I don’t really have a mentor, but the only person that comes close to fitting these shoes is my co-worker Sarah Mayne, who has been a very helpful and supportive person in this company. All her projects are fun and exciting and she always wants to include me in to help and assist her. I have learn a lot from the way she tackles projects daily, time management, site surveys, presentation and a whole lot of people skills with clients. Unfortunately she has left the company for a better company in queens but her time here with me was very beneficial for my education and me.

Here’s one of the first projects I help assist and where I got to know Sarah better. It was from company call Canada Goose who was displaying their new line of jackets and fleece.

One project I can evaluate myself in is this recent project we have done which I participated and assist with Sarah Mayne who has recently found a better career opportunity. Arielle Cohan who is a sales person for the company also participated and help Sarah with half the work. This was a Event/Pop Up shop for about 3 days which held thought out the weekend of 19 thru the 21 of June. The company was for an airline call KLM, which I think, is from the Netherlands.

What my task was to help and assist both of my coworkers with installing some of the vinyl prints and gator boards up. It had to be Thursday evening since another company recently booked the location that was rented earlier that day, so it had to be done quickly as possible and be ready for presentation Friday morning.We also placed structures some promotional items that the company was going to sell and give away.

Everything was either cover in white or blue vinyl, which are the colors of the company. Some objects that we cover in vinyl are, a wood bench, two metal tables for the DJ, Blue vinyl for the huge bar they had. We also had a lot of I pad stands and TVs to promote more about the company.

I think I did really well with this project because I am very handy. I used to work in construction so I am very familiar with the tools we used to construct things. I came very helpful in preparing this event and the client was overall more then happy with the outcome.

One Project I really collaborative with the team was with Jose Cuervo. It had to be done within a week so it can promoted and photograph for the company. I presume it’s a small sister company with Jose Cuervo, Its called Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia. What had to be done was to create four vinyl designs for a beverage box of tequila. Each Box was to represent each of four of Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia investors. One Box was design with a ski slope map with images of the investors familia and friends. This particular box had to be printed and place twice since it was asked.

Another box was design with a black and orange gradient, black starting from the bottom and orange ending on top of the bottom. This gradient represents the sunset of the investor which he discuss that it was when him and his father would stop working a hard days work at their ranch at break and enjoy the sunset.This box also had a design texture of a wood and initials on top of the design gradient.

The another was design with the map of the Bahamas and a vector image of a child and father fishing. This also represented a father and son relationship. Which was trip to the Bahamas where they go for vacation and do a lot of fishing.

The last box was design all vector which I had to do some research on. Which was illustration of sea animals such as turtles, whales fishes, sharks and even sea plants. After all was design and finished we had to make mock ups so that our printing crew wont get all mixed up with the design and switch up the panels of each box.

After we send the mocks up the designs are then printed in vinyl and placed to each box so it can then be sent off to our client to be photograph. It is photographed to be presented and pitch to their bosses to see if it is confirm and approve to be printed in mass production. Here are some images of how the final product came out.

What I’m learning here with the company is more in depth from a school project such as from the proposal of a sale, down to the deadline of the project. I get to work with my fellow colleagues like peter (sales rep) to show samples of paper or present different types of jobs the company did in the past so that our present client can have a better idea on what she or he wants. Once the company has a proposal on a certain project or job it is then taken to our boss who comes up with pricing and determines how much this project will get estimated. After that it is then sent back to the client with a estimated project cost and will wait till it is confirm. Once the client and our company has come to an agreement with pricing, the project is then handed to the design team where they will make and design what the client ask for. Depending on how many revisions the client asks for it may take to about 1 to 2 weeks to finish the design part. After the client confirms the art piece it is then sent to the print production department so that we can spec the art piece out and check what are the sizes, colors, papers, and fonts it will be using. After specking the project out it is then sent to our printers where will get proofs on size, color and graphics. This proof is then deliver with our messengers and it is emailed to our client digitally. We then wait for a confirmation if they like the way it looks or not. If it’s a green light then we go ahead and sent the project to mass production or fix the necessary fixes and repeat the proofs step again. What I really do during my days here is do a lot of specking on jobs if it is ready to be printed or not. Set up messengers to deliver proof to our clients or sometimes I do if I’m not to busy or if it is close. On my down time I go help my supervisor with paper work and invoicing clients. Another thing I like is that I am doing a little bit of everything not just graphic design but I’m going out in events and I help with installs. Learn a lot in print production which is a major here in city tech and I am taking it completely free.

The culture in my workspace within the company is very orange and girly, Most of the people I work with here are girls. The other two guys I only do help is one sales representative whose name is peter and the boss Andrew. But everyone else are women who always need help in labor stuff or errands. Some of these activities I do for them sometimes allows me to meet their clients and allows me to build my own personal relationship with them. My workspace is the first big office in the 6^th floor. I share my office with the same two people who interviewed me Emily and my supervisor Nora. They were only two desk when I got there and I only had a chair and small cubicle in the hallway. But now I’ve got my own new desk that the boss ordered. In fact he supply us with all new desk and has put me in the office with them. They’ve decided to this for me because I am going be in the running of getting hired by the end of the summer which I am really excited about. They’ve also supplied me with the whole new Adobe Creative Cloud Suite for a whole year. When I saw the bill it came out to be 2000 bucks, and felt confident that if the company has invested in me then I have a really good feeling that I’m going to be with them for a long period of time. What I like about the most here is that its very normal and causal clothing with the normal hours, Sometimes we just work 8 hours a day but sometimes more. My regular hours are from 10 am till 6 pm and have the chance to stay more hours if I like, which I usually do and stayed till everyone leaves. I take my lunch at 2:30 or 3pm that’s when the day is at its down time and everyone is helped and can handle their work with out me.

This where I use to have my work space with Emily.

This is placed in the hallway on the left side and on the right are individual small offices. I only use this work station for two months, the rest of my time is on a desk that our Boss Andrew bought us.

My role in this internship program is basically is assisting my supervisor in her needs that makes her job easier and that helps and benefits the company. Her name is Nora Elbaz She graduated from The New York City College of Technology around the same time I started my first semester. She graduated from City Tech on 2010, her major was advertising design and print production. She also got the opportunity to get interviewed by her supervisor (Yadira Quiones) who also graduated from City Tech, and got the chance to intern for Mirror NYC and thanks to her great skills and success she got hired and stayed to work for this company.

I came about this Internship opportunity from one of my Prof, Prof McCabe. She knew I had nothing on my plate at the time and the only thing I was doing was looking for a job as a porter or anything that help bring income. When I got the call back to get interview I was really happy because this was way past what my parents had accomplished and more importantly is what she wanted my brothers and I to achieve and more. My mom is a single mother who emigrated from Mexico and met my father here and had us. So when I got interview it was not just for me, it was for all of my mom and family. I got interviewed by two people my Supervisor Nora and her co-worker Emily Loane, it was a very quick interview maybe about five to ten minutes. I had a good feeling about it because I knew we all had good chemistry within our conversation. I waited about a week and I got emailed back and asked if I want to be with there internship program and I accepted and started the next business day.

The company I’m working for is call Mirror NYC, It is a Graphic Design and Print Production who specialize in large format, print, identity, events, non-profit, and web design. It’s a small company with 10 employees and two interns including myself. Most of these employees are women in their late 20’s early 30’s just in the range of my age. The only guys here are me, the boss, one guy in the design department and the last who is a sales rep. To make easier for my readers I will break it down to every last person in the company starting our Boss. His name is Andrew Hurewitz who graduated from Ohio State and has founded this company about 15 years ago. The next department is The Design department, which holds two employees Lindsey Saracena who is the art director of the company and Thomas who works for Lindsey. They both share a new intern that just got accepted to this company a month ago her name is Catharine who has one more year in Syracuse University. The next Department is Print Production who which has three employees. The main supervisor who has been with Andrew for 10 years is Yadira. She supervises Emily and Nora Elbaz who is my supervisor who got me into this company and has helped me in my studies here in the company. We have another department which holds just one employee, her name is Sarah Mayne who will be leaving soon, she is Senior project manager for the company who manages big events and projects when need too. The Primary business for the company is large Prints and graphic design. We have large base of clients that depend on our expertise and skills. Some of our loyal clients that has been with out company are The Doe Fund, Mercedes Benz, Nike, ShowTime, ESPN, Google, New Museum, West Elm and Hugo Boss. I work and assist in the Print Production Department, I am very helpful to this department and stay long hours at a time assisting with work and errands that benefits the whole company.