Month: December 2020

Hello, I’m Jonny. I am the Junior Designer and newest member of the team here at Layers Studio, however, my journey to this position has not been straightforward. You may have heard of this little thing called a global pandemic that’s affected many things, including my journey. 

From Intern to unemployed Graduate to Junior Designer, this is my story.

Span back to March 2019, I was in my third year of studying ‘Design for Industry’ at Northumbria University and was looking for placements. After tens of applications, followed by being ignored, being rejected, being accepted…and then falling through, my call was finally answered and I was invited to join the small but mighty team of Layers. 

My placement with Layers was my first taste of working life. I worked full-time for three months and from the start was working on a number of client projects. From branding, designing websites and apps, posters and brochures, all the way to…drum roll, please…designing PowerPoint templates (aka the stuff James didn’t want to do).

I was fully involved from the start and learning a lot along the way. My placement ended after 3 months, as that was the minimum amount of time required to pass the final module of my third year, however, my Layers journey didn’t end there. 

After an extremely impressive 3 months at Layers (definitely their words, not mine) I was asked to continue offering my services over the summer holiday and throughout my fourth year of University on an ad-hoc basis. I accepted and carried on working with Layers helping out in the office most weeks. I was even invited to the staff Christmas party! ????????????

After working part-time throughout my fourth year and nearing the end of University I was excited by the thought of finishing my final major project, graduating and the possibility of being offered a full-time position at Layers, the place I had grown to love over the past year. However, those thoughts came crashing down and a big COVID shaped wall was put in my path.

I was sent home from uni with the task of finishing my course remotely, and a return to the Layers office was far from sight. 

After submitting my final major project from my bedroom, receiving my graduation certificate through the post and watching a pre-recorded congratulatory video from my University, getting a job seemed like an impossible task. However I was informed that my contribution to Layers was still welcomed, and I was very happy to oblige. After the severity of the first wave and the start of a second, I was fully expecting to be waiting well into the new year to be able to find a job anywhere, never mind in the design sector. 

Fast forward to November I was made aware of the possibility of a full-time role here at Layers and after interviewing, the 16th of November was to be my start date, I gladly accepted the role.

That is where my 1st blog post ends, but my story with Layers (and as a designer) has just begun!

Thanks for reading!

Jonny