Mar 2, 2016

Work Placement Journal: Xpand International — Day One

Today (29/02/16) Michael Lilley and I began our work placement with Xpand International. We have been set up in Farset Labs, Weavers Court, Belfast City Centre in a hot desk environment.

Skype Call with James (Communicating via Skype from Belfast — California)

Our morning began with a 2 hour long Skype call with James Gumble (Managing Director) and he was able to fill us in with a brief history of the company and also what the company actually does within the industry. We went on to speak about the various projects that Michael and I would/could be working on during our 6–7 week placement with Xpand International.

These projects included;

* One-on-one client meetings
* Web Design (Back-End & Browser Window Designs)
* Graphic Design
* Combining various design elements in to one (e.g Brochures & Books)
* Social Media Content & Managing
* Animation Sequences
* Product Photography

We spoke about the various company policies and guidelines, as well as how to communicate with various other members of the Xpand team via Slack and Google Hangouts. On Slack we have been added into various private channels, one named ‘Attendance’ and the other ‘SupportChannel’. These two channels are there to be constantly used, to keep James and the rest of the team up to date with our progress with our set tasks.
In the Attendance channel, we were asked to put up three tasks that we would be working on throughout the day and also to say you have arrived at your place of work (or started to work from home). We arrived today at 9:30am and had declared our attendance via the designated Slack Channel.

Once the Skype call had finished, Helen Jakes (James’ Assistant) took over, in terms of discussing any further client details and also arranging various client meetings for tomorrow. For the rest of the day we got on with our high priority tasks, this was working on the structure and layout for the redesign of NIFX’s website and to create information.

Also begin working on the layout and design for the Xpand International Trade Missions Brochure. (Which James needs for Monday to use during presentations and client meetings.)

We finished at 6:45pm at today, feeling tired from a hard, long days work. Thoroughly enjoyable though and lots of interesting projects to look forward to over the coming days and weeks.