How would you describe your job?
At Warriors and Graphic Design Festival Scotland, my position is junior designer. At the moment, I’m responsible for creating motion graphics sequences and offering help and feedback on everything else we’re working on.

What does a typical working day look like?
I start my day by getting up and going straight into a cold shower. Trust me it works so much better and quicker than caffeine! Although I do still have a coffee once I’m off the train.

I go into the studio on a Wednesday and a Thursday. My commute is twenty minutes on the train and then a short walk to the studio. I usually listen to an audio book or podcast to get my brain working and get inspired. Simon Sinek, Rod Judkins or Dale Carnegie have great books and London Real’s podcasts are brilliant! Then, once in the studio, most of my time is spent on the computer.

I think my ideal work day would be one that doesn’t 100% go to plan. We’re creative people and we find the best solutions to problems we’re presented with. I feel a smooth working environment – where nothing goes wrong – isn’t an environment we’ve been trained to operate in.

How did you land your current job?
One of the lecturers at university set up an internship with Warriors Studio. I applied and was asked to come into the studio for a chat. I didn’t shut up!

How collaborative is your role?
Since there are only three other members of Warriors Studio the job is very collaborative. Work is constantly getting scrutinised and improved upon by everyone, so you feel you’ve made a contribution to all the work.

What are the most and least enjoyable aspects of your job?
The fact that I am in front of a computer for most of the day isn’t that enjoyable. I mean, when you’re in the zone just killing it then I don’t mind it. But I think I get the most enjoyment from leaving the studio at the end of the day knowing that there’s now something that exists that didn’t that morning.

What has been the most exciting project of the last twelve months?
I have only been here for a few weeks, but I recently created the motion graphics sequence explaining the concept for the Graphic Design Festival Scotland 2017 identity.

What skills are essential to your job?
Knowing how to listen and speak to clients and other co-workers is essential. But above all I just think being genuine is a skill in itself, and people pick up on it very easily.

Do you run any self-initiated projects alongside your job?
I do a bit of branding work for small local businesses where I can. I enjoy the process of finding out what makes the company tick and trying to visualise it.

What tools do you use most for your work?
I use a MacBook Pro for all my work with Adobe Creative Cloud installed, a Samsung monitor when I’m working from home (it gives me extra screen room instead of squinting at a laptop screen all day) and notebooks.

What did you want to be growing up?
For the longest time in primary school, I wanted to be an ambulance driver – not even a paramedic, I’d like to add! Just the guy who drove the ambulance. That then turned into an Olympic diver. It changed so many times during my school years that I can’t really remember what I wanted to be. But doing art, design and being creative were always hobbies.

I’ve always been a very inclusive person, and have been a member of the Scout Association for about 15 years. So teamwork, loyalty, integrity and all the other great attributes the Scouts offer have been a big part of my life since I can remember. My parents are teachers, so doing well in school was important, but I wasn’t forced into thinking that academic subjects were more important than the creative ones. I tried the lot: music, art, product design, photography, craft and design.

How (if at all) is the subject you studied useful to your current role?
I still study digital design, so it’s focused on creating websites, mobile apps, user experience and user interaction. Motion graphics has been a small part of the course, it’s more of a skill that just needs to be practised. My course has taught me how to come up with ideas more than teaching us practical skills that might soon become outdated. I think being an ideas person is invaluable.

Was there anything in particular that helped you at the start of your career?
I think changing my attitude to the way I take rejection. As I’m just starting out in the industry, I’ve sent out numerous job and internship applications only to be told I wasn’t what they were looking for, or that there’s no room for you. I realised it wasn’t always a reflection on me or my work and that it was a chance to learn for the next time. I figured that the more I got rejected, the more likely I was to succeed. And I did!

Was there a particular project you worked on that helped your development?
So far, I’ve been working on creating a motion graphic sequence explaining this year’s identity for graphic Design Festival Scotland. I think this has allowed me to be the most free and creative I’ve been in a long time as my course puts the emphasis on creating something for a user based on survey and user data. I think we all need to be creative and experiment a little at some point and this project gave me that opportunity.

What skills have you learnt along the way?
The most important thing I’ve learnt is to be able to listen but to also ask questions that might sound really stupid at the time, but probably give the most insight.

What’s been your biggest challenge?
I am really bad for overthinking absolutely everything! I constantly dwell on what people have said and what I’ve said to other people. Honestly, it just gets you down, so I had to somehow turn it into an asset. I now use this to overthink my process and ask meaningful questions to improve the design.

Is your job what you thought it would be?
I think anyone who goes for their first job never really knows what’s going to be involved. You could be making coffee and photocopying, or you could be worked to the bone. I’ve been lucky enough to be taken on as part of the team for a short while. I knew what type of work I was going to be doing, but I didn’t expect to be welcomed in so warmly and settle in so quickly.

What would you like to do next?
The next step would be to graduate! Then I would really like to do a bit of travelling. I always say the world is like a play park: there’s loads of stuff to play on, but it gets boring when you only stay on the swings

Could you do this job forever?
I think I could stay in the industry forever but I don’t think staying in the one job would be a good idea if I want to be creative for the rest of my life.

What advice would you give to a young creative wanting to become a junior designer?

Read! Learn from people with great ideas – read everything and anything. These people have gone through the struggle of learning something and writing a book about it, so why not take the knowledge on board?

This interview is part of a feature on Warriors Studio.