I contacted Beth Ewens, a Graphic Design Alumni who won the Penguin design student award in 2017 with her book 'The secret diary of Adrian Mole.' We had a phone conversation, gaining some very valuable information.
How did you find the placement at Penguin?
She said she had an amazing experience and everyone who worked there was really nice. You are almost thrown into the deep end and designing covers in quick succession. She enjoyed the experience of communicating with her art director about projects and briefs, discussing designs and responding to feedback.
Advice: don't have your eyes set on winning the competition as there are other ways of getting a placement. She mentioned a few contacts which could be useful for me. In terms of portfolio, she said to include max 5 pieces of art, as you don't want to give too much away as it is more of a taste of what you can do. Alongside the work have some very brief annotations, maybe 1 or two lines outlining what the project was about.
She also mentioned that a big part of standing out is having a strong portfolio of work and a strong personality - this is something they are looking for.
She is currently on a year placement with iTunes and plans to work for an agency in the near future. We have decided to stay in contact and she even advised me to send her my portfolio to give me some feedback. She recommended going to portfolio reviews which are occasionally held around in Leeds.
Applications for placements at penguin open on March 29th - something I will be doing.
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