Pictures of tropical palm trees, airports, cameras or cruise ships are displayed on Julian’s screen, before he lets them dissolve as cryptic signs. What looks like a photo album from his holidays, is the website from German Guntermann & Drunck GmbH. Here, Julian designs and programs the website of the internationally operating company for KVM hardware. Together with his instructor, Julian attended the career day of a German high school Clara-Schumann and talked about his exciting work as a soon-to-be media designer.
"Child, what do you want to do with your life?"
That’s a question Julian heard more than once from his parents. The pupils of Clara-Schumann high school in Kreuztal, Germany, understood exactly what he was talking about. At the school’s career day, they were excited to find out what the soon-to-be media designer had to say. Together with his instructor Cihat Guelmen, Julian Schmidt painted a picture of how comprehensive an apprenticeship as media designer in an industrial company can be and how great it is to develop and carry out own ideas.
"Something in the media business would be cool"
That’s what most of the 30 pupils participating in Guntermann & Drunck’s info workshop for media designers were thinking. But designing media can’t be compared to painting by numbers. Print or digital? Each of these media requires different conception and craftsmanship. That’s exactly what the two online professionals tried to communicate. Industrial companies have to provide their customers with expressive brochures designed and enhanced by media designers. That’s why they have to be creative, flexible and determined. And sometimes they just have to think outside the box, especially in a technology-oriented company such as Guntermann & Drunck.
"It depends…"
What are the tasks of media designers? How creative can they be? How do projects work? How long does a project take? How much does being a media designer pay? What programs do you use? The pupils took their chance to ask many questions. The answer: "It depends", because team Guelmen-Schmidt didn’t offer just phrases, but answered each question individually.
One moment in Wilnsdorf, the next in the tropics
The pupils were really curious and motivated to contribute to the discussion. Many were surprised by how precisely media designers have to plan and think about a project before it starts. They were impressed by how Julian is able to reach the entire world from his desk by illustrating how KVM hardware from a small German town like Wilnsdorf is able to operate dredging vessels under tropical palm trees, far away airports and cameras at soccer championships. Even after many years, these aspects are still fascinating to media designers.
Photo: Cihat Guelmen, instructor, and Julian Schmidt, apprentice as media designer, at Clara-Schumann high school.