Posted June 24, 2010 6:55 pm.
Filed under: inspiration, lessons learned, school
Tags: cca, christopher simmons, digging, records, typography, video, vinyl
Sometimes you just don’t know when your work on a particular project will come full circle and be the very reason that several months—or even years—later someone approaches you about new work.
In the Spring of 2009 I created a video while a student in Christopher’s level 2 Graphic Design class at CCA. Part of the assignment was aimed at getting us to work outside of the more typical design projects—posters, logos and books—and getting us working with tools that maybe we weren’t as familiar with. The assignment was to create a one-minute video narrative on the subject of secret(s). I created this piece that follows a DJ through a record store digging for gems buried beneath the dust (video after the jump): [more]
Posted June 17, 2010 5:35 pm.
Filed under: lessons learned, thursdays
Tags: balance, design studio, life, priority, work
It’s been quiet on the blog front the last few days as I was out of the office tending to a family medical situation. All is well, but what it had me thinking about is the balance between one’s work life and non-work life. It’s a top priority to take care of family, of course, but I always feel weird taking any time off from work, especially as an intern relatively new to the field. I feel I haven’t earned the privilege to take any time off. Even taking a lunch break feels a little weird. (I think I’ve gotten better, though, in recognizing the benefits of taking breaks every now and then to stay fresh and energized.)
[more]
Posted June 7, 2010 6:14 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned, process
Tags: design business, ethics, graduate studies program, Singularity University
I will keep today’s post short so as to encourage you to read this timely entry from Christopher. I encourage you all to post your thoughts to that one.
Here at the studio today I spent most of the day helping out on a project for Singularity University. I have been sketching, designing and revising a series of large banners and t-shirt graphics for their upcoming Graduate Studies Program. It is the first time that I have been this involved, contributing to the design of each piece, presenting variations to Christopher, etc. I have had to adjust a little to the process, but I think I am starting to feel a little more comfortable. I have realized that it can be helpful to set a time limit, and after that time is up, get some feedback on the progress made. In certain instances, this can be a real timesaver, preventing me from going down a path that I don’t really need to be going down.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for Part II of the above link.
Posted May 19, 2010 2:46 pm.
Filed under: lessons learned, mistakes, process
Tags: obstacles, process, unexpected
This morning before heading in to the studio, I decided I would try to run an errand that I didn’t get to last night. I left a few minutes before my regular departure time to compensate for the additional driving. The problem, however, is that I allowed just the correct amount of time for a flawless trip—a trip that doesn’t take into account unforeseen circumstances like weird traffic patterns or construction. So, as luck/fate would have it, I did indeed encounter a few obstacles. Literal ones. The first was a block of road construction just getting underway, funneling traffic down to just one lane. A cop was directing traffic by hand which slowed things down a bit more. Second, because my journey placed me in a different part of town (a much more populated part of town) from where I normally get on the freeway near my house, there were many more people trying to squeeze onto the on-ramp. I would say that it took 4x as long just to get on the freeway this morning. This shift in timing to a later freeway departure made a huge difference in the time it took to get to the studio. A few minutes makes a big difference in how many cars are on the road during the morning commute hours. It took me twice as long to get to the studio this morning, and I ended up getting here a little late.
One of the lessons that can be taken away from this experience, and how it relates to design (and just life in general, I guess), is that it’s wise to leave enough time for unexpected things to occur during the process of making or doing. Don’t factor in a “just-right” amount of time to get things done, if you can help it. Instead, it’s best to build in a buffer that will allow you to respond and adapt to any obstacles that might be thrown your way or mistakes that are made. And, as often happens in life, these obstacles and mistakes are indeed often encountered. It might also allow you to explore a different path that reveals itself during the process—a path that you were not aware of previously.
Posted April 22, 2010 5:53 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned, process
Tags: Christopher, Haiti Poster Project, logos, stern grove festival, Tim, Yulia Brodskaya
Things are picking up around here again. There are so many exciting and new projects on the horizon. I’m kind of sad that I won’t be here to see them all through. The countdown to my last day has begun.
I worked on the Stern Grove Festival poster with Christopher and Tim. We are finalizing the type and adding our own touch of craft to it to compliment Yulia’s cut paper illustration. So for the past few hours, I have been cutting out typography that we will put on the poster. It’s a tedious thing to do. Though if you think about how graphic design was done before the time of desktop publishing, the magnitude of my task wanes in comparison. The way I was doing things was fine, but talking to Tim I learned that there are best practices that I haven’t been aware of before this internship. Not just best practices on how to use cut paper in your design, but other things I wish I could remember at this moment. There are may be a of doing something that gives you better results.
Tomorrow the MINE™ team will be knee deep in ink and squeegees. We’re screenprinting! I am super excited. The posters we make tomorrow will be sold on the Haiti Poster Project website.
Posted April 19, 2010 5:31 pm.
Filed under: field trips, lessons learned
Tags: bracket, cca, Christopher, serif, stern grove festival, The Energy Project, Tim, World's Smallest Poster Show
Everything is a learning experience, no matter how many times you have done it before. Every time I repeat a task I notice something that I didn’t notice before. For example, when I am typesetting I notice the curve of a bracket or a unique serif for the first time. It’s kind of like listening to music and noticing sounds that you had never heard before.
Today my main task was typesetting documents for The Engergy Project. The work isn’t the most exciting, but I was able to practice my ninja like type skills. Earlier this morning when Christopher was at CCA and I had nothing pressing to do, I reorganized all the paper samples. Like I said before, everything is a learning opportunity. My knowledge of paper increased, and the alphabetizing put me in a meditative state.
Besides the Energy Project, Tim has been working to finish up the Stern Grove Festival poster. I’m really excited to see what the response will be like when the poster debuts and they announce the line up on May 1.
We’re all attending the second annual World’s Smallest Poster Show tonight! Hopefully we’ll get some pictures to you tomorrow.
Posted April 12, 2010 5:47 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned, process
Tags: branding, Christopher, d.School, House of Air, illustration, Photoshop, poster, so clean, so fresh, Stanford, Stern Groe Festival, Tim, typeface, Yulia Brodskaya
There are a lot of exciting things happening at MINE™ today. We are finishing up the project for the Stanford d.School, we received final art from Yulia Brodskaya for the Stern Grove Festival poster, and we continue to rock the House of Air branding.
I apparently need a tutorial in making shadows in Photoshop. Unfortunately for Tim, I looked at the tutorials after I gave him the files of some faked Post-it notes. Christopher made fun of me for how long it took me, but at this point in the internship I’ve got thicker skin. It’s very strange to think back to my first days and how nervous I felt about the tiny tasks they gave me to do. Now I am a more confident person than I was in January, but obviously have much to learn.
The illustration we received from Yulia is beautiful! If you have been anywhere near a design blog in the past year, you’ve probably seen her previous work. She uses the edges of cut paper to make intricate, well-crafted, gorgeous illustrations. We’ve have been back and forth with her for the past few months about layout, typography, and color. Everyone needed to be on the same page about the illustration, because once its made, the illustration cannot be changed. Our clients at Stern Grove have already seen the illustration are delighted. Next steps are to find a secondary typeface and put all the festival information on it. Be on the lookout for the poster within the next month.
Lastly, I got to make penguin feet today! These might be used to make impressions into the floor at House of Air in their so fresh, so clean new cement. It’s been super exciting working on House of Air. I’ve never had the experience of seeing something that I helped create that is “alive” in the world. Sadly, the end of my internship is nearing and I probably won’t be around when House of Air opens. I will definitely bug Christopher about going to the opening though.
Posted April 8, 2010 5:37 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, details, lessons learned
What do penguin tracks look like?
Check out link
How tall is the railing on the second floor cross ramps at House of Air?
3.5 feet
How many things can you make out of a circle?
A lot.
Who won an Oscar for best short film this year?
H5 for Logorama
How do you make a photograph look like an engraving?
Engraving II – A Photoshop filter
Where is Tiburon, California?
37° 52′ 25″ N, 122° 27′ 24″ W
Are there any more Post-its in the office?
Christopher might have some.
When is Christopher’s birthday?
Saturday
All these questions and more were answered today.
Posted April 2, 2010 5:53 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned
Tags: budget, business, time
One of the things that I have learned at MINE™ is that time is a commodity. Of course I’ve considered the time it takes to complete the actual design of a project, but I have never considered time for meetings or dealing with printers. As someone who is just beginning their career, these are good things for me to realize before I start taking on any serious freelance clients.
Yesterday I learned how to request a quote from the printer. Today I learned how to present an estimate to a client. I’ve also learned that you need to figure out a budget before you start any project. If everyone is not on the same page, then the situation might get sticky down the line. I wish there was a class in school that taught you about best business practices, but I guess these are things you learn once you get out into the world.
There is so much more to running a design business than I had imagined before. You have to think about budgets, time, whether or not you get along with your clients, balancing your social life, having the right employees, and organization. I’m sure the list goes on.
Posted March 30, 2010 4:58 pm.
Filed under: first times, inspiration, lessons learned
Tags: cca, Christopher, code, email, Tim
It’s been an interesting few days at MINE™. I myself haven’t been terribly busy, but I feel like I’ve been learning a lot nonetheless. Whether or not I am directly involved in the things that are going on around me, I’ve been soaking it in. I have found that just knowing the possibilities is the first step to actually doing something. The more knowledge you have, the more you can participate in the conversation.
For example, Christopher invited Tim and I along for his GD2 class’ film viewing at CCA yesterday evening. We watched a lot of shorts done by students who produced video for the first time. If I had been given that assignment, I would have been in their exact same shoes. I remember how daunting it can be to dive into something that you’ve never done and have to go through the pains of learning tools before you can stylize just the way you want it. Just by viewing the videos and talking about them with Christopher and Tim, I learned about uses for software programs that I hadn’t considered before. Now if I’m ever in the position of producing a video, I at least know where to start and where to look for help. The other thing that I’m not doing, but am more familiar with now is creating email newsletters. Christopher has been working on one all morning and asked me to look up some code. Again, if I ever need to create an email for myself or a client, I’ll know where to begin.
Video after the jump [more]
Posted March 26, 2010 2:56 pm.
Filed under: first times, lessons learned
Tags: Christopher, Flash, genius, Tim
Today was awesome, because I did something that I didn’t even know I was capable of doing. Since Tim was out of the office day, Christopher let me take a stab at some Flash files and I rocked it with little trouble. Every time Christopher asked me if I could do any Flash, I told him no. I guess I was wrong. I’m proud of myself, but in reality it wasn’t rocket science. It was super simple animations, but I’m pretty excited about it anyway. It’s a good end to the week. Hello, weekend!
Posted March 19, 2010 5:46 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, details, lessons learned
Tags: Christopher, Puppycam, Tim, Typekit
Who knew coding could make one feel so emotional. I’m not even doing anything really difficult, but my trials of the past few hours are weighing down on me a little bit.
As you can see our new blog is up and kicking. Christopher spent some time after hours coding things that he couldn’t stand to be left unfinished overnight. When I came in this morning, there were only some minor things left to do. Or so I thought. I changed some colors of things, but I also set us up with a Typekit account. If you aren’t aware of Typekit, check it out. I hadn’t heard of it until Tim sent me the link. Christopher said he wanted to embed a font into the blog some how and apparently this is how one might go about it. It’s magic! Well, not really. There is some coding and servers all over the world involved, but you can look it up on your own.
Earlier in the day, when I was figuring things out and making things happen I was on cloud nine. But for the past few hours, I haven’t been able to do anything exactly like I wanted to. I even went down the list of tags in the stylesheet and looked them all up. I gained a lot of knowledge about CSS, but nothing actually happened on the blog post lunch.
[MORE]: Why do you do that crazy jump thing when I click on you?!
GREY ABSCESS ON MY CATEGORY BAR: Which tag controls you?!
TITLES: How do I get you to not follow the style for all the links?!
STICKY POSTS: I will figure out how to customize you if I need to.
Happy weekend! Watch Puppycam!
Posted March 18, 2010 5:38 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, lessons learned
Tags: blog, Christopher, css, House of Air, html, Puppycam
So we’ve finally made the switch over to the new blog theme. Pretty rad, right? I have some things to tweak and type to finesse before everything is in ship shape. Since Wordpress sites go live as I update it, you’ll get to see changes in real time. It’s like watching Puppycam, but not as cute.
I worked on House of Air for a few moments, but most of my day was spent working on the blog. There’s nothing better to kill your self esteem like trying to figure out how to code things for the first time. I spent an hour or more trying to customize our header. Christopher walked up and the task was completed in minutes. It seems as though I didn’t close my tag. After I cleared that hurdle, Christopher and I spent some time trying to figure out other pieces of code to change color and column width. I have a long list of things to change still, and it’s going slowly. Once I get more familiar with it though, I hope the process will pick up the pace.
Coding is a tedious task, but it’s a fun thing to do. It’s kind of a like solving a puzzle and is really gratifying to see something start working how you want it. I’m excited about doing this project, because working with css/html was one of the things on my list of things I wanted to learn at MINE™. Two and a half months into the internship and I’m pretty sure I’ve already done most of the things on my list.
Posted March 15, 2010 8:24 am.
Filed under: first times, lessons learned, process
Tags: Christopher, d.School, House of Air, Tim
I know the time changed yesterday, but I feel like I lost track of an hour sometime today. We weren’t particularly busy, but I must have been busy enough to not look at the clock.
[more]
Posted March 12, 2010 6:34 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned, visitors
Tags: Christopher, good design book, haiku, portfolio, Project M, Samira, The World's Greatest Mug, Tim
Porcelain Clink Clink
Cut Crinkle Crinkle Crinkle
Fold Bend Crease Fold Fold
Yes, my haiku is so esoteric. You’ll have to order the The World’s Greatest Mug to decode it’s meaning. As of today, they are ready to be shipped!
[more]
Posted February 4, 2010 6:33 pm.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, lessons learned
Tags: 99% Conference, Christopher, good design book, michael bierut, Tim
I earned a photo credit in the Good Design Book today!
The photo studio is back up. We’re shooting and reshooting, and only two things are left on the photo list. (I love crossing things out.) My day was peppered with inertia, but Tim and Christopher had their noses to the ground. It’s been a crazy week in terms of clients needing to get in touch with Christopher so he has been knee deep in emails and phone calls.
Since MINE™ has not been my first internship, I’ve been able to see what it’s like to work in a variety of different places. I’m impressed with Christopher and Tim’s ability to wear so many hats. They’re doing all of the visual work, and also interacting closely with clients. They know exactly what their clients need and work with them so that both parties are happy. It’s very human and personal way to work. I like it.
Another thing I learned today is how to streamline the work process while also involving the client into the discussion. We came up with a list of questions for the client and will use the answers as the basis for our logo design. It keeps the design in the realm of what the client is looking for, but also helps justify the choices we make if they happen to be a little far out in left field.
Christopher recently recommended I watch Michael Bierut’s speech at the 99% conference. So I took his advice and was delighted. One of the lessons that Mr. Bierut learned was that usually the solution can be found within the problem. In a few of his case studies, his initial sketch from a client meeting was essentially the idea that he would execute.
I have a tendency to over think my design problems before I come to a decision. So I’m interested in how looking for the solution in the problem, as per Mr. Bierut’s advice, will work out for me in the upcoming weeks.
Museum of Art and Design identity by Michael Bierut. Photo found here.
Posted January 25, 2010 6:43 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, lessons learned
Tags: Dizzee Rascal, good design book, James Victore, jennifer hennesy, krump
Yes that’s right. Dizzee Rascal was blaring through the speakers, and I was asked to krump on command.
Today was another full day of working on The Good Design Book. I was part photographer, part model. Thus the krumping.
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Posted January 22, 2010 6:29 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, lessons learned, process
Tags: good design book, Lance Armstrong, Prince V Michael, wristband
Does anyone know if Lance Armstrong started the rubber wristband trend? I tried to look up the history of it, but I had no luck. As you’ve probably noticed, you can find a wristband for any cause you can think of. But you can even get one that says PRINCE V MICHAEL to wear proudly.
You might be thinking, “What does that conversation have to do with Reena’s day?” Well, plenty. Wristband hunting and Lance Armstrong were all part of my Good Design Book Day. MINE™ is nearing the end of the road on the book, and there are still some additions and edits to do. At the moment we are gathering/photographing work and accoutrement to fill in the few blank pages that remain. So today our office doubled as a photo studio. We have some seamless cleverly tucked away in a cubby and some professional lighting equipment. We had an intense moment with Lance Armstrong, but we pulled through in the end. As the person in the office who wants to prove herself, it’s a bit disappointing for me when I don’t reach the solution myself and without help. I was initially in charge of the photo, but it got tricky with what the outcome needed to be and the parameters of the page the photo would be on. So it became an intraoffice event. But I recently read some where that if you feel like you’re not the most talented person in the room, you’re in the right place. So here I am.
My blog fans (ha! yeah.) have requested photos. So next week I’ll do a photo a day.
Posted January 19, 2010 6:42 pm.
Filed under: clients, lessons learned, typography
Tags: Hayes Valley, Photoshop, stern grove festival, typeface
I think it was a draw.
After a three day weekend, it was good to be back at work. So I didn’t mind doing the Photoshop all day. Well, almost all day. We went to Hayes Valley for a short meeting with the nice people from the Stern Grove Festival. So far, dealing with clients seems like cake! Christopher has informed me that it is not always the case, but from the two client meetings I’ve attended, there was a give and take and the conversation flowed smoothly.
[more]
Posted January 15, 2010 6:49 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, lessons learned
Ahhh! No matter how much I think I know, I realize I don’t know much.
Today we had a client meeting, and I was really glad to have been there. I just borrowed 79 Short Essays on Design from the MINE™ library. No. 3 talks about how the designer/client relationship should be a partnership, and I’m pretty sure that’s what I witnessed in the meeting today. Christopher was presenting the logo that he and Tim have been working on and the clients had a few problems. But they worked together and the result was a pretty rad logo! This project is super exciting because MINE™ is actually building the company brand from scratch. They started with the logo but will go on to the way finding, interior graphics, and their web presence. Christopher showed me the initial presentation and the evolutions of the concept, and it’s always great to see the process. I hated seeing designers talk about their work and just show the finished product. Then you have no sense into how much thinking and work went into it. I’d get frustrated, because it seemed so easy for them and not for me. As the meeting went on, I realized that there is so much more to learn. Not just about design, but about running a business and maintaining client relationships.
I topped off the day with an adventure to the hood and photoshopping rainbows. Happy Friday!
Posted January 13, 2010 6:01 pm.
Filed under: inspiration, lessons learned, mistakes
Tags: logo, World's Greatest Mug
So, I seem to suck at answering the phone. Ha. I talk quietly, and I can’t keep some names straight unless I’m writing it down. I need to work on that.
[more]
Posted November 24, 2009 6:47 pm.
Filed under: details, lessons learned, process
Tags: design, logo, process, sketching, thumbnails
After pages and pages¹ of sketches, we narrowed the logos down to 10 thumbnails or so. These sketches were then scanned and brought into Illustrator — their new vectorized home. Now in Illustrator, the process basically started over again: I would take one idea and modify it—hopefully generating dozens of itirations.² Christopher would periodically review my progress, give a Yae or Nae, some guidance, and I would keep clicking.
[more]
Posted November 23, 2009 6:35 pm.
Filed under: details, lessons learned, process
Tags: design, logo, process, sketching, thumbnails
One of the very first projects I worked on at MINE™ was a logo for CPA Lead, a marketing company. Coming in as an intern I was anxious to get my hands dirty in a real project. This project in particular was exciting to work on, as I knew that MINE™ has quite a history in designing logos. I was really curious to see how they went about the process, and to pick up on any secret logo design techniques.
The process went something like this (actually exactly like this:) I sit down with Christopher, and he explains the client’s industry and what their goals are for the logo. He talks about more general ideas (“They don’t want this.”, “It should look more like this.”, “Don’t make it cute.”, etc), and gives me pretty broad directions to work toward.
[more]
Posted June 17, 2009 5:47 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, lessons learned
Tags: duties, intern, office life, tasks
Throughout my experience as an intern thus far – a day hasn’t passed without my technical, organizational, and thinking skills being pushed into unfamiliar and sometimes – uncomfortable new territory. It’s unnerving, exciting, and a bit frightening all simultaneously.
Whether it’s being asked to perform design or administrative tasks – everything is seemingly new. Especially the behind-the-scenes operations in a design firm. From quoting prices on plastic baggies and military patches to answering phones and keeping the office organized – there is always something to do and I’m learning to keep myself on task (something which often proves difficult for me in school).
One of the broader lessons I’ve learned while being here is to take the initiative. Rather than wait until Christopher or Tim ask for something to be done – I try and look for things to do. Keeping MINE™ a well-oiled machine is my job, and I’d like to think I’m getting better as the days go by. Of course, taking the initiative is a way of acting and thinking, something I plan on improving upon during my time here.
Posted June 11, 2009 5:43 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, lessons learned, mistakes
Tags: education, goals, intern, intern duties
Before an intern starts their first day at MINE™, Christopher requests that they bring in a list of things they want to get out of the time spent here. I think the request is significant for two reasons. One being that I really value the fact that Christopher actually cares about what my expectations and hopes are regarding what I extract from the experience. Another being that it forced me to really confront just what I feel my time here would best be spent focusing on. Here is my list, with some posthumous commentary added on.
1. Learn to approach problems from multiple angles and viewpoints before settling on a direction.
I feel that I too often approach problems with my initial solution. I think learning to experiment, evaluate and move forward with the most successful solution would be an approach I would benefit from.
2. Learn to be more responsible as far as time management and deadlines are concerned.
No room for error at MINE™.
3. Try to consider the client’s input when brainstorming for a design instead of trying to convince them that the solution I arrived upon my own is better.
One can hope.
4. Try to become more meticulous about completely crossing every “t” and dotting ever “i” in my designs.
Yes. The typo was originally there when I showed Christopher. Maybe this is the one I need to work on the most.
5. Learn to harness the chaos.
Balancing control and unpredictability. I certainly have the latter.
6. Create something lighthearted with happy colors.
Stern Grove bird and bunny. √
7. To contribute conceptually and graphically to projects at MINE™.
I’d like to think that I am doing this.
8. Learn how to work outside of my design crutches and still retain elements of my taste. (Become a little more adaptable)
9. Sit in on client meetings so I can hear how a successful (or unsuccessful) pitch goes.
10. Learn how to properly photograph and display my work.
Soon enough we will be shooting some work for an upcoming top secret project. So yes, this will be happening.
11. Become comfortable with articulating my opinions about design. TALK about design more.
Thursday lunches, feedback from Christopher and Tim, and writing in the blog are already helping me solidify my stance as a designer.
12. Have a good time.
√
Posted June 4, 2009 5:49 pm.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, details, field trips, first times, inspiration, lessons learned, mistakes, opinions, thursdays
Tags: everything is ok, frank la, holga, oscar printing, sputnik
Today I accompanied Christopher to Oscar Printing to do a press check for the next installment of the Everything is OK Action Kit. I had been to Oscar before during my time in Sputnik when I went on my first press check for my design of CCA’s President’s Letter. Everything went smoothly today because Frank is Franktastic. I also got a chance to try out Christopher’s new Holga conversion lens to document the trip. Below are the (admittedly shaky) results.
Checking the colors, registration, and signing off
Proofs in hand, we headed back to show Tim
Posted June 4, 2009 9:31 am.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, lessons learned, process
Tags: design education, irma gruenholz, print, stern grove festival
The majority of today’s time was spent designing work for the upcoming Stern Grove Festival. A full page ad and a quarter page ad both needed to be created using the wonderful clay illustrations Irma Gruenholz created for us.
The logistics of the quarter page ad were a little tough, considering the amount of information that was intended to be communicated in such a small space. One of the things I overlooked and had to keep reminding myself about was the consideration of the material it would be printed on. The quarter page ad is grayscale and will be printed on newsprint – placing further importance on the legibility of the type. After sketching a few different directions, Tim and Christopher decided that a direction using a greyed background, black type and an image of a playful little bird on a branch fit the best into the overall scheme.
It feels great to start exercising the skills I learned in school. And it’s nice to know that it’s coming naturally even though all the guidelines, tips, and rules seemed overwhelming at first.
Posted June 2, 2009 5:49 pm.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, first times, lessons learned, mistakes
Tags: intern, problem-solving, progress, responsibilities
I started my internship at MINE™ not really sure of what to expect. I knew their work, a handful of the previous interns, and had Christopher as a teacher in my GD2 class at CCA – but becoming an employee was beyond my foresight. Would I be serving tea all day? Doing the laundry? Asked to fix the roof? I’ve heard horror stories from interns at other firms but I kept my hopes up and looked forward to doing some actual designing alongside the caffeine duties (hopefully not roofing).
I’m pleasantly surprised at the amount of responsibility I’m trusted with. Today for example – I helped design and finish two deliverables for two different clients. One being a full page ad for the Stern Grove Festival and another being a series of letterhead templates for another client. I was given the task of learning the iWork “Pages” software, and simultaneously finding out a way to customize the templates so that the client can easily prepare a letter in the software she is most comfortable with.
Not every day is as heavy on the production of course. Some standard duties are keeping the office organized, filing, corresponding through the intern email address and answering phones. But so far – I’m really enjoying the responsibility I’ve been granted at MINE™ and I can’t wait to get my feet wet with some more jobs as soon as they come. The tea here is pretty good too. (and gladly I have not seen the roof yet)
Posted May 20, 2009 5:24 pm.
Filed under: details, lessons learned, mistakes, process
Tags: everything is ok, haley, problem-solving
Near the end of today before we left the office I was asked to do some organizing by Christopher. One of the tasks was dealing with maximizing the efficient use of space in the office. Being a small office, minute changes can make a huge difference. We had just received a shipment of new cans and tubes for the everything is ok project and I was asked to insert the tubes into the cans to eliminate the need for separate boxes for each.
Simple enough I thought, and started removing the cans from the box. The cans are stacked in four layers of about fifty – so it takes quite a bit of effort to remove them all. I neatly stacked them next to the big box on the ground, and started placing them back in and filling them with the tubes. Tim was working hard on something that was due by the end of the day and Christopher was dealing with a misbehaving broadband connection so I tried my best to keep the clinging and clanging of cans to a minimum. It wasn’t until I filled the box to just about the end when I realized that somehow – I had left over cans. Many more than I could possibly fit back into the box. It wasn’t until pushing around the top layer of cans that I had realized that there was a more efficient way to space the cans. If you can arrange them so that they are slightly offset and so that the concave of each can nestles between the space of two others – you can fit more cans per layer.
To the plight of Tim and Christopher I unpacked all two-hundred or so cans again and used the new method to fit them back in. Overall, the mistake caused the whole operation to last way longer than it should have and I got all sorts of mean looks from Haley the cat as I aggressively threw the remaining tubes into the cans with a clatter. The lesson I learned may seem trivial at first but if you think about it from a design standpoint that sort of mistake could make or break a project with a tight deadline or a irritate the temper of a fussy client (Haley). If you learn to approach a problem from multiple angles before settling on a solution you may be able to avoid a frustrating (and possibly noisy) mistake.
