and very rarely empty. Not only is this important for objects and movement that occur within the user’s field of view, but also the lighting conditions that can be affected by factors such as seasonal changes and geographic location. The consideration of lighting led Niteesh to discuss something that was a key takeaway for students, which was the reasoning behind most AR displays using white for type. Niteesh explained that this was because the highest intensity of contrast you can achieve is through whites. He helpfully compared it to something we are familiar with – if you want to achieve black on an LED screen, the LEDs are all switched off, however, if you were to directly apply this to AR displays it would leave a transparent area rather than black.

Unique requirements for typography in an AR setting

Technical challenges

Niteesh brought some examples of technical challenges that come with AR/VR design to our attention. One of these challenges is ‘vibrating type’ – as our heads are constantly moving, the video that the headset is capturing is constantly being re-rendered. This requires a careful consideration of the choice in type-weight and type-size. Another challenge comes with ‘halation’ – when viewing typefaces on these retina displays, the letterforms can appear to glow around the edges. This can affect perception of letterspacing and require designers to consider both the design of typefaces used in this context and the kerning of the type. Niteesh suggests that to overcome these challenges as designers, we must use “a combination of industrial research, type history, and type research”.

Examples of technical challenges such as vibrating text and halation

Exploring the past

Niteesh is an advocate for designers researching the past, making a point to say that “we must explore the past, in order to shape the future”. An excellent example of how the past has influenced Niteesh’s research and current work, is the design of typefaces in phone books. Due to the weight of the paper, the ink of the type often bled on the page, distorting the letterform – the letters were subsequently given extra space in their counters (by removing part of the letterform) to allow for this. Inspired by the experiences of past designers, Niteesh used a similar technique to alleviate the issue of halation in AR displays, noting that in this context “we are tracking light, rather than ink”. It is an excellent analogy to emphasise the importance of the academic and historical research that the Typography department at Reading focus on throughout all levels of study.

Typefaces designed for bleeding letterforms phone books

We are hugely grateful to Niteesh for giving an insightful talk and closing this semester of Baseline Shift sessions with such a fascinating topic! We look forward to what the next year of Baseline Shift will bring!

Our key takeaways!

Choose something you are passionate about and try to consider a topic that is not widely discussed for your dissertation!
Consider the original purpose of the typeface that you are using and the context that it was designed to be used in.
Consider the impact that typeface choice has on the reading experience.
When using typography within AR, human movement can lead to rendering issues, so you must consider the type-weight and type-size chosen.
Don’t see problems as problems, see them as an opportunity for solution.
We must explore the past, in order to shape the future!

– Written by Tommy Molnar

– Photography by Oscar Dudley

13 December 2024

Nitya Thawani: UX design

This week, for our second Baseline Shift session, we had the privilege of welcoming the award-winning user experience designer, Nitya Thawani who gave her fantastic talk “A UXer’s guide to the galaxy”.

A little bit about Nitya

Nitya is an incredibly talented user experience designer at Google, currently working as part of the Google Ads team. Even though she’s only been at the company for three months, her background is nothing short of inspiring. With experience working for big names like Lush and Disney, winning D&AD awards, and collating an outstanding portfolio, it’s clear that Nitya’s been turning heads since graduating in 2023! After hearing her speak, it’s easy to see why so many of us are in awe of what she’s already accomplished, with the team receiving feedback such as “I feel so motivated by how much she’s achieved so soon after graduating”.

Importance of work experience

Having completed work experience at Lush, where she gained exposure to a variety of projects such as packaging, social media posts, and posters, Nitya then went on to a 13-month placement at Disney. There, she had the incredible opportunity to redesign the Lion King website! Nitya shared her views on the importance of work experience and why it’s so valuable. Through these experiences, she learned the realities of working a 9–5 job, with Disney also giving her a clearer vision for her career and how the industry works, explaining that UX is only actually half of the work.

13-month placement at Disney

Final year university plan

Following her placement year at Disney, Nitya outlined her plan for her final year: to complete one UX project, one motion project, a D&AD project, and one industry project. With the flexibility of open, self-defined modules, Nitya wanted to strengthen her technical skills while considering how this plays a role in her future. In addition to her coursework, she managed to juggle being a course rep, playing tennis, hosting her radio show, plus more, showing us just how possible it is to manage all these activities at once!

One UX project

Nitya discussed her first self-defined project, Thali, which tackled the lack of South Asian content for young people in the diaspora. She stressed to us the importance of understanding context and pain points, noting “You can’t solve it all”. Her process involved secondary research and speaking to users to gain insight and ensure that she’s considering user needs throughout. “Don’t design what looks the prettiest, but what solves the problem”. Nitya advised us to look at what’s already out there and make that work for you, such as through creating components or using existing design systems in Figma. Nitya also highlighted the value of detailed wire framing and key screens, showcasing this through her 30-page pitch deck discussing how this can effectively tell an app’s story.

Display of app within designed pitch deck

D&AD competition

Showcased next was “Bubble”, an app designed to help people with ADHD manage their finances, created as a proposal for Barclays. Building on the skills she developed in her previous projects, she was well prepared to tackle the problem at hand, so much so that she received D&AD’s 2023 pencil award! When discussing how to present an app, particularly in the context of a design competition, she expressed focus on designing the flow of the app with the phrase “show the flow”.

Nitya’s D&AD award-winning ‘Bubble’ project was a standout

Graduating and getting a job

After completing her degree, Nitya shared the importance of networking while also taking time for yourself. Taking advice not to rush into work right away, she attended creative bootcamps following her D&AD win, where she collaborated with Coca-Cola, and joined networking events at Google and other design meet ups in London.

She also took time to travel, and during one trip, she even met Chris Martin! When she shared this, students joked, “Can you get us tickets to his concerts?”, this is nice a reminder that unique encounters don’t always come from traditional 9–5 jobs.

Nitya’s ventures before entering the working world

What makes ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ UX?

Nitya shared three standout examples of UX: the ‘good’ (Spotify), the ‘bad’ (Workday), and the ‘evil’ (Ticketmaster). Spotify’s great UX makes tasks effortless to complete by abiding to the laws of good UX design, while Workday frustrates users with inefficient processes like manually filling out job applications – a frustrating and time-consuming experience. Ticketmaster’s “evil UX”, intentionally designed to confuse and hinder users, drew laughs and relatable frustration among students.

Her insights shed light on an important takeaway: UX isn’t always about helping users. Sometimes, it’s deliberately designed to create barriers to serve a business’s hidden agenda.

Example of ‘good’ UX (Spotify)

The job hunt

Nitya shared valuable insights on how to approach the dreaded job hunt. She emphasised the importance of knowing your audience when applying for jobs and understanding which format is most appropriate, portfolio, CV, cover letter etc. She also encouraged students not to shy away from showing the messier work, stating that “the why and how is better than the what”, further explaining that UX isn’t about making things look pretty; it’s about solving problems. This was a reassuring point for many students, as it’s common to hesitate in showing work you deem to be ‘messy’.

Nitya’s range of resources for herself when applying to job with different requirements

We are incredibly grateful to Nitya for hosting this second talk. We look forward to seeing more of her inspiring work as she continues her journey as a remarkable designer!

Our key takeaways!

Follow the laws of UX – don’t reinvent the wheel, put the user’s needs above being creative.
Connection is currency – people don’t place enough value on meeting people that are complete strangers, you never know where that connection can lead you.
Create opportunities for yourself – request projects aside from your main job role to explore more pathways whilst expanding your learning.
Speak to your users! – That’s the only way to understand what they need.
Refine your job hunt – there are so many job titles out there, focus on the job description. Look at the company’s values, what the company does on day-to-day basis and job role to make informed decisions.

Useful links

ADPlist – An opportunity for students to receive free mentoring

Cofolios – Great space for finding portfolio inspiration

Laws of UX – UXers bookmark essential!

Google ux design certificate – Online course for designing mobile apps and responsive websites (available on Coursera or free on YouTube without certification)

– Written by Amirah Yasin

– Photography by Oscar Dudley