Zhanae Dale's ePortfolio

After having this wonderful and educational experience interning at Women’s Press Collective, Ive realized that I want to continue to volunteer at WPC’s onsite location and even assist with their events when I can. Being able to learn so much about offset printing presses and different forms of print media I feel was very essential to my career as a graphic designer. I now understand  the different methods of reaching your audience and the fact that print media is apart of that reach.

I was able to meet people that have been in the print industry for decades and in the design industry for decades. Meeting people that are well established in the graphic/print world made me realize that graphic design is a a passion of mine that I should continue to follow.

I learned so many things pertaining to print and design from my fellow volunteers at WPC. When it came to designing I learned many Adobe program shortcuts and different design styles that can grab the readers attention. I also learned the importance of networking and team work. Teamwork is essential in design. Many projects are created by a team not just one person. And everyones part plays a huge role in the finished product. Working as a team can get the job done!

Here is a presentation I made discussing my time at WPC

https://youtu.be/jalmN2lZgxs

 

Interning at WPC just about everything is a collaborative effort. During my time at WPC I collaborate with fellow designers and city tech students on design jobs for WPC. The first project I collaborated on was WPC’s annual International Women’s Day flyer. Me and fellow volunteer sat for a couple hours deigning the layout on the page. We were given a check list which would ensure that we were following the directions given and to see how far we got with the project. The flyer was a two color job which meant that we could only choose two colors. The colors chosen where purple and orange. Purple and orange which are secondary colors that work together. For this project it was important to make sure that the image was not being out shined in anyway and would grasp the viewers attention. The image is a photo of women protesting worker rights.

Secondly I have been working on stationery design for WPC’s 40th anniversary event happening this summer. Head of operations wanted me and my fellow City Tech interns to think of some fun ideas/designs for planners, calendars and notepads to be given to everyone that comes to the event. The project is still a work in progress at the moment.

Women’s Press Collective has an annual event for International Women’s Day in March. This event is very significant to the organization and what WPC stands for. The volunteers and anyone associated with WPC are mostly women or support women and women’s rights.  The event is held at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn,NY.  The event was is usually bigger however due to COVID the event was smaller than usual and people had to wear a mask. The event had performers and food as well, my favorite performers of the event was a group called Batala.  Batala is a women’s Samba reggae Brazilian drumline group. Their performance was amazing and well put together.

Below are pictures of the flyer and tickets for the event. Another volunteer designer from Denver and I work on the flyer together. We choose the colors (purple and orange) and designed the layout of the information that was given to us. I also got the chance to see the whole printing process from start to finish. I was able to create the plate for the flyer; which will be transferred on to the press. And see the process of how the offset printing press works from beginning of job to end.

Interning at WPC was a unique experience for me. With my prior work experience I wasn’t use to free flowing attitude that the organization has. Its a nice contrast to working in a formal environment where you have to dress in business attire everyday and work within a cubicle space.

In terms of the culture of the workplace environment the environment is very open and informal. As I stated before Women’s Press Collective is volunteer oriented, the volunteers come from all over that support WPC’s message. This the attire is mostly informal unless there is an event and the work areas are open. When it comes to dressing for work its best to wear clothes that you won’t be upset about if they are ruined. Working with the press can be messy with the ink and strong chemicals.

WPC has a system where they keep an update on every project. There are a lot of volunteers and new ones continue to join so it is important that each and every volunteer is updated on projects and the work load of the week. Each project becomes a collective experience with different volunteers coming in each day.

My supervisors title is the head of operations. She controls the daily task and gives all volunteers their jobs for the each and everyday. My interview for WPC was in person. My interview consist of the interviewer educating me about the history of the organization. After being told a brief history of the organization it made me intrigued to start working there. I was informed about the organization through my Professor. I was intrigued by the heavy support for print media the fight for marginalized women issues,

My duties as an intern at WPC is to provide my knowledge as a designer and assist with the offset printing press at Women’s Press Collective new Bronx location.  The offset printing press is used for any projects within the organization such as flyers, educational mail out leaflets, brochures and their publication “Collective Endeavor”.  They also outsource their publishing abilities to small businesses and organizations. My responsibilities as an intern is to prep for the press by creating plate with the image that is going to be printed.  Prepping the paper for the press with a strategy called jogging. Jogging is used to eliminate the static and assure that the paper does not stick together. Jogging eliminates paper jams on the press. I also count ink inventory and paper inventory. The internship is completely onsite, remote work is not popular in WPC. Much of the work done at WPC is onsite where the offset press is and all information about each project and client is collected.

(Above is a picture of WPC’s Bronx Location)

Hello my name is Zhanae Dale and I’m 22 years old and I am a senior at the New York City College of Technology. My major is communication design with a specialty in graphic design and advertising. Women’s Press Collective is a non profit organization that focuses on using print media for socio economic issues within our communities, also to give the working class a voice. The volunteer driven  organization was founded in 1982.  WPC’s publishing and designing specialties open to the public. Small businesses and other non profit organizations can come to WPC for any type print media.

Women’s Press Collective is all about the importance of print media and using this media to the advantage of the people that need their voices heard the most. The media we consume daily (news, social media etc.) is not always the media that will educate and bring awareness to the public. Mainstream media is all about sponsored content. Which puts media in the hands of huge corporations to control. Which means the media we see is basically what these big corporations want us to see. WPC is one of the organizations that fight to get the unrecognized heard with the use of print media and volunteers.

As an intern at Women’s Press Collective I will learn the true history behind organization of the marginalized men and women of the nationally and internationally while also using my design skills to assist small businesses and organization use their voices. Women’s Press Collective grasp my attention because of their mission statement. Many believe that print is dead and we will barley have newspapers, magazines and textbooks because everything will be digital.  WPC continues to show how the print industry is not dead, its alive and well. Ive always disagreed with this opinion because print media is still used in our everyday lives. Print is reliable and predictable and print can help you reach your audience in a sufficient reliable way.

 

My senior year at the High School of Fashion Industries I got the chance to design a window display paying tribute to infamous contemporary artist Jean Micheal Basquiat. I had full control and freedom of the art direction and design.  While creating the window display I wanted to emulate Basquiat’s legacy. In order to do that I created a painted collage of several artworks from his skull collection. My teacher at the time told me its very important to credit the artist even though the piece was for school.

After finishing the window display the finishing part was add a small description of my piece also crediting the specific artworks that I used to create my piece. Giving credit to original artist saves the trouble of being sued and copyright infringement. It is important to ask for permission to use someone else work if provided. Asking for permission and giving credit to original owner of work can result in collaboration. Successful companies do this all the time.

One example is Disney and Sony Pictures collaborated on multiple Spiderman movies to continue Spiderman’s legacy with Marvel.  Disney and Sony Pictures created a deal to bring Spiderman and other films to Disney Plus and Hulu. This partnership increases both companies worth individually because both will benefit from the ability to stream films on streaming sites such as Hulu and Disney Plus while also making films accessible to marvel fans.  This deal removes any copyright battles and strengthens ethical guidelines.

Given other artist credit is essential. As a designer myself I wouldn’t want anyone to take my work and assign credit to my hard work. There are consequences that come with not crediting artist. There are many instances where credit is not given to original artist. Contemporary artist and founder of OBEY Clothing Shepard Fairey created a poster in 2008 of Barak Obama which became a symbol of the presidential campaign of 2008. However the symbolic and iconic piece of artwork was  copyright infringement. According to The New York Times “government prosecutors had argued that Mr. Fairey should serve time for his actions and he faced up to six months in prison.”  Fairey used photojournalist Mannie Garcia’s iconic photo of Barak Obama. Fairey’s goal was to put a face to Barak Obama’s presidential candidacy and increase his chances of winning the Democratic nomination and general election. Fairey’s iconic image caused a copyright battle due to lack of crediting to original owner of photo Mannie Garcia. The end result of the case was Fairey on probation and fined. In my opinion and based off of the design ethics artist and designers abide, I agree with the result of the case. As designers and artist we need to understand that there are consequences of taking someone else’s work without crediting or permission. Authorship and crediting  is essential.  As stated in AIGA’s Business and Design Ethics “When not the sole author of a design, it is incumbent upon a professional designer to clearly identify his or her specific responsibilities or involvement with the design.”

 

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2021/12/kevin-feige-confirms-that-disney-and-sony-are-actively-beginning-to-develop-spider-man-4/

https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/shephard-fairey-is-fined-and-sentenced-to-probation-in-hope-poster-case/?mtrref=undefined&gwh=FDD3CEA52957CE5927161B433B14456E&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL

https://99designs.com/blog/tips/5-famous-copyright-infringement-cases/amp/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_(Skull)#/media/File:Untitled-Head-Jean-Michel_Basquiat-1981.jpg\

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/arts/design/24photo.html

https://www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Design-Business-and-Ethics.pdf

According to AIGA’s Design and Business Ethics “A professional designer adheres to principles of integrity that demonstrate respect for the profession, for colleagues, for clients, for audiences or consumers, and for society as a whole.”

Design ethics are establish responsibilities and behaviors that are acceptable to the profession and the clients. Designers have establish responsibilities to both themselves and the client. Some include but are not limited to authorship, responsibility to the public and to the society.  Unethical design brings down the moral of the professions representation.

The organization I am currently interning for is called Women’s Collective Press. Women’s Press Collective  is a non profit that focus on economic, women a children related political issues in New York City. Women’s Press Collective is all about giving a voice to the people within our communities in NYC. Due to sponsored content many political and socio-economic issues are not shown within the media that we consume daily. WPC uses print and design to bring those issues to the forefront. I am an intern at Women’s Press Collective, it is unpaid and volunteer work. My work as an intern at WPC consist of design and printing assistance. I attend both the design sessions and print sessions held every weekend at WPC’s Bronx location. I love being apart of the organization, I am very interested in print and women’s issues.  As a design intern at this organization I am able to be hands on when it comes to designing projects for events and information. Most of the content is given including the organizations logo and trademarks. We are not to alter them in any way.

I did not have to sign a non disclosure agreement when obtaining the internship, it is essential that I continue to practice design ethics exposing any information that is not meant for public record.  Non disclosure agreements are a set of rules about sharing the companies information. If you contract is violated a person can be sued and held liable for breach of contract.  This helps companies keep ownership of  projects and data and prevent any stealing of information. Whether a confidentiality agreement is signed or not it is important to continue to follow the guidelines of design to ensure ethical design and professionalism.

 

https://unsplash.com/photos/qC2n6RQU4Vw

https://www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Design-Business-and-Ethics.pdf

https://unsplash.com/photos/ZH4FUYiaczY

https://99designs.com/blog/inside-99designs/non-disclosure-agreement/