Our Stories Archives - Rocket Fuel Design

My Graduation

May 11, 2020

My Graduation Wasn't Like I Expected Last week's blog by Bella, made me reminisce about my not so smooth process of coming to study at Massey University. It also reminded me of and my looming non-existent graduation. Some people go to university to party, some go to get away from their parents, others go because that's just what you do! I guess the latter is what happened to me, although it didn't happen automatically. When I first graduated from high school, one of the youngest in my year, I had the dream that I was going to join the New Zealand Broadcasting School. That didn't happen. After one terrible interview that I travelled 5 hours for, I clearly wasn't prepared. I literally forgot the name to my favourite movie: 'The Help'. To make matters worst, while trying to remember the title, I quoted perhaps the most inappropriate and hell, the best part of The Help, "eat my shit". How's that for interviewing skills! I was pretty adamant that I wasn't going to get to NZBS after that and I guess my gut was right. It was humiliating, my first failure. I had told everyone that I was going to do this and had all my sights set on it. Looking back the rejection was one of the best things to happen to me. 2016 Was Not My Year Instead of giving up straight away [like I should have] and starting a new dream, I stupidly decided to try again next year. So to fill in my time for my next try at NZBS, I decided I was going to work at my home and then do Camp America. Within a week of the first job, I managed to pull all the ligaments in my ankle while trying to ride a sheep. Yes, I realise how very 'New Zealander'...

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Social Media Marketing As My Future Career

by Bella Norton

April 26, 2020

Our Stories

Trying to decide what your future looks like when you are still a child is hard, experiencing those decisions as an “adult” is even harder. As a child, I was no different from others in wanting to be a vet or something that is WAY harder than you believe as a child. I then spent most of my teenage years set on being an Interior Designer, that did not pan out the way I always dreamt of. Now here I am, my 3rd year out of high school with the intention of becoming a Social Media Marketer. This is the story of how I arrived here. My university experience has been anything but straight forward, through this experience I have learnt many things, positive and negative. But I am coming into my last year with knowledge, strength and durability because of it. I began my University experience at Victoria University of Wellington studying a Bachelor of Design, I had moved from Palmerston North to Wellington to pursue this degree as it is not available at Massey University in Palmerston North. The move was a big deal for me as I had resided in Palmerston North with my immediate family my entire life, that in itself was a huge learning curve. My First Year At University A Bachelor of Design at Victoria University of Wellington requires you do 4 compulsory first-year papers before you can move on and specialise in your second year. These papers, in summary, were drawing, graphic design, the theory of design and hard materials design. The only paper that I had a good grasp on before studying was the theory paper as that was the area I wanted to specialise in. I felt that I was not going to be creative enough to pass the other courses. To my surprise I...

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Lainey Founder of Rocket Fuel Design smiling at her Desk

Rocket Fuel Design In The News

by Kate Fisher

April 22, 2020

Our Stories

Seriously, it's My Business: Entrepreneur and mother helps fuel the design dreams This article was directly taken with permission from Stuff NZ Seriously, it's My Business is a series where the Manawatū Standard profiles young Palmerston North people who've struck out on their own and started their own business. A Palmerston North designer, entrepreneur and mother is helping fuel the dreams of other young creative women after her own took flight. Rocket Fuel Design founder Lainey Te Whatu, 34, knows how hard it can be for young women to find their place in the industry, so is sharing her experience and resources to mentor at least one design and marketing student a year through the start of their career. Te Whatu set up her design, marketing and social media company and took on the firm's first client when she was eight months pregnant with her first-born, Andre, in October 2015. She wanted to be her own boss and work from home by the time he arrived, so she could have the flexibility to take care of him and be there for major milestones , no matter what. "The bank manager looked at me like I was nuts when I waddled in...

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A Guide To Working From Home

by Kate Fisher

April 10, 2020

Our Stories

Top Productivity Tips For Working From Home During Lockdown For many New Zealanders, this week is the third week of working from home. For Rocket Fuel Design this is not a new thing to us, we have been working from home since day one. Although we too are feeling the difference in the atmosphere, as the current situation changes our working habits do too. From learning how to share and cope with the distractions of others again and a new routine of 1 o’clock TV updates, my working life has changed [not gonna lie, I’m missing having the house to myself and having more regular working habits] Since working from home is something we understand well we are going to give you a few tips on how you can better run your home office. Create a routine Set a time to start and stick to it The bed often feels that much warmer and harder to get out of when you don’t exactly have time limits or people to see. When working from home it’s important to pick a solid time to get up and get going. My suggestion is to have something to wake up for other than just work. Do some yoga or set a task to complete before you begin the day. That means you have to get up, get changed and get going. Go for a walk before you start Because you are working from home it is often hard to distinguish working time and home time. I like to separate these by actually leaving the house and ‘walking to work’ Most mornings before I start work I go for a quick lap around the block then walk straight to my computer and get straight into it. [Just remember to keep your 2m distances] Set lunch/break times Working from home can go two ways; you either feel like...

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Self Isolation Sanity: The Great Lockdown of 2020

by Lainey Te Whatu

March 24, 2020

Our Stories

As we all move into self-isolation in New Zealand, we are asked to do something we have never done before - yes I am used to working from home, but to completely distance yourself from everyone in your world physically, now that is strange. Lots of things will be changing for many during this time, there is no school, no shopping, no social gatherings, no events. We can't travel, we can't even shake someone's hand or play a game of tag at the park [try explaining that to a four-year-old]. So for me, I will be oversharing during this time as a desperate plea for social interaction. Follow along or ignore me as I endeavour to keep me, my family and Rocket Fuel Design safe. Cheers everyone as we launch into "The Great Lockdown of 2020" Day One The team and I had a video meeting to discuss the needs of our client's during this time and how we could best support each of them. Plans were put in place to make contact with each business owner and discuss the next few weeks. I attended this meeting from the kitchen as my home office had been hijacked by Mr Te Whatu for his work purposes and the living room floor was "hot lava" and the couch cushions were barriers, I suspect to keep baby sisters out. After trying unsuccessfully to put Miss Hunter to sleep, Andre and I took her for a walk to try a different approach. I took him a secret way to avoid the parks because try explaining to a four-year-old that the park is "closed" when they can clearly see that it is not. We found a few animals and hunted some Pokemon before returning home with a *still awake* baby. Lunchtime, then a bit of time in the garden...

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Kate photo shopped climbing the mountain

What I Learnt From Climbing A Mountain

by Kate Fisher

March 6, 2020

Our Stories

I climbed Mt Taranaki and in the process, I learnt so much about myself! Also got really sore calves and a fat ankle… A few weekends ago I [Kate] climbed to the summit of Mt Taranaki. For most of my life, I have lived in the beautiful town of New Plymouth, where Mt Taranaki sits proudly over. Admittedly where ever I travel and wherever I have lived I often find myself searching for it. Usually, the first question I get when I say I live in Taranaki is “ have you climbed the mountain?". Embarrassingly I have to say no. Terrible right!? So many tourists and outsiders come to my region and conquer the summit. It’s been sitting in my own back yard for years, but I’ve just been too lazy and scared to do so. We all have silly reasons for not doing something we want to do. But this year is the year I do what I say. I’ve made a conscious effort in 2020 to create personal and professional goals that are obtainable, but at the same time will push me out of my comfort zone. My climb up Mount Taranaki has changed my mindset on how and what goals I set. In the lead up to climbing the mountain, I almost talked myself out of it countless times; saying the track we want to take [via Symes Hut] will be way too hard, we haven’t trained and we don’t have the right gear. Fortunately for me, I have a partner who always jumps right in and practically forced me to follow through with the climb. Unlike my unruly partner, I can be a very calculated person. I like to think from e.v.e.r.y side and situation possible [I’m a debater personality, apparently that’s what we do best]. Thinking from every angle leads me...

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Lainey, founder of Rocket Fuel Design at her desk

How And Why I Quit My 9-5 Job

by Lainey Te Whatu

January 20, 2020

Our Stories

Lainey shares how and why she quit her 9-5 job to start Rocket Fuel Design. I always dreamed of running a graphic design studio. Even while I was still studying, I would brainstorm names and create logo designs. I did manage to take on one or two paid jobs, but I was never good at finding paid work or selling my services. The work I got had to come to me. The development of the Rocket Fuel Design Logo started way back! Once I completed my studies, I applied for a role as a graphic designer at a local real estate company. The work wasn't exciting, but I considered myself lucky. Most of the graduates in my class didn't land jobs in their field of study. I saw the top animation student working at Burger Fuel the year after we graduated, her dreams of Weta Workshop a long way from being a reality. So I did my job with not a huge amount of satisfaction, while on the side I continued to dream of the design studio I longed to build. Then one day something happened. The Marketing Manager suddenly left. The box that I didn't realise I was in, was pulled away and I was given the freedom to explore ideas right there in my job. I didn't need my own business after all! How lucky was I, I had found a job I truly loved. I treated that brand like it was my own. At one point I even thought about asking the owner if they would let me open another branch of the brand in a different location. I guess the desire to build something of my own wasn't completely gone. Just dormant. Then the meeting came. The whole team was called in for a very important announcement. We all sat there in...

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