I was presented with the task of designing a ‘Brand Profile’ this week by a newly obtained member of staff, a Branding Manager. It became exceptionally clear during the process of this project that this organisation has some fundamental issues with communication across departments and within them. The briefing process was completely deficient; I was approached in person by the new manager (whom I had never previously met) with nothing recorded in writing and expected to understand and memorise the requirements of the task in full with limited instruction. Moreover, I wasn’t given information on the purpose of the Brand Profile - from its audience to its final destination. Basically, I was extremely ill-equipped to take on such a large task - and while I don’t want to pass the blame onto others for my disappointment in the final outcome, I know that I wasn’t supported throughout the duration of the design process as an intern should be. The fault in this laid entirely in the time management and communication skills of the responsible manager. I was not set a realistic or cemented timeframe in which to complete the task and no consideration was given to my other work commitments which suffered as a result. I didn’t have time to eat lunch, drink enough water or even regularly go to the toilet as I tried frantically not to disappoint the senior managers that I deeply wanted to impress. If a system exists in a workplace where any member of staff has to sacrifice their physical and mental needs to complete a task, there is clearly a very serious problem with the way the business is being run - especially when that member of staff is an intern. In hindsight, I realise that I should not have sacrificed so much to complete the task but rather worked at a healthy pace. I regret that I let myself get so flustered by the stress.
The most challenging part of this task was being solely responsible for chasing up other departments for necessary assets, such as copy from the Copy Editor or suitable/preferred E-commerce imagery from the Campaign Manager. Naturally, these assets arrived late - only increasing my stress level - because each individual member of staff who contributed to the Brand Profile also had absolutely no idea of its contents or final purpose. Nevertheless I was extremely grateful for their support, although the rest of the team were left quite powerless and uninformed to assist me. Their was no plan in place for exactly which images or copy would be required, so it was often left up to me - an intern with 3 months of experience at the business - to decide what I thought would be most appropriate. I feel very despondent in the fundamental design of the Brand Profile itself, because I was instructed to replicate the design of an outdated branding material which no longer represents the branding and personality of the Forever Unique brand as I know it. This is even more frustrating given that the Brand Profile centres around the SS18 Collection which will be even more outdated in comparison to the campaigns and materials produced by my Retail Team when the collection is promoted early next year. I was very limited creatively by this, and with the added pressures of restrictive time limitations, I was always doomed to struggle with achieving my full capabilities.
Truthfully, I’m still not especially clear on the purpose of this 33-page long Brand Profile. I am unsure who is using it, or distributing it, or whether it serves any informative benefit. I hadn’t quite fully realised how negatively I felt about the process of creating this project until penning it to my Critical Journal, which has been beneficial at least in getting my thoughts together in order to develop a critical understanding of the briefing process within this company. Because of the demands of this project, I missed out on my opportunity to assist on the Christmas campaign shoot - a shoot which I had taken on a huge amount of responsibility in planning and preparing for and was so looking forward to watching come to life. My one aim during this placement year - aside from getting as much valuable experience as possible - is just simply to enjoy myself, but unfortunately I dreaded the thought of going to placement this week.
I have chosen a selection of pages from the 33-page document to include here.
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