I was working on a basketball app when my supervisor had pulled me out and asked me if i can make a sneaker app. As soon as he told that my eyes lit up and cracked a big smile. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to create a sneaker app especially the kind of sneakers they sell. The name of the store is called Jordan Heads, they sell every Jordan sneaker that has ever came out.

So I began working on it and came up with a cool concept. I wanted to have a street vibe to the App. I created 3 pairs of Jordan sneakers hanging from its shoe laces. The colors of their logo are very solid so I decided to stick with black, red and white colors for the tools. I vectored each sneaker which took about 3 hours overall. So far my designs have been coming across but still have a lot of work to do on it.

Knowing that I’m almost done with my internship is going to be a tough one on me. I really enjoyed working at a fancy loft with a ping pong table and unlimited ice cream. Creating and designing New York Apps is something I can see my self doing in the near future. My goals are to take entrepreneurship classes at LIU and become a business owner for children’s books. What I grasped out of this learning experience through my internship is that its all about the people you meet and associate with. In the design world you can be the most horrible artist and have an incredible job all through that one person who said your name as a reference. I learned how to use a website to code my designs and to articulate my creations when uploading them to the site. I was pleased to work with my supervisor Khalidi because I  felt very comfortable to speak to him.

This whole experience has opened up my eyes for the real world. As I am almost complete with my internship hours my supervisor has sent me and my internship professor my evaluation form. I am proud of myself with the results. On the evaluation form everything was checked as excellent. Hard work really pays off and this experience has given me more motivation for the future. I will always keep working hard no matter how difficult it might get there will always be a way. I received an interview with another company to intern from as well for the fall semester. I am looking forward to my bright future.

So most of you all know by now I work at an Amazon Pop-Up Loft in downtown Soho. The area is an open space which we share with other companies that need to get their work done as well. The other companies are mainly start-ups, there are creative directors and a lot of small businesses within the space. I like working among that environment because it can lead to a connection for future jobs. By a certain time at the loft the place gets really packed where seats and other areas of the loft become occupied. After my workshop at City Tech I returned to work and had to sit at a really crowded table. The people are really friendly and didn’t mind. Turns out I was sitting next to another person that was creating applications just like me. I asked him for what specific company does he create applications for and he said he creates it for events like raves. I was very interested and proceeded to ask him questions. He said he creates applications for huge raves like EDC, Electric Zoo, EDM, etc. I was already pumped that he creates apps for raves that people pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket. In the end I introduced him to a rave he never heard of before called Pizza Zoo. He was very interested in creating an App for them now. We exchanged emails so that i can send him a link on more information about the rave. The last question I asked him was if he received free tickets to party at those raves and his response was yes! This was my first encounter in making a connection with someone at the office and i am very open to making more.

I have been thinking to myself for a while now if I should go up to my supervisor and ask him if there are any open positions available to stay working for him as a graphic designer. In my head I was thinking, “Would I come off too strong?” or,”Am I too forward? I spoke to my sister for advice and she told me to be confident. That I will not get anything in life if I do not ask for things. I took her advice into consideration. I was babbling with my self on how to ease my way in and bring up the subject.

Turns out my supervisor watches NBA Basketball. The current application that I am working on is a non profit basketball organization sponsored by the Knicks. I brought up the topic about an old friend of mine that owns a non profit basketball organization for kids. He asked me to come into contact with him to see if he would be interested in an application. In response I said, “Yea I can definitely seek out to him and ask him to see if he is interested.” Right away I knew I was giving him a connection with another company. This was my time to ask.

I asked him how big was his company and if he was in need for any graphic designers now. He responded very politely and said,”We do not need any graphic designers now, but in the future we definitely will. I was a little bummed out that there aren’t any open slots now but for the future I have hope. He also said that he will definitely give me a call when he needs a graphic designer. This brought joy to me instantaneously. I was excited that there is an opportunity in the future with working for New York App Designers.

Hi again, the way that I got involved with my internship was through the BTTIP program in my school. Every Wednesday we have a 3 hour workshop to speak about career readiness and how to build our portfolios. In the first workshop we had a discussion about how to create an elevator pitch. We partnered up with someone we did not know. The task was to give off your elevator pitch without the person you were speaking to getting thrown off or not interested to hear about you. I was a little nervous discussing my information to a stranger.

My main struggle was making eye contact with the person eye to eye. I felt like it would become a bit creepy if I just gazed into the persons face. After we were done giving off our elevator pitch to a couple of people we sat to discuss our difficulties. I automatically raised my hand and asked, “How can I not look creepy by starring into someones face?” She told me that it is good to make eye contact with someone, but if it gets a little awkward you can always stare at something that is near the person. I found that to be a good strategy and I will take that into consideration for next time. These workshops are very helpful because they help me boost my confidence up. They also spoke about how to make connections and how to network with people for future jobs. My chances of getting a job for the future are looking pretty good thanks to the BTTIP program.

Today we are moving on to the next company to work on. The company I selected is called The Drawing Center. It is a non profit organization that provides drawing workshops and a lot of advantages for upcoming artist to promote their work. I chose this company because I can relate to their cause. Their mission is to display their exhibitions to the dynamic community and to collaborate with other artist. This company can give many artist and friends the opportunity to share and create art amongst each other. For this project I plan to execute it by using rough sketches as a background. I want to add the artwork that is shown on their website to display as if it was to be in a museum. My vision is to create a potential art gallery where you can select to view the image in its frame hanging on the wall.

I am excited to work on this project because it relates to art. Art is my main strength and I love to draw. I liked the fact that my supervisor let us choose our own companies to work with throughout the summer. It gives me and my co-workers inspiration and excitement to be driven for success on our projects. I am curious as to how my application is going to turn out, with guidance from my supervisor I will be in good hands. I will begin to draw my mockups and see how the actual  layout of the pages will look. Then I will search up the best images they have on there website or social media sites. In about a week I will be done with this project and Khalidi (my supervisor) will be pitching out my application to their company. Hard work gets us free pizza!

Today was a successful day at the loft. My supervisor had given us more work to do last minute. I was swamped with the rest of the work I had to finish for my application. He told us we had to create an Ad to give to the company in order for them to view the application first. My task was to finish retouching all the tabs that I made for the 7 Train Mural App. In about an hour I was done with the application itself. As soon as that was done I hopped right onto the other task.

There were some tedious obstacles I came across while creating the ad. I had to create a “Coming Soon” banner on the side of the image. It was difficult because it needed to look like the mock up he had given us. I felt like I was working under pressure due to time constraint, but I just took it as a challenge. After consulting with my piers they had shown me an easier way to make it. I was thankful that they gave me a few tips on creating it. They showed me a new strategy on Adobe Illustrator that I can use on a daily basis for other projects.

Before you know it I was done with everything before the deadline. I was actually the first one to finish everything. I was proud of myself after showing my supervisor my work. He was amazed and excited to contact the company and present them with the application and ad. Here are some mockups of the Ad. Enjoy!

Throughout my journey i have been learning how to create Apps through a website New York App Designers provided me with. I have been learning how to apply the functions to each tab on the application. The process is not complex, it is actually very easy and fast. The design aspect of it is a little bit more challenging because you have to work around the space you have of a phone screen. I enjoy working with this company because not only are they willing to teach me but they also take the time to critique my work. The environment i work in is very friendly. I also might have a chance to connect with some people here that own businesses as well.

I am currently creating an App for a non profit organization called ‘7TrainMurals’. They are a company that gathers the community to paint the decaying walls of Queens and also help take down vandalism. I was very interested in working with this company because i was able to create art work based off of the murals they created. I stuck with a street theme for this organization.

There are 3 other interns working with me as well. It is very helpful to have them around because they give me feedback on my work. They as well attend City Tech and are in the same BTTIP program as me. I enjoy working as a team. It gives me a great experience for the future.

My co-worker Solange!