Sarah Heal
Theme Park Designer
WrenHouse Design
A skype call with designer Sarah Heal to talk about her design career and opportunities since leaving university and finding out what it is really like to work in America as a theme park designer.
Geekin’ out
everyone has something that they are passionate about
she loved theme parks
history styles, packaging, print design, paper craft, illustration
Making it happen
seek opportunities to explore your little geeky interests
why shouldn’t it be you?
say yes a lot
feedback is essential when applying for opportunities
always ask for feedback from the internships you apply for as you may not have got it for something as simple as not entering the correct availability dates etc.
The importance of networking
find the platform or place where geeks in your chosen industry gather to share ideas
stalk ’n’ talk
emails, texts and tweets
its ok to be rejected and ignored
Love yo’ self
your work needs space and you need to be away from it at times so that you can experience different environments, inspirations etc. and your work will get better. If you sit at your desk all day, you will not use every minute of it well.
Act when it comes from you, you will know when the best time for you to work is as it cannot be forced.
- don’t suffocate your work
- you can’t be good at everything, and that’s okay
- positivity is essential
- give yourself a break, a diet of hot drinks will not feed creativity
- compare only to your future and past self, it's not a race and everyone booms at different times
Q: Any difficulties in America?
A: Mocking of accent, no actual problems. Remembered in a positive wain comparison to other designers.
Q: What is the design process like for working in a theme park?
A: Big clients so they know exactly what they want and not as creative from starting from scratch. An open project: research, developments, mockups, do not keep it on your screen.
Q: What kind of things in emails did you say/tone?
A: Retweet a few times first and ask irrelevant questions to design, but relevant to the geek’ out topic. Ask about them, portfolios, people love talking about themselves. Have a friendly tone of voice.
Always freelance on the side to keep it interesting.
sarah@heal.design
