Role Model/Mentor (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

I would consider my supervisor, Julio Li, as a role model because he is really a nice supervisor and a friend. He is the department head of Graphic and Web Design. Being a supervisor, he did a great job. He taught me so much in graphic design field and jobs. I remember from the first day of my internship, he already knew, I’m nervous and afraid of the work that he gave. He was always trying to calm me down and helped me to do better designs. He wanted me to experience so much design work, so he pushed me so hard. He forced me to watch YouTube videos and asked him if I needed. He taught me, if things that I don’t know how to do it, I have to ask it immediately, so the problem will be fix. He also taught me time sensitive. He always told me that we have no time to think, so we can’t overthink. He always said, “Don’t think of it, just do it!” He wanted me to do things fast without any thinking. He wanted me to experience working with simple design. One important lecture that he taught me is how to deal with co-workers. Communication is very important. I learn that the first thing to build up a relationship with whatever people is we have to start the conversation; we have to talk to them, so the relationship can start. As long as a good relationship is build up; co-workers understand each other’s work. Job can be done. He is such a talent enough supervisor.

Being a friend, we are from the same college, New York City College of Technology. He told me a lot about CityTech. He taught me how should I do when I’m off from classes. He taught me what should I do during my free time or the times that I’m in the train. He taught me that I should use my time wisely, so I don’t waste it, and I can have so much time to learn more things in order to improve my design skills. He taught me that if we do things in our personal life wisely, that can help us so much in our jobs. He also brought me out for foods; he wanted me to know more things and to explore the world, so I can grow up. He is such a great friend.

I am very thankful to my supervisor as a friend for taking care of me so much in the last few weeks! I would definitely recommend him to anyone that needs help in graphic or web design.

Self-Evaluate on My Performance (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

My performance is very bad because there’s still so much to learn and improve. However, this is normal, and it is not a big deal because I’m here only for about a month. Therefore, although my performance is not very good, I can live with it. Summer internship is not like the regular semester internship because everything is shorted to one month. It needs to finish the 120 hours, so it is difficult.

My performance at work is very bad because I am really experiencing in a fast-paced work environment in the real world. I realize that I have to do things fast in order to meet the deadlines. I need to have an idea fast in order to do the design, so that means I need to do a quick research on the project, so I can have some inspiration. However, I can’t waste too much time on research. I realize that my time management is very bad. I can’t balance my time well at work. This is very different from whatever we did in school. We have to do well design before the deadline is coming up. We can’t let the client wait. We can’t say we can’t do the design. We can’t just do one version of it. When we remind ourselves with the deadline, design is super overwhelmed, especially when we don’t have any idea. However, things will be good when time flies. I already improve a bit. I will keep improving to do more good designs.

My performance in public relation is not super bad because most of them are very nice and willing to talk to me. The photographer is very nice to me because he was also from New York City College of Technology. The other department is the Social Media Department; it has a few people, including actual workers and interns. The interns are fine. Some of the actual workers are fine and willing to talk to me. One of the worker is super nice because she often smiles to me, and she’s so friendly. I feel of her personality is very good. I really like her. However, there’s another co-worker seems like an enemy to me. This co-worker is very different from others. The first time he saw me; he already had that cool face toward me. It seemed liked, I’m an enemy to him. He didn’t like to work with me, and he didn’t like me at all. Until now, he still doesn’t like me. My public relation is super bad. I wonder, is this his problem or my problem. I realize that communication is very important. The first thing to build up a good public relation is communication. As long as we talk and understand each other’s work, we can do the job, and we will be fine. Communication and understanding are very important. If these two aspects are good, jobs will be done faster. Pubic relation is very important in the real world.

Designs on a Restaurant (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

During my internship, I’m working on a collaborative project for a restaurant with my supervisor. The restaurant is call Omar’s Mediterranean Cuisine (https://omars.nyc/), which is everything about Mediterranean. In the beginning, my supervisor gave me the old menu that the restaurant had. He wanted me to redesign the menu in three different versions. I started to research a bit of information, but I didn’t go further research, and I started to design. However, I got no idea. I didn’t know how to do it. Then, my supervisor had a meeting with me. He asked me about concept, idea, and everything about designing. I was stuck for the whole time. It seemed like I hadn’t done design work for a long time, so I didn’t know what should I do before I started the design. I tried to do it again, but I failed. After that, my supervisor gave me a favor, which was the menu left for him; the labels left for me. (This is the old menu.)

This time, I got a sense how to start with it, which was well research. I did research on label designs, and the information that my supervisor gave me. I started to have an idea, and I started the design. My supervisor felt surprised, and he liked it. He also asked me to do another version. I got another idea already. I did a second version. My supervisor liked it, too. However, he didn’t ask me to do a third version which was fine. I sent the file to him, and he sent the file to the client. The client responded, and the client liked the second version. The second version of the label design will be print and stick to the sauce bottles. (1st version is the rectangle; 2nd version is the circle)

After the successful label designs, my supervisor asked me to go back to the menu design. I was surprised. I thought he did the menu design already. However, he didn’t have an idea, too. He was also stuck, and he didn’t know how to do it, too. We both were stuck. We kept on the research. We wanted the design to look more like Mediterranean Cuisine. We wanted to have three versions. Until now, my supervisor already stopped the menu design because he got no idea. However, I’m still doing it. I’m still researching it. I’m still trying to do the design. I hope we will get it when I leave. Overall, I think it is very hard to design a successful menu.

Adobe Software Programs (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop are the three important software programs that a Graphic Designer has to learn it and must be well proficiency, so it can do better designs for whatever projects or for the company. Adobe InDesign is for graphics and layouts. Adobe Illustrator is for logos often. Photoshop is for photography often. One of the professor said, we as the Graphic Designers must know well on these three software programs, so we will be fine for whatever projects we are working on. However, we didn’t learn much in school. We learn more while we are working.

In school, we learned these software programs in our first and second year of the classes. We should had learned well enough in all these programs, so we would be good for the upper classes. However, this was not truth in reality. In the real world, we didn’t learn much in classes. Students often learned in YouTube or from whatever professional websites, and not learned in classes. Students often didn’t learn enough in classes because we didn’t have enough time to learn all these programs and the design. Therefore, plenty of students went online and learned online. I was the kind of student that was too lazy to go online. I preferred to learn it in classes. If I was still stuck, I would go online and searched for the answer. However, I am also the kind of student that like other people to push me hard toward success. I like good professor to push me and help me to improve. That means if there is good professor pushes me so hard, I really do the work and make myself better. I need the power to push me hard from other people.

In my current internship, my supervisor always pushes me so hard, but he also treats me so nice. He always said, “I want to push you hard, so you can be better. I want you to have something for your portfolio.” He is really a good supervisor. He doesn’t not blame on me although I’m wrong, or I can’t have an idea. He uses other way to tell me how should I do, what should I change, so I can change myself and do it better. He also gives me lectures not even learned in school. He also teaches me the Adobe Software Programs. Whenever he knows that I’m not good at whatever software programs or the design, he will teach me, and he will ask me to go on YouTube and learn it. He gives me one mission which is I have to go on YouTube and watch one Photoshop tutorial video every morning when I go back to the office. Because of my Photoshop skill is not that good enough, I have to learn it in order to apply that skill to the design. He pushes and forces me to watch tutorials and helps me to improve my skills. At this moment, I realize my skills are way too bad. I still have a lot to learn on all these three Adobe Software Programs. I appreciate my supervisor forces me to watch tutorial everyday, so I can improve a bit everyday. I realize that I must have proficiency skills on all these software programs in order to enhance my design skills. Just having an idea for the design is not enough; knowing how to sketch out the idea is more important. Knowing more on the software programs is also important. I will keep learning a bit everyday.

Inspiration/Research (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

Research is the first step when we start to have designs. Research is also an important aspect in a design. If we research enough information, that will help us a lot in designing whatever project. Indeed, research is not just the beginning of the design. Sometimes, we can go back to the research step while we are in the middle of the design. Research is all the time no matter when and where we are. Research takes time, but we have to research wisely. We have to know what exactly we have to research. If our research direction is wrong, we can waste a lot of time. Knowing how to research and knowing the right direction are the first step toward a successful design.

In school, we have always research before start our design. Often, people don’t even have to research because they already have an idea on what direction they are going for, so they don’t need the research. However, for those people that don’t have an idea, they have to research, so they can get some inspiration to have an idea to start with. I always do research before starting a new project. However, my research direction is not always right, so it takes me a lot of time. I often can’t have a good idea in the beginning or the middle of the project even though I already researched. I often get the best idea when it’s almost the end of the project. I realized I can not have a good idea immediately when I receive a new project for the first time. I often get stuck, and my mind is completely empty. I remember one of the professor told me that I have to research well-enough before starting a new project, but I can waste a lot of time. That means I have to start something while I’m in the research process. In the middle of the project, if I have to research, I can go back at the same time, so I don’t have to waste all my time just on research and haven’t start anything. It’s better to have something is better than to have nothing.

In my current internship, I learn a lot about research. I have to get the right research direction. I need to research well-enough information. I have to understand all the information on the project in order to have an idea to start with. My supervisor told me, “Do some research on the background information.” Actually, in the beginning, no matter how many times my supervisor taught me about research, concept, idea, or even design, I didn’t really get it right at the moment. I was trying to understand, but I couldn’t do it. Maybe, my research direction was wrong, so I couldn’t get the answer that he wanted. Maybe, I didn’t do well research, or I didn’t full understand, so I couldn’t have a good idea. However, I didn’t give up. I was still researching. Until now, I start to have a bit idea on research. Research is really an important factor toward a successful design. Research the right information can enhance the design. I start to understand more on research, and I’m getting better design now. Research is very important, and it’s hard to research the right information. Don’t take it as easy as we think, but if we understand how research can help us a lot, we really do better designs.

Time Management (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

Time management is often a problem no matter in what situation. We have to learn how to control our time, and how to use our time wisely, so we can be productive. In personal life, I have always afraid of not enough time to sleep. I have always worry about so much things in life. I always have a plan for the day, and I ask myself to complete it before midnight. If I can’t finish the work before midnight, I feel bad. This is the same feeling when I’m in school.

In school, I have always afraid of deadlines. I have always worry about time. I plan time for all the school work and other related stuff, but I don’t plan time to eat and sleep because I know I have to finish the work otherwise I will fail for the entire semester. When I work on projects, I have always chosen to do the easy projects first, harder projects will be at the end. I have always calculated times wrong. I have always done projects overnight, but I make the good designs. I realize that although we don’t have time to sleep, we still have to make time to finish the projects even though it’s midnight. This is student’s responsibility. Time doesn’t wait for us. We have to grab it, and we use it wisely.

At my current internship, I’m afraid of using a lot of time on just one project. I’m afraid of wasting the time for nothing. I’m afraid of doing useless work for a long time. However, I’m trying to improve my time management. Because of time sensitive, I have to think it fast and do the work. I have to research if it’s necessary, and it’s an inspiration. I have to ask for my supervisor or the client’s direction of the design. I have to learn to use time wisely, so I can be productive and improve my skills. My supervisor once told me “Don’t think of it, just do it!” I heard of this before. This is my second time hearing this. I have the same question, “How can you not think of it and just do the work?” Actually, it can, and it works. My supervisor said, “Don’t think of it, just do it! Don’t overthink of it, just follow the direction, and you will be fine.” I really didn’t think too much, and I follow all his direction and just do what he wants. After it’s done, it’s pretty good. I have always wonder when is the end of the project or the design. I don’t know if the design is done or not.  My supervisor always asked me, “Are you done with it?” I really don’t know, am I done with it or not? Until now, I realize that even though it’s not done, my supervisor will tell me and help me to improve, so it will be fine. Time is very important. If we use it wisely, we can do a lot of work in just one day. However, if we don’t have an idea or direction, time is only wasting. I’m still learning how to manage and balance my time wisely.­­­

Choosing Fonts & Images & Colors (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

I realize that choosing an appropriate font for the design is extremely hard. If designers have no idea what fonts are using, it is a hard job. It can take over a lot of time. Plenty of people search fonts on dafont.com, fontsquirrel.com, fontspace.com, and or fonts.google.com for their designs. Those sites are good because they provide hundreds or thousands of free fonts. In school, I didn’t deal a lot with fonts. I didn’t even search for fonts. I just used what I had on my computer. I was very lazy. Professors often told me to search for fonts and chose a better font for the project. I always told myself that I could do it. I searched fonts, and I picked the fonts. However, professor always told me to choose another one which meant I failed on choosing fonts. I had always didn’t know what fonts should I use for the project, and how to choose the right fonts. At my current internship, I have always search for fonts because I know that my computer doesn’t have much good fonts. I always use a lot of time on fonts. My supervisor just gives me a direction, and I start from there. That really makes it easier for me. I still have a lot to learn on choosing fonts.

Choosing image is the same difficult as choosing fonts. It needs time, and it needs a clear direction on what the project needs. If the image is wrong, the entire design can throw it away because the communication didn’t send it out. Images are another way of communication besides words. If there’s no words in the design, images are the only communication tool, so it needs to have the right image or the appropriate image to combine with the words in order to send out the message. In school, I had always didn’t care much on the image; I didn’t even have a clear direction. When I searched for images, I didn’t have any other options. I didn’t even care about the resolutions. However, in my current internship, I learn that I have to choose the right image to communicate with the specific target audiences. When I search for images, I have to look for the large image and high resolution no matter the picture itself or for the background image. Sometimes, although we pick the one that we think it is appropriate, we place it on the design, and we realize it’s not match with the topic or the purpose of that project. We have to reconsider the image. A clear direction helps to choose the right image.

Matching color is not as easy as we think because colors have to match the design and what the company wants. Picking a color can take a lot of time. Sometimes, clients want to have that color that we don’t even like it, and we have to use it. We have to find the way to make the design works with the color. Clients don’t know much about the design, so designers have to explain why we are using that color, and we have to choose colors on purpose. In school, I only knew that I had to choose colors to show or to reflect background color, so people could see it. I also knew that choosing colors that I liked to use for the projects was not enough because that was not the right color for the design. In my current internship, I have to use the colors that the clients like although I hate it so much. Even though I don’t like the colors, I have to make it work. We as the designers have to pick the colors on purpose to show or to communicate with the clients; we have to explain to them why we are choosing the specific color. I realize that I might be a color blind. At work, I often can’t tell the colors. Maybe, I’m not color bind, but knowing the colors and memorizing the colors are a difficult lecture.

Culture of My Workplace (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

Clickdaily is a very small company, but it provides many services. Our workplace is full of freedom and feel comfortable. The dress code is causal wear. Mostly, boys are wearing T-shirts and jeans. Girls may wear the same things, but some of them are wearing dress. For the first few days, I had causal wear. Then, my supervisor asked to wear formally because he wanted me to have more confidence. I started to understand him. Until now, I have my own dress code. I can wear both formal and informal.

Our office is small, so the work station is an open work area. There are two areas in the office (the 1st & 2nd picture). One side is more open to everyone and has everything. The other side is inside the room and is smaller, and it only has a few computers. The working hours for the employees are from 10 AM to 5 PM. Normally, most of them start working at 10 AM, and others start at 10:30 AM or a bit later. My supervisor is in the Graphic and Web Design Department; he always stays late for work, like until 6:30 PM. I work from 10 AM to 6 PM. Sometimes, I might stay a bit late with my supervisor, too. (The 3rd picture is my work station.)

For the normal days, people just go out to take their lunch whenever they feel it. Sometimes, they will go out together. For the other days, like photo shooting days, photographers have to go out and take their photos; they can eat the foods. If other people want to eat free foods without pay, they can go with the photographers. For most of the times, photographers eat free foods when there’s photo shoot. My supervisor always works with the photographer, so he always goes out to take with them. I am an intern for him, so he takes me to photo shoot often, and we get free foods often. My supervisor might take me out for photo shoot once a week. Sometimes, even though there’s no photo shoot, he still brings me out to try different foods, so I can try the foods, and I can have a sense of the look and feel of the restaurant.

Interview Process & Role within the Company (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

My Professor, Stella Nicolaou, helped me with this internship. She gave me the information on the company, such as the company name, the address, phone, and email. For the first time, I sent email to one of the people in the company, but there weren’t any responses. I told the Professor about this. She immediately gave me another person’s personal email, and she told me that I could try this one. I emailed another person. I got a reply within 1 hour. In the email, the person asked me to send my resume and portfolio to his work email. I sent immediately. Professor also gave me that person’s phone number. I waited for almost 2 hours. In the email, the person asked me to schedule a time for the interview for the next day. I made a time range and let the person to choose the exact time for the interview, so it could be more convenient for the person, and not me. The person chose 10 AM in the morning. I started to prepare for the interview.

I went to the interview in Manhattan. I was 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. I opened the door and immediately saw the interviewer came up to me with his hand ready to shake with my hand, and he said, “Maggie.” Then, he asked me to sit down, and he was sitting the opposite side of me. He started to ask me questions followed by my resume. He just literally did the interview. He just asked me, what skills do I have, what direction am I going for, and the language I speak? After all those questions, he asked me if I have any questions to ask. I asked him, what characteristics that you think graphic designers should have in order to success in his or her ideal job? I already forgot his answer. The last question that he asked me was, when can I start to work? I felt so surprised. He seemed to understand my situation, and he already decided to hire me. For the languages, he asked me do I speak Chinese Cantonese more or Chinese Mandarin more? I felt so surprised, and I said, I speak Chinese Cantonese more, but when I’m home, I speak my home language. Then, he asked me what language do I speak at home? I said Taishanese. He said, he was Taishanese, too. I felt super surprised. Lastly, he asked me, am I free to look at how do their photo-shoot works outside? I said, I am free, so I went with him to look at how they worked. I followed him to the restaurant. I saw the co-workers were waiting for the table set up and started to photo shoot the foods for the restaurants. Others co-workers could take photos of the foods, too. After their photo-shoot, they could eat all the foods. I stayed there for a few hours. Then, I left with them. They were going back to the office, and I went home. This was an unforgettable interview experience.

This is an unpaid internship. For this internship, I have to bring my MAC book with me to work every day. Because of this is a small business, the company did not have a lot of money; interns have to bring their own computers and or cameras to work. My position is Graphic Design Intern which is under the department Graphic and Web Design. My supervisor is Julio Li, and he is a Front-End Web Developer. He is also the department head of Graphic and Web Design Department. Basically, he is the only one that gives work to me. My job is to help him with his design jobs, which include menus, flyers, and maybe a bit of websites. Overall, all works are related to restaurants. Also, sometimes, my supervisor might send me out for photo shooting. I don’t have to photo shoot, but I might have to help the photographers to set up the table and take care of the foods. I also have to help them to eat all the foods because eating the foods is part of my job. I will be doing those works for the entire month.

Descriptions on ClickDaily (Internship Class at ClickDaily)

The company is call Clickdaily. It is founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York. The primary office is located in 257 West 38th Street Suite 6F in Manhattan; the headquarter office is located at 146 East 46th Street Suite 2R in Manhattan. Clickdaily is a small private company. They have around 11-50 employees in the headquarter office, but they only have around 10 people in the primary office. In the primary office, its departments are Social Media, Graphic and Web Design, and Photography. I work as a Graphic Design Intern at the Graphic and Web Design Department.

Clickdaily is social media marketing company specializing in the hospitality industry. Its primary business is media and information services, and other businesses are social or platform software and application software. They do have many services, including Social Media Management, Reputation Management, Email Marketing, Photography, Graphic Design, Promotional Videos, Influencer Marketing, and Web Design. They have many restaurants related clients, including Roast Kitchen, Le Cirque, AOC NYC, Circo NYC, Felix Restaurant & Bar, Financier Patisserie, TAL BAGELS NYC, New York Burger Co., Tick Tock Diner, The Harold, and Mansion Restaurant.

Because of Clickdaily is a small private company, they don’t have any news article about them. However, they do keep the close personal relationships with their clients; they get good reputations. They are in the business industry for around 4 years now.