Graphic Designer, Hundred Weight Design

Lauren Horner

Why Shillington? What made our design course stand out from the rest?

I looked at almost every possible graphic design course in Sydney, mainly by searching online, and chose Shillington because it not only allowed me to study part-time while I worked full time. It allowed me to be qualified in just a year and came highly recommended by a UI designer I worked with who raved about his experience 10 years prior. I’ll definitely be raving about my experience in 10 years too! It just seemed like a no-brainer, it was the perfect course for me.

I was also super excited to start the course, I’m a total nerd at heart, I sat right up the front and with every class, the lightbulb in my head just went off over and over again. The course helped me with everything I was doing at work as a junior designer in real estate, it broke it all down into a process I still follow at work now. I also have to mention that my teachers Olivia and Julie were simply amazing. They provided us all with an abundance of knowledge and encouragement.

You recently landed a role as Graphic Designer for Hundredweight, congrats! How did that come about?

Thank you so much! It actually came about through LinkedIn, I had openly shared that I was looking for work and updated my profile with my portfolio website. I also created an Instagram account for me to start sharing my designs.

I believe that putting myself out there as a designer and sharing the work I was creating at Shillington enabled Stephen, the Creative Director to find me and have a look at what I was about before reaching out.

We ended up meeting and talking about what we both do, and after a couple of interviews, it just seemed like a great fit! I’m a big believer in attitude too though, only part of it is your portfolio, the rest of it is how you work, our values of transparency, hard work and open communication align really well!

What made you choose the part-time over the full-time course?

I chose the part-time course because I was working as a Junior designer in real estate at the time, so it enabled me to keep my full-time job while studying at night.What would you say to someone who is sceptical about the Shillington course?

What would you say to someone who is skeptical about studying at Shillington? Any tips?

Don’t be skeptical, it’s an amazing course, which will help you be and feel job-ready once you graduate.

My biggest tip for anyone thinking of working and also doing this course, is to take time off work in portfolio time—the more the merrier. It will let you have a chance to explore and develop your portfolio to a place you never thought possible, and your portfolio is what will help you get noticed for that job interview!

Check out Lauren’s website and read her full interview on the blog.