I’m Lucy, and I am a graphic designer in the Design & Artwork team here at Fluid. No two weeks in my role are ever the same, but they’re all jam-packed!
Monday
Along with most other people here at Fluid, the first half an hour or so on a Monday is usually spent catching up on emails. The nature of our team means we work through quite a high volume of jobs in a typical week, so we keep a track of everything on our holy Design & Artwork tracker. Monday morning is a good time to update this before our daily team call where we check in, have the opportunity to move work around, get updates on different projects and generally just say hello to the team and see what we all did at the weekend!
This week our team call highlighted some gaps in people’s workload lists, so I quickly took the opportunity to brief out some different jobs that had come directly to me. Briefing work out can be as simple as forwarding on an email, but in this case the tasks required a little more background info, so we chatted through the projects in depth.
It’s now time for me to get my teeth into some of the tasks on my own list. Today this was critiquing some social posts made internally by one of our clients and suggesting ways they could improve them. As an extension of their marketing team, we're trusted as brand custodians, so sometimes we’re asked to give our opinions or insights. I then jumped onto progressing some assets for a campaign I’ve been working on and checking some display ads that another team member worked on. To break things up a bit, I contacted some printers for quotes I needed for a couple of projects, and sent some emails to clients to update them on projects.
Tuesday
It's already Tuesday, and today after our daily team call and email catch up, I jumped into a call with a client to run through the work I did yesterday. I then spent some time progressing this one ready for a presentation they have tomorrow. So far this week I’ve been working in the office, which has been great for collaboration on this project. It means I can easily catch up with Ben T (the lead designer for this client), and Ed (one of the client relationship leads) to share ideas and check things are moving in the right direction.
After that I had some bits to check through, making sure amends have been made correctly or just casting my eye over things before sending them on to the client.
At the end of last week, we had a meeting with one of my clients where I came away with the action to put all the campaign creatives in a quick reference doc so we can see what messages we’ve put out previously and effectively plan ahead. Today I made a start, revisiting some of the creatives we produced up to three years ago. I also took this time to update some retainer spreadsheets and sort some invoices for completed jobs.
Wednesday
We’re at the midway point now, and the week has turned into quite a busy one. Our morning call highlighted quite a few projects with deadlines for the end of the week, which is slowly disappearing. I spent the morning finishing the list of creatives I started the day before, making sure it’s finished for our catch-up with the client in the afternoon. During our catch-up we go through any on-going jobs and get a bit of an update. We also get an idea of any projects that might be coming in over the next week or so and generally get a bit of an update from the client. I then spent the rest of the day moving onto some of the smaller tasks on my list, mainly working through amends or updating existing artworks.
Thursday
Thursdays are usually a bit of a meeting-heavy day for me. After a little catch up on emails, and the team call, I join a weekly catch up for another one of my clients. Again, this is catching up on the status of ongoing projects and checking in on specific things with the client. I do quite enjoy these calls, as a lot of the time we’re just pinging emails back and forth. So it’s good to get the chance to say hello, have a catch-up and show my face.
After this, I jump back into the task list. Today I’m starting with ideas for a calendar design, as well as working through some forms and artworking some projects which have been signed off.
Every couple of weeks we have an internal accountability meeting here at Fluid. It’s a way of keeping on top of some of the internal processes and progression we’re working on as well as sharing any ideas. I’ve recently started joining these meetings as I am now accountable for progressing Fluid’s sustainability journey. We’re looking to make sure sustainability is ingrained into life here at Fluid in the same way that our values are. These meetings are always useful as some of the other areas feed into mine and give a good starting point or bit of inspiration.
Friday
It’s Friday! I love being in the office on a Friday. Although it’s usually a little quieter, there’s always a lovely atmosphere and it feels like everyone is excited for the weekend.
I spent my morning running through some of the actions on my list from the accountability meeting. This was mainly sending some emails and arranging some calls with some potential partners and charities.
On a Friday we have the Fluid team-wide 'chit-chat' call, where we all check-in and run through any exciting updates, what our different teams have been up to, and just generally say hello to people you might not have seen all week.
And then the main event for the last day of the week... A few of us treat ourselves to a slightly naughty lunch on a Friday. We get very excited about it (maybe a little too much), and this week we decided on the classic McDonalds. After fuelling up, I’m ready for an afternoon of working through any projects which are needed by the end of the week. Today there’s a couple of nice ones to get stuck in and once they’re complete I’ll spend a little time filling out job bags and making sure everything is up to date for Monday.
It’s been a good week to keep a track of what I’ve been up to, and actually reading back and reflecting on what I’ve done this week has been really satisfying. I know next week will hold a different set of challenges, so let’s see what it brings!