Contentment

Ethan Muscat
​Graphic & Media Design

The RA Holiday Campaign, Luxury Stocking Fillers, shot & retouched by the Content Creator and I.

 I had a lot of doubts about starting my placement year for my degree, a lot of anxiety and pressure is suddenly put on you whilst completing your second year of studying; something I was searching for was stability, I knew I wanted to stay in London and the only way I’d guarantee a stable life living in the city would be to get a lengthy placement as oppose to doing freelance work and relying on that for income. My choice to do so has luckily turned out to be a blessing, I’m now 3 months into my internship at Royal Albartross and I couldn’t feel any better about the decision I made.
 
Being a Graphic Design student, there are so many different paths you could take for your career and it can be hard to determine which lane you want to ride in. For me, I knew I wanted to work with imagery and for a wide audience preferably a fashion brand or lifestyle brand of some sort, so when this opportunity came about, it was hard to refuse! And now working in that environment it feels like as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because I’m enjoying it so much – it feels validating to know that I’m on the right path. I have developed a great bond with the team at RA that has allowed me to be able to collaborate and be hands on with the content we produce for the brand as I work closely with the CEO and content creator, whom I report directly to.
 
While doing the internship I have learnt some vital skills that I’ve always felt like I needed as a designer in this current age; being taught the basics in AfterEffects and Premiere Pro which allows me to work on using those programs to experiment and design captivating motion graphics that I never knew how to do before; Setting up a photography space to shoot our products, using lighting equipment and how to set up the camera; How to optimise images and videos to run smoothly on the web. These skills and so much more I will take forward with me as a designer once I finish my internship.

Social Media Posts, designed by me.

I have been practicing design from the age of about 10, way back in the day when the only design program I knew how to vaguely navigate was Corel Paint Shop Pro, from there on I have been teaching myself through trial and error and tutorials posted online, at that point in my life nearly every new skill I taught myself surrounding design would surprise me - the fact that if I could imagine it in my head, I knew there would be a way I could implement that onto the computer screen, this way of thinking has stuck with me throughout my life and has been a great way of battling any doubts I had on myself as a designer.
 
As I’ve gotten older and started to study Design at college and now at University, I’m surprised more about the depth that design carries – it was no longer something I just did in my spare time as a hobby, it had now become something so engraved into my system that I can see design wherever I go, whether that be posters splashed along the streets of London or a simple security notice in a coffee shop, design is everywhere and with every piece of printed design, there is a designer behind that who made those design choices for a reason to educate and advise a specific audience.
 
I was never aware of the different types of graphic design that held a specific name until I started my first year at University, studying subjects like Typography, the use of font and letter in design; Information Design, created to inform a specific audience; Spatial Design, creating an event space for a client; UX Design, designing a whole user interface from scratch; Design for Change, creating designs that help improve the life of a specific audience and many, many more. 
 
There is something between all factors of design that connects them together and that is that you design with a target audience in mind. Since starting my placement for the DPS year, my role ensure that when I’m designing I should be doing so with the target audience in mind and the foundation of the brand that has kept them interested for the past 10 years – this may sound restricting but it teaches you how to be consistent within your design process and your ability to collaborate with other designers by knowing what works well for the brand, as most the time, you are the one creating the design and seeing the engagement with the audience.

Social Media Product Shots, designed and retouched by me.