Week 8

This week has actually been fairly quiet. Suzette and I decided that because of the nature of the projects I am working on and the changed way I am actually completing my hours, we don’t need to meet every week like we were before taking on the new job. I know it is also a little harder for Suzette to put aside time to meet with me later in the day, as she tends to use that time for out of the office meetings. I do feel that this is perfectly appropriate however.

I did get a few small tweaks that I need to make for the Educator’s Guide. They were all little things that I probably missed due to the sheer number of entries. Lesson learned: don’t send in a “finished” project until you have a chance to look at it with fresh eyes or better yet have a team member look it over. I wish I had a team to show it to. Oh well, an hour later and some small tweaks and Suzette seems to be happy with it at this point. On the plus side she was very happy with it before she noticed the minor issues, and the overall look and feel of the piece is pleasing. I count that as a win.

I also gave her two new versions of the favorite Old Quarters poster. One is just the right size to be inline for a reminder email, or perhaps used as a header for the same. The other is a small ad the same size as the ones I have done for the art guild, meant to be shown in the margins of a web page.

I am also getting a chance to start on the PowerPoint project. Right now I’m trying to create a consistent custom them for the slides, and plan on basically pulling in the same information that was in the old one, just making sure to do a little of my layout magic so it looks 100% nicer. I am also going to get to use a little of my deeper PP knowledge and create a couple of slides that are interesting info graphics about financial data. Wish me luck!

Internship Week 7

So I am a little late writing my entry for week seven it is true, but I am finding it interesting finding time for all of the different things that I am working on. The Educators guide and the Posters for Pat Sullivan are turning into the gifts that keep on giving. I am also very much hoping to get to finish the power point and at least get started on the Annual Report before my internship time is up. I will be continuing with ArtsPartners as a volunteer even after my internship is up however, and will be able to finish for them and for my own piece of mind anything that I don’t finish as part of my 100 hours.

The Educators Guide, when last I wrote, was supposedly finished. Well, guess what, I missed a few entries in my formatting and had to go back and finish them. I am now waiting to hear back from Suzette on if there are any other changes that need made before this project goes to print. Thankfully I caught the mishap on my own, and was just able to tell Suzette that it was taking longer than planned. I would have been so embarrassed otherwise. Also thankfully, I found out for sure at my meeting with Suzette in week 7 that the Educator’s Guide will only be published online. This allowed me to reset some of the text, making the book longer for sure, but in my opinion quite a bit more pleasing. All of these changes (and any in the future) have added up to almost 20 hours spent on this one project. THANK GOODNESS I’M “DONE”. I don’t count minor changes, as I don’t think they will mean sitting in front of a computer repeating the same movement so many times that my shoulder was sore for a week.

I also found out at the meeting that although Pat has not yet had a chance to decide which of my poster options he prefers, Suzette would like me to go ahead with creating some smaller version of the one that she and I both decided we like the best. I think this will be fun, but is currently scheduled for week 8.

I actually had to take a few days off of working on Internship projects for a few days due to the fatigue of the typesetting for the Educator’s Guide. Suzette actually told me to take a few days as I guess I was inadvertently a bit more pathetic about my shoulder pain in our meeting on Wednesday than I meant to be. With the work I am doing during the day and the work I am doing trying desperately not to fall behind in my classes I really do get pretty sore after a bit. Oh well, such is life I suppose.

Weeks 5&6

Well, after a couple of crazy weeks it is time to get caught up writing about my experiences with this adventure called my internship. In the last two weeks, I have had my mid-terms, started a new job, and finished two of the largest single projects that I will have for my internship. I also got a new job via email (yay) from the ArtGuild. All told, the last couple of weeks have been interesting and notable, but maybe not as much of a true learning experience as I would have hoped.

The first real thing that happened was of course making it to the mid-term point of this semester and this internship. I of course completed my evaluation of the site and received my evaluation so far from Suzette. I indicated that I am quite pleased with the internship and my learning opportunities. I really feel as if they are keeping me busy, and that I am learning. The only negative I really have is that I no longer really feel as if I am getting the kind of feedback I need to really learn how to grow as a designer. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely growing in my abilities to work with a client and with a deadline, but my design is not growing the same way I hoped it would. At first I was nice to hear that I am great all the time, after all, who doesn’t like a little bit of ego stroking? But I’ve started to feel like it is either less than genuine, or that perhaps Suzette is just used to working with really incompetent people. I mean, she asked on my mid-term evaluation if I could be cloned. I’m not THAT good, and I really wish that I was getting a little bit more in the way of real, positive, growth worthy feedback. I would almost rather feel as if I was disappointing, at least then I would feel a need to push myself for the sake of these projects.

I started a new job this week as well (week 6) and it has proven to be a bit more challenging to get everything done than I had anticipated. Finding time to work at home without distractions can be very hard, especially since my significant other has been on vacation and of course want my attention when I get home. I also find it terribly hard on days when I am worn out to sit down and get anything done, all I really want to do is tool around on the internet, or watch TV and go to bed early. I do like the new job though, and really am looking forward to the day when I am done with school and focus my attention on what I really feel like can be my career if the conditions continue to be right.

I have been successful at getting two major projects finished over the last two weeks. I have gotten the Educator’s Guide finished, and I have gotten not one but two strong versions of the Old Quarters Posters for Mr. Sullivan. Each of these projects took approximately 10 hours to complete, and I learned a lot from each. Heck I was even able to take what I learned from the posters and use it in the first mini project I was given in my new professional position.

The Educator’s Guide, thankfully, came with all of the copy already produced, but I did have to layout the publication, and figure out a lot of little quirky things. Using the character formatting etc was very helpful, and thankfully I remembered how to use it. I also had to figure out how to use different faces of Frutiger (as that was the typeface used for the chosen cover) in such a way to produce the final look I wanted. I also had a lot of “fun” getting the cross alignment correct and getting all of the given information to line up correctly and not produce widows and such that would just ruin the booklet. I feel as if I learned a lot more about multi-page layout form this project that I did in class even, after all I had to use all of the copy I was given and couldn’t edit it except to fix the occasional typo. With my own booklets I’ve done in the past it was no problem to make up something extra or cut out something unneeded to make the layout I wanted work.

The posters I created for Pat Sullivan were a lot of fun, and also taught me a lot, even though I definitely used a lot of previous knowledge. I was able to create what I think are interesting and attention grabbing posters. I only hope that Pat feels the same way. Unfortunately getting ahold of him has been interesting and complicated. I learned from Suzette that he decided to run for political office, and even she is having a hard time getting ahold of him. I will probably be turning over the files for the posters to her, and she will give them to Mr. Sullivan when she gets a chance and actually talked to him again herself. I actually am somewhat irritated by this turn of events, as it is possible that I spent about 10 hours working on these posters that no one will ever see, including the person who wanted them in the first place. I was able to use what I learned in creating them to create a flyer for an upcoming event for my new employer however, so I suppose it is not time wasted.

Lastly, I am happy to report that I have received some work for the Art Guild. It is a small online ad, but I have more creative freedom with this one at least. I was also told in the email requesting the work that there would be other things for me to do in a week or so. I am just glad that they really do want me to continue doing things for them, and that I will get a chance to prove that I am capable of getting things done even though I am not going to be in the office on a regular basis any more.

Internship Week 4

This week was just about as interesting as the rest, with the added bonus of a bittersweet “Goodbye” and meeting a new person to work with all in the same week. I am continuing to learn from the many different projects that I am involved in, and I am also continuing how to better interact with people in a more professional setting.

I unfortunately had to say “goodbye” to the art guild as this Wednesday was the last day I will be working in their offices. I did of course make sure that they know that I am available anytime through e-mail and that I can make it into the building on a limited basis if they need me to. I only hope that I continue to be able to work with them. I really enjoy the people, and I really feel like the kind of work I have done for them is the kind of work that a lot of designers do. I feel like I was, and hopefully is, a good learning experience to work on a short deadline, and to work within an established framework. I know in the job I will be starting on the 6^th EVERYTHING I will be doing must be within an established framework. I do feel as if I have figured out how to leave my individual mark on the projects, and utilize my creativity, framework or not, and the is really the main task.

I also got to meet Pat Sullivan this week. I will be creating a few promotional materials for him and the Arts Market on the Riverfront. Pat himself is an interesting character, high energy, and somewhat excitable. I did have to let him down gently that I wouldn't be able to do as much as he wants. Although considering I think he was under the assumption that I would either be a full time free worker, or that I am able to do things twice as fast as anyone else, this didn't exactly hurt my conscience. I actually discussed it with Suzette, and she felt that a total of about 10 hours for the rest of my internship was appropriate. So, right now I am working on posters for Pat.

I also got a final decision on the cover for the Educator’s Guide this week, although it will be a bit before I get the copy I need to actually complete that project. Lastly, I finished work on the first round of samples for the Art and Society Ad I am working on for ArtsPartners. I can finish that as soon as I get some new photos, and Suzette has a chance to look them over. I’m am looking forward to getting another project from the list given me at the start of the semester finished and be able to move on.