I never thought I would be setting foot on Scottish soil, let alone spend three incredible months as a Snook design intern. So what brought this budding Canadian designer all the way across the pond?
The short answer: My passion for Service Design and Snook.
The long answer? Watch my #marieforsnookster application video here.
At the beginning of February this year, I hopped on a plane from Vancouver to Glasgow and began my Snookster journey soon after. The moment I stepped into the studio, I was thrown in at the deep end of the waters. I was assigned to multiple projects and learnt how to swim right off the bat. From projects in Service Design and User Experience (UX) to Branding and Visual Design to Research and Workshop Facilitation, I am growing as a designer everyday. One of my favourite things about Snook is the diverse nature of projects I am involved with, which require various skills and challenge my thought process.
My highlights during these three months include:
- Mentoring participants and creating short films (like this recap video!) at the Glasgow Service Jam
- Facilitating and creating tools for the See Me Innovation Lab workshop in Edinburgh
- Designing tools to gather insights from young people and other stakeholders around a community alcohol awareness campaign
- Working on short videos for CycleHack and activities for CycleHack Education
- Developing the branding, visual language and mockups for AyeMind (formerly known as P99) and the City of Edinburgh Council’s Open Data web platform
My biggest achievement at Snook has been my work on AyeMind, a platform for encouraging positive approaches to youth wellbeing, where I helped design the logo, branding guidelines, web mockups and the user experience. We developed the visual language and imagery centred around young people with a bright and fresh look and feel. I worked with developers to translate the mockups into a live working website. It was amazing to see Ayemind come together and I realised my own strengths, capabilities and what I could improve on through this project.
Along with great projects, I work with great people at Snook. I feel at home with these amazing individuals whom I can also call my friends. I still remember the Scottish lunch everyone helped organise during my second week here. It was a feast of Scottish flavours from haggis bagels, tablet, macaroons, shortbread, haggis-flavoured crisps and the infamous Irn Bru. Just like my work as an intern, I was able to try a variety of new things all at once alongside my Snook family.
The #marieforsnookster journey came to a close at the end of April. The first of June marked my full-time return to Snook where I have been working on Dearest Scotland’s book design and editing a recap video for CycleHack Glasgow. I look forward to contributing to the next phase of AyeMind and Whose Round, and for the many Snook adventures that lie ahead.
Who knew that a Canuck would do just fine in the land of Scots after all.