Monthly Archives: March 2018

Journal 7 Networking Event 2

I am part of the Art and Design Club. They host different events such as Meet The Pros. This month at the MTP the club brought in a panel of 3 women from Droga 5. Besides them designers talking about their work, at the end we were able to personally ask them questions and have a chance to talk to them one on one. I am not in the photo because I took the photo.

group photo of the Droga 5 Panel and the art and design club members

Journal 5: What I’ve learned so far part 3

This post pertains to my other internship at Harold Hunter Foundation. Recently at my internship at Harold Hunter Foundation I learned what its like to work with producing content for publication company. The other filmer interns and I worked closely with Transworld Skateboarding Magazine and Adidas Skateboarding. We filmed during the Harold Hunter Day event. Which is one of the biggest skateboarding events in NYC that happens annually. I’m use to working on projects that take time to complete even if theyre videos of an event. While working with these brands I realized how important it is to put out content of a big event first! We had to film, go through the footage, edit and go back and forth with the brands on the final videos all by the next day. Here is the video for Adidas which is a recap of an entire weekend of skate events:

Here is the video of the event for the last day of the weekend:

Harold Hunter Day XI Skate Jam

Journal 5: What I’ve learned so far part 2

My job as graphic designer at Alexapath started with picking up where other people have left off. I am an college student intern and I’m picking up the slack of a hired graphic designer. (I am not talking about the intern before me). I had to create a new style guide (the old one was not really useful). There were a lot of unorganisation of the graphic files as well. Due to the unogranization there were a few files missing such as logos for their products. I used their website to recreate a vector file of it. This has taught me that even if a company hires a graphic designer, doesnt mean the job will get done correctly. Makes me feel that I am ready for the real world after college

Journal 5: What I’ve learned so far part 1

So far I haven’t learned anything new but I’ve been applying my learned skills from classes, previous internships, and extra curricular activities. My first task was taking their current brochure:

indesign grid of original brochure

Front and back of trifold brochure Inside of trifold brochure

[insert photo of printed version]

Lou told me the printing issues were that colors didnt print correctly, and it didnt print to bleed. I carefully looked at the print and also noticed some hierarchy issues as well the mentioned issues above. I used my knowledge in photography and printing to fix the colors of the images and the resolution. I also showed them how to print to bleed. Then I pointed out that the printer that they use is good for making copies of things and making simple prints but printing out high quality consistent brochure prints, its not good for that. So I pointed them to possible money saving solutions for printing. I also made sure my indesign file was very organized to make sure anyone who opens it can easily understand what goes where and why.

Here is my version:

my version of indesign file of brochure

 

 

Journal 4: My journey before getting an internship

It took me a really long time to find an internship. I started applying for internships over the winter break before the Spring 18 semester even started. I applied by applying to offers on Indeed.com, internships.com, craigslist and other internship websites. Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting any responses. I also started sending my resume, cover letter and online portfolio to design studios through NYC as well. I found a extensive list of the studios on this website imageofthestudio.com. I received one email response but they never emailed me back. I started asking my friends who’ve had internship class before on how they got an internship and if they knew a place hiring. I also asked people through FB to point me in the right direction. It wasnt till someone put in a good word for me at their previous internship that I got an internship and also the position as graphic designer at Alexapath.

I already had a previous internship before the class started  but they dont opperate much during the school year. Mostly during the summer so I wanted to make sure I got one to fill in the gaps so I could make up my hours. I intern at Harold Hunter Foundation. There I am the Communications Manager.

Journal 3: Work Culture at Alexapath

Alexapath is located in a shared workspace with other companies:

The big office where Alexapath shares a workspace with other companies in a building in brooklyn

It is a laid back environment which really works out for me because every week my schedule is different because of extra curricular activities, school projects, and life at home. I can come into the office at anytime which is really good because I take my siblings to school in the morning and depending on how early or late they take to get ready for school they sometimes slow me down in getting down to BK in time.

This is where I sit to do my work.

my desk at alexapath

Journal 6 Networking Event 1

I’ve had an internship before Alexapath. I am the Communications Manager at Harold Hunter Foundation. I help manage the creative interns and also produce content for their social media and fundraisers. HHF introduced different filmmakers to skaters. We talked about filmmaking in regards to skateboarding and then filmed for an entire week at a skate camp up in Pennsylvania. Here is a video recap. PS you can see me in it!

A screenshot of me (muhammad) in the video

Journal 2: My role at Alexapath

My role in Alexapath as a graphic designer involves a bunch of tasks. At first it was taking over a previous intern’s work handling print materials such as their brochure and packaging. The company also asked me to take a look at their web app and come up with a better solution for UX/UI for the app. After fixing the printing issues of their brochure and trying to tackle the next things they wanted me to do I realized they didnt have a solid style guide and a consistent folder of all their graphic assets. Their current style guide was missing many key points of a style guide. Since Alexapath is a small startup with laid back CEO’s I proposed to instead of working on what they set out for me to work on I wanted to layout the foundation for their design so that any designer can come in and know where to pull information from all in one guide. So I started a new  style guide which not only included their logo and colors but included the icons for the various products they offer, the colors for all their assets, typeography, and about section for the company and their products.

There are two people who I see when I’m in the office:

Photo of Dhaval Palsana CTO/Co-Founder, India Photo of Louis Auguste CEO/Co-Founder

I directly answer to Louis as my supervisor.

I didnt have an internship when the class started. I landed an internship in week 5 through a recommendation from a friend, Mijori. I was able to get an interview for an internship with Alexapath. I got the position after the end of the interview. Louis and I clicked during the interview, we have similar backgrounds of family being from Haiti, our views on humanitarianism, and the passion of digital arts such as filmmaking. He also liked my online portfolio as well. During the interview he described the company and what they need as in regards to graphic design. The questions he had were if I would be able to handle any of the before mentioned tasks and if I had any experience with similar tasks. Thankfully I have experience matching the tasks because of classes, previous internships, my position at the school paper,  NTT.

 

Journal 1: Alexapath

I didnt have an internship when the class started. I landed an internship in week 5 through a recommendation from a friend, Mijori. I was able to get an interview for an internship with Alexapath.

  • I’ve only met two people. I met two of the three founders.
  • It is a private company
  • Alexapath makes hardware and software to help pathologists make diagnoses easier. They also also make affordable solutions for pathologists in underdeveloped countries.
  • Their clients include schools, pathologists, and medical institutions.
  • The company started in 2016
  • Since the company is a startup company. I have been asked to work on their print brochures, ad campaign, and UX/UI of their web app.
  • https://yourstory.com/2017/07/alexapath-democratising-healthcare/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post – This article talks about how Alexapath is bringing something new to the healthcare business in underdeveloped countries such as India and Haiti.
  • https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/promising-prototypes-to-watch-in-the-year-ahead/ – The article shows different promosing prototypes from diff companies. it showcases Alexapath’s prototype ADA which converts  a microscope into a mobile-enabled whole slide imaging device.