Journal Blog Entries

Searching and Obtaining an Internship; #1

My process of searching for and obtaining an internship started when a close friend of mine called me offering me an internship on May 20th. The duration of the internship would be for the summer at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives part of LaGuardia Community College/CUNY. LaGuardia and Wagner Archives was looking for a Front-End Developer intern and called me for an interview on May 25th. The interview was successful as I was offered the internship Starting May 27th.

They offered me a flexible schedule of three days a week, two days in the office located at Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, 31-10 Thomson Ave., Room E-238, and one-day remote. I was so grateful especially because the office is located a five-minute walk from the 33rd Street station on the #7 line, which can be reached from Times Square and Grand Central and connects with most other lines in Manhattan, or the G, E, N, or W in Queens. I live 15 minutes away.

 

Photo by Canva Studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-crew-neck-t-shirt-sitting-beside-woman-in-gray-crew-neck-t-shirt-3153201/

 

About the Organization; #2

The organization is LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, part of the LaGuardia Community College whose main goal is to be the custodian of primary sourced documents, photographs, and artifacts of the history of New York City. The Educational Institution has an online website where the data can be accessed and has various mobile applications.

The goal of the mobile apps is to help the residents and visitors of New York City to get to know the history of the city on a deeper level. They have two apps one of which I worked on called Walking NY. This app accesses the user’s location and shows an original photograph of the current location that they are in.

 

My Responsibilities; #3

My responsibilities as a Front-End Developer at the Educational Institute include designing and developing the Walking NY mobile application and all the online branding. This first week I spent at the world’s leading design portfolios website www.dribbble.com researching design inspiration for mobile apps and reading the documentation of the code we’re going to use.

I’m extremely excited to start working and designing this mobile app, what LaGuardia has now is extremely outdated. The app looks like it was made in the early 2000s and it seriously needs an overhaul. Including a solid branding identity, since the one that they have now is all over the place. I worked with Photoshop, Illustrator, and hand sketches to show my supervisor for approval about the mobile app icon.

Photo credit Isadora Martinez

Internship Progress; #4

I’ve done advancements in the design of the mobile app icon and the mobile app design. The research our team chose to get inspired on was another mobile app from designer Pradeep Kumar at www.dribbble.com. Our team is preparing to set up the environment for the new mobile app design.

I received feedback from my supervisors about the mobile app icon and the stakeholders approved option number 5 from the sketches I made. This week I’ve been working on some digital drafts for the final mobile app icon for Walking NY.

 

Photo credit Isadora Martinez

Finalized First Project; #5

The final design for the mobile app was approved. The stakeholders and supervisors liked both drafts. I ended up combining both draft icons into a single one and the design was approved.

Next, we are going to work on the design for the mobile app, I presented my supervisor with two sketches and he approved the first sketch. I’m excited to see how the sketches look after I digitize them with Photoshop and Marvelapp.

 

 

Photo credit Isadora Martinez

Challenges and Roadblocks; #6

My internship at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives has not come without its challenges. The first week was smooth sailing but I’m on week six and it has increasingly elevated the level of difficulty as the days go by. As I’m juggling three projects with the icon, the design for the app, and the app store branding identity my plate is brimming full. I’ve had to learn how to apply successful time management to be able to work on these projects and to be able to meet deadlines.

Our team is working extra hard to have the mobile app ready to launch, at the same time as having the online mobile branding ready on time. Perhaps I will have to reevaluate giving priority to the mobile branding identity as the team approaches the completion of the app.

Photo by Nathan J Hilton: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-smartphone-with-mobile-application-on-screen-8021284/

Self-Reflection; #7

I loved my internship at LaGuardia and Wagner Archives because I learned how to work in a team and have excellent time management skills. I also learned how to accept challenges as part of the daily work environment, for example how I was working on the icon design and the mobile app design at the same time and had the icon deadline fast approaching.

Being open-minded and willing to learn has taken me a long way. I started knowing basic code, and knowing a little about Photoshop and finished with excellent Photoshop skills, plus being part of a team that finished a mobile application that is online. I’m extremely proud and grateful for all the work I’ve done in my internship and help them achieve the goal of publishing the Walking NY mobile app and giving it a memorable online brand identity.

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Ethics in Graphic Design: Self, Company, Client

Journal Entry #1

1a.They are to discuss how the design work they are doing handles the sourcing of images and the company’s trademarks & logos.

After reading the AIGA guide’s on Professional Practices in Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography, and Copyright I’ve been more mindful about handling images and logos in my internship. Luckily, the educational institution where I’m doing the internship has a branding guide PDF that provides the correct trademarks and logos to prevent any copyright or misbranding errors. Whenever I have any questions I refer to the branding guide or if the questions require a deeper conversation I talk to my supervisor before I commit any changes.

Any outsourcing of images by the institution is not allowed. We are only allowed to use images belonging to the institution, they are well-aware of copyright infringement laws and protect themselves against any piracy claim or possible infringement lawsuit. The company is ethical in terms of sourcing images and design.

2a. It will also discuss if they had to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement for their internship site and how they have handled that about their internship journal for this class.

I signed a non-disclosure agreement for the internship. I follow the non-disclosure agreement by keeping the name of the company undisclosed, not comment the name of the projects, nor the exact processes I follow, and don’t mention the clients in the journal.

Journal Entry #2

1b. Students are to reflect on whether, in the past, they have used another’s creative work and how have they given that artist credit?

In the past, I’ve used other creative work for school assignments. I give credit by making a reference page and providing the artist’s name and a link from where I got the work. I strongly believe in giving credit when credit is due, and as a creative, if my work was to be used by someone else I’d like to be recognized as the original creator.

Unfortunately, Piracy is common in the design industry, and it is illegal. As creatives, we must keep others accountable when we see that other people’s work is used without their permission.

2b. Students are to give their opinion of the arguments and outcome of the Fairey Copyright case.

Lying is wrong. The Fairey Copyright case is correct in receiving a sentence for purposefully lying and using the Obama Garcia photo without Garcia’s permission. We are human, and we make mistakes. I believe that the Cloney-Obama image could be easily confused with the Obama photo, and in good judgment, Fairey could have mistaken them both at first. What I don’t agree with is lying to save face like Fairey tried to do when he realized the image he used for the HOPE poster was the Obama-Garcia photo. It is never okay to use other people’s work without their permission, and it’s never okay to lie about it.