What I have learned from my internship...

Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up.

— Tate Linden

It is almost midterms and so I have decided to write a blog about what I have learned thus far from my internship. One of the first lessons I have learned is how to interact and provide for an actual client. So far, this has been a very positive experience. Basically, I am given a list of information and a couple pictures and set free. I create a concept, make a couple variations, and make final touch-ups and revisions to the postcard chosen. One particularly interesting aspect of this is that unlike my graphics classes, the final critique is not given by a group of artists or professors. Instead of a critique based on form and design, it is more based on what words to italicize and when to make a specific sentence smaller or larger or the overall function. This can be very difficult because I feel I have to critique my own personal work at a much more critical level; nevertheless, I feel that this is also a very good technique to learn!

Another aspect of my particular client-designer relationship that I have had to adapt to is preparing work for an actual printer and sending work to a client. This part has definitely been aided by my current print production course, but still is an invaluable lesson from my internship. My first postcard was by no means correct when I originally sent it to the Cultural Programs, but after several revisions, it was ready to send the printer in a correct format. Now I feel very confident not only sending preliminary options to my client, but also sending a finished product to the printer.

A third aspect to my internship is the importance of a deadline. Although this has always been present in class assignments, there is absolutely no option to move back a deadline for the postcards because the performance is very set in stone. Because there is a long line ahead of me that will need my design in order to get it sent out in time, I really do have to be constantly aware of when I need to have the options for the postcard sent to the Cultural Programs.

Finally, I thought it would be pertinent to explain what knowledge I have brought to my internship. Of course all the design rules I have learned in the past two years I have used extensively, such as hierarchy, color theory, and grid alignment. I have also used all the technical processes I have learned in my courses using Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

Overall, the short 8 weeks of my internship thus far has been incredibly helpful in my growth as a professional designer and provided significant insights into the real world of design.