Whilst at Burstons I worked as a front of house customer assistant in the restaurant. I served a range of customers food and drinks, including tea, coffee, snacks and hot meals. In order to sustain a pleasant atmosphere and a high level of customer service, I kept the restaurant and front counter clean and tidy and was always willing to aid customers in any way I could. Often I helped to prepare food in the kitchen, showing my flexibility and willingness. In non-peak times of the day I was often left responsible for the general running of the front counter, ensuring all tasks were carried out efficiently and to a high standard. Over the years my hard work and dedication resulted in being given more responsibilities, such as taking bookings, placing orders to suppliers and serving large functions, such as coach parties and society lunches. Due to my thorough yet friendly approach I was asked on many occasions to train new members of staff.In the last year I have been approached by my management team in order to design and create a kids after school menu and the menu for our 2014 Christmas meals. After liaising with my manager my designs were finalised and used in the restaurant.Recently I was approached by my supervisor to design some new seasonal menus. The design has been approved by management, but naturally a few amendments need to be made before finalising.

I spent a week at Gravity Matrix, a creative production agency based in Hemel Hempstead, who offer a large range of services to their clients. This includes, for example, small flyers, packaging, banners, websites and rebranding.During my time at Gravity I worked from a brief creating my own luxury perfume brand. I created the brand logo, followed by a variety of marketing materials such as A4 posters, mailer ideas, the packaging and scent sample designs. This week helped to develop my skills using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, and also with general Apple Mac skills.I returned to Gravity in June this year as an intern for 2/3 days a week. This was a way to enhance my skills further as I could use the software on a more regular basis. After just 2 weeks I was asked to help with live jobs which I have been doing each week since. This includes artworking/making amendments coming in from clients and generating concepts after reading a brief. This has also given me a great opportunity to gain a further understanding of the industry and how the business runs.

I contacted Mobas as a way of gaining more experience in the graphic design industry. Throughout my time I continued to further my InDesign skills, learning tips and tricks to make my designs more sound and solid. I was given a selection of my own design tasks and was asked to work on some live jobs too. The briefs I was given involved researching for inspiration, designing logos, choosing colour schemes and then creating various designs for items such as menus and brochures. These tasks helped me to understand the process of reading and interpreting a brief, and following brand guidelines. The placement also gave me a further insight into the overall journey from initial client emails to the final product. This included liaising with clients and other staff such as proof readers, which really highlighted the importance of precision within the industry.

C4B Media is an integrated marketing agency specialising in internet marketing, graphic design, branding and communications.During my time at C4B my first task was to research, design and create an infographic based on digital marketing. The research aspect of this project gave me a great insight into the importantance of digital marketing within a business. During the design process I had to carefully take on board the conventions of an infographic while still making something original. I also had to adopt the companys' style and branding. Creating the infographic helped me to improve my skills using Photoshop.As well as the infographic, I created a mailer card for the company, based on their content marketing services; how companies can keep themselves at the top of the list of a potential customer. I also worked on creating new diagrams based around all the services the company has to offer.I also had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with potential clients, take part in brainstorming sessions and generally experience day-to-day work in this type of industry.