A Day in the Life of a Pour Moi Digital Designer

Ever wondered what it’s like to really get under the skin of a brand? Our Digital Designer, Pete Bemmer spills the tea on working as an in-house designer at Pour Moi. If you’ve ever dreamed of a job in digital design, this blog is for you! Find out what a day in the life of a Digital Designer is truly like. 

Many people joke that graphic designers just do all the ‘pretty pictures’, which to a certain extent is true! It’s a very visual role, but it’s also like doing puzzles all day. The job entails ensuring that there’s a fresh and on-brand look to all creative which spans the website, social media posts, paid ads, marketing emails, and so forth. There’s a lot of requests for creative assets, so being timely and pro-active is key; so, the difference between effective communication, planning, and design, is split equally. 

I studied art & design after school and was faced with the daunting task of deciding which university course to pursue at the age of 18. It was between fashion design, photography, graphic design and architecture. I guess it’s obvious which one I chose... 

The person that inspired me was my tutor at college (who happened to be a graphic designer). I really looked up to him; he came from the era of 80s professional skateboarding and surfing. He showed me how powerful graphic design can be as a tool to communicate. He also told me to bunk class quite frequently when the surf was good, so that may have swayed things too. 

I was very lucky getting into the industry. After spending a year travelling, I came back to the UK fully charged and inspired. This evidently came through in my first interview with a production company in London. From there I spring-boarded into some of the UK’s top 100 agencies working as a digital designer. The buzz was real and I was hooked. 

Most simply, the creative freedom. 

You won’t believe it but modelling! I was on a trip to Barcelona to art direct a shoot, but the photographer pushed me into getting involved in front of the lens as well. It consisted of running into the sea at 6am, holding hands with the production manager and pretending we were married as we strolled down the beach, and lastly looking pensively into the sunset. All in the name of a VIP airport lounge brand. My girlfriend still points out these images of me in some of the in-flight magazines! 

Graphic design is the kind of career where the curve never flattens. There have obviously been peaks and troughs, but generally as technology, tastes, economy, language and people change, the learning curve is always there. 

There’s a few! Even though that’s been my job title in various companies for about 15 years now, being a digital designer means so much more. Namely it includes designing for print as well. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had very varied roles over the years to include video editing, motion graphics, art direction, photography, animation, copy writing, print production and UX design; all under the humble guise of ‘Digital Designer’. 

Don’t follow trends! Do what feels right, be patient, and the design will fall into place in an honest and unique way. Working alongside experts in various fields of design has contributed hugely to the knowledge I have now. I can highly recommend this, listen carefully to what they have to say and work with as many people as you can. 

Working as an in-house designer at Pour Moi is actually a first for me. Previously, I’d always worked at manic design agencies that have various clients on their books. But you never really got under the skin of their brands as they were one step removed from designers. Until now. 

Working at Pour Moi, I now get to experience all facets of the business ranging from finance, product design, buying and so on. All of which add up in helping me to understand what exactly it is we’re trying to communicate in our graphic design as a brand. It’s priceless.