Category Archives: Internships

Overview

 

Interning here I learned a lot about my self a graphic designer. I had to figure out a lot of things for my self. It gave me insight on what I wanted out of a career. I think I was able to adapt to situations quickly and developed a sense of priority. My supervisor showed me it’s not always about first come first serve. You really have to figure out a plan for how you want things done, and then you have to do it. This is a quality I will take with me through out my career and I genuinely appreciate the opportunity I was offered to learn from an individual with years of experience.

Bigger and better

After becoming really comfortable with the printing from all of the machines in the office my supervisor wanted to me to take things to the next level as far as signs go. Usually I would print letter size or tabloid size pieces, but now we were going into the big leagues with sizes like 48 x 32. I already know how projects of this magnitude should be handled but I never actually printed items of this size. The first few that I did were quite easy when I think about it, but then I was asked to create a colonial sign for a park in the neighborhood. At first I thought we were only creating something to show them how it would look but we were going to be the ones to create the actual signs. The sign in currently still in production and should fully be finished and displayed before February.

Collaborations

In the office there are two graphic designers not including myself. When I first arrived one of them left for maternity leave. This is around the time when work started to pile up but I was ready for it. Some of the projects I was asked to work on were projects she started and wasn’t able to finish. This really isn’t the kind of collaborations I wanted to do but it is what it is. In the ideal job it would have been a situation of me and another designer being approached and asked to work on a project from beginning to end. The final results would be a finished project that showed a collective of our creative abilities. At the same time this is the beginning of my career and I’m pretty sure I would run into a couple of collaborative situations.

As time progressed

As time went by through the internship, I stared to get better and quicker with my designs. Working in an office and working on school are two very difference experiences. With school you have more freedom and things are less times sensitive. The internship wasn’t harsh but at times I felt the pressure. There were times I was working on stuff and I would be almost done and then someone would come and drop a new project or two on my desk. I never really felt overwhelmed with the work but I had to adapt to my situation and figure out how to not only work better but also think better as a designer.

Approved ✓

One of the first things I learned while interning is your always going to have to go back and work on something. About 90% of the projects I did, I had to later adjust or rework. From this l learned to always have someone else look at your work because your eyes might get used to a design and you may miss the most obvious mistakes in front of you. At first I didn’t like being told to fix things because I go over my work before I submit it, but then I realized these are my supervisors clients and he would know best for them.

A Bigger Job

After I started getting used to the operation and how things worked in the office I got a big job to work on alone. The client worked for the NYPD and he needed a few plaques made for a ceremony honoring his fellow officer. The job was pretty easy. The only issue I ran into was redoing the logo they already had. I did it about 4 times because my supervisor thought it wasn’t a good rendition each time. Then I realized the problem was I tried to put to much detail into the design. After I brought the simple and clean version to my supervisor he said it was perfect and then showed me why the logo needed less detail to work better. The machine that he used to print the plaques used precise precision if I kept a lot of detail in the design I wouldn’t come out correctly. I think learning to make work come to life is extremely beneficial. I see this experience being helpful in the near future.

My Space

In this office I’m equipped with my own desk. It’s a regular sized desk that has a PC Computer. I’m seated between a receptionist and another graphic designer. I think my computer is the main computer that is connected to all of the printers in the office, when people need a specific job done they ask me. Overall it’s a nice place to be interning at. After I finish school this semester I could see myself working here part time, still getting used to how thing are operated and done here.

My Part

In this operation my job was to design graphics and bring them to life though printing. The first jobs I was given were pretty simple and straight to the point. The client wanted a layout of names that donated to their restaurant. To me this was no problem and I started working working in InDesign. This is when I found out that using InDesign is kind of taboo in the office. I tired to tell my supervisor the benefits of using InDesign but he said Illustrator is the way to go because most his clients have illustrator, I didn’t feel the need to further explain and I just started over and from then on used illustrator as my primary tool

The Company

Maspethpress is located in Maspeth, NY on Grand Ave. They were found in 1920 and have been printing products since. From what I saw so far it’s a small operation with a staff of seven people. They have a wide variety of customers who need a lot of printing done in different mediums. So far I have been learning how to use all of the printers they have in the office. There are about 7 and 5 of them I’ve never worked with or ever seen, so there was a lot to learn at first. Eventually I will the hang of things and could print what ever Im told to .

The Process

I got an internship at Maspethpress. I obtained this internship by sending my resume to them but after I got no response after a day or two I called relentlessly. The receptionist were really nice but the first couple of times that I called the supervisor was never there, but they let me know as soon as he came in they would make it their priority to inform him about me. When he called me back, the phone interview was pretty straightforward and I was pretty much hired on the spot. I was given the opportunity to start in a week.