Author: Kiyana Stoutt

One of the projects I worked on was an ideation for Anheuser-Bush. Usually, when we go through ideation my manager will give us the brief and we would go over it two times before coming up with any ideas. My partner and I will set up a meeting/brainstorming meeting to share our ideas with each other. For this specific project, we wanted to focus on the “raw conversation between your past and present self”. After going through different ideas and refining them we settled on one idea that would use a social app (BeReal) to foster conversations.

The most important thing I learned throughout the internship and being on a different project is to stay updated on trends and news. Before working on this project I wasn’t aware of the BeReal app and after doing research on what was trending, I was able to see the importance of keeping up with current news/trends.

During the 8 weeks of my internship, I have learned a lot about my design skills and the projects I like to work on. I had the experience of working on projects ranging from logo redesigns to designing presentations and have gained a perspective on what my strengths and weaknesses were in each of these projects. What was interesting about the setup of my internship is being able to learn about the other roles that go into making a campaign. For example, the Strategic Planning team would often show us their day-to-day and explain their roles within a team. I benefited from this the most because instead of focusing solely on the creative teams, I was able to also see presentations and be a part of meeting with the strategic and client experience teams.

I have also become more comfortable working in a team. I have also gained more knowledge and experience working with the different roles that go into client-facing roles. One thing I can do better for future internships/jobs is better at adapting to the pace/deadlines of each project.

Here’s more about my time during my internship:

I have met many different people that work in the agency, even those in different departments. I often have “coffee chats” to learn about the different roles within the company and get advice on how to be successful in. my current internship. I would say the person that I look towards as a mentor/role model is my manager. He is a creative director who didn’t have a traditional art/design background but is very very talented.

One thing that he has accomplished recently was being a Cannes Lion finalist and creating a campaign around raising awareness of gamers for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I was excited to see his process from start to finish and learn how the creative and strategy teams work together.

When creating my work I always ask for direction and recommendations on how to make my portfolio, designs, and thought process stronger. One way my manager has helped me is by including me in every meeting where people are just brainstorming or catching up on current news, so I’m fueling my creativity.

Usually, my day starts at 9 am and I start by checking in with my manager about the meetings and tasks I will have for the rest of the day. If there are no tasks for that day, my manager and I will do case study reviews of past projects within the company. However, I typically have tasks to do so once my check-in is done, I reach out to my partner (copywriting intern) and we start on our projects.

One project we worked on was for a beer company, in which we proposed an idea to collaborate with a social media platform to foster conversations around your past and present self. We had to design the slides that included the idea, purpose, how it scales, earned media perception, perceived value, and more. Once we finished we work on other tasks which mostly include designing presentations for other teams and we review our work with our manager.

My day ends at 5 pm but at 4 pm we have an HR Intern meeting with all the interns from different departments. In these meetings, we share what we do in our respective departments and we learn the roles and responsibilities that other departments of the agency entail. Every day looks different and somedays can have more work than others.

Most of my responsibilities include: Working within a creative team and collaborating actively with account managers and strategists to produce campaigns from conception to completion. 

Write: Develop copy and work on any number of other assignments – from 360° brand platforms to video, social, experiential, print, tech, and more. 

Engage: Share big ideas in brainstorms and with teams .

Monitor: Track brands in traditional and social media 

I currently work remotely for most of the week and go into the office one day a week. Due to the pandemic, we have to first reserve a spot before we go into the office and only go in when it’s necessary to be there. Most of the office is an open workspace aside from the “quiet areas” which have to be reserved two days ahead of your planned arrival. Although the company is flexible with attire, I would classify the work attire as casual – business casual.

Overall I would say the work culture is innovative and team-oriented. The company prioritizes work-life balance. The job encourages remote work opportunities and/or flexible scheduling. There’s no shortage of work to be done. The workday goes by quickly and no two days are exactly alike. Employees are often working together and there’s an emphasis on brainstorming, feedback, and innovation. Processes are more casual, but team projects are still results-oriented.

The first two weeks of my internship consisted of meeting different creatives and attending workshops and meetings. Since this is a hybrid internship we have the choice of going in person or staying fully online. I opted into going in-person one day out of the week so I am able to meet new people. I am also able to sit in on different workshops that the company holds weekly. One of the first workshops I attended was a copywriting workshop. The different creative teams came together to create a presentation on “How To Be A Stronger Copywriter” and at the end, we all tried to write a headline to a short brief as practice. Although I’m not a copywriter it was helpful to meet the different creative teams and I was able to get in contact with a few people that can guide me through my internship.

My manager also brought me into meetings where I was able to see the creative process that goes into executing a campaign. This project was in the beginning stages and many people were open to hearing the ideas that my partner and I had as campaign ideas. Overall it was a strong start to the internship and I make a lot of connections within the first few days of going into the office.

Hello! I’m Kiyana. I am a multi-disciplinary designer focused on art direction, strategy, and motion/video.

The start of my internship journey began by applying to multiple internship openings on LinkedIn. The process was very easy and quick. After going through many interviews and applications, I landed at an in-culture public relations firm, in the creative department. The agency works with brands such as Bud-Light, Coca-Cola Company, Anheuser-Busch, and more. They provide a creative route to execute ideas that earn attention and business impact. Since it’s a PR firm, all of the campaigns the creative team works on focus heavily on “earned media.” Before starting my internship I’d never heard of the term “earned media” and it took me a while to understand what it meant. Earned media is the media awareness and promotions a brand gains from a campaign project (usually through press or word of mouth). I started in the position of an Art Direction intern where I help with producing campaigns from conception to completion, brainstorm ideas, create mockups, designs, and more.

As this is my first internship, I’ve had many doubts and expectations for how the internship would go. I had reservations about how I would be able to handle the work because I was the only design intern on the team. When I first talked to my manager he explained that I would be working in a team alongside a copywriting intern. In this team, we would be able to check in with each other and help each other with tasks and projects given to us. ““““““““““““““““““““““““I was relieved knowing that I was able to share ideas and get feedback from another internship without feeling pressured or nervous.

2A Fair Use

After reading the AIGA articles I found that many of the terms and tips for ethical design are helpful to the way I view design. The most important terms that I uphold are fair use and copyright terms, According to the AIGA Guide to Copyright, “fair use permits someone to use work without permission…” These articles have shown me the importance of knowing my intellectual rights to any design work, while also making sure I give full credit to any work I use from other creatives.

As a design student, I have used other creative work (mostly photography) in my school projects. When I use these images I often look for photos that are royalty-free, meaning there are no royalty or license fees. This allows me to use images that I modify and publish in my portfolio. I was essentially transforming the original work into something different and thus I never gave credit for the images. After reading the article I now know that it is important to give credit whenever I use someone else’s images, especially if I plan on publishing them in my own work.

2B The Fairy’s Copyright Case

Prior to reading the NYtimes article on the Shepard Fairey case, I wasn’t aware of the copyright battle over the 20008 “Hope” campaign poster. The case highlighted what happens when an artist incorporated another creative’s work into their designs without giving proper credit. In the case of Shepard Fairey, I believe his work should have been protected under fair use laws because of its transformative nature. However, once Fairey resorted to falsifying/destroying documents he put himself in a position to be questioned on his intentions. He tried to cover up his use of a particular photo he used in the “Hope” posted which he later claimed was a mistake. I think most of this could have been avoided if he was transparent as to where he obtained the image from. Although it should have been fair use due to it being a transformative piece, he lost the case because of the lack of transparency.