Journal ENTRY #1:
The company I am working for this semester is a real estate company called Mdrn Residential. It is a small company that has been going on for 5 years now. They are currently located Union Square, by Broadway Avenue. It is a small private company, they rent apartments and sell homes in most parts of Manhattan, and certain parts in Brooklyn. They are to be considered at the high end scale.
Mdrn Residential has another company which is fairly new called Stoop. Their clients are a bit different from Mdrn. Stoop is for short term living situations. For example people who are traveling to New York and want to rent a home for a few months; or people who are trying to move out of their home but cant find their perfect new house, they are able to rent from Stoop for a short period of time.
Mdrn was founded in 2013 by CEO, Zach Ehrlich. I currently work in the Design & Marketing department at Mdrn. I am currently learning how to create floor plans, email blasts and making logos for a new building.
Articles:
- In this article it explains what Mdrn Resedintial, and Stoop are all about, and it also focuses on the CEO. They speak about the Stoop app, and how different it is from Mdrn Residential.
https://www.inman.com/2017/01/12/meet-mdrn-brokerage-tech-concierge-agents-collide/
2. This short article talks about the new three management hires at Mdrn Residential. It talks about each new persons credentials, what they have done before in the past that helps their future career at Mdrn.
http://newyork.citybizlist.com/article/394827/mdrn-announces-three-management-hires
JOURNAL ENTRY #2:
I am a Design & Marketing intern at Mdrn Residential. As an intern I create floor plans, email blasts, and postcards. I also work on logos for new buildings when necessary. What I love about interning here is that I get to work directly with the Creative Director, Eyal at Mdrn. Eyal’s computer desk is right next to mine which makes it easy for me when I have a question or need help with something.
I applied to Mdrn Residential through wayup.com. A few days after applying I received an email from the creative director asking me to come in for an in person interview. I interviewed just with the creative director, Eyal. During the interview the creative director asked me many questions about my design experience and how I got into graphic design. I went over my portfolio with him, and answered many questions as to why I chose a certain topic, the sizing of the design, and typography. It took about 2 days after the interview to receive the job offer at Mdrn.
I am very glad I am interning at Mdrn because I am learning so much each day. I enjoy always having something new to do.
JOURNAL ENTRY #3:
The culture of my work is very mixed. Mixed because the real estate agents are mostly wearing a suit and tie and look formal most of the time. Whereas the Design and Marketing Department wear whatever it is they want. The designers usually wear jeans, nothing formal at all. On the first day of my internship I had asked what I should be wearing, since I was confused looking at everyone wearing totally different clothes. My supervisor said I could wear whatever makes me comfortable. He explained that as designers we are free to wear informal clothes, adn we do not have to dress like the real estate agents, at all. So, what I wear for work is usaully jeans or loose pants with a top; what I would usually wear on a regular day.
The typical employee work station is an open work area. It is one big room that has many desktops. I feel like everyone works comfortably like this because everyone is always on the phone, walking around, trying to get the next big sale! Everyone at my internship work place gets along great. Everyone talks to one another and has a good, smooth day at work.
My typical employee work day is going in and speaking to my supervisor about what he has planned for me to do that day. Then I start working on what I need to do and ask him questions if need be. Then around 12noon I order my lunch. A perk about Mdrn is that they pay for your lunch. So therefore I order anything I am craving that day! Which is pretty great.
JOURNAL ENTRY #4:
(These are screenshots of the illustrations I made for the animation)
Today my supervisor had me doing something completely different than what I usually do. We usually do floor plans, email blasts, posters, and fix websites; but today I was said to do something creative and really fun. My supervisor put me in charge of creating an animation for their “Summer Kickoff” party. It will be a small party in the office to celebrate the beginning of summer. He said it can be anything I want it to be, but it just had to relate to summer.
I made different illustrations on Illustrator then uploaded them on to After Effects to create them into a motion graphic, ending up with a gif. I really enjoyed working on this project because it wasn’t template based, it all came from me. Another reason why I enjoyed this project is because my supervisor got to teach me how to use After Effects. Now this is something I’ve learned once before in school but was super confused about it. Since my supervisor went over it one on one with me, I understood it much better and actually got to create my own motion graphics from scratch. I was super proud of myself after i had put everything together. My supervisor was also very happy with the outcome.
JOURNAL ENTRY #5:
I am performing duties related to my major. We are using InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects at my work place. I feel like each day I learn something new at Mdrn. Recently I just learned how to create a website on Wix. I have never used it before, I am most comfortable with Squarespace since that is what I use for my own website. My supervisor went over everything and taught me how to use Wix. It was farely simple and really fun to use.
Last week we were creating Logos for a up and coming building in the Bronx. The other intern and I were said to create logos for this new building. So thats what we did. The other intern and I created many different logos an showed it to my supervisor. We went over all of them, explaining why we created it and how it will work. At the end of that discussion, my supervisor choose a few for us to work on. I ended up working on 4 of the logos I had already created and expanded them from there. My supervisor said never to stop at the one you like, keep going because then thats how it will get even better! And so thats what the other intern and I did. We worked on the logos for 2 – 3 days after that. We got caught up on other projects so we left the logos aside. We will get back to them soon I believe.
We also create email blasts. There is already a template for this so therefore we have to just change all the information which is simple. The hardest part is the coding part. Coding the email blast can be a bit difficult at times. There is so much going on while coding that something it gets confusing when your’e working on something. One mistake, and everything is ruined. I’ve learned that I have to take my time with this so everything comes out great at the end.
JOURNAL ENTRY #6:
I have not worked on a project together with someone at my internship. The closest I got to working with someone is when we were working on the logo development for a up and coming building in the Bronx. Here is when I spoke to the other intern, and we would brain storm on how we want each of ours to look like.
Even though we are not working as a group to create them, we are coming together to critique each others work. Being able to critique each others work means a lot. We get to hear different opinions which can help you improve. You get to see a different perspective and try to understand why the logo will or will not work. You also might not like something but when someone else sees it and tells you its probably your best work then you might think twice about it. For example, when the other intern, my supervisor and I came together to critique our work; My supervisor said he really liked the other interns design. The intern explained that he made that logo very quickly and that he didn’t think much of it. But, my supervisor said that was the best one he seen from him. So you might think something isn’t good enough, but it might just be. Receiving critiques helps you see things differently and open your mind to other possibilities.
JOURNAL ENTRY #7:
I feel like my performance is great at my work place. I am always on time. I have great communication with my supervisor. I feel like I have learned so much these passed few weeks. My supervisor can be very busy at times, so I try to limit my questions when he seems to busy, I wait until everything smoothes down to ask him. I try to be considerate of others and respect how they are feeling. I also work well with the other intern, we have become really good friends. I feel very comfortable in my work place. There are no issues with anyone and everyone seems to get along just well!
JOURNAL ENTRY #8:
I would definitely consider my supervisor as a role model. He is absolutely great at what he does. His designs are beautiful and elegant. The Mdrn Residential designs all came from him. He created it all from scratch which I admire so much. He is a great teacher and mentor. He takes his time explaining things and does not get annoyed hen we ask questions (and there are a lot of questions).
What I like about my supervisor is that he asks for my suggestions as well when it comes to designs he has done. For example, he is currently creating packaging designs for Mdrn’s other company called Stoop. Every time he makes a new packaging design he always asks for my opinion. Why it works or why that design doesn’t work. Usually we always end up liking the same designs which I find interesting.
I also look up to him because he also started as an intern at Mdrn when he graduated college. And now he is the Creative Director there. I feel like that was so inspirational, and I hope that one day I will be able to be Creative Director at a company as well.
JOURNAL ENTRY #9:
The creative director at Mdrn had me create something for their other company called Stoop. Stoop is the more creative company since it is brand new. HE had me illustrate a post card for the Upper West Side for Stoop. He had me use a Wacom tablet. I have only used one once before in school but didn’t understand how to use it so much. Eyal, the creative director guided me on how to use the tablet. And I ended up loving it so much that now I want to purchase one for myself. He had me illustrate many different objects/places/people that represent the Upper West Side of NYC. So i illustrated the cathedral, Columbia University, some dogs, etc. The illustration came out great, and he loved it as well which meant a lot. I finished the illustrations and put everything together but now we are just missing color which I will be doing next week. I am super proud of the work I have accomplished at Mdrn.
I have learned so much in these past few weeks and I am super grateful! I cannot wait to see the work I have done published.
