Intern(al) Review
It’s with a heavy heart this week that we bid farewell to our design intern Josh. He’s been such an asset for us over the last year, but we invited him to look back and give his own perspective on what he’s contributed and gained. Over to him…
In short, being an intern at Designworks has involved a bit of everything. I have had the opportunity to work across a range of different sectors and contribute at various stages of work.
Initially, my work had been within toy design with licenses such as Cadbury Little Treasures and exhibition design with the Modelshop for projects like the Sterling Thermal Technologies heat exchanger model. I have also had the opportunity to work on more medical and scientific projects towards the end of my internship and the nature of my work here has been constantly diverse and has brought opportunity to assist most projects with renderings, documentation, photography, and contributing to group exercises like ideation sessions and reviews.
I’ve particularly enjoyed fast-paced projects in which an outcome has been realised visually or physically in a matter of weeks, as well as ideating within a group. Group ideation has been a great practise to share and receive feedback whilst developing ideas from a Post-it note fidelity up to a presentable design outcome.
A key motivation for pursuing my internship with Designworks was to build experience around prototyping ahead of my university final year project. I have been able to this through use of different models of 3D printers, laser-cutter, and the fabrication workshop at Designworks, as well as learning from and partaking in the approaches of my colleagues with some of the more technical models, such as medical device prototypes or large exhibition models with programmed LEDs. My own approaches have also been encouraged, this has allowed me to explore alternative software for modelling, create rendered light simulations to test parts, and evaluate the use of AI to compliment ideation.
Outside of client work, I have created content for Designworks’ socials and website by recording projects through photography, editing images and refreshing past projects with new renders where necessary. Additionally, I took on designing graphics for a new studio glass manifestation and studio refurb tasks like painting walls and assembling new desks for everyone. Other responsibilities included being heavily involved in the hiring process and decision for the next intern at Designworks. Working in this environment has not only allowed me to learn from other designers, but also to utilise the electronics expertise around me, and I have been learning some basic electronics and hardware assembly which I hope will benefit me when incorporating electronic functionality into my university prototypes.
Overall, my time with Designworks has been massively beneficial to my development as a professional designer and has put me in a great position ahead of my university final year project. It has also helped me identify that in future I would like to continue working in consultancy with a particular interest in toy and medical design.
