https://drive.google.com/file/d/15bukiXZo7Pe3GLTIKpIPJMeBYBcf5Rcz/view?usp=sharing
Author: Cherise Gabbidon (Page 1 of 2)
I had a very interesting networking event to share. It was done in my Monday advertising class. My professor whose name is professor Shanton Winston invited a guest to come into our class and talk a little about what they do as creatives and answer questions. I want to talk about two of these classes as he invited a different guest on two separate occasions.
Both guests were women and does something that I would want to do in the future as a career so that was really awesome!
The first guest was Ali Fung. She is a Senior Product Designer at Prudential. I asked her so many questions about her job and how the pandemic affected her work. I was so intrigued by everything she said as I have a huge interest in UXUI design! We even had similarities, one being that we both found out UXUI design later in our college careers. Overall, I connected with her on LinkedIn and was super excited that we had a mini networking event right in class!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-m-fung/
The following week we all met Nicole âNyki Elleâ Reed. She is a freelancer who primarily does Photographer and Copywriting. What I loved about meeting her is that immediately after saying hello to us she asked each of us to introduce ourselves. I really liked that because it made the whole experience more interactive and made it feel like we were a part of something altogether. It made it feel like we were in person more than online. I hope I explained myself well, but I am not sure. Moving on, she gave a whole presentation on who is she, where she started, what sheâs done and doing, and so on. It was a beautiful design presentation as well as beautifully detailed. I asked her so many questions as I would love to take freelancing seriously in the future. I loved how her work was very inclusive and she overall gave an engaging presentation. I also connected with her through LinkedIn.
11) A collaborative project that I’ve worked on was a project called âHonors and commencement cover contestâ. The project was between me and a fellow senior designer at faculty commons, it was assigned to her, and I was going to help in any way that she needed. In general, the project contained revamping an open lab website and creating a banner for said website originally. In total, I communicated with 3 people, my coworker, myself, and the client. Starting with what didnât go right at first was the communication. I say this because I was introduced to the project later, so I didnât have all the information. I didnât get to meet the client like you usually do so that added to my confusion. I was sent a thread of the previous emails and was told to create a banner, there was no discussion of the needs or wants of the client. Moving on to the positives the client was very nice and responsive, so it made it easier to communicate with her moving forward. Another positive was that my coworker kept me on my toes regarding upcoming due dates and reminders. Overall, the project concluded with several edits to the banner and additional design centered around social media.
12) I feel proud of my performance during my internship at the faculty commons. I felt very confident throughout this experience although this semester has been hectic. I was responsive and ready to work with every client I met. I always conducted myself with a professional attitude with my clients and coworkers. Every week during our faculty common meetings, I came prepared to share, respond, and help faculty commons with any agenda we were discussing. For every meeting with faculty commons and clients, I came dressed for success meaning business casual. I was always eager to learn and help members of my team. I feel very proud of my contribution to my internship thus far.
13) The person who I want to mention that has become a role model to me during my internship is Professor Mary Ann Biehl. Professor Biehl is the co-director of faculty commons, and she honestly feels like a superwoman to me. She is so involved with the work we do at faculty commons, every week she is there at our weekly meetings helping us improve our work through constructive feedback and so much more. She is also my professor for another class. She evaluates other professors, answers every email in a timely fashion even though she is very busy, and is even a part of a committee of professors that try to make our school a better place. However, the quality that I admire most of all about professor Biehl is that she always does things with a smile. Her attitude is always a pleasure to be around.
Week of October 19, 2021
Well, this week is going interestingly. I have been at a standstill for the past week and a half now with the Research Day project. The date of the event is November 5th and I still need to receive an official copy of the flow chart and poster. The poster needs to go out as soon as possible but I have not received any word yet from my client. I am getting a bit nervous as I sent three emails and do not want to come off as pushy⌠There is still also another deliverable that I know nothing about that my client would like to get done as well. I hope he will get back to me soon as I need time to complete this all. However, I understand that he is a very busy person.
Moving on I introduced another project in my last entry where I am basically in charge of creating a web banner for an Openlab website for classes under the COMD 4701 Design Team. It is for Commencement and Honors Convocation Cover Designs submissions. This project is going well. I just finished the compositions for it. I will of course include them in this post. I received really helpful feedback, and I canât wait to see how it evolves by next week.
Lastly, I have this third project that I believe I wrote about before, but I did not know what I would be doing. It is for the Faculty Publication Support Workshop Series. I was originally tasked with adding links to a PowerPoint. However, I recently had a meeting with professor Biehl where we spoke about the project in more detail and came to a consensus on what needs to be done next. I still have to email my client about that.
Sooo, today was a busy day for my internship! It is Oct 21st and I just had my second meeting with my client for Research Day @ City Tech. The one that I was worried about. So, this was my second client meeting and I feel that it went so well. I was calm and I was confident. I guess my nerves dispersed quite a bit since I knew what to expect. The meeting was at 11:30 but I was there since 11 am lol. My client had previously mentioned wanting another deliverable. That deliverable turned into deliverables lol. Multiple. I have to create additionally a branded PowerPoint template, agenda design layout, research pillar illustration, and grant growth chart. Along with a web banner, poster, and flow chart that still need to be done. But I am pumped and excited! My mentorâs presence also gave me comfort. I donât feel stressed at all about that. The only stress that I feel regarding this product is that I have not received the copy yet for anything which makes the design process more difficult.
Week of October 5, 2021
I am having so much fun at my internship even though it is virtual. I feel like I am really getting settled in and I am not anxious anymore. I truly look forward to the weekly meeting for multiple reasons. I love seeing my teamâs work and giving feedback, I love sharing work that I am proud of and getting helpful feedback that helps me make my designs better. It is honestly so helpful. I even love dressing professionally every week from the waist up and being physically present through the camera. I am so excited and proud of the work that I have created. The weeks prior I was anxious, way too cautious, and felt unsure of my design skills. I felt like my design sense wasnât good enough. I will talk about that in another entry.
Moving on let me actually write about what actually happened this week. On Tuesday, October 5th, 2021, at 5:00 pm we make our weekly group meeting where all the interns, senior design team and our head professor Biehl meet. This is where we get updates on where we are with our projects, share our visuals, and reveal feedback on what direction we should go in. We also have little assignments that professor Biehl assigns us all and they are due at the next meeting. This week we were supposed to have done some social media research. The bullet points below are what we were supposed to focus on. Professor Biehl always sends us a follow-up email to remind us of what our assignments are. The bullet points below are what professor Biehl sent us.
- Become familiar with City Techâs social media accounts.
- Do you notice any trends in their communications? What works?
- Look at other schools inside/outside CUNY for additional examples.
- View FC website (banners/events calendar)
- What opportunities do you see for reaching the academic community?
- How might you see this in relation to your individual projects?
I was very vocal and shared many thoughts and findings. I felt proud that I was able to share my research and thoughts with everyone and it really made me feel like a part of a team. I love working in this kind of collaborative environment. Itâs so fun and helpful. I love having a team that I can rely on to give me honest feedback and help me become a better designer. I have a client and Iâm working on a project with multiple parts and a close deadline, but it is so fun still. I Sent so many emails this week to my client, mentor, and ccâd professor Biehl. Emails used to give me so much anxiety because I wanted to send the perfect email and overthought every single word, but my internship has helped me so much. I donât put emails off anymore and I donât beat myself up over every word choice. I love to send emails now lol. I like checking things off of my checklist and planner. Itâs so rewarding. Concluding, I sent off one deliverable to my client a save the date digital flyer and I recreated a flow chart that I have to send my client, as well as my mentor, informed me that the format needed some work. I agreed with him as well and now I feel that it looks much better. I am awaiting his feedback so I can make the changes and send it off to my client. This is getting very long lol I am sorry I just had a lot of fun writing this all out. Sorry professor and my classmates if you read this. I hope you are all well, I am well and awaiting to get confirmation from my client on when we can have our second meeting because he has another request. P.S I have two more assignments and that makes me feel good. But those two have not really started yet. I am doing sketches for one though and I will explain more in another entry. That is all.
Week of September 28, 2021
Remember when I was saying I dropped the ball with my designs for my client well that was not an understatement. This was a dark week for me. I lost all of my confidence in my design skills. I hated everything I designs. I showed it to my friends and family and asked for honest feedback. They arenât designers though and thought they were âfineâ I could tell they did not hate them but werenât wowed by my designs either. I got a lot of puzzled looks. It was as if they were trying to figure out what was wrong with the designs but could not place their finger on the problem. I felt defeated. I thought I wasted my four years in college. I felt like I was designed to be a bad designer. I felt uncreative and I felt untalented. I feel like I just did not have the touch. That design sense every designer needs to have. I was also falling behind in my classwork at this time and not being attentive enough with my classes, internship, and emails. I was sinking. But I kept trying. I created so many design compositions based on many of my sketches even though I was advised to only create compositions for three out of my 23 sketches. I created maybe 6 different compositions. Then later I took those six and created different versions of them. Then there were 12. Then a day before the meeting I created 3 completely new designs. I didnât have a lot of time, but I did it. I finally felt proud of something I created. I was confident to share the 3 new designs and that felt so great. My confidence had come back. On that Tuesday I made some final touches and shared my work. I got feedback that most may have felt a little sad or defeated over but to me, it gave me clarity. Professor Biehl had told me to not reinvent the wheel and go back to the drawing board and use something that I knew my client liked. Since we had had him as a client in the past with Faculty Commons. There was something that he liked that professor Biehl had created for him a while back and he still remembered it and had advised me to look at that for inspiration. I had completely put that suggestion to the back of my brain and struggling for no reason lol. So, professor Biehl was kind enough to send me the designs for inspiration and I got to work. I shared it with my mentor he gave me feedback and I even had a separate meeting with professor Biehl, and she gave me feedback and helped me clean up my designâs composition and hierarchy so I could present the work to my client. I forget to mention that my client invited me to a committee meeting to share my designs and get feedback from the entire committee that is in charge of the event along with himself. It took place on Friday, October 1st, 2021, at 10:30 am. The committee consisted of about eight professors including professor Biehl. I dressed in professional attire of course and was visually present. It felt comforting that she was there and had got to see and approve of my work beforehand. I was confident but a little nervous and didnât know what to really say and fumbled a bit, but I presented my designs, and the committee loved the designs. I presented three different variations. The meeting went great, and I met with my mentor in another zoom meeting right after. I appreciated it. He asked me how I felt, and we went over what was next. That was all. It went well.
