Sable's Portfolio

My last week of the internship experience has been a chaotic one, I had to move and I lost access the internet so it was a balancing act trying to juggle what was in my personal life with the internship. However overall, I enjoyed the internship a lot. My supervisor was very understanding of my situation and work-life balance and worked with me. It was also fulfilling to do something for the organization and the population of an organization that helped me for years. The experience of meeting friendly faces in a new work environment was uplifting as well. The challenges I faced was working independently on a big project because although I got feedback I missed having the feedback of another practiced creative to help me through some problems or overthinking that I tend to do. Another is working within the confines of certain limitations like paper type, paper size and what the printer capabilities are.  But I appreciate the fact that I can have those challenges at all because I know it will make me a better designer.

My mentor is my role model, I have known them for almost two years now and they have given me opportunity to utilize my skills and grow them, as well as how to navigate the career field generally. It’s not so often you find someone out of the teaching sphere that looks forward to teaching someone,  people are often heads down in their own work and lives understandably, but it makes it more impactful when you find someone willing to give you their time.  This person has a strong work ethic, is kind, generous, like to network and also good at orating and has the charisma to match. My mentor also explained to me that the reason why she was able to get so good at speaking is because they took a public speaking class, which in turn inspired me to take the class in the upcoming fall semester.

I have mostly worked by myself design wise during this internship, however I have had the opportunity to have moments where teamwork is involved. In fact the organization heavily relies on teamwork throughout the different departments. In my case, the teamwork involves strategizing on how we can make communication easier to understand and more accessible to the population we are trying to reach. Which means utilizing social media more often, revising older copy, looking over surveys and generating new surveys.

For my summer internship, I am completing a few projects for the organization. The projects include creating a visual identity for a ceremony, designing branding for the department’s social media and creating a series of guidebooks to help students.

Each of these projects I am given mostly creative freedom, but my ideas will first have to go through critique and feedback from my supervisor and the team. I went through the process of asking questions to get a better scope of the design needs and when presenting the designs I will create a deck for organized viewing.

Here is the project breakdown:

The ceremony deliverables include:

• Creating the visual identity so it can be used for semesters afterward
• Designing merchandise that includes buttons, bottles, a tote bag and keychains
• Producing designs for the program book, invitations, tickets, signage and screen ads

The guidebooks include:

• Designing the books themselves
• Creating the wireframe for how the content would sit on the website
• Creating social media posts that would mimic some of the information found in the books

Department social media designs:

• In-feed posts
• Story posts
• Templates to follow for future use

I am looking forward to working and completing all of these projects. The only part I feel like I might have trouble with is the information gathering for the guidebooks because it requires meeting with officials in the organization and surveying the student population. I also must be strict with my time and make sure I am keeping up with managing the projects. It is in a sense a lot of work to do, but I am excited, I like to problem solve during designing and I am eager to learn from the officials in the organization.

My responsibilities as a graphic design and production intern is to help bridge the gap between the students and the organization in terms of communicating the services and other information to community. Due to the vastness of the institution there can be some places where there are weak points in communication, and my job is to show some solutions to this problem via print and digital means, making sure to make the designs and copy impactful enough to break through noise and reach the student body.  Noise refers to interference that a person can experience that would detract them from receiving a message, the message for example being an event. The noise is usually something that can be physical like the five senses, something psychological like emotional states and physiological like being hungry, sick, hearing loss or eye-sight issues. As a designer, especially for an organization such as this one, I would like to make sure my designs are clear and accessible for the majority of the population, while also making sure its appealing and consumable.

I have been reviewing content I learned in the spring semester at my communication design theory class and have been putting it to practice during the ideation phase. I have been thinking about using grids (Joseph Muller Brockmann), clear and clean typography (Beatrice Warde), Modes of Communication (Shannon-Weaver) and Typo-photo (Maholy-Nagy), while also thinking of it as a campaign for marketing needs, which I learned about in Communication Design II.

Links:

https://exhibitions.letterformarchive.org/bauhaus/walkthroughs/typophoto-in-moholy-nagy-s-painting-photography-film  Typo-photo

https://www.communicationtheory.org/shannon-and-weaver-model-of-communication/ Shannon-Weaver

https://ia601803.us.archive.org/22/items/dli.ernet.523734/523734-The%20Crystal%20Goblet.pdf  Beatrice Warde

https://www.moma.org/artists/4154-josef-muller-brockmann Joseph Muller Brockmann

As an intern working adjacent to the student success program at the organization, I have been excited at the projects I have been tasked.  My supervisor is a manager for grants and a program administer; we first met while I was a student being taught by the organization. I did not have a formal interview, I was able to ask for this opportunity because I have had the fortuity to create designs for the organization before. However, when I had to create a presentation for a project idea and to go over my tasks, I was asked what I wanted to learn during the course of the summer internship and how I wanted to develop as a designer. These are good questions to ask not only to set expectations for the internship but also because we could see if I would be a good fit for the department. I am really happy that I can continue to do work for this organization as it has become a place that means a lot to me because of how it has helped improve my quality of life and I know it continues to do that for others.  The culture of my workplace is friendly, student-focused and casual-formal, my internship is part remote and in-person. For the days I go in person, I dress business casual trying to match my supervisor and other employees there. When I am there, I have a desk to myself, access to office supplies and I bring my laptop to do work, there are offices and cubicles and there are breaks and lunch breaks. The organization is very respectful to work-life balance and encourages employees to take care of themselves and to take care not to overwork.

Ethics in Design:

1a. The company has a vast source of images that pertain to their property and the people that are in it, from employees to students. I did not have to worry about assets in that regards. However, best practices as a designer indicates that any outside sources must be paid for and the licence must be obtained.

2a. I did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement with the company. Going forward in my career that is something I would like to bring up for my own protection, if anything.

1b. I have never used another’s creative work as a longtime illustrator it just felt very wrong to do, without the artists’ permission. At least that’s what I thought before reading the Hope Poster Case. I hadn’t thought about photography being an art form that I should take in consideration, and I felt ashamed when I came to that realization. The photos I usually obtain are through free sources like Pexels or Unsplash, however I think as a designer I should find a way to still incorporate credit to the photographer in the design somehow. Either through mouse text or perhaps a QR Code to their portfolio site. I think something should be done because it is right and it should be done for graphic designers as well. How many designers do you see credited with subway ads and posters while utilizing public transit?

2b.  My opinion about the Fairey Copyright case follows closely to my statement in 1b. Even with adequate alterations of the photograph or any artwork, proper credit should be do. It should be common good practice in the creative world.

Citations

During the spring semester, I was applying to various internships for the summer. I was searching via LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed and Career Spring.  I applied for different job titles like, production, publishing, graphic design, social media, marketing, etc. I kept getting a lot of rejection never getting to the interview stage, even now I am still getting rejection emails and that prompted me to reevaluate what I can do to improve and make myself more appealing as a designer. I decided to organize my works, update my portfolio not only by its design but also by the wording I use in it. I also thought to take time to update my resume and start working on side projects to better exemplify my skills. But before that I was able to contact someone in an organization I have already done work for and ask if they could take me on as a summer intern, and they did.

This reminded me about the fact I learned that 70-85% of people find jobs through networking.  This was another sign that I really have to start networking more often and more seriously (even though I’m as introverted as they come). However I know it is just another skill I need to develop and I look forward to getting better at it.

Educating links about networking: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/how-to-get-a-job-often-comes-down-to-one-elite-personal-asset.html

https://careers.umbc.edu/students/network/networking101/

https://careers.umbc.edu/students/network/networking101/tips/

The organization I am able to intern at is public and quite large with a vast property in Brooklyn, NY, and it is in the educational field, helping students since 1963. Some key events is that the founder of Barnes and Noble donated 1 million dollars, it’s programs have won awards as well as the students, and it is often placed as one of the top institutions of it’s kind in excellence. I have the opportunity to work in the student success department.