A design intern in a publishing house

Marie Alberto, Design for Art Direction Year 3

My passion has always been inclined towards books since elementary school. I still remember the moment of joy when I won my first dictionary book after a dictation competition.
 
Few months ago, it was with great enthusiasm that I applied at Pavilion Books, an independent publishing house that specialises on illustrative books alongside designers. They publish around 150 books a year under their range of established imprints; Batsford, Collins & Brown, National Trust, Pavilion, Pavilion Children's, Pitkin and Portico.
 
 
My internship consists of 4 months extended to 6 months contracted position as a Design Intern.
 
I collaborate and work hand in hand with the design-in-house team of four wonderful women, the creative director, the design manager, the senior designer, the designer, and myself.
 
The design intern position is for me an eye opener to the world of design and publishing industry.
 
Here’s how:
 
A book is written and designed about a year or even more before its publishing date.
 
Pavilion Books is a small company of less than hundreds of people which allows me to observe all departments working altogether collaboratively.
 
Throughout the process of making a book, the design team consistently communicates with editors and publishers as well as the production (reprographics) team.
 
Being a design intern requires a lot of punctuality, patience, proactivity, persistence and ultimately a positive attitude. You will be immersing in a very fast-paced environment where you will be asked to deliver immediately and greatly. You learn as you go but you have to be able to understand as you go, and it doesn’t always happen, so you will have to ask questions in order to do the things correctly.
 
In Design, Photoshop and Illustrator are huge vital skills to have as a designer and graphic designer, I would consider it as my right hand. During my internship, my colleagues generously taught me a lot of technical tricks and it saved a lot of my time.
 
All in all, I was able to have a lot of responsibilities such as designing book covers, inside spreads, prepare files to repro for different imprints, and help out the sales, marketing and publicity department.
 
From my perspective as an art direction and multi-disciplinary student, I thought that being a design intern was quite restrictive and doesn’t give enough room to experiment with other mediums. But otherwise, the experience was worth taking and the amazing people worth knowing!