[SparkCreative]

I'm not sure what I think about this. I know some clients will love it and I'm sure it will make the people who set it up a lot of money, but is it yet another way to drive down quality in the industry?

Creative Protege Ltd

[Ozwaldo Sanchez]

You would have thought that a design base organisation would have spotted the clashing type on the 'lovely' star-burst on the home page?

[bigdave]

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[bigdave]

*EDIT*

Its working now. perhaps it was setup by someone who couldn't get a job after Uni? In principle its a good idea but is a sure fire way to flood the industry with sub standard work.

I dont want anyone to think that I think graduates are pants but the truth is many of them dont have the basic studio environment knowledge to effectively produce commercially viable design.

[Creative Protege]

Hey there,

I'm the guy that updates Graphic Design Forum for Creative Protege, and let me tell you I read your comments with a great deal of interest!

The philosophy at Creative Protege is to help graduates improve their CV and portfolio of design work through guaranteed work experience.

As the company was set up by Gloss Creative Recruitment, we have a vast pool of top contacts from the design sector who provide us with live briefs for our graduates to work on.

Please check out our portfolio here on Graphic Design Forum for a brief example of the quality of work our graduates produce, or read the blog on our website to discover the success Creative Protege is experiencing.

If you like, follow us on Twitter to find out the latest about the company Creative Protege (Creativeprotege) on Twitter.

For any more information on us, just give me a shout and I'll answer any questions.

Thanks,

Adam

[SparkCreative]

Originally Posted by Creative Protege

The philosophy at Creative Protege is to help graduates improve their CV and portfolio of design work through guaranteed work experience.

Thanks,

Adam

I'm sure that it does do that, but don't pretend you're being entirely altruistic. Surely what you're also doing is providing people with very cheap work and taking a cut?

[bigdave]

Originally Posted by Creative Protege

As the company was set up by Gloss Creative Recruitment,

Hmmm.... A recruitment agency who (I know from experience) deem anyone with less than a years studio experience unsuitable for the most junior of roles. Running a freelance experience building site for graduates...?

By their very own rule, this is little more than making money off the back of people desperate to be in the industry.

Like I said before, In principle it is a good idea but it really isnt the place to be gaining experience for possible future employment, perhaps more a place for grads to keep their hand in while they search for employment?

[Creative Protege]

Hi Guys,

As a result of the amount of CVs Gloss received for jobs where the graduates
didn't have enough experience (clients words, not theirs), Gloss decided
to do what many others aren't doing and decided to help them out by creating
Creative Protege. By making use of their contacts within the creative sector
(over 400 design agencies) they can provide briefs directly from Creative
Directors whereby graduates can work on them onsite or remotely. Most
importantly this gives graduates a company which they can then put on their
CV as employment - complete with references - and a portfolio which includes
companies such as MTV, Salvation Army, ripe design etc.

Since its inception Creative Protege has managed to find graduates freelance
work, voluntary placements, paid placements, permanent work and as much
careers advice as they can handle. They have even helped a group of talented
designers create a collective and start their own agency to bring in paid
work. It has 2 people working for it which is fully funded by Gloss and
currently makes no profit. Any money that it does make goes right back into
the company in order to provide more man hours / facilities and help give
opportunity to the designers who are obviously serious about getting into
the industry.

The bottom line is that we get graduates into the industry by using
technology, innovation and the passion of the graduates - surely that can
only be a good thing? It's definitely working and the designers that show
the most promise (and we have discovered some amazing talent) get taken on
as freelancers for paid work for clients that can't afford to use a
traditional design agency.

We have helped to launch PR and Design agencies, 2 magazines, a holistic
therapy chain, a charity, and many more start ups and I promise you this -
the work is awesome...

We really enjoy this forum as it has been a great place for us to get
feedback on improving our company and always welcome help from industry
experts in making our offering better. In no way do we wish do step on
anybody's toes - we just want to re-grease the wheels of employment starting
with those who need it and be further involved in the industry we all love.

Adam

[bigdave]

I would like to apologise for my somewhat negative response to Creative Protege. Im sure its a very useful resorce for graduates trying to make their way into the industry. I still have my reservations but if its working for even a minority, it can be deemed a sucess.

As some positive feedback, Perhaps the company could look at developing the work placement side of things as getting a foot in the door is the most difficult part of being a graduate.

[SparkCreative]

But...

And again, this is going to sound like sour grapes...

You're undercutting design professionals who are finding it hard enough at the moment anyway, providing not that special work to clients that should know better. Long term, it's possible that this approach could put a lot of people out of business. And then there'll be nowhere for these graduates to work and gain experience anyway.

And if the work's really that 'awesome', they should have no trouble finding a job with or without you. I'm all for helping graduates, (although I think good people will get job eventually anyway) but doing it by undercutting established agencies doesn't seem a particularly good way of going about things.