Week of September 21, 2021

So much happened this week but then again not really. I missed the weekly group meeting for a dumb reason. A misunderstanding, to be honest. Our group meetings time was shifting around, and this was the first time we met at 5 pm. Professor Biehl asked if this time would work for everyone, and I said yes. Two others said yes as well however, I assumed that everyone had to confirm the meeting before it would happen. However, it was making it if you can to the meeting. I emailed professor Biehl explaining why I missed the meeting. She understood.

Moving on I feel like my internship truly started this week. I had my first meeting with my client on Thursday, September 23rd, 2021, I was so, so nervous. I felt like running away lol. It’s something about having clients that are connected to my classes and academic career that gives me the jitters. I just don’t want to mess up and make my professors, internship present, and groupmates disappointed. If it were just my client, a client I found outside of school I wouldn’t feel so pressured because there is no one I would affect by doing less than standard but myself. Designing badly or being the weakest link in a group throws the project and the group’s chemistry off. So going back to the topic of discussion, my first internship client meeting. I came up with many questions to ask him and even sent them to my mentor the night or so before due to my nerves. I asked if any of my questions were unnecessary, and he gave me feedback. I almost missed the meeting as my client asked to meet the next day but I didn’t check my email. My mentor texted my phone to inform me. Professor Biehl also emailed me about my client emailing me. I honestly felt so grateful but also so embarrassed and unprofessional. The next day I got ready and started the meeting like 45 minutes too early and just waited lol. I wanted to make sure my camera looked okay and my appearance. My mentor joined and then my client.

We introduced ourselves and then my client did most of the talking lol. He knew what he wanted, and I took notes. My notes were not the best lol. I was so nervous, and he spoke a lot and I got lost. My mentor took notes too lol, so I was truly appreciative. I made one mistake. I ASKED if he wanted any specific copy, he wanted in the posters, etc., and then he told me I will leave it up to you. I was horrified lol. My mentor and I meet separately after the meeting with my client to go over my notes and make sure I understood what I needed to do. He informed me that you shouldn’t have asked him about the copy like that. He told me instead to next time ask when the copy will be ready lol. I made sketches for the project about 23 lol on the same day since my mind was fresh. I sent it to my mentor, and he told me which to go with and to make some digital compositions to show at the next meeting and oh boy did I drop the ball… TBC

Week of September 14, 2021

Since I am writing this at a later date remembering everything is a bit difficult. However, my most recent posts are way fuller lol so hopefully that could make up for this shortie. I was so, so, so, so, so, nervous when professor Biehl introduced my first client! I guess the fact that I did not get a client in the first two weeks made me more laxed and not in design mood. So, when I heard my name and my client’s name, I just tensed up lol. I was overthinking it like crazy. I explain a lot of what it felt like sending that first introductory email and process in the next entry.

Week of September 9, 2021

I can’t really remember much but I missed this meeting. It was because I was late to checking my email for the new time confirmation. I reached out to my mentor and another senior designer but because they did not answer back in a certain time frame, I assumed that the meeting was off. I reached out to professor Biehl and apologized for my confusion.

Week of August 31, 2021

This was my first official internship meeting day. I had my camera on and my business casual attire on. I was ready and excited but also extremely nervous. We were being prepared to show our cameras when we were in training. We did not always show ourselves though, but I feel because our mentors were always showing themselves it became more natural and comfortable for us. For example, going back to our last training day meeting. We did a group presentation and were required to have our cameras on. So, I feel my training really prepared me for my internship and the future of my professional career because I will probably be doing a lot of meetings and interviews via zoom in the future.

So, during the meeting, some of the interns received their first clients I believe from what I can remember. 1 to two out of the four of us. Professor Biehl showed us some graphics, the website, and informed us of some information that we need as designers for Faculty Commons. Then the senior designers shared their updates on the projects that they were doing. This is something that we, interns have done in our training sessions and will do once we are assigned our first clients.

We also had to send one of our web designers a profile picture of either of us physically or illustratively along with a short bio about our self and what we are in charge of doing at faculty commons. Lastly, we have a group excel spreadsheet document that all the designers must use to update and inform professor Biehl on what we are doing and done throughout the week regarding our projects. I wish I had an image of my spreadsheet originally it looked a lot different. It had a powderpuff girl’s color scheme and no information lol. Only the headers and they were different as well.

Professor Biehl also gave us our first assignment. We were to look around at other schools inside and outside of the CUNY system and see what other organizations are doing that are alike what we do for city tech as faculty commons. This information was to be shown or related verbally to what was found next week at the group meeting. Things that should be at attention were what are they doing good at, what could use some work, and how are they handling their social media presence, etc. I shared my findings verbally at the next meeting.