Today’s class, answered many questions I have had about pursuing a career in Graphic Design. The non technical skills I will need in order to be successful, the routes that I could explore, and how to get my foot in the door. We reviewed the business model of advertising agencies and the importance of knowing the roles of your teammates or co-workers. This was a good review for me, it reminded me the amount of work is put into a project. Knowing the responsibilities of your co-workers can help solving a creative problem and ease some pressure off.

During this time I was reflecting on my first and only experience, which was work as an intern for Brand Connections. My first day interning ever in an office setting was an interesting, nerve reckoning, but exciting day. I was the youngest in the room, at the age of 19, and at the time I was yet to take any design classes. Practicing and teaching myself during high school all my design knowledge was put to the test my first day. Luckily, there weren’t many expectations from my creative directors, being that I told them of my inexperience. It also helped to practice professionalism by working with people from other departments. Also getting to know people in their office, I learned from hearing their journey and experiences. They offered advice that I could apply as a young intern. Fortunately, I worked every kind of part time job before the internship, such as retail, fast food, and waitering at a restaurant. My past jobs, gave me the humility you spoke about in class. They helped me to not be so intimidated by people who know more than me and taught me that there are always things to be learned from talking to all kinds of people.

As time went by at my internship, I noticed my weaknesses more. I saw my weaknesses when they were appointed by reviewing with my creative directors. Everything I did was reviewed by them, before it was sent to the client. Our main clients were Dunkin Donuts and Nissin Cup Noodles. There were times when I nailed it but also times when I almost there but almost isn’t good. “Almost” came up more often than “nailed.” This was good, and I accepted it. Failing was the reason why I was there. Hearing you speak about how comfort zone and magic not being in the same place was something I needed to hear. I feel that I have gotten too comfortable and its time to progress.

Design weaknesses weren’t the only weaknesses I noticed. I learned how to manage work and deadlines better at my internship and how to improve during creative meetings. At the time I was interning, I was working on multiple projects. Depending on the urgency and workload, I felt the pressure from my creative director to not only getting the work done but executing at the same time is extremely difficult. Like said before, I didn’t take any design classes before hand, my creative process kind of accelerated and sometimes feel rushed. The internship helped making things I visualized or sketch come to life quicker because of the deadlines of projects. To this day, I still think my creative process is different from what most teachers in this school expect and preach. I do believe in a process but I feel everyone is different and what matters more than the process is the result. At the same time, I am not devaluing having a process.

There were some regrets I have from my past experience, but they ended up becoming lessons. This upcoming summer, I am hoping to apply everything that I learned so far in my young career. Today’s class gave me exact steps to land a job or internship and refreshed the outlook of this job.