In-house with a team:

Working in a team can be challenging at times. What happens if we need a quick edit on a Monday, and the designer for that project won’t be there until Thursday? We have the office hours of each designer on a schedule on the wall, along with their phone numbers and personal emails so that they can be contacted outside of City Tech. One of us who’s there on that Monday could just open the file on the desktop and quickly make the changes and send it off that day.

As a team, we have each other’s back. If my printed job needs to get delivered to the client’s room on a certain day that I am not on campus, I can call/text/email another designer on the team to help me hand deliver my final product.

With clients:

But, working with clients, could be even more difficult. Clients are usually so busy with the different projects they manage and classes they teach. We, as designers, are sometimes at the other end waiting for them to send us content we need for a poster or brochure we are designing.

I’ve learned that you must set an in-person meeting at the very beginning to get all your answers in regards to product delivery specifications, deadlines, availability (office hours), and contact information (email, phone, office). Just online/phone communication by itself could be ineffective. I know this from first hand experience with one client. I had to go find her at her office because she didn’t respond to my requests for content.

Schedules serve as a contract for the project between you and your client. The overview of the project timeline really helps to envision the project success from concept to delivery. It keeps both designers and clients on track, so no one is lost at either end.

Because I am working for the clients through Faculty Commons, I have to cc Professor Jordan on the emails and others who are involved, so everyone know what’s happening. If I don’t respond for a few days for some reason, at least Professor Jordan knows what’s going on so far.

Overall, my communication as part of a design team has improved since working at Faculty Commons. This is one of my first internships where I have a team to depend on, but also where I work independently.