Hi all! My name is Abby. Since January, I have been working alongside the Kitestring team as a placement student. Wrapping up my final semester at Mohawk College in the Graphic Design program, I am so grateful to have gained real-world design work experience here at Kitestring! I have worked in creative internships in the past, but this is my first design-specific job. This experience has truly been a ten out of ten and has helped me in deciding what my next steps are career-wise!

We all know that Kitestring creates beautiful branding for community-led businesses and non-profits, but seeing the inside of the operations was truly a neat and eye-opening experience. Behind the scenes, Kitestring creates the most welcoming environment and they make you feel at home right away! Working alongside Marin and Mike, and Ebonee virtually, was such a great experience! Working in this design environment taught me so much, but it has especially taught me the importance of internal team discussions. This helped to strengthen my communication skills when working collaboratively on projects and overall improved my skills as a designer!

“My favourite thing about my work placement at Kitestring was that I was given the opportunity to work on real projects for real clients.”

-Abby Kompare

My favourite thing about my work placement at Kitestring was that I was given the opportunity to work on real projects for real clients. Seeing my work and team collaborations come to life is one of my favourite things about being a designer. Another thing I loved about working at a design agency like Kitestring was creating brand guidelines. During my placement, I was really able to dig in and explore the creative process of one of the most important aspects of branding— the guide!

Having real agency experience has given me the “inside scoop” into the graphic design workplace and a leg-up as a new designer entering the first steps of my career. I am so grateful for this placement opportunity and definitely feel bittersweet about leaving Mohawk College as the program has helped me tremendously as a designer and given me many opportunities.

After graduation, I accepted a full-time job at a Hamilton branding agency as their web developer. I am so excited to continue working with clients to bring their design dreams to life! Branding, as well as web design, are my two favourite things within the graphic design world and I feel very grateful to be able to do this for my full-time job!