First week into my practicum and I can proudly say that I am much more confident than I was at the beginning of the week. We The Collective’s team has been welcoming and more than kind for my first experience in an agency. I may not know the ropes yet but that is to be expected.
I had the privilege of meeting the various teams, creative, production, and development teams as well as meeting with a few members individually to get to know them and their roles. One main thing that kept coming up was staying open to possibilities and keeping an open mind to what comes your way. This practicum journey for me personally attests to that as I was wary of working with a client such as Nintendo that I had minimal knowledge about (apart from being a very competitive Mario Kart player on my friend’s Wii console at the age of 13). This week alone has been affirming that one must be willing to look at new possibilities to move forward. A few examples that stood out to me were Matt who is now the manager of the production team working mainly with video and started as a comic book artist, and Ariel who once was a designer for print is now the UX design lead. Another who taught me something was Ike who describes himself as a generalist. A term that I didn’t know was possible. I feel that when someone like me is starting for the first time it’s easy to get attached to the names of the roles and that there is a right and wrong way of presenting oneself whether that be saying you are a graphic designer instead of a visual designer for example. I now know that it doesn’t matter and that a title can’t define what kind of creative you can or want to be. Life changes and a lot can steer you in new and unexpected directions, so it is best to not chase a title you think is the right fit but rather let yourself find what it is that you want to be, and the rest will fall into place. From just those who I have met so far and have shared their experiences with me, they encourage me to stay curious and learn through others as well as through my own experiences.
