My Shillington Story by Kseniia Kalenyk

My name is Kseniia Kalenyk and I’m Shillington London graduate. I would like to share with you my journey to launching an online stationery store. I studied on the part-time course at Shillington, graduating in July 2019.

Why did I choose Shillington?

Originally from Ukraine, I came to the UK to study Media. After graduating from university, I started a job in Television production company. I was working as a Media Coordinator for a few years. Although my job involved different tasks from marketing to production, I still wasn’t sure which area I wanted to specialise in.

Since childhood, I have always done sketches, paint or draw in my free time. One day at work, I was asked to update the presentation files using InDesign. I had never used the application before. I started learning to use the programme and absolutely loved it. Since then, I have continued updating more marketing materials using the software. I realised that designing became my favourite part of the job and decided to pursue this direction further.

And, that’s when I found Shillington, the part-time course sounded perfect for me. I could continue working and learn graphic design at the same time.

What did I learn and enjoy most during my time at Shillington?

The best part about Shillington is that you learn new skills and apply them to the projects straightaway.

I was amazed by the structure of the course and the number of briefs we completed during the 9 months. It felt like we were already working in the graphic design industry.

It’s also important to mention how professional and supportive teachers were throughout the whole experience. I enjoyed learning about the idea generation techniques, importance of keywords, moodboard creation and other lessons. Even now, when doing new designs, I still use these techniques as it keeps me more focused and always helps me to choose the best option.

Shillington prepared me to start my own business as I learned how to launch the website, get the domain, make product mock-ups, photography and so much more. I also learned the importance of a marketing strategy, including creating the style tile, tone of voice, buyer persona and brainstorming keywords and ideas. This knowledge has helped me to get my online stationery store up and running.

Why did I choose stationery?

Stationery was something I was always interested in. As a child I was lucky to be able to travel and one of my hobbies was collecting notebooks from around the world. But it was during my time in Shillington when I had an opportunity to design my first stationery items. It was a marketing campaign project for children hospital charity aimed to create patient centred spaces and get young individuals involved in the process. As part of the rollout for the project I chose to design notebooks, pencils and stickers—which was my favourite part. Since then, I also wanted to be involved in contributing to a children’s hospital charity. At the moment, Kseniia Design is proud to support Great Ormond Street Hospital on a monthly basis.

Thank you Shillington!

I’m very grateful to Shillington for helping me to find the true passion and discover what I enjoy doing most.

It’s been a journey and now I design my own stationery with the inspirational quotes to motivate people to pursue their dreams. At the end, I would like to share this quote with you and I hope your journey of self-discovery will be very exciting and rewarding: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you have imagined” (Thoreau).

Want to read more of our students’ experiences of studying at Shillington? Check out more Shillington stories from #ShilloNY graduates Seyi Ogunlade and Sam Feldman and #ShilloMAN graduates Sam Walter and Sam Grainger.

Or if you want to study at Shillington yourself? Learn more about our innovative graphic design course—now available both in person and online!