Interning around Europe
The real world of Graphic Design
By Lucy Richards
Creative Intern at VBAT
Hi!
I’m Lucy, one of the new creative interns at VBAT, trying to give you a little insight into me, my experiences of working at VBAT and what it’s like interning around Europe!
I’ve always had a strong appreciation of art, and since a young age I’ve wanted to channel this enthusiasm into creating something useful. When I began secondary school at age 11, I had heard of Graphics but all I knew about it was that it involved computers (ew). But as I sat in my first Graphic Design lesson, my eyes were opened to the wonderful world of Graphic Design, and making beautiful things that really had a purpose.
Several years later, I left my small town in the South of England to pursue my dream and began studying Graphic and Communication Design at the University of Leeds.
After 2 years of study, it became time for me to really get stuck into the real world of Graphic design, and I took a year out of University to intern. This time I truly flew the nest. I started interning in London for 3 months, followed by Berlin for 3, and now here I am sat at my desk at VBAT, in Amsterdam, wondering what the next 4 months have to hold!
Moving to another country comes with it’s challenges. For someone with absolutely zero sense of direction, I struggle to find my way around the office, let alone a new city. Another struggle was not having a bike (or some other strange vehicle that you see on the cycle paths here). It’s almost impossible to get around here without one, and was even more of a challenge finding one for me, as the shop assistant reminded me, I “do not have the Dutch height”. But after finally sorting myself out with a pink flowery kids bike, I feel a lot more settled (at least it shouldn’t get stolen!).
I already feel right at home working at VBAT, and although I don’t speak a word of Dutch, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt about the Dutch it’s that they are all extremely friendly (especially at VBAT!). And as for the food at VBAT… amazing! I’ve been lucky enough that the sun has been shining for most of my stay so far and my favourite part of the day has to be receiving an email from someone in the office inviting everyone to eat ice creams at the bar! And the coffee machine is dangerous too. Having hot chocolate on tap does not help my addiction, my record so far is 4 in one day…
It’s amazing working with such a lovely variety of people, all with different skills and ambitions in such a warm environment. VBAT is great because there are so many different projects to get stuck into, from retail space design to beer bottle label design; I’m really hoping to explore all options and find my niche!
I change my mind daily about what I’d like to specialise in, and the media I like to use. I’ve always been a very hands on creative, often involving collage and illustration in my work, and even a bit of embroidery, but recently I’ve really started to explore using photography and minimalistic typographic layouts. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pick a particular style! Despite all this, my ultimate dream is to design the concept and interior for an independent bar / café / boutique (with a magazine running alongside it). But maybe this is just me trying to cram every discipline possible into one…
Either way, I can already tell VBAT is a great company to learn and explore so many different disciplines in, and I’m so excited to see what comes out of this internship and my stay in such a creative city!
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written by Lucy Richards
Creative Intern at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
