Reflecting on an internship at Atomic Smash by Ahmed Ismail

My time at Atomic Smash

Let’s start from when I first started in September. My first task was to take a UX/UI course for my first week, which helped me understand the principles of design along with accessibility.

Then came one of the best moments, which Matt called “speed dating,” where I had around 10–20 minute short meetings with most of my colleagues, learning about their roles and who they are. The best conversation I had was with Duncan. His life has been interesting, to say the least.

Learning new software and gaining skills

Further down the line, I learned more in detail about web accessibility and how important it is within this sector. Not catering to everyone puts your web page at a disadvantage and does not serve well for those who need to be catered to.

These learnings were implemented in my work creating posters and during my big project, creating a website for my CV and portfolio.

At first, it was difficult to use software that I wasn’t used to, such as Illustrator and Photoshop. After using Illustrator a lot more, I feel more comfortable using the software and creating things using it, such as my logo design for my website posters promoting Atomic Smash events, and business cards.

As it’s my first time in this design sector, I found it very beneficial to get an insight into this industry by learning deeper about Figma, with its prototypes and wireframes for web pages.

Joining client meetings and presenting work

I also found it beneficial being involved in big client meetings and seeing how the Always Evolving pods works, which is quite brilliant.

Clients have weekly status calls and get to constantly improve their websites. These meetings have helped me gain skills that wouldn’t happen elsewhere. It’s also helped me improve my presentation skills by watching many people present and create presentations, such as Matt. It helped me present to my fellow interns at BCI.

Designing and creating my own website

Overall, the most successful part of my three months was designing and creating my website. There were a lot of mishaps along the way, but that’s part and parcel of design and development.

During this process, I learned about personal branding, typefaces, fonts, logo design, and, most importantly, a lot of HTML and CSS. Bringing a figma design to life can be tedious at times, but with perseverance and help from my mentor Matt and colleague Jade, they helped me get it over the line.

This experience is vital and practical, as it can be something to add to my portfolio along with having my CV, which incorporates many benefits.

Working in design and development is something that’s a real possibility for me in the future, so gaining these hands-on skills and picking them up is a real learning curve and a great experience for me.

I never would have thought that I would have learned how to make a Shopify store and how to use many different pieces of software during my time here. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the projects I’ve worked on, especially this one.

My next steps will be to further my practical skills using Figma, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so I will embark on a journey of creating more projects in my own time, along with possibly taking a more intensive course in these fields.