Lisa’s Summer Practicum at District

During the Summer 2024 semester, I had the opportunity to do a practicum at District, a Vancouver-based media company specializing in music curation. This was very exciting to me, as during the last few years of my degree, I had decided that I ideally wanted to work as a graphic designer within the music industry after graduation. I was heading in the right direction regarding my career goals.

My first week was nerve-wracking but very exciting. I loved being in an environment filled with conversations surrounding music. Everyone was excited to have a graphic designer join the team, so I felt welcome. My supervisor, the head of the content team, was very communicative and helpful, assigning me a few projects she would like to see while giving me the freedom to do what I felt was best for the company. The first major project she wanted to develop was a cover identity system for the various music genres on their platform. I struggled with this project, feeling creatively lost for a few weeks, until I eventually had to reassess and shift my focus to creating the company’s brand identity, which allowed all my other projects to flourish. Once I shifted my focus, everything began working for me. Through the brand identity, I completed a website update, a client onboarding package, a minimal system for the music genre covers, and a brand guidelines package for internal use.

The past couple of months have been a valuable learning experience in designing in the real world, rather than a classroom setting. It has been a rewarding experience of learning what it’s like to be the only in-house designer on the team, but it was also tricky at times not to have a senior designer to lean on. Using the skills I have learnt in my degree thus far and finding myself using them during my practicum has made me very grateful for all the mentoring I have received over the past few years. I feel confident that my professors have prepared me and other students for success once we enter the workforce after graduation.

Towards the end of the practicum, I was delighted with the work I was doing, and I felt that others reciprocated my happiness. I learnt a lot about myself as a designer, and my experience allowed me to form some new career goals and gain confidence. I’m very grateful to my supervisor and the rest of the organization’s staff for allowing me to experience my first-ever real-world design position and for accommodating me.

I’m looking forward to what else my education and career have to offer!