Learning by doing, Kristiina as an intern in Design Factory

Hey there! My name is Kristiina and I work with communications and marketing in Design Factory and I’m also a third-year BBA student in HAMK. I’m doing my last internship period for my studies and I’ve been working in DF for a couple of months now.

I started my internship in Design Factory in August 2019 and before that, I did the first part of the internship in the building of entrepreneurship and business in HAMK as a marketing trainee. At the end of my internship, I found out that the Design Factory is coming to HAMK and that they are looking for a new team member. I had no idea what Design Factory is but after a quick google search I was convinced. After my summer of doing absolutely nothing but traveling and relaxing, I found out that the job is mine. I jumped in just before the opening ceremony and wow the first couple of weeks were hectic. In the first weeks, I met a lot of new people from Aalto Design Factory and HAMK, former Nasa astronaut Charles Camarda, students, company representatives, etc. So, it was quite a beginning for the job.

At first, it was quite overwhelming to jump into a Design Factory world because I didn’t know a thing about the whole concept. In May I joined the trip to Aalto Design Factory PdP Gala where the PDP (Product Development Project) teams presented their product development ideas. I was amazed at Aalto about all the things students had built and I was so excited to start the work here.

It has been a great learning experience to work with an amazing team where everyone has such a passion for what they do. We are building this together so when you have no idea what you are doing, there is always someone to ask from and we also have great support from Aalto and other Design Factories around the world.

My tasks are in the field of marketing and communications, so I’ve been designing posters, writing blog posts, being part of building the marketing and communication plan and doing social media with others. I learned a lot from social media marketing, blogs, events and the visual side in my previous internship, so I have been able to bring the skills with me here. Basically, this has been a perfect place to do the rest of my internship. I was offered an opportunity to keep working here and write my thesis for Design Factory so I will be staying here for a while longer!

First Design Factory courses have already started, and many more courses are still to come in fall 2019 and spring 2020. I’m very excited to see how the Design Factory grows and I can’t wait for all the great things coming ahead.

-Kristiina

Kristiina is staff member in the Häme Design Factory project