Internship presentation

This week is my final with the internship; my coworkers and supervisors made some kind of a small party for me at the job sight! They bought pizzas and soda and we were celebrating. It was a very interesting internship although it was boring at some point; I learned a lot of things such as designing a huge amount of text in a very small space. I also learned a lot about HPD and the stuff they do, which I didn’t know anything about before; this helped me a lot especially that I am interested in real estate in the future. I want to that you professor for the beautiful experience that we all went through, for the conversations we had in class to learn about each other’s experiences at our internships. I want to thank all my friends in this class; you were amazing and had a very good times discussing stuffs with you in and outside the class. So at the end, I learned a lot from this internship and I hope that everybody finds their ways into success, and have a blessed happy life. Thank You!

This week was the most interesting throughout my whole internship, so this journal is going to be a little long but it’s worth it. I came to work and finalized the three pamphlets that I had from last week. And around 1 pm, the supervisor came to me and told me that the Commissioner Vicky Been is about to speak in front of everybody today, it was because the fiscal year is over and they used to do that every year. So I waited for her until she arrived and started shaking everybody’s hand with a very big smile on her face. I had the privilege to shake her hand and introduce myself to her. Everybody was standing around her in a circle and she started thanking everybody for the huge work they did this winter, because it was a very hard winter with a lot of complaints. And when she finished everybody applauded and thanked her. Here is the best part, while everybody was busy with the food; I was having an inner fight inside my brain as of should I speak to the commissioner or no. The yes part won at the end and I went to her and asked permission to speak to her, she was so positive and said “sure! Ask whatever you want”. So I addressed to her the problem of not having a good graphic design department or at least one good designer in such a big department. She agreed 100% with me and referred me to the communication director and told me to talk to her. So I did, and I was surprised that the director told me “you are right! I just received this position and I want to look into this problem, it is one of my main interest”. Then she asked me for my information, I gave her my business card and she was impressed with the design and told me that she will contact me about a job there! I was so happy that I had the courage to speak to the commissioner because it leads me into a very big opportunity. So all I wanted to say is that luck only comes once every while, so when you get the chance doesn’t ever miss it, it might change your life!

This week was less boring; the supervisor told me that we have a new meeting with the coordinator. So we went at 11 am to meet her. This time she the big screen to show us what should I do. I felt for a moment that I have an important position in HPD, because usually these kinds of meetings point major issues in housing in NYC. So this time the coordinator had three projects for me to work on, but the deadline was a little short; she needed them done by the next week. The three projects were “Heat and Hot Water”, “Code inspection” and “Property Registration” pamphlets; they needed them for a major yearly meeting with the owners in NYC. As soon as the meeting was over, I went straight to my cubicle and started working on those projects. I finished most of the work by 5 pm but I still had a couple of tweaks, so I asked the supervisor if I could keep some for next Thursday. He didn’t mind due to the fact that I only am available one day each week for the internship. It was a very good day unlike the earlier ones, because I had so much work that kept me busy the whole time, so I didn’t feel the time went by fast. I usually like to work with pressure because I can get more creative in tight due days, and I can find solutions better when I’m under pressure.

Final Presentation – Kicking it with KISI

After getting the orders in, we realized what needed to be changed and what was good to go into the device’s packaging. Because of the different printing companies, the stickers printed as a lighter cyan than the original box sticker. While the design quality was great the colors need to match. This is one of the main things I will focus on post internship.

Overall I have enjoyed my internship at KISI inc. My supervisor , Bernhard and his partners were super helpful and guided me along the way. I even asked Bernhard for some pointers for my presentation  just to ensure that I would be representing KISI the right way.  I couldn’t have asked for a better result of this. From initially participating in BTTIP to working at KISI, I feel my knowledge and skills  as a designer have grown and are continuing to get better. Continuing as a Part-Time designer, I will produce even better work, and even begin to develop and pitch my own ideas for the company. As stated in previous journal entries, “Simplicity is Key” I feel that that quote has transferred into others areas of my life, and design outside of KISI. Bernhard told me before making my presentation, about a quote by German designer Dieter Rams. “Good design is as little design as possible.” and followed by saying. Its easier to just throw things on a page, but it is harder to make design simple and functional. This is something I know Ill keep with me and remember forever.

Now approaching the final weeks of this internship, my supervisor wanted to know my future plans. I didn’t have too much going on, so he decided to keep me on part time as a graphic designer. It’s really great to be apart of a growing company where your role is important. KISI currently does not have an in-house designer, and that it is a blessing to be a designer apart of their awesome team. Although I still have a year left before graduation, I can honestly say I’ve learned a lot while interning at KISI. It feels amazing to see my hard work pay off.

After talking to Bernhard about my transition, and progress from when we first met,  he had no idea I was capable of producing the kind of graphics needed because my portfolio displayed more fine-art related graphics. For the first time, I believe I’m beginning to see the difference between Fine-Art and Communication Design. While having studied both being a Fashion Merchandising major before transferring to City Tech, the principals are the same, but the execution and outcome are very different. To me, Fine-Art is dependent upon ones interpretation, while Communication Design is more conceptual, and outcome based.

Furthermore, I’m glad he took a chance on me and in turn I surpassed  his and my expectations. I always want to create innovative things in both Communication Design, and Fine-Art. If its not innovative, its either been done already, or its just boring. The term innovate to me means to excite; excite someone or something.

This week I began working on my first Web based project for KISI. We needed to improve the initial process of figuring out existing lock systems in clients offices. Bernhard wanted to create  consistant visuals which would allow the customer to select their existing lock system. This  will cancel out the previous method which was having the customers send photos. I challenged my perspective as well as sense of lighting  on this project. I feel the only way to grow as a designer is to challenge yourself before you are challenged. Meaning, be innovative, instead of someone who is told what to do. Employers love when an employee or an intern can exceed their expectations. It sets you apart from the many applicants they have for your position.

With that being said, I created 13 doors with various lock systems and door handles. Keeping in mind the fact that the installer would need to not only be able to see the door, and the lock, but also the latches, I chose to illustrate each in an isometric angle. Keeping it simple and clean I chose grey tones so it’s not an over kill of blue and is easy to see in detail. While creating the files were simple, this was one of my more tedious assignments. Everything had to match yet be different. Consistency was the key to this assignment. While the doors varied in many ways the angle and original structure had to be consistent, as well as the image size needed to upload.

This week I went through a lot of the print and production process as a designer which is getting the images and files ready for output. This is the part I felt most nervous about simply because I wanted the files to be correct since there was money being spent on these materials. This is the step where every designer needs to cross their t’s and dot their i’s.

Although I despise Vistaprint in terms of quality, my supervisor decided to use them to print the manuals and spec sheets.  But for the stickers, we used Sticker Mule, which had a better print quality for that purpose, along with a reasonable price. It’s an awesome feeling to know that something youve created will be used to utilized in real life. This somewhat prepared me for what’s  to come after graduation. Keeping the colors simple with the brand and matching them to the web colors and brand’s primary colors, making sure dimensions are correct, checking spelling, is everything I had to go over, before giving the final files to my supervisor. Although I knew he would triple check, I try and get a lot of the minor mistakes out of the way so I seem professional. That is something I tried to keep constant throughout this internship, my professionalism. Even though my workspace is very relaxed, I know I have something to show and prove. Form my initial meeting with Bernhard, I feel I have came a long way and definitely showed him that I am capable of great things, and certainly can handle any task he has for me.

Continuing with the back door stickers, I began by researching competetors and what kind of visuals they offered. I found a lot of them to be somewhat boring and dull without  any real graphical presence. The intentions of this sticker is make KISI stand out as an innovative security system that is very user friendly. It was really important to my supervisor Bernhard, that the stickers appeal to the clients. We want them to be used and places on the doors at their respected offices, not just shoved aside with the packing paper.

Keeping I’m mind KISI brand ethics and cool approach, I began to build off a logo I did for a class project. While the concept was quite simple the delivery need to be on point. I try and make my ideas and pitches as precise as possible so I don’t look like a complete idiot in front of my supervisor. The idea that I came up with focused on the physical more than technical idea of opening a door with your phone. I began to illustrate a hand holding a phone with the KISI logo on it.  I kept it very simple and abstract. I also used the phrase that my supervisor initially gave me which was “thanks for buzzing in with us”. He loved it, and I was glad to be able to deliver on a project where option one through ten didn’t quite work. Thats what it takes to be a great designer and a successful intern. When something doesn’t work, work on it until it does.