If at first you don’t succeed, learn from it at least.

Tom Medlicott racked up a serious number of internship applications before settling in with Brompton Bikes as part of his DPS year. Here he reflects on his experiences so far.
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After 126 job applications to 44 cities in 19 countries, 52 rejections, 8 interviews, 5 offers and 1 unsuccessful meeting with a design hero of mine, I had already learned huge amounts about the design industry before even setting foot anywhere near an agency. This was as disheartening as 52 rejections sounds although a number of designers and agencies took time to substantiate their feedback. Amidst a sea of non-repliers and impersonal copy + paste responses this was something I could only look upon positively and the portfolio I started this process with is a very different piece of work to the one I use now.

The old saying of who you know, not what rang true as after 2 chance conversations with friends I had not seen in years I was in a job within 2 weeks. I initially picked up work as a freelancer at Brompton Bicycle, it was well paid but my preconceptions about the product weren’t good owing to what I viewed as its typical middle aged city financier client base. As I was still being pulled through application after application elsewhere something fairly ad hoc suited me well. On reflection though the opportunity to work in the design & marketing office attached to the factory has been a fascinating insight into how design progresses from industrial product design through manufacture and eventually marketing and advertising.

I have continued in a role somewhere between intern, freelancer and junior employee. I am now in 2/3 days a week and the 1hr10 commute to the office near Heathrow is a definite noticeable change. Brompton relies on freelance designers for the marketing as there is no in-house graphics team so to speak of. This meant I was undertaking serious (albeit small) commercial tasks working within a reasonably strict set of brand guidelines from the start. At first this was disconcerting but as I grew into the company over time I was more and more entrusted with creative freedoms and diverse tasks to perform - from posters in Dutch spotted around Amsterdam, to merchandise for the factory, to marketing assets for corporate events. The team are young and constructive in their feedback - my work is well received and to see it go out into places like London, Hong Kong, Holland and Germany is hugely gratifying.

In an ideal world I would be afforded the opportunity to see more of the design production process, sit in on brainstorming meetings, liaise with printers and experiment in wider mediums - however I am benefiting from working independently learning how to structure my time, prioritise jobs and even things I had not given much prior consideration to such as how to write and invoice. Though I have no set end date the pay is good enough that it allows me to set aside funds for the next stage of my industry year. I have been accepted into a small startup in Berlin from February and will be working with an in-house design team called RCKT. I am looking forward to a new set of challenges as well as the opportunity to live and work in Europe whilst that is still a option that is open to me.