An internship at DJRFF
Katie Galley shares her experience as a summer intern at DJRFF.
I’m Katie, an adventurous and thoughtful designer at the beginning of my career journey after graduating with a 1st class degree in product and furniture design from Sheffield Hallam University. My passion for design and research centres on the creation of useful products which in some way help people. Throughout my studies and work experience I have explored design in a number of different fields: consumer design, furniture, UX, and many more. One of the areas that has interested me the most is design for children- and that’s what brings me here!
One of the most noticeable ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic has shaken up the norm has been the mass transition to remote working. For me as a product design student, this meant that I had to adapt my design process as I was unable to access workshops or work on physical prototyping. I instead took the opportunity to enhance my digital design skills and explore different avenues away from physical manufacturing environments. As a graduate, I have continued to embrace the “new normal” by taking on this remote internship, joining the foundation’s other employees in working from home and communicating and collaborating entirely online.
During my time with the foundation I have been able to apply my creativity and design skills to a number of different projects. Whilst I have been here, the foundation has been in the final stages of their website redesign. I have contributed to the graphic design of the site, creating icons for the Resources page, as well as carrying out testing for usability. I also designed a booklet for the foundation’s ecology project, which will be sent to schools to accompany the honey extraction kit. I enjoyed the challenge of making this suitable for both pupils and teachers, ensuring that it was colourful and engaging for primary-aged children as well as practical and informative.
I have also been interested to learn how the foundation makes use of the Skills Builder Framework and the Gatsby Benchmarks to develop and shape their educational resources. These frameworks ensure that alongside academic knowledge, children and young people are equipped with essential skills and vocational experiences that will empower them to succeed in life. As a designer, these insights will help me to create engaging children's products for educational settings which go beyond purely curriculum-based learning.
This internship was organised and funded by the Hallam Internship Scheme, which was launched to help students find jobs and internships after graduating from university. I would highly recommend the scheme to graduates of Sheffield Hallam University, and would encourage students from other universities to seek out similar opportunities.
Examples of Katie’s previous work can be seen on her website: https://www.katiegalleycreative.com/projects
