To those who got a place, a massive well done! For those who didn’t get a place, we know it’s disappointing. Do stay in touch, and in the meantime, our friend and a Recruiter in the Creative and Digital sectors, Mark has some advice on Writing your next CV.

For those of you who are coming - what should you expect? Maybe you’re a bit nervous about meeting the design professionals, or a little concerned about taking a creative risk among your peers. The info below will hopefully challenge your assumptions and leave you feeling clued-up and excited about what’s in store!

Working alongside different disciplines

At Werkhouse, teams of participants collaborate on a client brief presented at the start of the weekend. Each team is supported by design professionals who advise on how to rapidly develop ideas when under time pressure. You’ll be working alongside all sorts of roles and disciplines, making decisions and developing propositions together, just like it works in many studios. Let’s do a run-down of who you’ll meet:

Creative Directors

They will provide feedback on your design ideas, and advise on techniques to move them along. Expect to meet all the Creative Directors throughout the weekend, as they will move around to visit all the teams. If you hit a sticking point or the creative juices just aren’t flowing, you might get an infamous (friendly) pep-talk to get you back on track.

Team Leaders

They will be your mentor for the weekend, guiding you through the experience. Team Leaders are Senior Designers from various agencies. You’ll meet them first thing on Saturday morning, and they will stay with you and your team for the whole weekend. They will be by your side as you develop ideas and get creative feedback. And they will also help you to stay resilient and motivated if you hit challenges along the way.

Specialists

Most agencies use in-house or freelance specialists that join a project because of their specific skill. This might be an illustrator or a copywriter. Over the weekend, teams will get to consult with the specialists and get the benefit of their input.

The Client

It may seem a bit daunting that a client comes to you with a challenge they are facing, and they’d like to discuss some creative ideas the next day… but this happens in design studios! The client will provide us with background information, the aims and objectives and some details on their target audiences. They are around during Saturday morning to answer questions that you might have, and then they leave us to get creative before they return on Sunday afternoon to see your proposals.

Account Managers

In agencies, Account Managers spend time maintaining a good relationship with the client. Because of this it’s essential that they are involved in the direction of creativity, and are kept informed during design development. We have account managers on hand, and they will explain more about their varied and vital roles alongside creatives.

Organisers

They established the mission of Werkhouse back in 2017 as ‘a deep dive into the creative and interpersonal skills required to succeed in a design studio’. The organisers come together at the beginning of each calendar year to make Werkhouse happen. You may have already met some of them via email or on our social media. They're responsible for conceiving, creating and building Werkhouse as a concept. You’ll find that they have interesting careers aside from Werkhouse, so don’t be shy about asking them more.

Participants - you!

There will be six teams from a range of design disciplines: mostly graphic design, but also digital, product, illustration and more – any creative discipline was welcomed at the application stage. Everyone is over 18 but the group is a mix of many ages. Some are still in education, others are graduates, early freelancers, and some are self-taught. You’ll be put into a small team who you’ll stay with for the weekend, but you’ll get the opportunity to connect with everyone in group discussions and at lunch times.

Expect a whirlwind of a weekend

Wear comfortable clothes and footwear. As well as breakfast and lunch on both days, we’ve got snacks, all the pens and paper you’ll need, and plenty of tea/coffee and water is available throughout. You can bring laptops, and we have wifi, but you’re not expected to use any software – the weekend is about ideas, not execution. To help you plan for the weekend, here’s a little run down of the schedule:

Doors open early on Saturday morning. Breakfast will be available, and your Team Leader will be there to greet you.
We head into Taxi Studio and get a briefing from the client. Everybody (including the professionals) gets the brief at this time to mimic a real-world scenario.
You’ll have the rest of Saturday to generate ideas under the guidance of your Team Leader. There will be advice from the Creative Directors who will drop-in on your discussions.
After lunch, expect to continue idea generation and then filter ideas with honest critique. Remember that yours might not be THE idea, but it may inspire lots of other ideas.
To finish Saturday we have an open discussion about working in the design industry and you can head off for the evening at 6pm.

Some of the participants will head back to stay at our accommodation partner The Bristol Wing who have kindly given participants exclusive bookings access to their comfortable hostel over the weekend.

On Sunday we focus on developing, visualising and preparing to share your team’s proposal. The specialists are around and the Creative Directors will still be dropping-in, so you can continue to utilise their experience.
After lunch, the teams take turns to present and discuss their ideas in front of the whole group, and our client. We’ll all give feedback and reflect on some of the weekend experiences.
At 5pm… relaaaax! We will have some drinks provided and feel free to hang out and mingle until the close at 6pm.

You will not believe how much we fit into a Werkhouse weekend. It’s a whirlwind - but totally worth it. No doubt it will leave you wanting more. Here's a quote from 2021 attendee Hannah:

“Meeting the other participants reminded me to be less self-critical and that there’s not only one ‘right’ way of doing things. That was comforting, and I feel more prepared to take risks and set higher goals for myself since Werkhouse. It was an adrenaline-rush and challenging, but I’m appreciative of it helping me to grow.”

You can read some reflections from 2021 participants here.

Conclusion - Expect the unexpected

It’s a bit of a cliche, but it really does apply to Werkhouse. Some things you just won’t know until we’re underway:

Who the client is (you’ll find that out on the Saturday morning)
The speed at which you can come up with ideas.
That you have the confidence to take some big creative risks in front of your peers.
The amount of knowledge you already have, and the knowledge you still have to gain.
The friends you’ll make along the way.

So you’ve learnt about who you’ll be working alongside and what to expect from the weekend schedule. Hopefully you’re feeling conﬁdent and ready to embrace your studio experience. Prepare to have your expectations about a creative career challenged. Don’t forget to keep an open mind, look out for each other, and most importantly…. have fun!

What to expect on the weekend…