Hi, I’m Tom and I’m a design scholar at Dovetailed, currently splitting my time between supporting the team with their design portfolio and studying my Masters in Information Experience Design at the Royal College Of Art.
Being at university can be a bit like being in a bubble. You start the term and have set projects to work on. University keeps you busy until summer, then you start to think about what design is like ‘in the real world’. It can be a bit of a scary thought, but it was this thought that spurred me on to contact the team at Dovetailed. I’d seen the work the studio was doing and really liked it, it seemed to fit really well with my skills and interests. I was lucky enough to get to come and join the team in the summer before the final year of my Masters.
When I started I was pretty excited, a little nervous but mostly curious to see what life was like in a design studio. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was as varied as being in university with lots of projects and ideas to think about and work on each day. My first few days involved researching on a connected retail project, designing packaging solutions and contacting suppliers, as well as some hands work on making unusual things with resin. The team were super friendly helping me find all the things I needed and showing me some of the best places to eat in Cambridge. I was soon going to realise that food is a pretty big deal at Dovetailed.
Their love of food perhaps explains the nūfood robot, a 3D printer for food. I took a prototype on to the streets of Cambridge to get people’s reactions to it. I worked with Alfy and set-up outside Kings College with some G&Ts and the printer. It was fun watching people try it out and capturing their reactions on camera. As well as working on the printer I also got to be a tester; getting the opportunity to eat the range of delicious dishes being developed for the Rooftop Supper Club, that ran as part of Eat Cambridge Festival this spring.
On top of working on internal projects for the studio I also got to collaborate with a range of clients. From learning about UX in a big corporate environment, to advising on a project developing software to make chocolate Lego. This allowed me to test out my communication skills, especially when working with people from all over the globe. A lot of my work involved talking to people, interviewing software engineers about their process and discovering the functions and application of software.
The team at Dovetailed were really supportive and it has been great to continue working with them. It’s always fun to be involved in discussions with the team. Being able to take on responsibility and to contribute ideas has really allowed be to learn so much. And on top of that I know a little bit more about ‘the real world’ and it’s not quite as scary as I thought.
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