Journal Blog Audio :
Author: N'Kaya Renford
As a self-taught artist, I'm open to creating anything in & out of my comfort zone. As a graphic designer, I help bring your brands' visions to life by designing aesthetic and compelling visuals.
Self Evaluation
When I started City Tech I never knew what I wanted to graduate with/ major in, because I’m an artist (i.e. painting, drawing, sculpting) and never really knew what I wanted to study, just wanted to focus on that. But as the 4 years passed studying Communication Design, I know that when I graduate I wanted to continue graphic designing. Even though I’ve only studied it during school, getting some experience before graduating would help me out It is a good idea to go looking for some work experience or looking to pursue a passion having an internship would be a great way to do that. Internships are companies that allow someone to gain experience in a particular industry or profession. It helps to develop the skills that we will need for a real job in that field after graduating, and many of these skills can even be applied to other fields as well. Some internships pay you while some don’t, but the experience that you gain can be more valuable, so all internships should be kept in mind.
While working at the Artest Foundation as a social media graphic designer, I’ve learned how to manage my time better and not give up when under pressure. During the beginning of the internship, I felt like it would be very overwhelming to be working as a graphic designer and juggling so many important classes but it’s all about how you manage your time. The bottom line to meeting deadlines is to reduce stress and to be a better designer because stress is dangerous, and it makes life miserable, exhausting, and compromises the productivity of a designer. During my last semester life itself has been hitting me with unexpected stress and it did rub off a little on my designing skills a little. Most of the time I get overwhelmed with the way my designs come out and didn’t like to turn in work that I felt wasn’t up to standards but companies rather see the work in progress than nothing at all. With good design comes a lot of criticism, sometimes when criticism was given back it was harsh but I think it’s because of the time crunching and stress everyone was going through. I just need to take constructive criticism even if it was in my favor or not, I just needed to get the work done. My main downfall through this experience was the fact that I liked to work independently but throughout the internship, I did have to learn/ get used to working as a group to get these projects done quickly and effectively. I never had an internship as a graphic designer before and I would love to continue this journey later on in life.
Spanish: Self Evaluation.en.es
French: Self Evaluation.en.fr
Audio:
Importance of Deadlines
With this being my senior year at City Tech, I’ve been trying to stay on task and get all assignments done quickly/ to the best ability. I am juggling 5 classes including the internship, which all come with different projects that need my full creative- focus. As the semester is coming to an end I’ve had a lot of finalizing projects to finish up before deadlines. Deadlines are important because they help us collaborate toward achieving a shared goal, and to keep complex, multistage projects on track to set expectations. Deadlines make clear what we’re expected to deliver and when. This means that we can take control of our work, free of confusion. By setting these deadlines, it helps us designers establish clear time frames to help accommodate a client’s timeline and order their other work commitments. One way to handle deadlines is to organize a task sheet that you can share with a client. This will organize your design process in the order in which you work.
Most of the time when deadlines weren’t met is because of the lack of information, and without information that’s needed to put into the project, it cant be completed. There were moments when I had to regularly ask them about when they are going to send you their part and until their team receives the necessary project information, but until then the project will be on hold. Not saying that as designers we shouldn’t help gather data, we could also help provide the information we think will help the design but if it’s becoming a little too overwhelming it’s okay to stop to ask for help because we’ve all experienced ‘creative blocks’. Artists, (i.e graphic designers) can sometimes be so involved in their creative process that they don’t pay attention to the clock or the calendar. Time does fly when you’re working hard and engrossed in your project but also when you’re avoiding work, too. This leads to procrastination, which is an easy path to take. As designers, we have to break from absent-mindedness and take up the responsibility of meeting all of our deadlines.
Past + Current Projects
Since I was hired at The Artest Foundation it has been an experience of how unexpected and chaotic things can get with a lack of communication. I’ve realized that I shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions as a designer because a perfect understanding of what is needed to be done, will determine how good your designs are made. Started off using Adobe Indesign to design these fliers but corrections would be hard to do is that I’m also enrolled in 4 other classes, so we switched over to Canva and it has made it much more helpful for minor corrections they can make. I’ve made a couple of fliers while at the internship, so far it has mostly been for basketball events and the reopening of the company. I’m currently working on uniform redesigning and some illustrations that could be incorporated throughout their landing page.
Google drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17VCX0H291UMHCremSgFJxFt5ovisFLZT?usp=sharing
Ethics Assignment | Part 2
2. a) Property is imagining something tangible like real/ personal property. The copyright information, trademarks, and patents have helped me as a designer because it has given me insight on correctly documenting/ the importance of property information. Each body of law protects different types of work and it’s worth learning the differences between them before determining whether you qualify for protection. I’ve used another’s creative work even though I alter the final new product, it’s always good to give/ leave credentials to what inspired it. Throughout the internship course, I’ve been learning about the importance of networking, better designing skills, and negotiating my worth & protection.
b) After reading the Feiry Copyright case my reason as to why I said leaving credentials of inspiration could have avoided that confusion. An artist name Shepard Feiry used a photo taken of Barack Obama but made his adjustments/ alterations. As that picture began to become more iconic throughout the campaign, the original picture owner turned it into a bitter copyright battle. Even though it was all a huge misunderstanding with Mr.Feiry and the Press, inspiration credentials are important so things like this could be avoided. I agree with their outcome of just sharing the rights to make posters and merchandise bearing the image. This case showed the importance of fair compensation for those who gather and produce original news content.
Resource:https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/IP/Hope_Poster_Case_Study.pdf
Spanish: Ethics Assignment Part 2.en.es
French: Ethics Assignment Part 2.en.fr
Collaborative Projects
At my internship we have 1 graphic designer (me); where I work on event flyers and 2 web designers as well; working on the company landing page. Which makes the work process a little less chaotic because everyone has a role and work assigned for each of us instead of having things piled up on one person to do. I started a new project on a flyer for a mental health awareness event (sponsored by NAMI). Each year over 40 million Americans will experience a serious mental health condition and less than half will seek treatment due to stigma and discrimination.
The Artest Foundation has upcoming mental health awareness events that they teamed up with The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) a United States-based advocacy group originally founded as a grassroots group by family members of people diagnosed with mental illness. NAMI identifies its mission as “providing advocacy, education, support, and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives” and its vision as “a world where all people affected by mental illness live healthy, fulfilling lives supported by a community that cares”. NAMI offers classes and training for people living with mental illnesses, their families, community members, and professionals, including what is termed psychoeducation, or education about mental illness. NAMI holds regular events which combine fundraising for the organization and education, including Mental Illness Awareness Week and NAMI Walks.
Learning Experience
As a freelance graphic designer, my internship has taught me about having credentials and time management. Designing good/ effective designs is hard to do in the wrong headspace or environment. The projects given to me so far have been very interesting and informative. I agree with The Artest Foundation that African American youth deal with enough as is in the world and most of us are struggling with our mental health issues and don’t look for help for it. Creating designs that with meaningful and informative is a good learning experience and I don’t mind the long nights designing for good causes. Most of the time when I create flyers I find stock images to help bring the design together but the company doesn’t really want to copyright/ trademarks issues in the long run, so I had to rely on images that they provided. I’ve learned a little about website designing with other interns that also work with the same company, but I mainly like adding designs and pictures to the layouts. But It’s kind of hard to learn coding and in-depth details about designing a website via zoom calls. They’ve also been teaching me how to use Canva more than what I usually use (Adobe Indesign). I usually use a design but Canva has been more convenient for when they want to view it on their own time and make adjustments. Overall since I’ve been working here I’ve had to manage my time properly by equally sharing my days so that I can create for the internship and my classes.
Workplace Atmosphere
My internship is currently trying to get their company back out there because of the pandemic happening that closed the doors to many but now that businesses are starting to get back to regular flow that is hopefully coming to an end soon. I haven’t been to the actual site yet because most of what I designed is made and altered online, which I’m thankful for because I don’t have to worry about the commuting process. With that being said a lot of upcoming events needed advertisement to get a little exposure from social media. It has been a bit stressful/ confusing this week because the information isn’t given clearly with explaining what needs to be done, then projects are given on short notice. The new assignment I’m working on is creating a sponsorship deck for an AAU basketball team they are trying to start up again. Finding the correct data and information needs to be correctly researched, so when others view it the information is understood. I knew it would be a bit of a challenge juggling 4 classes with the internship, but I think most of the unnecessary confusion is from the miscommunication. But this is my first, I’ll just work it out because maybe this is what graphic designers have to do regularly in their career.
Ethics Assignment
- a) So far working at The Artest Foundation, I’ve been creating designs for media flyers, using the mood board/ ideas they already had in mind for the foundation. I’ve been working with tournaments but now we have an upcoming event for mental health awareness, sponsored by NAMI. They’ve mentioned redoing their look but even though the foundation does need a little make-over, I try to fit their already existing look while incorporating the new designs for them. What I have to keep in mind with rebranding is the protection the new design would have. For this, the foundation images taken by them would strongly help their company from having those copyright/ trademark issues. It would also help them because now other people wouldn’t be able to duplicate/ copy their new remodeling.
b) For my internship, I didn’t have to sign any confidentially/non-disclosure agreements. But they did have to give me access to some credentials so I could create a good design. Good design isn’t cheap and neither is good work, we try to create ‘sensory assault’ by creating an eye-catching unique design that’s informative and advertises the company’s business as well. One thing my internship did need to work on which was a brief, blueprint of the company would help clear up confusion/ miscommunication throughout the designing process. The most successful collaborations are always the ones with all the information on the table & expectations are in the open from the start.
Role in Company
My role in the company is graphic designing flyers for basketball tournament events and other sponsorship events. I started my first-day Tuesday and we did a quick zoom call that lasted about 30-45 minutes long. I’m scheduled to work on Tuesday, Thursday & weekends for their events scheduled. The foundation board had a meeting about upcoming events that needed flyers & sponsorship decks. Throughout the week we discussed strategies to help find investors to invest in the foundation and I was also given an assignment, which was to create 2 posters for the upcoming events for launching The Artest Foundation reopening event. They’ve also allowed me to restyle their social media platforms and basketball uniforms. The Artest Foundation has everything in order and has a base for everything they want to accomplish for the foundation’s reopening. Which made it easy for me to pick up an understanding as a graphic designer about what they want/ don’t want. With being the new intern in the company, it’s my responsibility to help them visualize all of these thoughts they’ve had in upcoming flyers.
