This week was an exciting week. I visited Sacks and met the team. They were all very friendly and welcoming. They were all so busy preparing for an important dinner that was just days away. It was an award dinner for the Women’s Builder Council, another company owned by Renee. They were designing a book that showcased all the nominees for the awards and contributors. I met Kassy who is the creative director, she was very patient with me and even tasked me to help her with some work. I had to put together a presentation that would also show all the nominees. It is to be played throughout the night during the dinner. I made sure I did a good job. I wanted to leave a good impression, so I worked diligently and communicated with the team as best as possible. I was in the office for majority of the day.

The next day I was back at PDC. I continued working a number of flyers that I was tasked with. Bradley, another one of my supervisors, really liked a flyer I designed got a DCAS and PDC event. I was towards the end of designing that flyer and I had to continue working on another poster for a fraternity event that would take place in LaGuardia Community College. My internship at PDC was coming to an end so I tried to get as much done. I didn’t want to leave projects incomplete so I agreed to continue designing unfinished projects remotely.

I’ve finally finished the flyer and deck for the Women’s Empowerment Panel. Faith loved it. There was a lot of back and forth but that’s just a natural part of the design process. She invited me to attend the panel but I wasn’t able to. Faith was also so kind to refer me as a designer for a design position elsewhere. The position is for Sacks Communications, a design firm in lower Manhattan. I was very thankful that Faith considers me fit for the position and I was eager to meet Renee Sacks, the CEO. I was scheduled for a video interview. The interview went really well and I got the position. The following week I was to visit the office and observe the work flow of the firm. Back at ASAP, Jesus and I continued to work on the program. There was a lot of changes because graduates weren’t completely accurate and the agenda had changed.

This week at ASAP, I continued to work on the program for graduation. I received all the graduates and needed to work with Jesus to put everything together to send it to the printer in time. For the program cover I went into photoshop to create a background. I used the colors of ASAP to create an abstract almost gradient background.

I included the basic information over the background. I exported the background image and passed it onto Jesus to create the inside pages of the program. He thought about including it in a organic shape that would be on the top and bottom of each page but we were worried that there may not be enough space to include all the graduates along with other necessary information.

So we just decided to have it run at the top and bottom as a thick stroke. We created the program and sent it to Kelly who was overseeing the project.

This week I was tasked with more flyers for the Professional Development Center. I still had to continue working on the flyer for the Women’s Empowerment Panel. The other flyer I needed to design was for a workshop that covers the basic in dining etiquette. I decided to do something simple but elegant. I didn’t want to just add copy on top of an image. So I took the illustrative approach and decided to draw the proper table setup when dining. I used that along with beige and burgundy as the color palette. I think burgundy is a very sophisticated color. I just decided to use one display font and a sans serif for the copy I was to include. I did different version of the same design to see what’s the best way to show the information. I sent out all variations and I’m just waiting for notes.

The flyer for the Women’s Empowerment Panel required special attention. Each panelist has to be linked to their LinkedIn profile. Faith, my supervisor overseeing the project figured it would be a good idea to put together a deck that includes each panelist with their bio. After sending in revisions of the flyer for another session of review, I started putting together a template for the deck. I did a few templates until I found one that would include all information and still follow the look and feel of the flyer. I’m still waiting for headshots and bios of each panelist.

I will be doing two internships. One at ASAP and one at the Professional Development Center (PDC) at City Tech. I will be working with at ASAP Monday through Wednesday and at PDC Thursday and Friday. My first assignment at PDC is to create a flyer for an event. It is a panel for women in relation to financial success. The event will be in Brooklyn and feature women who are entrepreneurs. As for ASAP my first task is to design the graduation program. I am to work with another graphic designer. We started to look at templates and spoke with the person overseeing the project to get an idea on what the program would look like. I started to design the cover and the other designer started working on the inside of the program.

Meanwhile at PDC, I had designed different styles of flyers to send to my supervisor. She liked two flyers and asked that I combine them to create one unified design. I started working on creating the flyer and send the design over for feedback.

I’m going with my back up plan. My back up plan is to use my current job as an internship. I do enough graphic design for it to count as an internship. I was able to get Prof. Geotz to approve. I currently work at CUNY Accelerated Study for Associate Programs (ASAP). ASAP is a wonderful program that helps students graduate with their Associates Degree. Aside from working with the recruitment team, I also do graphic design for the program. I have designed planners, flyers and promotional items for ASAP.

After I told my directer that ASAP will be my internship she was more than happy to have me start working on more graphic design focused responsibilities. So far I, along with another intern, am responsible for managing the social media for ASAP. We also will be working with our central office to develop a logo for a new sector of ASAP that will hopefully be used CUNY wide. We also have to design the programs, certificates and invitations for ASAP’s graduation event.

CityArts was another organization that invited me for an interview. I met with someone in person this time. I would say that this interview went well but not as well as the Relix one. One thing I can say about CityArts is to not judge them by their headquarters. Their headquarters were very small but the impact of the organization is big. They have murals around the world and stand for a good cause. I would’ve loved to intern for them but I’m pretty sure they decided to hire another candidate since that I didn’t hear anything from them. By this time, I decided to respond to Relix and decline the offer.

My next interview was for a company called F Schumacher & Co. This interview was conducted via Google Hangouts. This whole interview was a SCAM! It was a scam to obtain my personal information and a friend of my mine was able to catch it just in time. I urge students to please be careful about giving out personal to anyone. Fortunately, the “interviewer” didn’t obtain any information that would greatly harm me. I spoke to Prof. Goetz and it turns out she was not familiar with recruiter interviewing via Google Hangouts. I found this job through Zip Recruiter. The company is real but a third party was using their information to scam job seekers. Not cool!

After playing the waiting game, I finally heard back from some companies. I got invited to some interviews and other companies just wanted to know more about me before we meet. My first interview is with a company called Relix Media Group. I would specifically be working for the magazine as a graphic designer. This interview was conducted via video. I interviewed with the CEO. This was one of the most interesting interviews because she was driving (in Forida) while she spoke to me. Other than that, the interview went really well. About twenty minutes after, I received an email stating that they wanted to hire me. I didn’t reply because I was scheduled to meet with two more companies within the following two weeks. I decided I should wait before I accept the position because I preferred to work for the other two companies more than Relix Media Group.

I attended my first networking event for class. It was a  TypeThursday event. It was one February 28th at The Type Directors Club. This is a monthly event where creatives get the opportunity to present projects that are targeted towards typography. They present their projects and receive feedback from the attendees. At this particular TypeThursday, a group of students from Paris were visiting and presented their works. It was fascinating to see how they approach typography. If I were to compare their approach to what I am familiar with, I would say that there isn’t much of a difference except some minor terms.

There were a few presenters that showed their take on creating a new typeface. Some were revivals of already existing typefaces and some were original. One presentation that stood out to me the most was a revival on a logotype for a car model. It was a car model for a German car (I think). The student “cleaned up” the logotype and showed a mock up on the car it is used for.

At this event I was able speak to a few students in the beginning. There wasn’t much conversation because of the language barrier but we were able to small talk. I enjoyed this event because I personally have a great appreciation for typography. I will try my best to attend as much TypeThursdays  as possible.

So my resume got reviewed in class and I received some constructive feedback. I decided to take that into consideration and revise my resume. After my revisions I emailed my resume to my professor for one last review before I start applying. Once I received notes from Prof. Goetz, I made revisions once again. I took a look at the companies that I saved to apply and started to send in my application now that my resume has been polished. I applied to some design studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn as well as some companies who are hiring graphic design interns. My professor wanted us to consider a back up just in case we don’t get hired in time to meet the required hours. We are required to input 120 hours in order to pass the class. So by week seven (the latest) is when we should start interning. I applied so now I wait.