My time at Wensum Print has been very enlightening and insightful into a professional work place. Since arriving I’ve been shown both the print and design department and learning about different machines that are used, seeing activites such as lamination and other finishing processes being carried out as well as learning the properties and procedures of certain printers and paper types too.

In the design department I began to use a software called CorelDRAW which I hadn’t used previously and, with help from the designers, I’ve began to create products with this such as social media campaigns, business cards and wedding invitations. Once creating the proof for the wedding invitation, I then composed an email to the customer regarding any changes they may want made such as wording or composition. Email formats I’ve also found are quite sepcific and I’ve noticed certain things which are to be included in emails such as order numbers incorporated within the subject in order to make finding certain projects earier to find. I’ve also learnt about the colours used for different products on CorelDRAW; CMYK and RGB are two different palettes which are used for certain projects, for example when creating a web advert such as a Facebook ad, you would use colours from the RGB palette which are typically brighter than CMYK colours however print differently to what is shown on the screen also.

I’ve also helped one of the designers with his projects such as creating order tickets which require specific information about paper type and size, a brief regarding the product and other specifications which then allow the following stages of printing and finishing to flow better and stay organised. On CorelDRAW I also learnt about importing images for your projects and the differences between vectors and JPEG formats; with vectors once saved as an eps file, you can then ungroup the image on the software to change individual colours of each part of the image, compared to a JPEG which is essentially all one layer and can’t be so thoroughly edited.

As well as working in both the print and design departments, I’ve been told and shown other processes such as how to process cash and invoice sales on the till and how you should fill in the spreadsheet of each transaction afterwards in order to keep up to date with proceedings. Also, I understand that at the end of each day you need to go through the different paper types and see which ones need to be re-ordered and re-stocked.

On Wednesday I sat in on a meeting where the managers and colleagues discussed how current processes are going and any improvements that could have been made to the flow and system of the company. I also put together letters for companies, advertising Wensum Print’s website creator to them as I learnt the differences of a good and bad quality website; for example when a responsive website is viewed on a different device the website changes it’s flow and size according to the device it is viewed on, such as a desktop computer, monitor or tablet.

On Thursday I created a leaflet with the help from one of the managers and I learnt about different ways to lay out imagery and text effectively, for example using shapes to split up the pages and setting the spacing of text apart so that it looks bolder and less confined on the pages. This is particularly good for headings or pages with a lot of text so that it breaks the page up more and can make it less overwhelming to look at. I also received proof feedback on the wedding invitations I had created earlier in the week, and spoke with the couple about corrections and developments that could be made to the product. I’ve also been dealing with customers via email, discussing proofs and final drafts to be printed.

Overall, completing work experience at Wensum Print has taught me much about how business works and the processes of print. Temporarily working here has inspired me with the kind of path I want to go on in the future and shown me what areas of design I’m most interested in.