Introduction

I have completed a placement with the company QPrint, it is a small business and located in Oldham. The company was owned by Razak Ahmed. Textiles are not his specialist area but he owns the business and is in charge of managing clients. What I have learnt in my placement was that as a designer, promotion is important. Working with the client’s order and also being able to use creativeness to balance between business models and end- product for the clients is a key insustry specific skill. I worked towards the end products sold by QPrint using my textiles knowledge and worked directly with the clients.
Overall the experience helped me develop skills and knowledge related to working in a business; specifically relationships with clients and demonstrating professional skills that I will be able to develop further in my own career in design.

I started placement at QPrint on 9^th June, 2015. The placement ran for six weeks. I worked in excess of 30 hours each week, which allowed me to experience the full functionality of the business throughout the weeks. This was also a new experience for me to be able to work in a role that was both full time and over a continuous period of weeks. The placement report will demonstrate the skills I have gained in this role, it will compare QPrint’s place within a Greater Manchester textiles industry by making direct comparisons with alternative companies. This will be positioned against the live briefs I have undertaken within my studies of textiles. Finally, I will evaluate my experience in relation to the placement, wider industry and discuss how the skills I developed during this time will benefit my work on the textiles course but also my future career ambitions.

Company Profile

‘QPrint is a well-established printing [and] personalisation company that provides you with a one shop print service. We are located in the heart of Oldham. All our embroidery, screen-printing and vinyl print services are done in house. We offer a wide range of workwear, leisurewear, and promotional garments, available to order from just one garment to thousands for promotional and charity events, corporate, schools and colleges.’ – QPrint [Online]

Core Skill 1: preparation and managing expectations

The company QPrint is a family business; most of the workers there are relatives of the business owner. My initial expectations of working for a small family business would be that it is slightly less formal than other roles. It could be that the family have more flexibility with each other and this may affect the atmosphere of working in the company and so I prepared myself for this by assessing my own adaptability. I reflected upon my previous experiences within university where I would have to adapt if a particular machine was out of use or a particular member of a team was unavailable for a period of time and believed that I would be able to work well in a flexible environment.

Core skill 2: interview technique

Misbah Razak, who is a stepdaughter of the owner conducted my first interview. Her role includes being responsible for greeting and serving customers, directing the layouts of the products and she is in charge of vinyl cutting designs. During the first interview, I had to demonstrate my ability of using the multihead machine and using the heat press. The interview was very practical and gave me the opportunity to use the machines in addition to asking me questions. This was the first time I had done this and it was a new technique. I did feel comfortable using the equipment, but it did not feel a familiar process.

I brought my portfolio of work with me to the interview, specialising in digital prints, she was impressed by my work and hand stitch This is a skill that was not usually requested in the sector as it wouldn’t be viable in terms of time and costs. I brought a broad range of samples because I could not find out before the interview the types of machinery used in this company.

I have learned from the first interview after being interview for the types of machinery used in the company, I made notes of what to expect and researching into the company, more of what types of clients the company after.

I then had a second interview with Razak Ahmed. This interview consisted of only one question; how would I improve the company? Even though another colleague in my previous interview had explained to me how the company runs, I had not had a chance of experience it yet; therefore, I would not know my roles and responsibilities might be.

After being given the job, I was very excited about the prospect of using new techniques and working with fashion garments and tools.

There were only four workers were not related to the owner, therefore myself and three other members of staff made up half of the company. I had not anticipated that more than half the staff here would be unrelated and this changed my expectations of working for family run businesses. The owner Ahmed visited the company, just once a week to supervise and oversee the working of the day-to-day services. Ahmed’s strategic roles were mostly in team meetings and in discussions about expanding the premises; he did not regularly speak to clients or serve.

Claire Miller was the manager of the day-to-day services for the company, she was the most experienced worker within the company and she is also a designer and artist. I was excited to work with her in a professional way and I have learned many professional skills from her. These skills included communication skills; such as creating formal letters, customer service and telephone manner. It was interesting to hear that the company have no official titles for the different roles staff, This is a legacy from a more traditional family business ethos where, everyone has equality, however it largely appeared to clients that Claire was the most senior member of the team.

Finally, Mike was in charge of the screen printing area, which was mainly undertaken downstairs and away from the customers and clients that I worked with. I was looking forward to developing my knowledge in this area and working with screen prints. There was not as much opportunity to work collaboratively in this area and share and discuss techniques of working or ideas.

My Role at QPrint

During my time at QPrint my main duty was to decorate garments in response to client orders.

The garments that I decorated were both ones that the client brought to be customised or garments provided from QPrint. When garment decoration was mentioned in the placement, I expected traditional hand embroidery stitching and not what I did at QPrint, which was using a heat press to press vinyl designs onto garments. It never occurred to me that multi head machine can be used onto garments, for at my university practice, I always used onto sheets of fabrics only. The benefit of this vinyl print technique is speed and efficiency of cost for the customer.

The order forms were used to communicate the client’s needs to both staff and client. I had responsibilities to contact the clients and makes notes of it onto the order form if there were any changes or ambiguities. As well as decorating garments, the company also supplies promotional pack for new starting companies, such as business cards, leaflets and posters or banners. In QPrint, the company use the same order form for all kinds of orders. Orders usually take up to two to three working days for large orders however, for small orders a same day completion was offered. I had the responsibility to organise and meet these deadlines, which involves assessing and prioritising orders for the many types of orders received.

Due to the size of the company, clients are required to collect from the shop and it is very rare for the company to organise a delivery. This is due to both the clients needs, sustainability goals but also, this means there does not need to be as delivery or packaging department. The company deliver small items on request. I was responsible for professionally packaging stock and equipment, which this helped me, be aware of professional packaging needs and costs for my own use as a designer.

Due to a limited amount of space on the shop floor, most of the stock are stored downstairs away from the view of customers. Whilst working face to face with clients I was responsible for maintaining stocks on the visible area to encourage a wide variety of sales.

Core skills 3 4 & 5: marketing: organisation: consistency

Every morning, I would tidy up any unfolded clothing on display and make the display look professional and desirable. First impressions are very important to QPrint and I have been able to utilise my experience of exhibiting work to help create a positive impression of the stock.

I developed new procedure for adding stock into the till system. I handled the communication work and also handling the payments. There is a till for handling payments, but the computer did not have every items priced nor listed in the till. There was an estimated price list as a guide; but this led to inconsistencies. I have once suggested that instead of spending a day to put the data in I would personally put the data in. Claire dismissed this idea favouring the estimated list.

When I handle an order from a client, if its within my duty, I would follow it through, such as heat pressing, packaging it and put through the pigeon hole and letting the client know that the order is really for collection by their contract details on the order form.

I Also developed new procedure for organising information. As I first started my placement at QPrint, the pigeonhole was not in A-Z order, it has no order whatsoever, every staffs just randomly put the orders into any space, and when the clients came for collection, the staffs would have to check through every order or by memories of where they have put it. I suggested to put up letters onto the pigeonhole, follow by first names, the reason why I didn’t use last name instead was because we address our clients by first name. The idea was approved, therefore I acted on my suggestion.

Sector Comparison

https://embroider.co.uk - Paramount Embroidery

Paramount Embroidery, which is a company that are similar to QPrint, who are commercial in custom embroidery, screen-printing, DTG digital printing or embroidered patches.

They provide similar service as QPrint, the only difference is on Paramount Embroidery website the company stated ‘Are you a charity, event organiser or campaigner? We’ll give you a FREE fundraising page where anyone can get your t-shirt made to order. We’ll print it, ship it to them and then pay you commission for each t-shirt sold, so there’s no stock buying required!’

That has made the difference between QPrint and Paramount Embroidery, for in QPrint, the company do not provide free serves for the charities. However, the main commercial for QPrint are taking orders from charities, such as campaigns.

Paramount Embroidery have started their business in 1997. After 18 years of time, the company have evolved into one of the UK’s most advanced embroidery and garment printing specialists. Paramount Embroidery served thousands of individuals, teams, charities, businesses and multinationals throughout the UK. [Online]

http://chriswilliamsembroidery.co.uk/ - Chris Williams Embroidery.

Chris Williams Embroidery mainly targets school uniforms, sports club by creating their uniform logos, using the method that QPrint does, by using multi head machine to stitch their logos onto their uniforms.

They have been in business for over 22 years, however, the way Chris Williams Embroidery targets on the market and knowing their clients are very similar to QPrint, for the way the website were written.

‘All clothing and equipment can be personalised with logos, names and even numbers by our in-house embroidery and print team.’ Chris Williams Embroidery [Online]

I have found these two companies that are similar to QPrint. More clients with same machinery.

Figure 1: Chris Williams Embroidery website

Overview on the websites, I much prefers Paramount Embroidery, I thought it was very clear and more professional feel to it, comparing the website QPrint have and Chris Williams Embroidery, their websites contains too many words purely about what they do and I would prefer to see more images of the samples. Such as Paramount Embroidery.

Figure 2: Paramount Embroidery Website

I had previous experience of printing 3000 t-shirts. During my first day of placement at QPrint, I was straight away being put in charge of printing 3000 t-shirts, as one of QPrint’s client Bank of China.

The company only had multi head machines and vinyl printing. This was a more simplistic style of printing than I use in my practice work. The multicolour designs were printed onto vinyl using a computer printer. Less complicated colours could rely on pre coloured vinyl. There were two scales used by this company, small and medium. The company did not do large prints.

The company did place the print onto the textile patterns in the way I had expected and this was a difference in the expectation I had of the role based on the interview requirements and conversations. The heat press machine was the difference between being able to do this process domestically. The company had both a small and medium heat press machine.

The clients using the heat press wanted commercial products such as one off bridal party customisable shirts/ hen nightshirts and accessories. The larger clients ordered on a monthly basis; Oldham council had a contact with the company to print the logo on their work wear, high visibility jackets and shirts.

At first I was not able to do the larger clients work and after I had passed my probation period I was able to do the work for the most prestigious clients. I was able to do this with precision using skills and measuring so that it looked professional for the client.

I was able to work with my colleagues well and discuss new techniques and ideas. This was apparent from the first day of work, when I familiarised myself with the machinery and layout of the equipment. The space was part office, part studio, part factory.

I wished to develop my screen printing techniques. I had hoped to develop a working knowledge of bleaching and creating my own screen. This was the role of one member of staff who wasn’t able to demonstrate this to me due to the busy nature of his daily duties.

University had not prepared me about the process of screen-printing and the technical specialism of making my own screens would be useful for my future career ambitions so that I can be more self- reliant.

During my time there were other people applying for internships within the company. These students were illustration specialists. This was not the skill base the company were looking to invest in and therefore it would be worth considering changing their advertising for internship adverts so that textiles specialists apply.

The company have updated their website recently to become more marketable and known in the Oldham area. They are now also engaging with social media more and building a larger client base.

Figure 3: QPrint Website

Evaluation

During my time at QPrint, having to carry out my specialist work, such as heat pressing designs onto garments as well as being an reliant has made me feel uneasy, for comparing to my university practice, I only need to focus onto one task at a time, even though at university, I have to pitch my presentation to clients and speak in a professional manner, but during my time at QPrint, having to speak to a client whenever they first appeal, I had to stop everything and made sure that the client were served first, then having to re-find my working rhyme.

Mentoring not offered, I had to learn by watching others as an example. Therefore, during the first week I had made a lot of errors and were told a lot if I weren’t sure what I was doing, just ask one of the staff. However, a lot of the time it wasn’t because I was not sure, it was a case of I was not used to the environment that I was in, such as working in such an open space, every staff can see what each other were doing, it was the same as if I were to working in the studio at university. However, I feel indifferent by my lack of experience. Therefore, I observe a lot of every staff routine.

Health and safety implications Compare to larger companies:

In my experience of health and safety implications, most companies would have at the shortest a day of training day, even though the applicate have full knowledge of how the machines works, it is still for health and safety to have an introduction.

Compare to university, without an introduction to the machines, students are not allow to use it.

For in my point of view, without an introduction, it could cause health and safety, such as same machine, but different year mode, therefore, work differently than expected. Also when moving into a new working environment, it is often that old working habits were bought with.

During my placement at QPrint, I had the expectation of learning screen-printing and using software to design. For that was how I would imagine that is how it would be to be a designer. However, the placement opportunity was focused around broader service skills.

In order for me to expand on my area within QPrint, I must first perform on my part of the role, then it would be bought into discussion, on where I can undertake more tasks or not.

I have learnt that I must always speak in a professional manner, even it is informal, I must be keep my manners, even under stress.

After the placement at QPrint I have under taken collaborations outside university, and I enjoyed it very much.

I prefer working in collaboration with other designers as it allows me to be more creative. On comparison with my experience at QPrint, it would much more relaxing and much more freelance, even though I was given a deadline to meet. I do not find the same pressure I had while I was in QPrint, however the skills of managing time and interacting with clients have been useful for my future collaboration work.

This report serve the purpose to analyse QPrint as a company and my own personal experiences with QPrint. It has investigated clientele, competitors and target markets. It has also outlined the details within design processes within the company. The link to my practice is that I work to quality rather than to a tight timeframe, large contrast to the style of work I use in my practice. I realised that when I design, I need to be aware of promotion of my work, negotiations on prices, target audiences and reputation so that people understand and recognise my work.

During my experience at QPrint, it has encouraged me to reach out to clients and consider how it connects to my current projects.

The internship has only reflected on my communication skills and the kind of working environment the company envision myself in. However, I came to conclusion that QPrint was more to the styling and editorial rather than purely design.

However, during my time at QPrint, it has made me realise the amount of print, designers have to produce in one week and how fast the company operates.

I would much rather work in a company that is more involved in the production, unlike the designers at QPrint who have no say once the order were closed.

Conclusion

Working here has changed my ambitions within the industry. I believe that there was a limited creative opportunity in this role due to the mass production and I would like to develop this in a more bespoke way with more attention to detail of the art and design. I am pleased that I learned the techniques involved within running a large business and interacting with clients. I also learned lots about marketing and promotion and making good relationships with others. The nature of clients in this company was that they wanted the resource to use their own design, which marginalises the work of designers and artists. There was not an opportunity to offer designs for clients, which is something, I think might help the company expand and be able to take new opportunities from a broader range of clients within Manchester.

QPrint learned about copywriting images through my advice working for them and this has helped them evaluate their image use policies.

I intent to pursue more placement, such as in the fashion or design industries where I can envision myself into interpret a professional live brief whilst working individually, but also corresponding with the company. This will allow me to use my textiles knowledge in a large company. Comparing my other placement at Shabby 2 Chic CIC Up Cycle Furniture on the date of 11/12/2014.

I personally think my time at Shabby 2 Chic CIC Up Cycle Furniture has taught me techniques, conscious of the set time I have to produce to a standard that is satisfactory to both the client and me.

Also comparing the owner of QPrint, Razak Ahmed to the owner of Shabby 2 Chic CIC, the owner to Shabby 2 Chic CIC, Sandra Johnson who is specialist in interior design.

As after the placement experience, I took on the collaboration work with a fashion promotion student named Jess Nunn. As I came across this post through L6 Textiles in Practice on Facebook. I decided to take on this collaboration project to develop my abilities towards commercial markets that are relevant to my future career ambition. I mainly took on this project in order to step out of my comfort zone and experimenting my work onto different forms.

Which it really helped me to understand seeing my practice work being in the market context.

APPENDIX

About Shabby 2 Chic CIC :

It was founded in 2009.

Shabby to Chic CIC strive to help marginalised groups in the art of upcycling. Building their confidence and their future.

Award Winners for Upcyled Rescued Old Furniture.
Social Enterprise of the Year Award 2012 for Excellence in training.
Red Rose Environmental Award 'Champion 2012'
Green Awards 2013.

These individuals create their own designs onto our rescued furniture which is then delivered to our community Charity Shops, sustainable and raising revenue to support their causes such as:

Cancer Research - Age Uk Blackpool District -

EMMAUS Homeless Charity, Butterfly Group, Mums the Word, FAB (Families & Babies) and many more of the smaller charities in desperate need of support to sustain their cause.

Our training helps people in recovery from health problems, youth offenders,

Children in Care and many others in order to help increase self confidence, encourage vocational skills, life skills and creativity.

http://sandrajohnson.vpweb.co.uk/

Comparing my time at Shabby 2 CIC, I was more recognized as a textiles artist than at QPrint, both company has taught me the confidence of speaking directly to the clients and taking phone calls. However, in my experience Shabby 2 Chic was more closer to my own practice, for QPrint was an environment workplace of result rather than creativity. Shabby 2 Chic uses google, Pinterest as a way of researching and gathering ideas, where QPrint rather than just following whatever wishes the clients has. Even though it has crossed the law of copyrights.