Three of our Graphic Design students recently had the opportunity to visit Facebook’s UK headquarters as part of the ‘Future Creatives’ event. How would our students describe their experience? Two words: “very cool”.
The event, organised by Ideas Foundation, brought together 20 students from a range of subject areas to hear directly from the marketing teams behind Facebook and Instagram and learn about building audiences, targeting, and creative design on their social media platforms.
Yes, the working environment was impressive and there’s no denying that we wouldn’t turn down the chance to work in a building with games rooms, sleep pods (for the occasional late night), and an ice cream parlour.
However, what impressed the most was the level of research and planning involved in every design brief, ensuring that each piece of work was tailored to a specific audience to encourage customers to think, feel or act in a certain way. This insight will help our students to challenge and clarify briefs and to make sure that they incorporate the needs and preferences of audiences in their design work.
Babs Jossi, Graphic Design lecturer at the College said:
“This was a brilliant opportunity for our students to get under the skin of one of the biggest brands in the world and gain an appreciation of how research and targeting impacts on design work. The environment has certainly inspired them too.
While our students may or may not end up working in an environment like Facebook’s offices, their future employers will consistently expect to see how they are applying critical thinking and audience insight into their designs so that they are contributing to overall business objectives, and the trip certainly reinforced this.
Thank you to Ideas Foundation for arranging the visit.”
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