Rachel Long-Smith: A world without unpaid internships

13 Dec

The-Arena-Rachel-Long-Smith-Narrate-Studio

INTRODUCTION

Rachel is Co-Founder & Creative Director of the graphic design practice Narrate.

She designs for the arts, cultural, fashion and women’s sectors and takes a collaborative approach to all her work. She is a strong advocate for womxn in the creative industries and believes that all womxn should be given equal opportunities.

Her recent clients include Hayward Publishing, Stella McCartney, Arts Council Collection & End Violence Against Women.

This interview took place over video call in November 2020.

How did you get your foot in the door of the creative industry?

With a lot of difficulty at first, but everything changed once I switched up my approach! After completing my masters, I thought getting a job would be a doddle, but I was totally unaware how hard it was going to be.

I was living in London and needed to pay my rent, so I was only applying for junior designer jobs. I couldn’t afford to do unpaid internships and paid ones were hard to find at that time. But this also meant that I didn’t have any experience.

I was unemployed for seven months and kept myself afloat by signing on to job seekers allowance.

Initially I just sent my portfolio and CV to job adverts and after about 4 or 5 months and many job applications later, I realised that wasn't going to work. I had to do something that was going to make me stand out and show how passionate I was.

I didn’t just want any job, so I decided to narrow down my search by shortlisting 50 studios I wanted to work with, and go straight to them.

“I thought getting a job would be a doddle, but I was totally unaware how hard it was going to be.”

I loved print and branding so I branded myself and sent out a printed folded mailer of my portfolio. I called up my shortlisted studios, to find the best person and address to send it to. Then after a week or so I called them up again to check they’d received it. I got lots of really good feedback and an interview at Three Fish in a Tree!

I worked there for six months on a freelance basis but there wasn’t enough work unfortunately to keep me on, so I was unemployed again.

I updated my portfolio and went back to my list of studios, saying ‘hi, hopefully you will remember me because I sent through a mailer’ and I got another interview within a day at LONO Creative.

James the Creative Director had kept hold of my mailer because he liked it so much and they just so happened to have a position going. So I went for the interview and got the job!

Do you think internships are an essential part of a creative career path?

I don’t think they are an essential part of a career path and I actually think they are a big part of the problem in the industry. Gaining experience in the industry you work in should be part of your job, not something you have to do (often for free) before you get a job. I believe that people should be employed based on their work and attitude rather than the experience they have got.

“I believe that people should be employed based on their work and attitude rather than the experience they have got.”

What prompted you to start your own studio?

I decided in my first year of uni that I wanted to have my own studio one day. So after working for about 4 years I decided that it was time. I had a real passion for design, I really cared about the level of work that I put out and also knew how to manage clients pretty well by this time so it seemed the next logical step.

I had also grown increasingly frustrated with working in a studio where so many people were involved in the design process (the CD, lead creative, account manager etc). I wanted to cut out all the other people and just design directly for the client (and myself) and produce what I knew would be better work that aligned with my values.

Also the lead creative above me was a bully and had a real old school attitude that I hated. He made people cry, complained that we should all be working late even when there was nothing to do and insisted on everyone junior making him tea. I was able to handle him ok but he made a lot of other people live a misery so this kind topped it all off really.

© Narrate Studio - Arts Council Collection – Breaking the Mould Exhibition Publication

Why do you think unpaid internships are so damaging to both the person and the industry as a whole?

Unpaid internships exploit people. There is no other industry where people work for free. No-one should ever work for free especially when someone else is going to gain financially for it. Internships are just a way for studios to get free or cheap labour wrapped up in packaging that sells it as essential experience.

9 times out of 10, interns are working on paid client work. So I don’t see how this is different from what they would be doing as a junior designer? The only difference is that they’re not paid enough or don’t get paid at all. This is exploitation.

“9 times out of 10, interns are working on paid client work. So I don’t see how this is different from what they would be doing as a junior designer?”

When a studio takes on a job they charge it out at the studio’s day rate. This rate is worked out based on how much the designer working on it needs to be paid and the studios overheads. The studio needs to charge this amount of money for the studio to run effectively. So when they have someone working on the project for free where is that money going? Into someone else's pocket!

At the end of the day, there are a certain number of jobs out there and internships don’t create more jobs. So if internships were scrapped altogether, the number of jobs available to juniors wouldn’t be reduced. The only effect it would have on the industry is that some studios’ pockets would be lighter.

The industry is also notoriously un-diverse and largely due to unpaid internships. The only way you can afford to take an unpaid internship is if you have the privilege of being financially supported to do so. This means only a certain type of person can do these internships, they get the experience, more opportunities and ultimately the jobs and the result is an industry of creatives that are all the same.

How else do you think a company can support young creatives, if they cannot offer internships?

If you have client work, take on young creatives on a freelance basis. Then mentor them when they are freelancing for you in the same way you would if they were interning for you. If you don’t have any client work then offer portfolio reviews, mentorships, Q&A sessions and just make yourself available to give advice and support young creatives.

© Narrate Studio - Arts Council Collection – National Partners Programme

Could you tell us more about ‘Taking Up Space’ and why you thought it was important to set up?

Taking Up Space is a not-for profit design studio, led by women, for women. We work on projects and for organisations that focus on women + girls. The main reason why we set it up is because of frustration with so many things for women being designed without women involved, therefore resulting in bad design that has a negative affect on women’s lives.

We work with women though focus groups as well as employing female creative teams. The reason for us positively discriminating toward women in our employment is because in the design industry 78%¹ of the workforce are men and currently only 11%² of creative directors are women, even though 63%³ of creative and design students are women. This means that there are far more men in senior positions with the power to hire new talent.

Unfortunately everyone has some form of subconscious bias (and some conscious) and because of this they tend to employ people that are more like themselves. This means that men are more likely to employ men. So we are counteracting this by employing women and giving them opportunities that may otherwise not get.

Due to other commitments not allowing us to give TUS the full time that it needs will be officially closing its doors soon but this does not mean that our work will stop. It's been a great couple of years where we have learnt so much, met loads of amazing creatives and worked with some brilliant organisations.

Using everything I have learnt though TUS I will still be working on these types of projects and giving opportunities to women, including non-binary, agender and gender non-conforming people but just on a more manageable project by project basis.

Would you ever go back to full-time employment in someone else’s company?

No, although I have thought about it a few times when I have had a difficult time financially but I just don’t think I could now. I love being able to do what I want when I want and to a certain extent choosing what projects I want to work on.

You mentioned that for every job role you advertise, you typically receive over 200 applicants! What do you look for in an application?

I love to receive physical things but this hardly never happens and I believe creatives are really missing a trick here. But you must make sure that what you are sending is nicely designed and on a nice tangible material.

In an email, I like a short personal message (just a few sentences as realistically I won’t read more than this) that shows a bit of your personality.

Then from a portfolio or website (I personally prefer a portfolio and then a link to the site to see more) I want to see simple clean branding with strong typography on your opening slide. Your best projects should come first as I might not scroll all the way to the end and I also look for a simple, clear explanation for the concept.

I hardly ever look at CVs but when I do I want to see just one page and consistent branding.

“I hardly ever look at CVs but when I do I want to see just one page and consistent branding.”

I also love to see if people have other skills in animation and 3D because this is something I can’t do very well so I’m always looking for people to use.

The main thing is to get noticed and you can only do that by doing something differently. Send something in the post and/or try exploring different mediums like video, photography, animation etc to show your portfolio and skills.

How has switching your studio for a co-working space changed the way you work?

I literally love being in a co-work. I’m really sociable so it's perfect for me. It hasn’t changed the way I work but it has given me more opportunities through new connections and mates. It's like being in a studio but without the office politics and there's always someone I can grab to give me feedback, designers and non-designers.

Where do you see Narrate in five years from now?

I’d love to be working with some bigger institutions, Tate & Barbican would be nice! I’d also love to be working on campaigns and using different mediums such as film & 3D. Also growing our network to include even more amazing and diverse talent.

¹ - https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/does-design-have-diversity-issue

² - https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/introducing-next-generation-female-creative-leaders/1584392

³ - https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/does-design-have-diversity-issue

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