Journal 10

Overall at this internship, I am learning a lot about different programs, professionalism, and enhancing my design skills. I feel this place helps embrace my multifaceted talents. The internship got me more interested in video production and animation. I mostly enjoyed doing video editing because I noticed how framing and concept development plays a big role in the storytelling. Also, it correlates with my passion for photography. Even though my internship doesn’t end until May of next year. I plan to constantly learn and develop my skills as a designer through my experience of this company.

UV channel research:

uv-channels

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 9

Last week at my internship, I finally started to work on something that I really love doing, which is logo development. The logo development is going well, but I noticed that I needed to make some changes to the logo. The “Tiny House built” project is not just focused on building the home but on empowering women. So I came up with the concept of drawing an animated clipart of a woman construction worker with the tiny home clipart to show that women can build homes as well. In this development I am enhancing my project development skills and understanding how to successfully execute my projects.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 8

At this internship, it has showed me that you can’t stay in your comfort zone. That most jobs are going to expect you or encourage you to do a job that you’re not used to. On October 29th, I remember participating in a community outreach event on Saturday explaining to be at the fair about an upcoming project my community is working on. Just the process of understanding the project, knowing its location to attract people into joining this group was a challenge. In the beginning it was kind of difficult to talk to people because I didn’t know much about the project and I was kind of nervous. But once I did a little bit of research and got comfortable with the crowd, I was able to articulate our “Tiny House project”, and get people interested in the company’s event. It was exciting and different from my usual job, but it reminded me how important it is to articulate my work and incite people of my ideas and creations.

Collaborative poster design for Tiny House Project  :

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 7

At my internship, I see my boss Yvonne Shortt as a role model, mentor, and a friend. She’s very honest and blunt, kind and open minded. She shows me that she enjoys her job and is very passionate about bettering her community. However, being paid to do something you like comes with responsibilities. I respect her leadership and confidence. Even though she can be strict at times I can tell she wants her employees to succeed. Not just at her company but in their professional career. She inspires me to work harder and embrace my calling, and establish a career that has everlasting meaning to me.

Animation I created using Goanimate. Designed the characters, the story placement, and the music of the video.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 6

So over the years I’ve learned how important it is to evaluate oneself at the job. I learned what I can improve through my faults and mistakes I have made, but I feel like I am in a good position at my job now. I feel I am professional and able to communicate to my supervisor, boss, and co-workers effectively. I’m able to focus on the task at hand and not distract others from doing their work. I’ve learned from my previous mistakes in the beginning of this internship that I must show up on time and be at least 15 minutes early. Eat breakfast before I start working, and do not work on other assignments that doesn’t pertain to the job when I am at work. Lately my boss told me she’s been impressed by my improvement with my work and communication skills.

Logo mock up I created at my internship.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 5

At my internship, I worked on a few collaborative projects. They were all successful because we were able to share files and information efficiently through using a group account with Dropbox and through verbal communication. Some collaborative projects I participated in where creating a promotional video called “Clean the streets”, and a community outreach promotion called Tiny house built project. An example of a collaborative project is communicating and working with one or more people to complete a task. What made the promotional video project successful was because of the communication with my partner. We both organized our files onto our company’s Dropbox account in a folder for both of us to use and easily find. This made life so much easier because when one of us wasn’t at work, we were able to find and work on the project at ease. So our boss checked and critiqued both individuals work on the project and was satisfied with the results.

Collaborative project I helped edit.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 4

At this internship, I feel like I am learning a lot in my field of the study. I feel a lot of people think that graphic design only pertains to designing flyers and brochures but that’s not entirely true. Graphic Design can be very broad and there are so many other important skills that fall into that field of study. At this internship I came not just enhancing my postproduction, animation and research skills. My boss has motivated me on my professionalism and showing me how important it is to articulate and market oneself correctly. Understanding how important it is to be on time, to proofread your emails and projects before sending it to a client. Understanding the information that you’re articulating to your client, and to not be intimidated by your higher ups but respecting their position in the company. At this job, what I am learning that pertains to my field is marketing strategies, animation, postproduction, research strategies and CAD software (3D design). Occasionally I answer the phone when my supervisor is not available to pick up, and take down the person’s name, number and company association to send to my boss. However, my typical day is checking my email and completing tasks that my boss offers me.

Some of the research and labeling work I had to do. It’s not focused on design but it did help me work on my grammer and research skills. Also, on my organization and consistency skills.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 3

The culture of the company is laid back, quiet, and friendly environment. The dress code at my workplace is informal attire. The employees can wear anything they want as long as it’s not inappropriate. Even though were allowed to wear whatever we want I still sometimes go to work with slacks and a button up shirt. My typical workstation is an open work area at desk surrounded by my co-workers and supervisor. We all work in one room, one space. Every Tuesday I work 8 hours a day. A typical workday as an intern is that we come in and get settled. We then check our company email and receive task from our boss on what to do. We then have a lunch break between 1pm to 3pm. We decide which time we want to take our lunch. The lunch break is usually a haft an hour. After lunch we finish our task, and go over the completed task once we’re done. If critiques and edits are needed our boss would let us know. If we finish early our boss will figure out what other tasks needs to be worked on.

Thank you,

Darius Richards

Journal 2

My job position at RPGA studios is a Graphic Designer. My role is being a reliable asset creating promotional videos, animation, applying marketing tactics, networking with clients, and researching information on important projects. My supervisor name is Yvonne Shortt, and she is the founder and owner of RPGA studios. I came to finding this site through an internship program called Cuny Service Corp. Cuny Service Corp works with students in Cuny schools to provide paid job opportunities and experience to build their skills in their major field. Obtaining this job was a process and I had to attend multiple workshops, job fairs, and face-to-face interviews with a variety of company’s. I interviewed with one person from the company and it took roughly three weeks for them to get back to me about my opportunity. Some of the questions they asked me at the interview were if I was reliable, punctual with attendance, and comfortable with working independently in a quiet space. Also, they informed me that if I was to come into a problem, try to figure it out on my own before asking her for help. She really encourages her interns to think independently. Luckily I was able to snag this job doing work that I am interested in because a lot of people I know that’s in the program do not receive a job pertaining to their field.

A collaborated video I helped edit at my internship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWKmait04Ks

Thank you,

Darius Richards