Richard Harris
Richard is an Interactive Designer for Websites Made Easy, a web design and development company in Auckland. He spends most of his time talking with clients, assessing what their websites requirements will be (including the look of the website and the overall main purpose), designing concepts, building the websites and eventually taking them live. However, if you had asked him a few years ago if that is what he wanted to do, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you. After leaving school at the end of Year 12 it took him a year before deciding design was his passion.
“I was unsure of what I wanted to do when I left school, I thought being an electrical apprentice would be interesting,” he explains, “But after spending a day working alongside an electrician I realised it was not for me.” Not having anything else in mind, Richard accepted an offer of full time work from his local supermarket unloading trucks. After a year doing this he started to think about what he could do that he would also enjoy. “I realised that I spent most of my spare time designing. It was then an easy decision to get into the creative field."
However, he had had enough of exams and essays and wanted something more hands-on. Natcoll didn’t have essays, had little written work and minimal theory - all contained within a one-year time period. “Natcoll seemed perfect for what I wanted to do” explains Richard.
Richard ended up completing two diplomas at Natcoll - the Diploma of Computer Graphic Design and the Diploma of Interactive Design and found Natcoll to be “absolutely brilliant. The whole experience was a treat”. Being surrounded by like-minded creative people in a friendly and relaxed class environment meant he was able to be at his creative best. Richard also highly recommends the tutors, “They have such a great attitude that communicating with them and asking them for their input and feedback was easy."
When asked what Natcoll did to prepare him for working in the industry, Richard said not only did he learn all the skills he needed in both the print and on-screen fields, he also learnt what jobs were available and how to create a portfolio and CV that would appeal to people in the creative industry. “Running through mock interviews and getting feedback on how I did in comparison to others, and what I could improve on was extremely helpful,” Richard says. He also believes that by assigning individuals specific tasks as part of a group assignment gave him a feel for what it is like to work in the real world.
