Today I was assigned some brochures to design. One of my supervisors forwarded the Microsoft word files with the body copy necessary. I had complete free reign over the design as long as I stick to the branding colors. The brochures are devised by the domestic violence department and they talk about that, and about tenant guidelines in apartments, especially landlord responsibilities; all information for people who were abused and need temporary housing away from home. I’ll see where I go with this design but in the meantime, I finished another assignment.

My co-intern Sean was tasked with redesigning a flyer about signing up for medical care. The “essential” flyer as we called it, was a 2 page document with information and icons. Our supervisor tasked Sean with redesigning the document, and he went one direction while I went in another direction. Our supervisor did not like either direction and told me to simply modify the original icons so they made more sense. She told us maybe the original design [with the final tweaks] was the best, and she should just stop obsessing over it. She said she only wanted to give the project leader different versions but in the end we settled on the default. That was a bit disappointing but we were pressed for time.

This week at work I was showed around the office. I got to meet another intern and learn how the printer works. The printer is amazing, and it can print, copy, and even produce binded books. You have the option of using a saddle stich binding or a slight variation with a thin flat spine. The process is amazing but you have to make sure everything in your document is aligned and that your settings on the printer are making sense too. My supervisor and I messed up a few prints of a book this week because we were clumsily mixing up a few printer settings on the actual printer monitor.

Speaking of that booklet, I had to redesign a large portion of it because it was simply hideous. Some one had the audacity to design something in Microsoft word and it looked like clipart and a mess of non-aligned elements. Whats worse is that I couldn’t really edit it, even as a pdf in illustrator, so it was an arduous process. I think I spent two days on that project alone, making sure I didn’t mistakenly remove essential body text. Basically I had to remove the splash pages of each chapter in addition to reorganize the table of contents. After an exhausting process I finally finished it and never felt greater relief!!!

This week was my first week at the internship. As HRA is a city agency with a small graphics department within it, they provide their own workstations. Every one has a mac and a pc in addition to logins for each. A server holds all of our work and the interns had to make a folder that holds all of our work.   So far I have helped on 3 projects in some form or another.

My first project was a poster for a Jobs Fair at HRA. I used a typographic treatment while my co-worker/intern went with a more graphical approach and recycled existing material from the server. After that, I was in charge of creating a new logo for a new department. It had to follow guidelines that were given to me in a binder. HRA has a strict method for its logo branding that shows consistency throughout all the logos of all the departments. Another project I worked on was correctly translating materials for an instructional poster. The languages included Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Hatian Creole. Arabic provided the most trouble and we needed to use both MS Word and Illustrator to make it copy in the proper format. The last memorable project I worked on was signage that will be used in a building. This sign was delivered to me with centered text that had no boundaries, jumping all over the place, a handicap wheelchair figure with non rounded wheels, and they needed an arrow placed in there. I completely recreated the figure and enlarged the text to fit the documents boundaries, in addition to providing hierarchy through different fonts. My supervisor loved it and forwarded it to the requester.

Lastly I’ve gotten to bond a bit with my co-intern Sean who is here in NYC studying at SVA and is originally from Seoul Korea, and Seattle, WA.   He is currently reading a book on graphic design and helped me with some research on the handicap sign to inform me that there is a new more “active” version being tested. It gave me the insight that I too should be reading more often and taking in more of the world around me in order to better myself as a designer.

The final piece of the puzzle has been completed. This week I’ve been extremely sick and I couldn’t even attend some classes. I had to go to the 32^ND floor of 4 WTC to speak to Miss Alegra Maple. She held my final orientation on HRA and educated me on the practices and behavioral procedures that should be taking place in the working environment. I also had to fill out more paperwork in addition to all the paperwork I’ve filled out already. These copies were for HRA’s records. I also got an ID photo snapped of me, and I received my non-employee identification card. Joanna says I’ll receive my building card sometime next week. That card will allow me to enter the building and open doors on HRA floors. That’s what I really can’t wait for because I usually have to knock and have someone open the door. Speaking of which, once you enter the work environment it truly is state of the art and almost futuristic. It reminds me of the all white hallways/labs in Terminator 2, where the huge explosion happens during the SWAT team battle in SKYNET HQ. Everything in the work environment is white, the view is spectacular and central air provides regulated temperatures. The cubicles aren’t complete cubicles and you can still communicate with co workers which really encourages team work in a team based industry.

This week was amazing. I got the internship! I went to the interview with Linda at PSC. She highlighted 3 graphic design positions available and asked me to rank them in order of preference from 1 to 3. 1 would be my first choice, etc. My first choice seemed to be the best choice and the only choice to be honest. The others were more of office work and another option was really nothing relating to design. Linda got back to me within 30 minutes telling me that HRA loved my resume and that they wanted an interview ASAP with me. Linda directed me to 150 Greenwhich St. which happens to be 4 WTC. I was instantly taken back by the sheer grandness of the location. Inside the lobby, men with suits work the reception desks and security and give out visitor passes only if you are on the guest list. I got on elevators that have no buttons inside and operate through smart panels on the lobby walls. On the 30^th floor, Joanna, my future supervisor was awaiting alongside her co worker Laila. They interviewed me and what stood out on my resume was Pizza Enthusiast. For once in my life, being myself and listing things I love on a resume helped me and further solidified my perception of how I want to navigate the world: to break molds and make my own path. After reviewing my resume, discussing my portfolio and having lots of laughs they decided to take me. Laila was once an intern for HRA, and worked under Joanna. Laila also graduated from City Tech and thus has a strong desire to help me out. She said “I have love for my people that come where I cam from and I want to help City Tech kids today by giving them opportunities.” After that was all said and done I left gleefully and snapped a picture of the 4 WTC entrance for social media. The next step was to return to Linda in order to confirm my tax papers validity and in order to receive some time cards for submission. We’ll have to wait and see how these final few steps play out before I get to start.

This week I got an email stating that I was chosen for an interview with PSC. Linda asked me for my resume and attached a few tax forms in the grand email. The interview is for 9.23.15 and I ‘m still working on my portfolio. After having made one, I decided to scratch it completely. It was not being consistent with the look of my resume which I felt very proud of. My resume was clean, with hints of red and used sanserif font all throughout. Its got a very elegant yet very playful and minimalistic approach to organizing information relevant to me. I had to take the same approach with my portfolio to truly exemplify these design choices and who I am as a whole. I decided to make my intro page of my portfolio the same bright red that is throughout my resume. I modified my logo as well to have a slant on the W and L so that one of the branches in the W is actually an extension of the L. I also gave different sections of my portfolio different pages.

The advertising section of my portfolio has an introductory page with the two campaigns I’ve included. One is a print ad for Paragon Sports. The other is part of a campaign for Fishs Eddy. Both stores are located in union square and both are extremely different. As a result both of these projects show my capacity to think on completely different ends of the spectrum to solve problems. The Fishs Eddy campaign is much more extensive since I had more of the material available to me, verses not having most of the Paragon campaign on me. The next section of my portfolio is Graphic Design. Here I showcase my freelance work which consists of two real world logos. The first is a logo for Sadek Photography which is a company my friend is starting. It uses camera aperture aesthetics to form SP, the initials of the company. The second logo here is Glonova Fabrics, which was to be used in a short film another friend of mine was producing. Finally, work that I have done for Meet the Pros was also featured in my portfolio. All I have to do now is add some final touches and decide how to display my Fishs Eddy campaign properly, and I’ll be ready for this interview.

This week was quite interesting. My personal situation at home has me trying to tackle a dilemma: the need for a job and the need for an internship. I need to find a way to somehow achieve both and I’m still nowhere near done with my portfolio, although my resume is looking quite nice at the moment, according to Professor McCabe who I’m staying in touch with from across the pond. Building a portfolio has been no easy task. Its beyond gathering your best works [which in itself takes time] but its about the presentation. How will you organize all of this in a coherent and interesting package that makes sense to the viewer and informs them of what you do and who you are. That’s the challenge I’m facing.

Luckily, things went well this week for my first dilema. I attended a work study orientation on the 8^th and I was pleasantly surprised. In addition to the on campus sites, that City Tech provides, an outside program called Public Service Corps was there as well. They will place you in a field of your choice, in an internship program that pays you using the money allotted to you for work study through FAFSA. After reviewing your application, they set you up with an interview and things go on from there. I asked the lady, Linda if there were any graphic design opportunities and she said there were, so I quickly signed up. She said I’ll need to submit my resume and portfolio to which I assured her that I am working on.

Hopefully this goes through because it would be the perfect solution to my predicament. I’m a bit nervous about my portfolio though because I don’t feel up to par with whatever it is “up to par” means. As a student the real world is intimidating and as this is a real world opportunity, its quite the burden to deal with. Its not like a graphic internship at a school office, where things only exist in an ecosystem; depending on the place I end up in [hopefully] my work can be seen by many people, outside of a safe ecosystem. All in all, I’m excited and currently looking forward to finalizing my portfolio and going out to get this opportunity.

What have I gotten myself into? I’m not ready at all for this internship class. At City Tech I’ve often heard the legends of the big final 4 classes: Internship, Design Team, Portfolio and Senior Project. It was my goal over the summer to prepare my portfolio and resume for this eventuality, however things went astray. Towards the end of summer I discovered that Interactive Animation had been dropped from my schedule and as a result I was now left as a part-time student with only 9 credits. I instantly ran to Professor Wong and scheduled an appointment to squeeze me into whatever class we could find that was available. In a panic I responded yes to his suggestion: “What about Internship”?

Little did I know that Internship class would be a hands on hunt to sell yourself, rather than my preconceived notion of the college holding your hand, as it had up until this point.   A big problem that I had over the summer was mismanaging my personal life and my work related life. I think I’ll be able to handle the two more efficiently as the semester progresses, forcing me back into shape. The procrastination quiz we took was quite interesting as well. I scored a 91 out of 100 and my title was “Master Procrastinator”.   I screenshot all the tips laid out for me afterwards to try and build up better habits but for now a few things await me.

I’ve got to redo my resume, and craft up a portfolio in record time in order to remain full time and continue on my path to graduation. I’ve been in school longer than my liking and I’ve inevitably stumbled into this class unprepared so I will do what has to be done. I’m going to spend the next few weeks asking friends, and shooting out emails for opportunities while I make myself presentable to the world.

This blog post is going to be my last blog post. For the last, I want to talk about my presentation and what I learn from internship.

On Dec 9th, I had a presentation about my internship experience. I tried as much as I learned from a video called “How to avoid death from powerpoint” by David JP Phillips. After I presented my first internship experience. I thought it was not good presentation. I used white text on plain dark blue background and I don’t use big and highlight headline. Also I tried not to have more than six objects per slide and I use keywords instead of sentences. After my presentation, I thought it might be better if I have more information about me and more talk about what I learn from internship. More over I need to practice my speaking skill.

Internship in Artwing NY was my first internship. One thing I didn’t like is that I don’t have any experience of culture and environment of office. This is because of Artwing’s office is being renovated. I have never been office. What I did is design a logo and building web-side for new launching company named Big production. My supervisor was good person personally, but he was too busy. I have waited many time for project. Overall my experience was good. Now I have get a job. I’m pretty sure that life at work will be better.

In class, I watched a video about presentation. Presentation is really important for us. I mean people in design area. We all know that. the video changed mu whole thought about presentation. The vide categorized five keywords: one message per a slide, working memory, size, contrast and six object per a slide.

First of all, “one message per slide’ means literally a slide should have one message. Human brain is not good as much as people think. If a slide has more than one message, people forget 80% of message in 6 seconds.

second, “working memory” means slides should hot have sentences. People’s brain doesn’t work reading and listening together. So if slides have sentences, people can’t listen your speaking.

Third, people focus on four things: moving object, contrast object, bug object and signaling color(red, orange, green).  That means you should use the four elements when you make slides to catch people’s eyes.

Four, “contrast control you focus” means you don’t need fancy, beautiful, elegance background. White text on dark plain background is enough.

Last, “six object per slide” means literally a slide should not have more than six object like head line, image, or keywords. Amount of slides in powerpoint is not a problem. It is the amount of object per slides.

This video was pretty interesting. I will have presentation for internship class. I will try as much as I learned from this video