BLOG #9

This week was great. We received packaged merchandise that I had designed. Receiving this gave me such a good feeling because I was able to see the finished product in person. Seeing these projects completed really motivated me and made me more secure to graduate and head out into the field. The team was very impressed at the final product and I felt well celebrated for days to come. Since the team was very impressed with me I was compelled more than ever to not let them down and continue to create above average work.

  I was so proud of all the hard work I put in throughout the course of a few weeks. This internship has helped me work harder because there was no room for mistakes to be made. During these last few weeks I have become more comfortable with my colleagues double checking my work and making revisions as needed. I also got better at taking constructive criticism. When I first started this internship I would sometimes be bothered when my work was criticized and I would also have a hard time taking in advice when needed but this week I noticed that I have grown so much in that area. I began to start thinking of constructive criticism as something that Is needed for an artist’s growth instead of something negative.

“Fly High, Stay Low” Dad Hats

“Winners Circle” Hoodies

Day: #8

During week seven I continued to work on logos and pattern design while also monitoring the status of the orders that were being placed. I found this very interesting because it showed me the many problems that can arise while running a clothing business.  During this week I ran into a problem where I received some samples of some embroidery patches and then were not good. As part of quality control. I had to contact the manufacturer again and go over the details and instructions to avoid any more further problems with our product. I realized that if there was a deadline that we were trying to meet for this project it would have been missed for something that was outside of the company’s control. During this week I also realized the importance of providing clear, detailed and precise information to avoid mistakes because now it would take another week to receive the new samples.

Day: #7

I think that my performance at Top Captains upon arrival was great and over the past few weeks I showed so much growth. In such a short time I believe I showed a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity. I think my curiosity showed that I would be a great asset to the company. The main designer made me feel very welcomed and I believe he was very impressed with how much I knew about fashion and design. The owner also told me that I had a great eye for design and style. One of my favorite projects that I worked on this week was the 6 panel hat fashion tech packs for overseas manufacturing. I found this project fun because the main designer gave me the freedom to come up with my own ideas which he later approved and sent to production  I designed everything from the inside brim of the hats, the inside line, the strap tag and the inside hemp tag. I was also given the ability to design the main style of embroidery. This was very informative because I learned about different types of embroidery.

Hang-Tag Design

DAY: #6

This week I was in charge of setting up an order of embroidered patches from logos I created. I was given a company’s number from the main designer and I was instructed to call and request a quote for a quantity of 500 embroidered patches of two separate designs totaling 1000. I was pretty nervous dealing with the company because I did not want to mess up and look bad but things went smoothly. When I was done speaking with the customer service representative for the company, I relayed the information to the main designer an information he approved the quote. He gave me the company credit card and instructed me to make the necessary payments and the order was set. I was then put to the task of monitoring the status of that order making sure  the quality, size and color was what we wanted. I was in charge of this process every day until completion.

Reviewing Patch Samples For A Design I Created

BLOG #5

My duties at Top captains continued to increase as the weeks went by. I enjoyed learning about how to operate a business. I learned so much about preparing art work for printing apparel and merchandise. I also learned about the importance of details and that related to a lot of the stuff that I learned in school about relaying information clearly. I found this important to my internship because the company did business with many manufacturers from over seas and because of language barriers all information had to be related clearly so there would be no room for any mistake during production. During week four , on a typical day I would come in and upon opening the shop I would meet the main graphic designer to begin the work day. The next thing that I would do is check the cork bulletin board and start the next task that was scheduled. Throughout the day the main designer allows me to work at my own pace just as long as things are completed in a timely fashion. To me this made the atmosphere and the job much more enjoyable and friendly.

I was in charge of setting up a large orders with their embroidery company. I was instructed to contact the company and relay the information needed to complete the project. I was in charge of this product design and order set-up from the start. This experience really helped me understand the process of creating quality apparel a lot more which also gave me a greater appreciation of quality clothing. I now understand that it takes a lot of attention to detail for these products to achieve the high quality that they have. This is a trait that i can use through my graphic design career.

BLOG #4

I began to notate and enjoy particular parts of the work environment at Top Captain’s office. I loved that the atmosphere was fun and laid back but also very fast paced. I liked the fact that there was no dress code implemented and the employees including myself were able to come as they were. However, being that I was hired as an intern I kept it very simple when it came to my attire and opted for a casual look wearing button up shirts and Dark jeans. During Week three I noticed that there weren’t any dedicated workstations and the office was basically an open work area with two computer desks, a couch and many racks and shelves for clothing. I liked the open work space layout of the office and it often helped with my creativity. The typical work day at this company is about 8 hours or more so having a comfortable work space was very important for me. One perk that I found out about and enjoyed was the owner would buy lunch for all of the employees every Friday.

Logo & Mock-Up Designs

Yacht Club T-Shirts

BLOG #3

After I grew a little bit more acquainted with the office and Company I began to take on more responsibility. I was introduced to a cork bulletin board where ideas of logos and merchandise were placed for future production. Jeff taught me how to obtain information from this board in order to prioritize what’s anticipated for the company. I was impressed by how organized every one at this company seemed and I noticed that Organization was what kept the office in order. During this week I did a lot of observing and took a lot of mental notes. I noticed that there was a lot of work to be done but that had me more on my toes and more alert than ever.

Today I worked on logo many logo designs for a upcoming project. I was instructed to design these logos for embroidered patches that would be produced by their overseas manufacturers. This multi color design had to be designed in a few different variations.

BLOG #2

My first week interning went pretty good. I was introduced to the day to day functions of the company and it was intriguing getting a hands on taste of how an actual company runs. The first day I shadowed the Main designer Jeff. Jeff showed me around the office and how they set up their products for production. I was amazed at how smoothly the office’s operations ran. The atmosphere of the office was very pleasant but fast pace and I liked how everyone was busy completing the tasks that were appointed to them. While shadowing Jeff, I learned the proper way to set up logos for print using spot colors and illustrator.

Today i worked on a simple logo design along with a mock-up design of stadium cups for production.