Prem Desai
- Course
- Graphic Design BA*
- Subject area
- Creative Arts
For me it was more of a personal choice to study at Loughborough, primarily because my mum grew up in Loughborough and have family currently living there, so it was always a second home to me.
My love for sports, the size of the campus and the student opportunities within societies always were a big selling point for me which I took advantage of being involved regularly as a sport secretary for Hindu society, as well as working as a Maths Mentor for both BACA charity that supported young forced migrants in their education to help rebuild their lives.
I am currently a mid-weight Graphic Designer working for Livi, a Swedish digital healthcare company that focuses on changing the lives of patients through providing a range of services such as digital appointments, prescriptions and referrals, all from our app service.
As a designer, it is essential to always look forward into the future, and this involves enjoying working with socially conscious companies, on projects that can further a social cause. This is why I decided that working at Livi was the perfect graduate role for me, enabling me to ‘design with a purpose’ as a primary motivation.
I am the sole designer from my global creative team which has been an accepting challenge that I have thrived off so far, being involved in major brand awareness campaigns such as contributing to large scale advertisements that were presented across the London underground and London buses. The campaign focused on raising awareness, registrations to our service, but most importantly reminding the general public to prioritise their health with many health tips! Being the sole designer representing our UK market on these large scale projects led to my promotion from Junior to Mid weight designer in a short period of time!
One of the biggest worries as someone who didn’t initially have any experience in the design industry was taking on a designer role in the working world and not being able to adapt. Having the option to take on a placement year was one of the best decisions I made as it gave me the realisation that graphic design was the industry I wanted to specialise in. It also allowed me to appreciate the course’s structure around independent working, as it helped me adapt very quickly and manage my workload in the working world.
Our final year module was tailored around the prestigious D&AD awards. This gave me an extra boost of motivation with strong support from our knowledgeable tutors (shoutout Richard, Andy and Simon!) to maximise the skills learnt across the first three years to deliver a high quality outcome that defines the quality of design work that I produce for Livi today.
To anyone considering studying this course, I would say the Graphic Design degree is a very expansive course that enables you to explore a variety of mediums, so go into it with an open mind and with flexibility to learn and make the most of all forms of design. It can be a very coursework heavy degree so don’t be afraid to make the most of tutor support and connect with other creatives as much as possible to ensure you are not alone in generating creative ideas. As it is a very varied course, there will be peers with different skill sets and specialisms, so network with others as it’s always fun to learn from them, and will benefit you even when taking those steps into the working world!
*Formerly named Graphic Communication and Illustration BA