Creative media students at West Nottinghamshire College welcomed a special guest last week and learnt more about launching their careers in the industry.
 
Stacey Ray, who completed her BTEC Diploma in Multimedia in 2010, joined students from the creative media courses at the college’s university centre’s lecture theatre in March, to share her student and career journey so far.
 
Stacey, originally from Mansfield Woodhouse, now works for Manchester-based company Arctic Shores which designs and creates psychometric apps and game-based assessments for recruitment purposes. The apps look at job applicants’ personal styles, aptitude, thinking and personal styles. Two of its signature apps are called Pinnacle Valley and Skyrise City.
 
Her role at Arctic Shores is lead artist and UX designer. UX means user experience and is the design process of enhancing user satisfaction of a product and improving its usability and accessibility.
 
Stacey spoke to students in detail about how to get a career started in the industry, highlighting in particular the importance of creating a personal portfolio.
 
She said: “It’s so interesting to come back to college and meet the next generation of multi-media designers. I wanted to highlight to today’s groups just how much of what I was taught back in 2010, I do still use today in my career – you simply don’t lose those basic skills and thought processes.
 
“In particular I wanted to stress the importance of building up your own portfolio, which is something I admit that I should have paid more attention to as a student! Your portfolio is so important – it’s your identity as a designer.
 
“Finding the time to create your portfolio as you go along is rather like cleaning up as you cook! Don’t let it become forgotten and messy. It’s a very important thing to keep updated as a creative.”
 
Richard Marshall, a student from the HND year 1 Creative Media programme, said: “I discovered after Stacey’s presentation that it’s really important to have a good portfolio and to keep on top of different types of software and to keep building on your skill set.
 
“I will also work on creating a better online portfolio and showreel. After my studies, I have my eye on two paths. I would like to go down the teaching route as an art and media teacher, or become a graphic designer and 3D artist or a concept artist within the film industry.”

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