Two IDEA Alumnae at Brandever Strategy Inc. Offer Career Advice to our Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication Students

March 2, 2020 James Neufeld

Two of our grads work at Brandever Strategy Inc. in Vancouver. We asked them to share some advice to IDEA School of Design students as they prepare for summer internships (3rd year) and industry practicums (4th year).

Many thanks to Emily Pedriks, Creative Director at Brandever (IDEA Grad 2014) and Claire Tam, Graphic Designer + Illustrator at Brandever (IDEA Grad 2015) for the stylish photos and for giving our students invaluable career advice!

Here’s what’s going to happen: At first you’re going to screw up and you are going to work on a lot of crap you don’t want to be working on. You will have to integrate logos designed in Paint into your precious design, you will catch yourself diving deep into Shutterstock because there is no budget for the 100k photoshoot of your dreams, you will be forced to modify a design for compatibility with PowerPoint. You’re going to deal with the egos and opinions of clients, CDs, marketing teams, ADs, anyones and everyones. Sometimes you will be given absolute turds and expected to polish them. Through lots of turd polishing, you will learn to pitch properly, to strategically fight for your ideas, to properly guide and educate your clients and suddenly, your work will get better and eventually the turds that require polishing will be few and far in between. Stay humble, work hard, screw up, ask questions, keep learning, make money, have fun. And the answer is no, there’s never any budget.

Emily Pedriks, Creative Director at Brandever (IDEA Grad 2014) and Claire Tam, Graphic Designer + Illustrator at Brandever (IDEA Grad 2015)

For more on Emily, email her at emily@brandever.com or follow her on Instagram @epedriks.

For more on Claire, email her at claire@brandever.com or follow her on Instagram @claire.tam.

About Brandever

As a full-service branding and strategy studio, Brandever has mastered the elusive and intricate process of powerful storytelling, resonating with consumers, creating brilliant designs and translating them into spirited brands with measurable sales.

Specializing in beer, wine, spirits and high-end foods, we approach each project with a comprehensive strategy, unbound creativity and a healthy dose of intrepidity to create market stands-outs.

For more on Brandever, see brandever.com