Employee Stories

A Day in the Life of a Digital Designer

Jessica Man is a Digital Designer in our London office and joined the company in October 2022 as Digital Design Intern.

What did you do before joining Costello Medical?

Before joining Costello Medical, I studied Graphic Communication and Illustration at Loughborough University. During my third year, I took a placement year, where I worked at a small branding and marketing agency. Here, I was fortunate to work on a wide variety of graphic design projects, even collaborating with big clients, like Facebook. It was during this time that I found my love for digital design, specifically in UX/UI and web design.

The summer after I graduated, I delved into the world of freelancing, which included creating social media content for an arts organisation and making websites for my local driving instructors.

I discovered an interest for the healthcare sector when I visited the ‘Can Graphic Design Save your Life?’ exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in 2017. This influenced the direction of my university projects, particularly during my final year where my independently led projects focused on themes of health and wellbeing.

A few months after graduating, I came across the Digital Design Internship at Costello Medical, and I was quickly drawn to the role. I went on to join the company in October 2022. I really enjoyed this internship and saw the opportunity for growth and professional development, so I decided to apply for the permanent position as a Digital Designer, which I started in September 2023.

What do you like best about your role as a Digital Designer at Costello Medical?

Since joining Costello Medical, my digital design skills have improved significantly. I had very little experience in HTML and CSS beforehand but, with great guidance from the team, I was able to pick this up quickly. The Creative team is full of helpful and talented individuals, from whom I have learnt so much. They’re always ready to lend a hand and provide feedback when needed. I am proud of how confident I have become. Even a few months into my internship, I was working more independently and problem solving without needing much help.

When I tell people I’m a Digital Designer at a medical consultancy, they often wonder what design has to do with healthcare. My role here has shown me how important our work is to turn complex information into engaging, user-friendly, and accessible content. It’s very rewarding to work on the projects that we do because they are meaningful and make a significant difference to the healthcare industry.

How would you describe a typical day in the life of a Digital Designer at Costello Medical?

9:00am

I kickstart my day with a hearty bowl of porridge, all while I read over any emails I have in my inbox. Typically, these messages will contain requests to update our company website, craft an HTML email for one of our clients or feedback on a recent web design wireframe. As I’m always working on a mixture of client and internal projects, I like to structure my to-do list for the day and ensure I prioritise any urgent tasks.

9:30am

After a bit of admin time, I dive straight into my project work. Today, I have received an email from a colleague in our Medical Communications division expressing they are happy with an email design for a newsletter I drafted last week. Now I have approval, it is ready for me to start building the HTML version. Using HTML to create emails allow us to produce more visually appealing, responsive emails, with engaging imagery and clear call-to-actions.

11:30am

Once I have finished putting together the HTML email, I begin some rigorous testing to see how it looks on a Mac, PC and mobile. If I notice any issues or find myself stuck, I reach out on our internal Microsoft Teams channel, used by the whole Creative team, for advice. Our team are so helpful and, usually, someone responds instantly. After a few email tests, the bugs have been fixed and I am happy with the final product. Next, I send it off to another member of the Creative team who has offered their time to check through the email design and fully QC this. It’s always handy to get someone with a fresh pair of eyes to make sure there are no mistakes before it is sent off to the scientific teams or a client.

12:30pm

Lunch time! I always enjoy sitting in the kitchen area as I get to talk to people from other divisions and hear about the projects they are working on.

1:30pm

After lunch, I have a request to update some text on our company website. As this is a quick task, I decide to action it instantly and I log on to our website to amend that. Once this is done, I preview the changes to make sure it is all correct, and then update the site. I respond to the person who requested the change to make them aware that it is all done. Then I mark this task as “Completed” on our planning app, Jira. This app contains all the website tasks that are assigned to different members of the team, so we can track our progress and see the different tasks that everyone is working on. This really helps us to collaborate and work effectively as a team.

2:00pm

Next on my schedule is an internal catch-up call about a web design project for a charity that we have been working on for a few months. Previously, we presented a low-fidelity mock-up of the web pages to the client, and they were happy with the direction we suggested taking. Now, we are in the process of finalising the high-fidelity wireframes, which offers them a prototype of what we want the final website to look like. The call involves members of both the Digital Design team and the Technical Innovation & Development team as we are beginning the construction of the site. I utilise this call to ask for their advice on some design aspects and we plan out the next steps for the coming week.

2:30pm

After the call, I record any important action points in our shared OneNote and jot down the tasks I will need to complete. I head over to Figma, which contains all our high-fidelity wireframes. I make the edits that were discussed during the call and continue with designing additional pages. I enjoy this phase of web design as it’s all about finalising the finer details (for example, hover states for buttons and hyperlinks) and it’s exciting to see how the design has evolved since the very first sketch.

5:30pm

Before I log off, I amend my to-do list with all the tasks I’ve completed during the day, and the time I have invested in each of my projects. This makes it a lot easier for when I fill out my timesheet at the end of the week. I also jot down any tasks that need to be tackled the following day, so I have a list ready for tomorrow morning.