My week at Grain Creative

From Fraser Brydon:
After the completion of my GCSE’s at Dr Challoner’s, it was time for work experience and where better to enjoy a week of learning than at Grain. Although having learned about Grain for a brief day last summer, I decided it was time to renew my interest and learn more about the people and processes behind Grain’s successful branding and design. Firstly, I was introduced to the warm, creative environment of the Grain office – a place where ideas can literally be seen developing – by attending a project update and learning key terminology and witnessing the strong team mentality of the Grain employees. I was then tasked by Madelyn to find the definitions and usefulness of many key branding processes to better my understanding of the types of jobs Grain do, and the importance of branding in any company or organisation.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I was let loose on Illustrator to increase my understanding of one of the many powerful tools used by Grain to satisfy their clients and thanks to the technical and philosophical support from both Madelyn and Christoph – and some sneaky tips from Juli – I experimented with my ideas on a number of things such as my name, the logo of HTC and even an upcoming Newland College advert (make sure to keep your eyes peeled when reading the Telegraph in the coming weeks). My most lasting contribution to the team will be the involvement I had in assembling the new table tennis table with Christoph, which I hope the team will enjoy for the considerable future.

My experience of Grain has helped me learn that branding is worth a lot more than making things look pretty and has given me knowledge that I will carry with me in every field and company that I work in. In all honesty, this week has flown by and although I’m sad I cannot continue to learn from the best, I will continue to watch out for big things from Grain in the future. I would like to thank everyone at Grain for being so friendly and helping me settle in and feel like part of the team.

Above is the ‘What is Branding’ mind map I created on my second day.