Meet Joe Paul: Web Design Apprentice.

Our Web Design Apprentice from Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Joe, and I am currently embarking on a web design apprenticeship. From a very early age, I have always been drawn to how things look and feel on all digital platforms, consequently leading me to choose Graphic Design in my GCSEs. After finding myself enjoying Graphic Design in school, I was certain that I would choose a creative career path that would fuel my interest in digital art and design.

“In my spare time I enjoy online gaming at a semi-professional level and designing for well established organizations. As well as the up and coming leading tournament site, which has complimented my apprenticeship as it has opened up exciting opportunities for me to design; logos, banners and clothing for esport teams and tournaments around the world.”

What interested you in applying for an apprenticeship at gloversure?

Both my Mum and Dad have always been very supportive of me especially when they realised I was gaining small amounts of money from designing. This gave them the extra push I needed to encourage me to look into apprenticeship opportunities. From there I went on to apply for a number of apprenticeships, whereby I received a number of job offers: one of which was from gloversure. After much deliberation, it was clear to me that gloversure was the right fit.

What was the interview process like?

The process of applying for an apprenticeship with gloversure was one of the reasons why I wanted to work for gloversure. I found that a lot of the other interviews I attended were very much theoretical and not very practical. There were a number of interview processes involved and each step was both challenging and thought-provoking.

But the one that I enjoyed the most was the technical test. This allowed me to create a web design concept for a surfing brand. As I had previous experience designing websites due to work experience, I knew I could produce a very clean and easy-to-navigate concept.

All in all, the interview process was very pleasant and my interviewers were very easy-going and down to earth, which made me feel more confident explaining what I do best in my spare time.

What is a typical day like as an apprentice web designer?

Each day in the office is different and can vary massively from day to day. It is one of the reasons why enjoy working in this industry so much. My daily activities include anything digitally designed and can range from web designs, logos, and banner design to working on large digital marketing campaigns. I have also just started learning HTML and CSS which I absolutely love. There is a very gratifying feeling that comes with being able to say that I helped design and code something that is now visible on the web for the whole world to see.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of applying for an apprenticeship?

Don’t underestimate the significance of having a strong portfolio. Having the ability to showcase your work can help paint a picture of your motivation and interests better than any amount of words. It also demonstrates how passionate you are by illustrating what you like to do in your spare time and in school and what skills you have, which backs up your CV.

What is the best thing about your apprenticeship?

I work closely with my mentor who is able to teach me all of the basic design principles and industry best practices. Putting this learning into practice is hugely rewarding and seeing the quality of my work steadily increase is highly motivating. However, nothing beats the feeling you get when you see your design live, knowing people are going to use the website day in day out.

What is the most challenging thing about your job?

I can feel a little nervous when doing a job that’s new to me. However there are various sites that are great for inspiration, the main one I use is “Dribbble”.  But when it comes to coding I tend to search problems up first before asking as It’s a great feeling to complete a challenging job and come up with a great design.