Category: Internship 4900

My Time at Mission Magazine_Presentation(1)

Networking is incredibly important to Graphic Design, with such a small field where we can know so many people so quickly, it’s easy to find things intimidating and now really sure how to go about breaking in. Meet up accomplishes this by being an aggregator for events, you might find a club for writers, or a club for readers, a music club, and so on, design is often somewhere in the mix…

The app and website allow the user to join groups as an easy way to get updated regularly on meetings,a nd I find the platform is more useful for people that want something consistent, weekly or monthly, as opposed to other platforms such as Eventbrite.  Regardless this can be good since one can join a group that’s specific to them self, or even make one themselves.

The app is a bright red on white which wakes one up, with the white background there isn’t anything competing for the user’s attention, and a calender feature allows an easy way to see every event from your groups, so it’s genuinely hard to keep track. Aside from this there is a discover feature for more groups, and joining is easy with Facebook, Google, and regular email, all being options.

I think if one is looking for a way to know absolutely everything going on in NYC Eventbrite wouldn’t be the way to go, it’s too reliant on consistent groups, however, if one is looking to see if there’s a club or group in NYC to join in on, then this would definetely be a good way to go about finding one.

One thing I’ve realized is pretty important when in the workplace, is proper communication. Having the skills is one thing, but being able to communicate well in a team and understand what another is saying, I’ve found has also been a hurtle for me to get over. Being attentive, polite, and knowing when to speak and how much is something I’ve learning as I go.

A lot of the time as I’m figuring out what to do for a project, still learning more about Adobe After Effects, I’m also moving around a flash-drive, helping another intern in the program, or talking with one of the supervisors on the specifics of what they want. In all of those, proper communication is almost as important as the skills that got me the job in the first place, and yet it’s not something put into the requirements for the job. In the future, I hope to really learn and understand workplace etiquette.

One other thing I’ve been learning at my internship is how the publishing industry works, since part of what Mission Magazine does is publish a magazine twice a year, I get to hear about the owner going back and forth to different locations, to negotiate, network, and so on. Since we’re in the same room as a business major I often overhear what she’s doing which usually has a lot to do with that.

It especially becomes apparent when, because of my work largely being on the social media end, and the work can be rushed since right now we have to get content out in anticipation for their next issue. It helps me to understand how print, which can often seem like such a slow industry from the outside, is actually pretty fast paced, and to do well, I learned it takes good time management and being able to work well under pressure.

I think one of the first thing that I’ve learned is the importance of file management, and taking my time, especially when in times of great stress, like when the deadline is closing in. When files are mismanaged, or projects are rushed, I find it’s a worse look to higher-ups then if one were to have fewer projects of a higher quality. I also think that higher ups will always push employees to work harder, and push out more content, but if you become to caught up in trying to satisfy that, it’ll hurt you in the end.

I learned that recently when after coming out with at least one new project every time I was there, and often more, that many times I didn’t have the files saved, or didn’t take the time to link Adobe After Effects files properly so that they would be immediately usable on another computer.
If I’d taken a slower approuch and sent out less work, but made sure that each piece was proper, I wouldn’t have had to rush back and fix everything, or had to explain it to my supervisor.

One of the things I’ve learned at my internship, was how to work in the Abobe programs I use less often, specifically Adobe After Effects. At my internship there are plenty of jobs that need to get done for the company, but most of them seem to have to do with it’s social media. As a fashion brand, one that focuses on important issues and topics, it has to keep itself within the minds of the people, so there’s a lot of Instagram content, specifically video content.

One of the things I had to learn first thing was how to come up with short form videos, it was particularly frustrating considering that I never really use After Effects all that much, any skill I had was from Adobe Animate, or Adobe Premiere, and the general design consistency shared between all the Adobe programs.

oing this, it made me realize that the graphic design industry, and maybe jobs in general, aren’t as clear cut and predictable as one would think. Sometimes I’m learning things on the fly, or looking up aspects of the program I don’t know. Sometimes I come up against problems I’ve never had before, so I’ve learned that I have to be able to think on the fly, but also that in general, it pays to know more then what would be expected of me from my resume and cover letter.

Pinterest has always been  an incredibly useful app for me, many times in design projects, one has to be able to envision and internalize the mood of the piece they are working on. If one is looking to draw, they might have to get a ton of material as references for their work. Google, Instagram, and other resources are all well and good, but they do not prioritize organization of assets for use.

Pinterest however, is perfectly designed to provide digital mood boards for the creative professional. One can have an entire board filled with samurai, another with medieval paintings, another with palettes, and so on. With one look, you can feel that mood wash over you and better understand what the design entails.

The design of the website is clean and at first glance seems almost too minimalist, however what this allows is for an app that in no way colors or influences the images shown. Navigation is a the bottom and out of eyesight and the images on the homepage are based on things you might like.

Search wise, the app offers pretty robust ways to find whatever it is the user is looking for. A basic search function, as well as a camera feature that might bring up images saved in their databases that correlate with the image. Take an image of a Welch’s fruit snack package? You’ll get more of those, and so on.

All in all the app has helped me to organize and funnel my thoughts to be able to think clearly and understand my projects, I would recommend it to any designer.