Day 4
I’m gonna skip the preamble, postamble, and everything in between for this post, and just lay out everything I did today, my second-last day of work experience.
After just managing to get set up for the day, I was called back down to ground floor for a short presentation on brands, specifically, IGOR‘s. In that presentation, I learned how companies differentiate themselves from their competition, and was given examples of this. Marketing is something that I’m interested in, and I quite enjoy learning what makes people tick, and how that can be applied to making a product look desirable.
The bulk of the presentation, though, focussed exclusively on IGOR‘s brand. The company’s foundation, core values, and even a comparison to a particular celebrity were discussed, cementing the structure and ideals for all present. I discovered what was synonymous with IGOR, and what shouldn’t be said in the same sentence as IGOR. Quite interesting the way the human mind assimilates information, and connects neural dots to form thoughts and opinions on particular companies simply because they heard that company associated with a certain thing.
After the presentation had finished, I got my hands on the iPad, and got to sit down for a few hours with it. I’m by no means an Apple fanatic, in fact I was pretty skeptical about the so-called “amazingness” of the iPad, but after spending a few hours with it, I have to say that I’m incredibly pleased. I can summarise it in a single sentence: “It’s not revolutionary, but it is evolutionary”. It’s a good way for consumer technology to go, I think. With the few hours I spent on it, I was surprised with a lot of the features.
The processing time between finger-on-screen to screen-interaction could only be measured in microseconds, and the battery life is nothing short of amazing. I spent about three hours with the iPad, not plugged in, for its battery to drain by 30%. I hear that Apple designed it with a long battery life in mind. If so, they’ve really done well in that department.
I spent some time with Keynote, Apple’s premier presentation program. It’s like Powerpoint but with less options. It might not be as technical and customisable, but it’s definitely functional, and works fantastically. Even with the occasional fiddliness of highlighting text, or changing the size of a picture, it still impresses. If Apple were to release this as a standalone product for Mac, albeit with added customisation,I think it would definitely take off, and could easily eclipse Powerpoint as the leading slideshow presentation program.
At about 1300 today, my careers counsellor decided to pay a visit. I knew that he’d be coming in at some point, but when he just rocked on up the stairs, I was slightly taken aback. Especially considering I was surrounded by all my work for the past week, with papers and technology strewn about my workstation. The iPad was even present, quietly humming to itself. Anyway, we had a quick discussion about how work experience was going, and if I was happy with everything that was going on. He should’ve taken a look at the blog, really, because it was quite hard to overstate just how happy I was with the whole thing, and how much I was enjoying work experience at IGOR.
Just so you know, I don’t crap on about how much I enjoy work experience at IGOR just to make the company look good. I am genuinely LOVING this placement, and I’m loving the work I’m doing.
Also, today, I had a quick browse through some of IGOR’s marketing stuff. What’s there is pretty good, but, in my opinion, it could be better. This means that I, at some point, am going to go through each and every one of the marketing brochures, case studies, and info sheets and re-write anything that needs to be changed. I will blitz my way through the marketing department, leaving no stone un-turned in my quest for disturbingly perfect spelling, grammar, and English.
I only have tomorrow so, if I have to, I will continue this work outside of work experience. I’m incredibly passionate about getting all of this stuff done, and I will do it, come hell or high water.
Last day tomorrow. Better get some sleep =)
- Callum
