Nicole Sangster

BA Computer Arts, 2018

What does your current job involve?

I’m the Assistant Digital Producer at V&A Dundee, which means I support the Digital Producers with the day to day running of the website and social media platforms. 

My role involves monitoring the engagement across all of the V&A social platforms, replying to questions and engaging with the followers. As well as helping to create content for the channels, which is where I get to put my degree to good use. I help to update our website with new events and information as well as responding to reviews on TripAdvisor and feeding that back to the team. During the opening of the new museum, I got to be a part of covering the events and sharing them online. I also created the Snapchat filters that got used to promote the 3D festival and opening weekend.

How did your Abertay degree help you to get where you are?

I joined Abertay in 2^nd year after transferring from a different university. I found the course to be much more engaging with wider content that gave me the chance to explore my specific career path within the overarching Computer Arts degree. All of the lecturers were really helpful and encouraging throughout my course. Learning a wide range of skills has allowed me to leave university with the freedom to work in all sorts of sectors of the industry.

Dundee has such a fantastic creative community with so many events and talks going on around the city all the time. I found it a great city to study in and very encouraging to see so many likeminded creatives around.

During my 3^rd year at Abertay we took part in a professional project to create a game for a client, mine happened to be V&A Dundee. We created a game called Spinnacle and the team at V&A Dundee helped us to build an app to promote design and the new museum. When I joined the team here at V&A, it was great to already know a few faces that I’d worked with in the past.

What do you think makes the V&A Dundee special?

V&A Dundee is a fantastic addition to Dundee, bringing a sense of pride and excitement to the city surrounding its regeneration. I wish it had been here sooner for me to enjoy whilst I was studying as the space is so inspiring. There is a space to have events on all the time with artists and designers to help develop the creative community in Dundee. It’s also a great place for those that aren’t as knowledgeable about design to learn more about it and have a fun day out without having the leave the city and travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow for something to do. I really like the fact that the museum will be host to rotating exhibitions from V&A South Kensington and others that you would usually never get the chance to see up here in Scotland. 

What’s your favourite object in the museum?

I think my favourite object is probably the costume worn by the character Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. It’s featured in our Scottish Design Galleries. Unfortunately it's only on loan to us for six months before it returns to The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, currently under construction in Los Angeles, so make sure you come and see it before it’s gone.

What was your lasting impression of Abertay?

Abertay was a great experience for me, I met a lot of amazing people and worked on some cool projects. At the end of the day they helped me get this job which I love. I found the staff to be very supportive and the University had great facilities for my course specifically. I really enjoyed my last year at Abertay getting to work on my honours project, exploring the area of the course I liked the best and then showcasing it at the Abertay Digital Graduate Show.

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