During my internship, a person I did perceive as a mentor would be the man that hired me, Stacy Beatty. He hired me, he understood me and my role as my student trying to make it to the field. Most importantly, he trusted me and the other interns to work with him, even though we were young and still learning, the fact that he runs the company, is able to to be accessible and hire young interns to work, learn and get paid for it, is great, and highly respectable.Overall, I did enjoyed interning for him and it was a pleasure spending my summer working there.
Author Archives: Dimitri Duncan
Self-Evaluate My Performance
My performance at the internship were usually good, always staying productive and updated on projects. On our computers, we would have an excel sheet with a list of projects for the month and update the hours altogether we worked on that specific project, for the whole team. For instance, if I worked on a project for 2 hours at work, I would have to add 2 more hours on the excel sheet for that projects (while the project can be worked on for 10 hours, if you add everybody’s hours put in through the day or even multiple days). Overall, my performance in the Internship was good, got experience in the field, and everything was cooperative.
Collaborative Project
In CityGraphics, we had many collaborative projects, but the one that stands out to me the most was my last project for the Hispanic Heritage Month event for DCAS in September. It stands out because it was my last project and DCAS approved what was my original design idea for the Event. In the Internship, I worked with everybody on the team, usually on the team, the group splits up on different projects, the communication was well so everybody understood their role on the team working on projects. Due to ending my internship, I never really got the chance to see my designs shown to the public for the event, but it was a success for me to see my own idea get approved to the client in an actual design business.
Learning The Business
In my internship, I learned about the business and did some clerical work as well at times. I helped design different projects and checked for inventory a few times and helped set up the printers for posters. The typical day at work was clocking in, continuing on what I worked on that week or started yesterday, and if I was done, the Supervisor (Stacy) pitched a smaller project to work on if available. After that , I would clock out for my 1 hour lunch break, eat and take a break, clock back in when done and finish my shift. When there’s a new project, the team would have a meeting about the project and pitch our ideas for it, start it, and we would have a week or two for everybody to finish. While interning, I did learn mostly the expenses for a design team or design firm, especially if the print production is done through the team, which can be expensive to pay for papers and equipment.
Workplace Culture
The workplace culture at CityGraphics was a mix of formal and informal depending on the topic of things. The work station was an open work office with each intern and employee having their own desk. The fashion for the workplace was casual (button-downs, polo shirts, maybe a simple but safe graphic shirt on fridays), there wasn’t a strict dress code, just as long as it wasn’t inappropriate. The typical workday there was a 9am to 5pm, lunchtime would be one hour, usually at 12pm at noon or 12:30pm. The culture overall was safe, diverse and open mainly, but still professional when it came to dealing with cilents and projects.
Internship Interview Process
My time at DCAS was a brief time (since it was 2 1/2 months), but as a summer college intern, I mostly helped out with team projects and the small projects for the office. I was mainly an extra hand in need for print production and designing ads and tablets for different projects. I found the job luckily thanks to help from family (my mother helping me search for internships online), and as I applied in the end of May of 2017, I sent samples of my work, my resume and my cover letter. About a week or two weeks later, I got an email from the supervisor of CityGraphics, Stacy Beatty, he scheduled the in-person interview that friday. I went to the interview, the interview was nice, pleasing and importantly comfortable; the questions were mainly about my background and artwork samples I showed in-person. After the interview, it took another 2 weeks to offer me the job.
My Summer Internship at CityGraphics
From June to September of 2017, I was apart of a Summer College Internship program at the New York Department of Citywide Administrative Services (also known as DCAS). I worked for the Graphic Design department called CityGraphics, a design team that helps create flyers, logos, table mats, and invites to different cultural events for the city.
The Department of citywide Administrative services manages, leases, and purchases city real property; operates, manages, and repairs courthouses and other city-owned public buildings; administers an energy conservation program; purchases supplies, materials and equipment for use by city agencies; is responsible for citywide fleet management including operation and maintenance of a motor vehicle pool; and supports government recruitment.
I helped the team with designing business cards, and and signs for the Mayor’s office and different departments of New York.
TV Commercial Storyboard
