To be a designer has been my dream since I was in kindergarten. I used to wonder about everything. At that time, I wanted to be a fashion designer because I liked beautiful clothes. I think many little girls want a lot of beautiful dresses that make them be a princess. So did I. I expected I could grow up quickly so that I would make my dream come true. When I grew up, I became interested in painting, it was an amazing thing to draw what I saw! I have continued to learn about painting up to the present.

Later on, I started to think about what kind of job I really want to do in the future. I am a person who is responsible. I thought about my major very seriously and carefully. 
About the age of eleven. I fell in love with TV commercials! I watched TV with families sometimes. To be honest, I didn’t really into the drama show, but I was really into those commercials. I thought selling products was so cool! They made the products alive!! Before they selling it without the commercials, the product just a thing, but the way they packaged it is like giving the product a life. I want to be the guy who gives things lives. Then I decided to be an advertising/graphic designer. I insist my interests up to today. 

In order to enhance and continue my passion, I decided to be a Graphic Designer/ Advertising designer. They are modern, alive and free. To be a dream chaser, here I am, studying at the Citytech. The best thing I had for my life is finding my interest. The best choice I ever made is applying to a college that helping me develop my graphic design skills in-depth. 

This is my story and my dream is coming true.

I’m doing the in-house design work at my current internship job. Because of the weather is getting warmer and hotter, they start to hold events. So currently, my job is designing the sponsor banner for the following events.

The following event will be Spring Fever 2018, on May 3rd.
http://callen-lorde.org/events/springfever/, It’s a women supportive event. My job was designing the event banner and the sponsor banner for the event. During the designing process, I’ve learned something I should notice for my entire career.

Because of I’m doing the in-house designer, I should follow their brand rules. However, I didn’t at the beginning. I was handing on different projects at the same time at that moment. I went a little far from their branding style. Like the picture I show at the bottom. When I handed my works in, my supervisor told me I should follow the brand style and did it over. And then I followed their instructions and started a new banner. After this, I told myself to read the instructions very carefully before designing.

The other thing is, they always give me design work with either a super long paragraph or a super short copy. Such as the following job is to design a postcard with all summer events. It’s kind of challenge because I want it to be summerish but under their branding limits. I have a current look of the postcard.

As the special working condition I have, we only meet one day a week mostly. On the day we meet the first thing is showing my works to my supervisor and having feedback. If the projects are for clinical departments, we will send them over to the clinical department and ask feedback. During the discussion, I take notes about where need some changes. After the discussion, I may be given new projects.

My colleagues are nice. Most of the times we just work by ourselves. I work with my supervisor Caitlin Quigley directly. She knows me well and respects my design works. Usually, I sit on my spot and do my work for the whole day. Time always passes so fast when I’m working. Recently I’ve been given 3 projects, 2 event banners, and 1 event postcard. To be honest, I was a little worried about time because I was running out of time. But I found one thing is very interesting, Americans don’t work overtime. I was worried if I can’t hand the work in before the deadline, but my colleagues told me don’t do the works during the weekend. We can do it together on Monday. But, I don’t want leave behind, I finished them anyway during the weekend.

There will be a networking event on Thursday night holding by Callen Lorde. One of the event banners is used for this event. I’m looking forward to attending it.

I’m working at 155 West 19th St, New York where between 6th and 7th ave, Chelsea area. Our offices are located offsite from other Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. It is the management department. Because of I’m an internship, I don’t have to be physically in the office every day. I usually work 2-3 days a week, and we usually meet one day a week. The rest of the work day I could either work at home or at the office.

There are two floors in this building belongs to Callen-Lorde. When I got off the elevator, I saw a lot of cubicles next to each other. I make a right, on my right-hand side is a conference room. When I go farther there is another conference room on your left. Across the hallway, it is our office. There are five people in the office.

We also have own stationary such as the folder, highlighter, post-sticker.

I’ve learned lots of skills during my 4-years college life at CityTech, no matter the skills of technology or the skills of communicating with people. The most frequent programs I use at my intern job are the InDesign and Photoshop. These two program skills have helped me the most at my internship job. The work I often do is designing the clinic signs, event banners, postcards and etc. Callen-Lorde just finished their rebranding process. A lot of things need to be redesigned from the old look to the new look. I use the Illustrator the least. I don’t need to draw things because basically, they have everything.

They are strict about the copyrights. Instead of stealing photos from Google, they have their own photo library. I use Photoshop to retouch photos if the project needs. They’re also using noun projects if the work needs objects besides people.

I can’t do a lot of creative design because they have their own color theme, typefaces, and logos. But due to their long paragraph copies which are challenges for me. I would use the skills I’ve learned in typography classes such as paragraph placement, columns grids, structure and space, legibility and readability to solve those problems.

I had two internship jobs during this semester. The first one was a graphic design studio called Apex Studio. I found it on Indeed. com. I didn’t expect too much before the interview. Surprisingly they had me as one of three internships during this semester. Apex is a primary design studio which only has a small group of designers. Even though I just worked one day with them, I’ve learned a lot of things, such as ads casting, meeting with clients writing the proposal, etc. Due to schedule issues, I couldn’t work with them in the end.

I found my second internship job by introducing. My senior project advisor told me a medical therapy clinic had an internship opportunity. When I came home, I found they posted the sign on OpenLab. They are called Callen- Lorde Community Health Center provides sensitive, quality healthcare and related services targeted to New York’s LGBT communities.Then I decided to try and sent my resume and portfolio to them. However, about a week late, I didn’t receive any message. I really want this position because it related to my senior project as well. The next day, I went to one of their offices to find the supervisor. To be honest, to get this position I was a kind of aggressive because of the communication design department locates at another building. I went to their clinic and asked if they need a graphic design internship. I asked two of their locations to finally get the number and email address of the advisor. I emailed my portfolio and resume again and about 1 hr later, I called her to ask if we can set up a meeting because I was around the corner. I’m noticed the interview date. During the interview, I introduced myself, my background. We talked about what will I do, what do they need. A couple of days later, they emailed me，I have been employed.

I was too impatient to wait for the reply on the day I went to their offices and I know the way I found my internship position is not suggested, but I’m glad I got it.

To be a designer has been my dream since I was in kindergarten. I used to wonder about everything. At that time, I wanted to be a fashion designer because I liked beautiful clothes. I think many little girls want a lot of beautiful dresses that make them be a princess. So did I. I expected I could grow up quickly so that I would make my dream come true. When I grew up, I became interested in painting, it was an amazing thing to draw what I saw! I have continued to learn about painting up to the present.

As I grew up, I started to think about what kind of job I really want to do in the future. I am a person who is responsible. I thought about my major very seriously and carefully.
About the age of eleven. I fell in love with TV commercials! I watched TV with families sometimes. To be honest, I didn’t really into the drama show, but I was really into the commercials. I thought selling products is so cool! They made the products alive!! Before they sell it without the commercial, it just a thing, but the way they do it is like giving the product a life. I want to be the guy who gives things a life. Then I decided to be an advertising/graphic designer. I insist my interest up to today.

In order to enhance and continue my passion, They are modern, alive and free. To be a dream chaser, here I am, studying at the Citytech. The best thing I had for my life is finding my interest. The best choice I ever made is applying to a college that helping me develop my graphic design skills in-depth.

This is my story and I wish my dream is coming true.

I’ve attended the networking event today, held by professional development department at citytech. This networking has provided an opportunity for college students to find internship jobs while they are attending school. The program is called Citytech Connection. One of the faculty members Nelly explained how to access the website. The aim of this program is to help you to find an internship job. You just upload your resume to the department and make an appointment with them to review them. When your resume has been approved, they will post it on your page and you are qualified to find an internship job.

There are some things I’ve learned during the networking session. The first thing is how to grow my network. I’m a senior student and it’s never too late to build my networking. We come to school not only for a degree, but also for a good job. School is not everything, but it is very important. School is one of the most important platforms for information from the outside world. School is the shelter and the internship is like the bridge to guide you from the shelter to the competitive world.  Getting all the information you can get from school to start your own network may present some problems. People you’ve asked for contact information may change.

The second thing is connecting with social media. We love social media. We post everything to show food we have, the places we’ve been, and our personalities. However, is this good to let your interviewee know everything? Always keep in mind that we should protect ourselves. Making your social media page private if you don’t want troubles. Consider to make your social media consistent with work, or your lifestyle should be considered. Otherwise, something you think is funny today, may not b in the future to employers.

Making sure you sign up at the  CityTech Connection. It is also important if your major in Technology & Design. If you don’t sign up you will lose your opportunities for a job. The companies will think CityTech students don’t care about professionalism and the company may withdraws possible student positions. So please sign up.