KTP Associate Blog

Here I am, in the middle of week thirteen of my KTP project – I can’t really believe it’s been that long already! I won’t lie to you – it has been a hectic thirteen weeks, and in some ways it feels like I’m back at square one with the project due to the challenges we are facing. But I suppose that is the nature of the beast, and since all this project management malarkey is new to me, I’m just going to have to keep trying to get things right and see what happens! Unfortunately I’m not a scientist, I have always been a creative type, but do have the support of other people in the company to work out the scientific problems that have occurred during the project.

I have to say – I was surprised to find a KTP aimed at a more creative candidate. I had been aware of graduate schemes but I had always presumed that they were aimed more at science or business graduates – it is refreshing to know this isn’t the case. Being a creative, I see how much it is overlooked by so many businesses, and how rare it is to find really good design in niche markets such as the ones Dycem are involved in. Branding and design is so important, particularly for new products, and this is something I have been tackling during my KTP, developing logos, packaging and branding for the new product that the project is working on. I think it’s a step in the right direction for my company to have requested a KTP who will set up an in-house design capability, as out-sourcing design can be costly – and more often than not, the business will have very little control over the work they are paying for.

My main priority at the moment is getting the new product right, but once we have ironed out all the problems with print media compatibility, I look forward to doing much more design work, and eventually taking over everything that would normally be sent out of house. One thing I have noticed about KTP projects is that they tend to have much more longevity than first meets the eye. There are always ways to expand on the project, and usually there are mini projects within the overall project.

This conveniently brings me on to the Diploma, for which we all must complete a ‘mini project’. I have not narrowed mine down yet – I will need to sit down with my supervisor and discuss the options before I go on my first residential module – in Edinburgh in two weeks’ time. I am looking forward to meeting more Associates and learning from their experiences within their own projects. I think it’s a great way to network, and because KTP is so unique, it will be helpful to have the opportunity to relate with people in a similarly unique situation!

I will let you know how I am getting on with my mini-project preparation in my next post…

Tags: Creative, Design, KTP, Print, Project Management

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Associate Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.