Shaping the Future – Inspiring Internship Insights

Hi! I’m Maddie, I completed a Graphic Design internship at TPSquared last year.

I began studying Graphic Design at Halesowen College, here I discovered my love for this area of design. At this point I was already eager to get into the workplace environment; I contacted TPSquared and they kindly offered to have me for some work experience. Three years later, I’m now studying BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Birmingham City University, to aid my future career. When I saw that TPSquared had an opening for a 16-week internship placement, I jumped at the chance and got in touch with Carolyn to express to my interest.

My first day at TPSquared, I was presented with the perfect brief – to create a t-shirt brand that inspires and promotes women’s empowerment. I felt so lucky to be able to work on such a fun project that is so close to the team and their company values, as well as being able to express my creativity in a professional environment. The most exciting aspect of the project for me was designing the t-shirts and having free reign to come up with a variety of both serious and comical captions to inspire women. I also thoroughly enjoyed designing and setting up a website for the brand, as I’ve never done anything like this before. It was exciting to learn a new aspect of design and have the opportunity to play around with this with the help from the team – who never failed to provide support when I needed it.

Working in a branding agency has proved to be very different to being at University, so of course I had some challenges. For example, when it came to saving logo files or what should be included in a brand toolkit, I was clueless! I never realised how many different file types there could be for a logo and I’m so grateful that I learned this during my internship as it’s helped me feel better prepared for when I enter the industry.

Another impactful lesson I learned was the importance of networking in this field of work. I went along to an Innovation and Creativity masterclass event at the University of Wolverhampton, National Brownfield Institute, and found the topics and themes discussed during this fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the way different individuals, with similar interests in the creative industry, approached one another to discuss how they could help each other. This is incredibly important to any business, as networking is how contacts are formed, and new clients are found.

TPSquared is a well-established, female-led graphic design and branding agency with strong values, of which I firmly support. The team are an amazing group of people that welcomed me in and continued to inspire me every day since I started; I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I have gained knowledge, experience and confidence, but I also had fun doing it – whether that be from making TikTok’s or chatting about food – every day has been unique.

Since secondary school, I’ve always planned to go into the creative sector for my future career, however I wasn’t sure of the exact route. My time as an intern has confirmed that working at a branding agency is the correct path for me. During this project, the feedback and support received along the way has been incredibly rewarding and encouraging, this has further inspired me to hurry up, finish uni, and get out into the real world!