Before the Spring 2022 semester started, I was searching and applying for internships. Towards the end of the fall 2021 semester, I meet with someone at the career office at City Tech. During our meeting we reviewed my resume, and I was taught how to navigate Handshake.
After our meeting I revised my resume based off the critique and started searching for internships for me. I first applied to one through the Open Lab job site but the one I applied to get back to me saying that they had no more open spots. I applied to three internships on Handshake, which was actually very easy to use. With handshake some of the jobs I can apply through the site. If a PDF of my resume is uploaded to my account, I can just press the apply button for some internships that don’t have other requirements, such as a cover letter or portfolio.
The weekend before my first class I received a text from one of the positions I applied to asking if I was still interested in the position. This text experience was strange because during the conversation with this supervisor it felt like an interview, but it was being done through text messages. The conversation ended with them asking to see samples of my work. I submitted samples and didn’t hear back from them for a day.
After not hearing any updates, I got anxious and decided to submit a follow up message asking if they received the samples of my work. They responded saying they did receive my samples and continued asking more questions. After a few more questions they said I am on the team. This experience was very strange and different from how my previous experiences were when I applied to other jobs. In the end I am excited for the experience I am going to gain working at my internship.
My internship is with a nonprofit organization that is working towards fighting against food insecurities in local communities. Even though the company is based in New York City, I will be working with other interns that are based around the United States.
I am put into different teams for different tasks. being in multiple teams allows me to build my team working skills and allows me to get my hands on multiple different projects and experiences. This internship is very team oriented and involves a lot of communication which can be difficult with so many people being in different time zones.
This week one of my big task was to edit a meet the interns collage with every interns’ headshot. The collage is to be posted on the company’s social media page as well as be sent out via emails through the outreach team.
Making this collage at times were frustrating due to the lack of clear communication at the start. When I was assigned the project, I asked many questions like what dimensions do they want the collage to be and if they want any text anywhere within the collage. The only answer I got was they want it to be formatted in Instagram dimensions which I knew meant 1080 by 1080 pixels and they wanted no text placed in the collage. With this information I made my first version and submitted it for critiques.
During critiques I was then told to add text. This was frustrating considering when I asked earlier, they said no text, but I made revisions no questions asked. When I completed the new version, I then received multiple messages from other interns who had late headshot submissions. Due to these late submissions I had to redesign the whole layout to fit in the late comers. I ended up revising the collage three times for it to be done right and approved by everyone. Luckily, I know in this field revisions and last-minute changes are common and expected but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating when it happens. To maintain proper workplace etiquette, I did what was asked of me no questions asked because the goal is to satisfy the client regardless of the amount of attempts it may take to achieve that.
One of the main teams I am on is the social media team. My tasks revolve around researching our target audience and influencers with similar interests to the organization. As well as design and posts graphics and images for the social media pages and other platforms that may use these images such as outreach team.
This week I pitched an idea to the boss and the rest of the team. This Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday, but something happened over social media that became more trending than the Super Bowl itself.
Alt Text: Kanye West Holding NotepadImage Source: https://www.kapwing.com/explore/kanye-west-holding-notepad-customizable-message-meme-template
Kanye West posted an image of himself holding a piece of paper on his Instagram. Social media instantly took this image and turned it into a meme template where they wrote text within the paper in his hand. I pitched we jump on this trend to my supervisor the Monday that followed the Super Bowl and he approved the idea immediately. I did also reach out to the rest of the social media team to get their input but got no feedback.
On Tuesday I edited the template and showed it to the team for approval, only two people responded with their input. On Wednesday at 5pm it was posted. After it was posted another intern in my group messaged saying they feel the meme is too controversial and was a bad idea.
It was really frustrating not because of their opinion on it but because they had over 24 hours to say something and instead decided to say something after it has been posted. She reached out to our supervisor with her thoughts on the post. He responded with that the meme is just internet culture and that we were just using the template for views. The post ended up doing well when it came to interactions from viewers.
I feel like this experience really tested my communication skills when it comes to working with a group of people with different perspectives and is something to be worked on. When working with others opposing opinions are common and expected. I feel ethically it is important to listen to everyone’s opinion; however, it is also important to express yours in a respective manner because people are not mind readers and it is important for teams to be able to communicate accordingly within the workplace.
This week a lot of the discussion was focused on the rebranding of the organization. The organization wants to branch out because so far, its community is centered around the Bronx, but my supervisor wants to expand to other boroughs. Their plan is to rename the organization and design a new logo. There was a google form that everyone pitched in to discuss opinions on different color pallets. The color options were mainly the three primary colors or earth tone colors.
On the social media side our photo edits did not do well when it came to user interaction. I believe this is because at this time the Ukraine situation was just getting started. The internet was mainly focus on what was happening on the east, so it seemed to me all the posts about Ukraine flooded out any other posts on any other topic.
The social media team discussed if the news about what is happening in Ukraine should be talked about or ignored on our page. Personally, I feel like we shouldn’t go looking for things to talk about relating to the situation and just let social media be an escape from current news, but my team feels divided. It really depends on our target audience and if we can relate the Ukraine situation to our main topic of food insecurity.
This week I helped design a thank you graphic for the volunteers during the Hommock event. The graphic will be posted on social media and sent to all the volunteers via email in order to thank them for donating food and their time to fill up the Hommock fridge.
The graphic includes many pictures from the event of the volunteers that came up to support. It also contains the original logo and the color scheme because the emails with the graphic will be sent out before the rebranding of the organization happens.
I had the same issue in communication with this graphic just like I did with the meet the interns graphic. Even though it was frustrating I progressed forward and revised accordingly to meet the expectations for the result of the graphic.
A big request was the graphic must look good on web browser and mobile phone. So, for the graphics I made I did test views by emailing myself the graphic so I could open it on both web browser and mobile phone. Getting the size for graphics on different devices is more complicated than it seems since individuals can have different size computer monitors and different size phone screens. This making it important that I at least test it for the average size of computer monitors and phone screens.
I also made another meme for social media this week. This meme focused on the issue of trash being put in community fridges because I noticed that this week all the other community fridge accounts that the organization follows on Instagram was posting about the issue of having their fridges be filled with trash this week. The post overall did well with user interaction reaching over 100 likes. I feel that the success of this post did so well because I reached the interest of my target audience by tackling a topic they were already talking about that week.
This week was full design reviews with the team. The two main items we critiqued were the new logo for the rebrand and the outrage graphics post for social media.
With the outrage graphics post the original one felt too bland. The Instagram carousel for the outrage post used a black to white gradient in the background with red and yellow text, graphs, and imagery. I pitched that instead of the black to white gradient in the background of the graphs that showcased the food statistics for food insecurities I recommended an orange gradient instead. This way we use strong eye-catching colors and have a clear color palette of analogous colors.
When it came to the headline of this graphic we were struggling. The headline was “Did You Know?” but this headline didn’t feel strong enough for a post that is meant to show and give a sense of outrage towards the statistics present in the graph. The team is working on looking for synonyms and other ways to reword the headline of the graphic to match the imagery and put emphasis on the anger.
When it comes to the logo it is back to the drawing board because there were many opposing opinions on the design. The design is very cute and simple in my opinion and relays the message of community which is the big theme of this organization I feel. One intern brought up that they feel the design has too much detail that won’t show well when resizing the logo. They suggest that some of the detail get removed but personally I feel that if we remove the detail the representation the logo has right now of community won’t be as clear as it is currently.
During these design reviews it is interesting to see who has a background in design and who doesn’t. Some of the feedback given would be just simple comments of “it is cute” or “I like it”. However, this kind of feedback is not constructive or helpful. Yet there is still a small few who give actual feedback explaining why they feel something doesn’t work and should be changed.
1a – They are to discuss how the design work they are doing handles sourcing of images and the company’s trademarks & logos.
At my internship majority of the images I am given to use in the graphics I am assigned to make are owned by the company. All the images are taken by other interns on the photography team. They are tasked with going on site to document events with their cameras. I then receive the uploaded images and edit them into a graphic for email or to be posted on social media.
The only images I use that the company does not own are meme templates. While reading the given AIGA I began to grow curious on how copyright works for memes. I then decided to do more specific research of copyright rules when it comes to memes.
Through my research I have come to learn that the owners of the meme image has the right to give someone license to use the image. I found the Stephenson Law article titled “Companies and Copyright: Memes and the Intellectual Property Issue” very interesting when it comes to this topic. According to the article “if you’re just sharing a meme for the fun on social media, this won’t be much of an issue. But if you start using your meme for commercial purposes – for example through your company’s marketing channels – it might start to attract the attention of the copyright owner of the original image or video.” This is now making me rethink the memes posted via my company’s social media platforms.
The article goes on to explain “if you’re just sharing a meme for the fun on social media, this won’t be much of an issue. But if you start using your meme for commercial purposes – for example through your company’s marketing channels – it might start to attract the attention of the copyright owner of the original image or video.” Even though it is not common for owners to take action on copyright when it comes to memes it does not mean it never happens. An example of this is when Kris Jenner trademarked the catchphrase “You’re doing great sweetie” after it blew up among meme culture. This line she originally said in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and has been a popular line since. After she trademark it she placed the catchphrase on any merchandise possible in order to profit from it.
1b – 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 with regard to their internship journal for this class.
For my internship I did not have to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. However, I refrain from sharing any of the work I have done on my blog or with others unless it was posted on the organization’s social media page for the public to see. For graphics I have made that have not been posted publicly by the company itself I do not share mainly because of the individuals’ faces who are in the photos I edit. Majority of the photos I have received to edit are either other interns’ headshots or photos from events that have families with their children. I do not feel comfortable posting the faces of these individuals without their consent.
We do have a form that we give to schools we work with to get permission to share photos of the children who volunteered with us at the events. There has been times that posts have been delayed or not posted at all because we did not receive the signed agreement forms to receive permission to post the faces of anyone who was in the photo. Due to the need of these agreements to be signed we have to have drafts of copy and the imagery that follows ready prior in order to gain approval to remain on posting schedule which can be stressful sometimes.
2a – Students are to reflect on whether, in the past, they have used another’s creative work and how have they given that artist credit?
Copyright has always been an interesting thing to me because there feels to be so many in between the line factors and things that go overlooked. Sometimes owners of the material speak up but sometimes they don’t care. I freelance emotes on Twitch and have been for almost a year now.
The copyright issues when it comes to making emotes feels insanely complicated. Sometimes emotes are made from scratch and are fully original; however, sometimes they are just edits or resized versions of popular memes. Examples of these emotes consist of Gordon Ramsey screaming, Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove dancing, the millions of versions of the classic Pepe emote, and so many more. All these emotes consists of content the streamer nor the artist owns. They consist of copyright images of celebrities and images of copyright characters, yet Twitch still allows them to be uploaded and for streamers to profit off of these images.
It is honestly an interesting topic and the readings made me think more of the specifics because it seems to be for each scenario the rules get bent in different ways. As seen in Entry 1, the readings when comparing to my internship made me question copyright when it comes to memes but it did also reminded me of copyright when it comes to Twitch emotes. Some of the content from the readings I already had knowledge on from previous research when my own art was stolen for Twitch emotes without my consent. I really found the video by Dominic Keravel on Twitch emotes copyrights very insightful when it comes to this specific type of graphic art.
2b – Students are to give their opinion of the arguments and outcome of the Fairey Copyright case.
When it comes to the Shepard Fairey case the thing that stood out to me was that he tried to hide what he did. According to the New York Times article “Last year Mr. Fairey admitted that he had misstated which A.P. photo he had used for the Obama image and that he had submitted false images and deleted others to conceal his actions, leading to a criminal investigation in addition to the civil case.” Fairey knew what he did was wrong but tried to hide it which seems wrong and really unethical, even if he did confess later on it is still wrong. Fairey ended up growing famous over another artist, specifically a photographer’s work that he edited to make his own.
Even though he edited the photo to make it his own the original art is still there and a key component to the entire piece to a point where credit is due. In my career I hope to never be in a situation like this and want to avoid copyright as best I can. If a situation does occur that copyright footage was used accidentally I feel the best thing to do is to accept the consequences and pay the original artist or take down the work in respect to both parties.
I have been struggling with the internship this week. I have never felt so burnt out before. I know the burn out is due to me not only having this internship but also managing five classes. Before this semester started, I knew that this would require a lot of time and effort so I quit my paying job so I can focus on my classes and the internship.
I been trying hard to push through and keep my hours as up as possible. However, if I am being honest when I compare my work to other interns I am not as on top of things as everyone else. I am learning that I need to be more independent when it comes to tasks.
I am used to waiting until someone tells me what they need done and doing it. I am used to receiving direction and following it. With this position I am learning the need to also be able to come up with my own projects and ideas to pitch to the team and my supervisor. This way the workflow never stops. I am not used to pitching ideas and coming up with projects, so this is very new to me and something I need to work on. During this internship I have pitched one project and the rest was me waiting to be assigned a task and then I do what was assigned.
I am learning that in the creative field the work never stops. I need to be constantly thinking and creating. Moving forward for the remaining of my internship I hope to build my independence when it comes to assigning myself projects. This will help me maintain my hours as well as build skills such as working independently and creative thinking to solving problems.
