Note:
In late 2010 we opened the doors of Dolly Rogers HQ to a group of students visiting from Falmouth University.  We were going to write a blog post about the visit ourselves but found out someone had already beaten us to it. One of the visiting students, Chrissy Styles, wrote a fantastic summary of her time at Dolly Rogers on her blog. So we we decided to invite her to share her experience at our office on our site.

Enjoy!
Chris.

Last November, I and 30-something other students from University College Falmouth went on a study trip to Amsterdam visiting design studios. For many of us this was the first opportunity we’d had to visit a working studio and expectations were pretty high.

I won’t lie, after three days of visiting studio after studio, I was getting a little disheartened. I understand that designers are ridiculously busy people and having to entertain a load of students for an hour or so is a bit of a hassle, but if you’re not enthusiastic about your own work, how do you expect us to be? I can’t remember how many slideshows I sat through, knowing that I should be interested but slowly nodding off all the same.

Dolly Rogers were the last studio we visited, and when Chris and Jennette bounced into the room (complete with a ukelele) there was a definite sense that they might be different. Instead of presenting to us, they made us do the presentation. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Powerpoint Karaoke but it is terrifying. Basically you’re given a theme or a prop, a partner, a bunch of random slides you’ve never seen and two minutes to cringe at the sound of yourself talking nonsense about whatever comes to your head.

I HATE public speaking, but I didn’t really have a choice. And although it was possibly the longest two minutes of my life, once it was over I sort of got the point of it. Being a creative is about trying new things, taking risks, and thinking on your feet. It wasn’t so bad, really. I mean, everyone was just as cringe-worthy as each other.

So this is what made Dolly Rogers stick in everyone’s minds. They got us involved, gave us a taste of what it was like to be part of their team and most of all, it seemed like they actually enjoyed having us there – it wasn’t a hassle to them. Although that might have had something to do with the fact that watching a load of nervous students make absolute tits of themselves is, as it turns out, a really really good way to spend an afternoon.

Chrissy Styles.