In January 2012, I completed a two week work placement at a company called, Bareface Media, who
specialise in services such as website design, online marketing, social media
marketing and graphic design. This digital marketing agency works with various
organisations and companies from solicitors firms to manufactures, to create an
effective corporate identity and house style. Ultimately, Bareface Media helps
their clients receive more customers and awareness within society.
My role
when working with Bareface Media was to be an Account Executive. This involved
performing routine tasks within the office to help the agency’s work run
smoothly and effectively. I worked alongside the professionals in the office
and completed a number of specific tasks. One major job of mine was to write
website content for one of Bareface Media’s clients. This
manufacturing company specialises in locks, hinges and latches and Bareface
Media were assigned to create and design a website for this client. My role was
to provide all of the written content which would appear on the website. I
found this task very difficult, as I did not know anything about the subject area of locks, hinges and latches. I had to research the topic to help
with my writing. I also found writing website content a lot harder than I
thought it would be. The words had to be eye-catching, dynamic and effective to
grab the reader’s attention when online. After completing this task, I learnt
the important techniques needed to write an ideal piece for the client's website.
To add to this, I realised that I did not want to work on written website
content in a future career, especially if it is on a topic I am unfamiliar
with.
I
learnt even more about this client when the Managing Director provided me with a
short presentation in regards to all the different types of customers.
He explained how we should be aiming the website towards these customers. I
learnt a lot from this presentation. I did not realise how many different types
of clients there were for some companies. It was really fascinating to
receive in depth knowledge on the background of this industry.
Another
task I was given to complete was to receive a number of printing quotes from
various printing companies. Bareface Media needed four A3 glossy sheets to give
to a client. This involved me researching local printers and communicating with
them over the telephone. I then compared all of the price quotes to find out
which was the best value. It was important to discuss deadlines with the
printing companies to ensure that the documents would be ready for the desired
date. Further to this, I had a different task to complete which also involved
communicating on the telephone. This time I had to take messages for the
Managing Directors whilst they were busy in meetings. I was very nervous when
first completing these jobs as I have never felt confident talking over the
telephone. However, I believe these small tasks raised my confidence
significantly and improved my communication skills, particularly over the
telephone.
Whilst
on my work placement at Bareface Media, I was given a variety of tasks involved
with website design. I learnt how to create site maps, which are planned
layouts of the pages within a website. I had no idea such planning and
organisation went into the structure of a website. I believe this task made me
more aware of the website planning process. I also edited a number of photos
for Bareface Media’s mobile site by using Adobe Photoshop. This consisted of me
altering the size and shape of image files. I had not experienced the use of
this software before, so I gained a number of new technological skills when
completing this task. To add to this, I received an insight into website design
by observing my colleagues at work. It looked extremely complicated, detailed
and confusing which has encouraged me to not want to work in the website design
industry in the future.
Further
to this, I was asked to create a site map for a client who Bareface Media were
meeting with in the office. I had to work quickly and effectively under
pressure, as the site map needed to be completed under a time scale for a
deadline later in the day. I got an idea of what working to deadlines felt like
when conducting this job. I found this very pressurising. However, when
delivering the work on time to good standard, I felt very pleased and proud of
myself which was extremely rewarding.
Conducting
job sheets was another task given to me. Job sheets record and file every task
Bareface Media has to complete. The date opened, whether the job is active, the
client it is for, the job number and who made the sale are all written on the
job sheets. This helps the agency keep track of their jobs. This is some of the
only information written on paper within Bareface Media, so it was important to
complete this task accurately. I also had to check whether these jobs were
written on Bareface Media’s Excel files and add any to the grid that were
missing. This gave me a huge insight into the organisation behind a business. I
found it interesting to see the hidden tools of Bareface Media.
One
task I found extremely interesting was helping a colleague create and design a
brochure for a client on Adobe InDesign. We had been
given all of the information and images to place inside the brochure. Our job
was to organise the layout and to make the brochure look visually dynamic. I
had completed very similar work to this in a university degree module, so it
was great to see these techniques used in the working world rather than in the
classroom.
On a
whole, I would evaluate my performance at Bareface Media positively. I believe
I learnt many new skills quickly, as I was experiencing new environments and
blended into the company very well. I feel that I put in as much effort as I
possibly could and completed tasks to the best of my ability. I also think that
I multi-tasked to good standard, due to completing a variety of jobs at the
same time. Further to this, I believe I applied skills I learnt in the
classroom at university, to help complete tasks effectively whilst on work placement.
Abbey Hartley
