Its been a year since I started my first job as a graphic designer after leaving university. I uprooted my life to move to Reading and although Gloo’s specialism in B2B content marketing was not something I knew much about, I enjoy a challenge.

Marketing for a B2B audience is different to B2C on many levels and so is the design that goes with it. For example, a lot of our work is creating thought leadership papers or reports and so as a designer I have to think about how the content and design work together on documents that can be over 20 pages long, and how to bring to life visually quite complex technology topics, whereas for a B2C audience content is generally a lot shorter and simpler.

What have I learned?

Creative Cloud

As a student, I was living and breathing Adobe. I was confident that I would hit the ground running when I joined Gloo. That wasn’t the case. As soon as I opened my first assigned project, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know. Luckily for a fresh-faced designer, my team were very helpful and patient, and within the first few weeks, I had learned so many new skills and techniques. Working in an agency where the environment is always changing, there is always something new to learn.

Designing for B2B

At university I wasn’t taught very much about branding, and how important consistency is in the corporate world. One of the first things I learnt at Gloo was how to closely follow and correctly interpret each client’s own brand guidelines.

Although we produce some very creative infographics and minigraphics, most of what I design is product collateral, which is very structured. We make sure that our content not only fits the template, but looks creative, too. A big part of this is finding stock photos that are fresh, yet still on brand.

As a designer, part of my role is to always be up-to-date on the latest design trends, and using new styles or visuals to make our clients’ marketing material more impactful ­— that’s why it’s great that Gloo takes training seriously.

Teamwork

The Gloo team bond really well together, we know how to work hard and work together to get projects done, even if it’s just brainstorming on our picnic bench (yes, we have one of those!) to get the ball rolling. But it’s not just an office job that you do your hours and go home, we spend time together outside of work too, sometimes with our clients!

Feeding Creativity

Probably the most important thing I’ve learnt since being at Gloo is that snacks are mandatory. Having a supply of biscuits keeps the team going, and you know we’ve been good if there’s a box of Krispy Kremes in the office!

Watching Gloo grow over the last year has been an amazing experience. As a designer at the beginning of my career, and with the team expanding, and new opportunities always coming in, I feel like there is somewhere for me to progress to in the future.

Here’s to a busy 2015!

Posted by John on 3 February 2015