1. A day in the life of a graphic design student

2. My name: Tom White

3. Company Name/University Name etc: Plymouth College of Art

4. Web Address: http://www.pcad.ac.uk (College’s Address) http://www.teejaystudios.blogspot.com (mine)

5. City, country – Plymouth, England

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
I start the day at 7 in the morning where I get up and drag myself to the graphic studio at college via a 45 minute bus journey, sadly I am yet to experience the wonders of a car. Once I’m at college along with the other students, we all collect ourselves into this ‘conference’ room, and are briefed by the tutors at the college about the days events and what is expected.

7. First jobs – My first job was actually re-designing an entire companies face. There colours, there website, there flyers, there business cards. Was a massive project that went on for about 6-7 months. But sadly, They had to close because of the money eating climate were stuck in.

8. The rest of your work day – The rest of my work day includes various tasks, tasks such as seeing the mistress, updating my website, checking out Facebook and continuing with my studies. You only live once, so I enjoy a few nights out

9. Evening – well, If I’m at the house of an evening I spend my time on here. The internet, without this, id be dead. Its my inspiration and motivation to continue doing what I’m doing.

10. What you love about your job /course – It lets me express myself, and sets me mini task’s just like the ones I’ve been set as a budding freelancer.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – Waking up, lets be honest, nobody likes waking up in the mornings knowing you have a full day ahead of you, probably containing research or some sort of organisation of paper work.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

1. A day in the life of a Design Company Owner/Director in Malta

2. My name: Mark Lightfoot

3. Company Name: Mangion & Lightfoot Ltd

4. Web Address: http://www.mangionlightfoot.com

5. City, country – Naxxar, Malta

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
Depending on the scholastic calendar I’m either up at 6 to take my daughter to school, or up at 7 to take her for tennis training… either way I am up with the birds and making tea/breakfast for the family. I live in an ancient house in the middle of Zebbug – a village in the heartland of Malta. Bells, yells and smells was how Lord Byron described Malta… and he was not far off even for today. The sound of the village church bells often wake me and if it’s not the bells, the yells and smells of village life are not far behind. I drive to school to drop off said daughter and then on to the office – usually getting in at around 8am.

7. First jobs – coffee! I then check the mail for invoices, statements or payments and look through the correspondence to check if there is anything that needs attention. I run my own company along with my business partner of 12 years, Matthew (the Mangion). Then its a quick check on email – I have to be careful not to get bogged down in too many website visits as it can easily eat up the morning. I try to clip links that I want to follow for later on. I’ll then go through the job management system we have seeing what projects are on and what tasks need doing.

8. The morning is taken up with project work – that will be either artwork production, design concepts, client meetings, concept briefings with the account managers, production meetings etc., Every day is different. Sometimes if we are doing a signage project I will have to be on site at an installation, or it might be out to a photoshoot, a presentation or a pitch. Lunchtime is sacrosanct at Mangion & Lightfoot as each employee takes it in turn to cook for the other members of the team. What started out as a practical way to meet the eating needs of everyone has become a cornerstone of our company ethos. Lunch has become an extension of our philosophy and a way for the company to team build on a daily basis!
After lunch there’s more project work, or meetings… it all depends on what’s on the cards and which clients are on the go.

9. Evening – Work finishes at around 7pm most evenings at which time I head for home. I try and leave my laptop at the office apart from weekends so I don’t ‘take work home’ during the week. That’s generally scuppered though as I’ve got an iPhone and I can still do emails etc … and to cap it all I’ve got about 4 Macs at home (wife’s, daughter’s, etc!). I’ll get home in time to see the kids into bed, maybe read a story, Catch up with my wife and the kids’ day. I’ll have supper with a nice glass of wine – sometimes catching up on TV or reading. Bed around 11.

10. What you love about your job /course – I love the variety of my job and the work life balance that being a designer in Malta gives me. We’ve got great clients, a great office atmosphere and a great team.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – There’s nothing I hate about my job – I would say that its frustrating sometimes because working in a small country does not afford you the opportunities more mature markets offer…(or the big budget clients!!) but that is the very small downside to working and living in one of the most wonderful countries in the world!

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1. A day in the life of a freelance Typographer & Graphic Designer

2. My name: Lisa Simmonds

3. Company Name: LKS Designs

4. Web Address: http://www.lisasimmonds.moonfruit.co.uk

5. City, country – Based in Essex, UK

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
I get up about 10am, one of the biggest perks of working from home!

7. First jobs – Then I immediately turn on my Mac and check my emails. After that I check Facebook (it’s not slacking – it’s networking!) Then back to the emails to reply to anything interesting and check on any jobs I might have been sent.

8. The rest of your work day – Then I make a cup of tea and start working. After that it depends on the amount of work I have. I either work on whatever project I have for the rest of the day or start looking for more work or prepare promotional material for events I have coming up. Today for example I worked on some book layouts, then started creating a flyer to advertise myself at a book fair I’m attending at the end of the month. At some point I break away from the computer to eat and maybe even pop to the shops!

9. Evening – In the evening I might still be working, or I might go to the cinema or theatre, see friends for coffee (or something stronger!), or just stay in and watch a film. Normally afterwards I’ll go back on the computer and do things like write this ’til 2 or 3am (it is now 3.20am!).

10. What you love about your job /course – I love that I can do what I like when I like. If I want to see friends in the afternoon and then work until 3am and get up at 11am – I can!

11. What you hate about your job /student life – I hate the fact that sometimes I don’t think I’ll get enough work to pay the bills.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

1. A Day in the life of a Freelance Graphic / Apparel Designer

2. My name: James Beresford

3. Company Name: Collaborative Thought

4. Web Address: http://www.collaborativethought.co.uk

5. Based in Truro, Cornwall, UK

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
I start every day at 6:30am with a dawn jog , then hit the cereal and banana combo , then dressed and head off to the studio.

7. First jobs – My first jobs are to syphon through the junk mail, then to make the first pot of tea of the day.

8. The rest of your work day – Depends on what i’m doing. I could be designing a new pair of chino shorts or a 126 page brochure. My work is so diverse it’s a different day every day!

9. Evening – I dont finish in the studio til about 7pm. Evenings are a cross between sat on the sofa with my sketch book doodling / making the tea.

10. What you love about your job /course – I love the freedom of my job, the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want ( in moderation of course ). The fact that every week can be different depending on what clients you are working with, is a massive thumbs up. It keeps your creative juices flowing and experience in every aspect of design.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – Absolutely Nothing ; I love my job and wouldn’t swap it for anything in the world. I took the very scary plunge of quitting full time employment to follow my dream and it has turned out to be the best decision of my life.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

For “a day in the graphic designer” Caitlyn of http://www.caitlynknepka.tumblr.com/ created a video that she posted on Youtube. Unfortunately I missed it as there was no live link on youtube. The video is shown below. If anyone else has created a video I am unaware of please let me know.

Caitlyn wins the $100 for her video entry.

2. My name: Vicki Willingham

3. Company Name: VictoriaAnn Design

4. Web Address: http://www.victoriaanndesign.net

5. Based in Suffolk, UK

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
It can vary. As a freelancer I work from home and have my 19 month old daughter at home with me except for two days a week when I can really get on with work for the entire day. So my start to most days: Wake up to daughter calling. Get her ready, fed, cleaned, dressed etc. Sometimes I am able to work for half an hour while she plays by herself but I usually end up playing with her and sorting snacks, nappies, drinks etc until her nap time.

7. First jobs – When my daughter naps I’m able to get a good couple of hours work done which will be sorting emails, checking rss feeds for anything interesting, working on sketches, concepts or on Adobe Illustrator compiling some designs or working on existing projects.

8. The rest of your work day – Then it’s lunch, more playing possibly going to a toddler group followed by dinner and her bed time! Sometimes I can fit in work during the day too, it depends on the work I’m doing. I can sit on the sofa and sketch or write out ideas while my daughter is playing or having lunch. Weekends are very different. My partner is home so I often do some extra ‘on the computer’ work on the weekends.

9. Evening – If I have more work to do I can do it when she’s in bed. Sometimes if I’m particularly inspired or have a lot to get done I’ll intentionally wake up before her to do it. It’s so tempting not to do this most days! On days where I’ve managed to fit a lot in during the day I’ll relax with my partner, watch some TV and maybe have an early night with a relaxing bath and a good book!

10. What you love about your job /course – I love the creative aspect and to freelance I love choosing my own hours and being able to spend time with my little girl in the daytime. I also love being able to pop to the shops if I want too, or to make personal phone calls during the day – the plusses to working for myself at home!

11. What you hate about your job /student life – Erm…I don’t like Mondays and Tuesdays when I drop my daughter off at grandparents as it generally does mean getting up early and being very organised! There isn’t really anything I dislike about my actual job though.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

1. A day in the life of a…Mechanical Engineer … duh … Graphic Designer that studied engineering.

2. Your Name:  Jorge Heles

3. Company Name/University Name etc: Funcionalismo, Novo Corp. Heavy Metal Mexican Magazine 36ZERO

4. Web Address: http://www.revista36zero.com

5. City, Country México

6. How you Start the Day
Well i usually get up at 6:50 AM, im the kind of guy that really cares about looks, so i get a quick shower, (if i have to shave, i get up 5 minutes earlier, not that i have to much beard) i slip in to a pair of Jeans, look for my shoes, it depends on what im doing on the day, i grab a fruit bar from the kitchen, have a quick checkout for all i need through the day, (lucky gauntlets, wallet, blackberry, zune, keys, engagement ring … Yes my girlfriend and i have the same ring couse we want to get married someday, so i wear it all the time im the kind of commitment guy, rush to the taxi site, get to the train, perhaps at 7:25, and get to my job and 8:00 am, perhaps 8:10 if i stop and grab a bite of something (usually green tee and a croisant) so i enter the building say hi to the watcher, sometimes i say hi to the receptionist, and i get to my place ready to rock at… perhaps aum … 8:10 (8:20 couse i have a intel core duo that really needs a boost, so it takes a while to get it ready for work.)

7. First jobs, on graphic design?
Well i had to do this official website for a guy named LUIS MIGUEL when i was 17 back in 1999, i was one of the few guys that learned how to do websites and used some java, so people started looking for me, and one of my pals in high school, to do this WebPages of many different things, there was Purina Agribrands mexico, This Luis Miguel guy very famous in my country, Pelletier jewelries, and SPY  rave organizers, most of them got to us by ower companions parents, (we studied on a catholic school “named Centro universitario mexico”) so we did it for the money to get nice clothes and have a little fun, we weren’t wealthy guys (i mean economically) so that money was awesome, and we did a good portfolio for just being 17 year old high school students, so i entered university, and my father didn’t want me to study art, or anything related to it, he was always telling me that i would end up drawing people’s faces on a park, so i had to study what the old guy wanted (he was paying, he could choose) but many guys besides the web design, liked my drawings and digital designs, (i used to do digital manipulations to photos of my classmates putting their faces on donkeys bodies or funny stuff like that) so i had an offer to begin working on a small studio named KAOBANET it belonged to a Peruvian woman, that had a good taste for plants and art, so i began doing websites for small companies at first, then i began doing art for Purina once again, (one of the head managers looked for me and i took the client to the studio, so many other good companies began to work with it) one day i arrived after school to the studio and the woman was deported, she was doing his neighbor’s husband so she was reported and the deported back to Peru. I was 19 by then.

8. The rest of your work day
Well i work here at novo corp. they have many different companies, they have this modern furniture stores named FUNCIONALISMO, they sell a lot of Le corbusier, Breuer, and modern designers stuff so i enjoy that part i do posters for nice lounges and magazines, i also get to do arquitecture photo and travel a lot to assist to museums of modern art. they also have a ( i dont know how to call it well in english) but they construct buildings(residential stuff) so i do all the flyers, brochures websites and promotional stuff, and finally they have a ranch where that grow all this organic stuff(fruit, flowers, honey, milk, eggs) so i also do the ranch brochures and stuff, I’m at the corp, only till 2:00 pm, after that i take a lunch brake, and begin my own stuff, i have a METAL magazine, its been called the best metal magazine in latin America(not that we have famous bands like IRON MAIDEN or sabbath but we really love metal in Latin American countries, so i usually get to interviews, business meetings, photo shoots, concerts and stuff related to the magazine, we are just a small group of guys trying to get this magazine to compete with big stuff like hammer UK or Revolver on the US, we started like an electronic publication, we had lotsa download from all around the world so we decided this year to print it, it has gone ok, but we cant live from it, i do all the designing, my associate does must of the text’s, and we have a pair of writers and a photographers but usually we both get all the stuff done, so when i get all of that stuff done i get back at home and continue working on the magazine’s art or photos, or in design formation, or any stuff related to the graphic stuff on the magazine.

9. Evening – I usually spend it on my pc working on my magazine, on weekends i sing at a heavy metal band, some times i get to see my parents, i chat a lot with my girlfriend (she is at the other side of the country, but we love each other very much), sometimes i attend  to concerts, not just metal ones, i love classic stuff, opera ( i do some singing of that too) or just wander around the city, i luv old places, where i can take cool photos that i send to my GF, so she gets to see what i do daily, (its like sharing my day with her)

10. What you love about your job /course – Well i love to express myself, I love that people get so many feelings about my work, that they have a descent artwork from the bands they love, I love that im in constant learning of new techniques, and get to meet amazing people that are involved in arts, and many other disciplines, i love designing more than anything in life, i studied engineering, couse i had too, but designing had such an influence on me, that i cant remember any engineering stuff by now (im 27) I just wander on the net looking cool places to make my design panorama bigger, i also get many designing books from around the world, i just love it all

11. What you hate about your job /student life – I don’t get to sleep much, im always on deathliness (sometimes that’s exciting) some times i have been mistreated by other people, couse they want my services for free, or at a very low cost, my mom cant explain herself how do i get paid by doing “cute drawings” my GF also told me once, that if she knew she could get good money from doing magazine’s formation she wouldn’t had studied a career for such a long time,

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

1. A day in the life of a… freelance graphic designer

2. Your Name:  Liz

3. Company Name/University Name etc: design thoughts graphic design

4. Web Address: http://www.designthoughts.co.uk

5. City, Country  Cornwall, UK

6. How you Start the Day – As I am freelance I am at home working, but I start the day, by getting up, getting dressed, having breakfast

7. First jobs – Drink coffee, haha, but then actually switching the computer on, to check mail and respond to anything, and getting on with briefs of work to do.

8. The rest of your work day   I am lucky enough to live really close to the sea, so I do like to carry a note book with me, and jot down anything exciting or interesting, but the rest of the day includes, the checking of emails, and responding to any, taking a walk, but seemingly always thinking about design.

9. Evening – Taking a walk on the beach with the boyfriend, dog, or family, and taking my camera to take anything that interests me, that I can use as inspiration of my work..yay! Recently this has included having bbq’s on the beach.

10. What you love about your job /course – Meeting interesting people, lately I have becomed involved more in lifestyle sort of graphic design, which is great and the freedom and flexibility of meeting different people.  I love the fact I am my own boss, and can develop my work as a designer.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – Actually it is a love/hate relationship being freelance, as sometimes I never know when the next job will come in, so thats abit scary, so right now I am trying to promote myself wherever I can, and meet different people. So I guess its also not being part of a company, it can be a bit lonely at times also.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post

1. A day in the life of a soon-to-graduate design student.

2. My name: Jo Sturgess

3. Currently studying Graphic Design & Technology at University College Nordjylland (www.ucn.dk)

4. My online portfolio: http://www.jsturgess.com

5. Currently living and studying in Aalborg, Denmark.

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
If I have early classes then I get up at about 6:30 and leave home at 7:45. It’s a half hour bus journey to college so I normally get there around 8:20 ready for an 8:30 start. At the moment I’m working on an exam project, which means I work from home. I’m a morning person, so I normally get up around 7:30 and aim to start work by 8:30 at the latest.

7. First jobs – I always allocate 15-30 minutes at the start of the day to check my e-mail and browse facebook/twitter. Then I close these windows to stop myself getting distracted during the rest of the day.

8. The rest of your work day -  This is a pretty tricky question to answer, because no two days are ever the same. Sometimes we have classes from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, but that’s fairly rare and more often than not we either start later or finish earlier. The nature of the classes also varies greatly, but they tend to fall into the following three categories – design, communication or technology.

When I don’t have classes I do a lot of extra study at home – this can include working on college assignments, updating my portfolio, reading design blogs. Over the past couple of months I’ve been redesigning my portfolio, so almost every spare minute of the day has been spent working on that and doing html/css related tutorials – the course I’m doing focuses on printed products and they don’t teach us much about web design so I’ve had to teach myself.

As I mentioned, I’m currently working on an exam project. For this I had to choose a company to work with and had one week to write a synopsis around a problem statement and design a correlating graphical product for that company (in this case the design of a website and blog). I handed that in yesterday and I now have one week to prepare for the oral defense, for which I will have to come with additional graphical products for the company, give a 15 minute presentation and answer questions about my chosen subject.

9. Evening – It’s not very exciting, but I usually spend the evenings at home with my boyfriend, we eat dinner together and watch TV. I have Danish lessons two nights a week and sometimes have shifts at the pub where I work part-time, although normally I just work weekends. If I have an assignment due, then I will often continue working on it after dinner. The exam project I’m working on at the moment has a really limited time frame, so I’ve pretty much been working all day, everyday – I get up early, eat lunch at my desk, have a short break for dinner and will often continue working until 11pm or even later…

10. What you love about your job /course – I find graphic design a fascinating subject, there is so much more to it than I imagined there would be before I started studying and now that I’m nearing the end of the course it’s great to be able to look back and see how everything ties together. I think one of the great things about being a design student is that there are so many possibilities for getting really useful feedback on almost everything you do – so you are constantly learning and developing. I think that the support and feedback you get as a student, both from teachers and other students, is one of the things I’m going to miss the most when I graduate.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – One of the toughest things about student life is the schedule. During the last two semesters the class timetable has been a lot easier than it was in the first year, but I’ve been spending a lot more time working from home on college assignments, my portfolio, doing tutorials or even just reading design blogs. I take the attitude that the more effort I put in, then the more I’ll get out of it and when I compare the designs I’m doing now to those of a year ago I can see that it has been worth it. But it can be really tiring, and I do miss having a more active social life.

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post