Discovering One’s Potential

I remember seeing the BMW M8 in the Beta Lab when I first visited the QUT Kelvin Grove campus two years ago. At the time, I was puzzled why there was a BMW showroom at QUT, until I learned about the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy. If you had told me then that I would be selected as a graphic design intern and have the chance to work with the talented designers in the Academy, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. Now, after completing the 100-hour internship, I am truly grateful and honoured for the precious learning opportunity and unique working experience.

Throughout the internship, my partner Chloe and I were tasked with several graphic design projects, such as developing and solidifying the Academy’s branding, revising website layouts, and creating new designs for social media and publications.

Collaborating with Chloe was both interesting and inspiring. Despite our very different design styles and ideas, we worked surprisingly well together. We introduced a new typeface, colours, gradients, and revised graphic elements to push a fresh design style and direction for the Academy. We created mockups for social media and printed materials such as banners and posters to demonstrate how the new design style could enhance the Academy’s branding. This unique design challenge required us to balance aesthetic appeal with the Academy’s connection to the BMW Group and key themes like professional, approachable, and technological. Defining the style guide and creating designs with these factors in mind provided an interesting real-world design experience.

We were also tasked with revising the Academy’s website. Despite having little experience in UI/UX design, Chloe and I saw this as a great opportunity to push our boundaries and dive into website design. We identified issues with the current website interface, conducted extensive research on modern and minimal website design, and experimented with a few mockups. After weeks of development, we presented new website layouts that addressed the issues we observed while maintaining the Academy’s professional and technological theme. Overall, it was a challenging yet rewarding experience.

This internship allowed me to test and further develop my technical skills, including ideation, research, and design, all within a real-world setting, making me a better visual communication designer. What made this internship unique was the opportunity to connect with passionate and talented designers. I learned more about collaboration, communication, presentation, work ethics, and much more skills and experiences I believe I couldn’t have gained elsewhere. The skills and knowledge I have acquired exceeded my expectations. I now have a better understanding of myself as a designer and know what areas I need to improve on. I am more confident in my design potential and abilities and I feel ready for the next step in my career.

It has been a wonderful learning experience at the Academy. I would like to thank Jordan, Epi, Tim, Taharah, and Chloe for their inspiration and support.

Avery Wang
Academy WIL Intern, Semester 1 2024