CD@Work Wrap Up: Victor
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
↑ I made a small “brand extension” as a joke/end of my internship
It has truly been an amazing summer at frog. As I take time to reflect back on what it meant to work at a place at frog, I realize what a privilege it has been. To be in an environment where passion for what you do is expected and practiced daily was truly humbling. I started the summer with some knowledge of the industry. I had worked at frog last summer as well. But this time around, I truly discovered the complexities of designing for a system. What I worked on involved thinking of hundreds of thousands of users. Each component I designed would have to work on multiple interfaces and screens - a problem I had not dealt with on this level until now. I’m excited to apply this to my projects in the coming year - I will see how much I really learned.
CD@Work Wrap Up: Nick
I’m meeting my final deadlines today, gathering files, and trying to still beat the traffic on my last day at LPK. It’s been an eventful summer from short deadlines to happy hours at Neon with free ice cream and an earthquake at the office in between. Overall working here for the summer has been a really valuable learning experience.
CD@Work: Joanne — The Post Family Studio Visit
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
My friend Brandon set up our visit to The Post Family— a collective, collaborative and not-your-typical design studio shared equally by the 7 members of the family. Two of the dudes (Rod and Chad) where there when we showed up, and Chad was kind enough to show us around and talk more about their work. Pictures after the break!
CD@Work: Victor
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
This is why I love frog. Every Thursday, two frogs get together to plan a cocktail hour at the office. The other intern and I, who are still in school, decided to make ours college themed. The result was frog beer pong and flip cup on the company terrace. The event was a hit. What normally lasts 3 min to an hour ended up lasting more than three hours. People stayed past work hours to drink and chat. They were reminiscing about college and getting tipsy. We even got green cups to adhere to brand standards. People work hard and play hard. I don’t think this would have happened at many other design firms.
CD@Work: Allison
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
Hello from the stifling heat of Washington, D.C.!
I can’t believe my seventh week at NPR is coming to an end! That means I have only three weeks left, which, if the beginning of this summer is any indication, will go by much faster than I realize. Over the past seven weeks I have worked on some great projects, collaborated with awesome interns and NPR staff, and had some truly unforgettable experiences––all of which have helped me become a more mindful designer.
Before starting my internship, I thought CMU was all the project experience, stress, and design teaching I would need to start a full-time job in the design world. Reality check: yeah right! While CMU has definitely prepared me with a strong set of typography skills and critical design thinking, NPR has taught me so many lessons about design in the context of an actual organization, or more specifically, a news organization.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people read NPR online every day. It never really hit me until today that the graphics I make for stories are seen, unpacked, and digested by such a large audience. It’s a little scary, actually…which is why quality of work at NPR is so important! For example, not only do we want our Flash interactives to work, we want them to be powerful enough to add to the story content as opposed to just reiterating it. Design in a news agency takes heat not only from design critics, but also from any news critic. Just as reporters have the ethical obligation to publish unbiased, credible stories, designers here also have to ensure that the visual communication does not favor any particular side. Designers are storytellers too, so when telling that visual story at a news agency, we hold ourselves to the same ethical and moral standards.
Speaking of stories, it’s about time I showed you some of the things I have actually made, so check out the following projects:
- “The Candidates’ Guide to Campaigning” // My fellow intern and I were asked to create four interactive pieces to accompany the light-hearted stories of what presidential candidates do to win votes in the states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. Based on the idea of cheesy touristy postcards and state maps, each interactive gives you a sense for what each state has to offer.
- “Sizing Up Space: A Visual History” // This past week, in honor of the last NASA space shuttle returning home to Earth on Thursday, I spent two weeks designing a graphic to summarize the entire NASA shuttle program. The other editorial design intern worked on the sister graphic, highlighting all the astronauts, who have ever been in space.
The NASA project was an amazing opportunity to create an original infographic that did not stem from any pre-existing templates. After the editors handed me more facts and information than I knew what to do with, I got to work, playing with numbers, visuals, and layout. From sketches to clean Illustrator diagrams, I really enjoyed the process behind creating a piece that can essentially stand on its own without a story. I admit, I got a little nerdy––and very excited, let’s be honest, here––when it came to all this information design, so in the end I definitely felt that this is something I would absolutely love to continue doing, wherever I end up working!
Overall, NPR does a really great job of staying current with all the up and coming technologies. We had several design training days where we dabbled in fun things like Flash, HTML5/CSS3, Javascript, JQuery, etc. To me, coding is almost a completely different mindset, though the designers here have made it their goal to become better versed in these powerful techniques. The dedication and ambition with which NPR employees seek to improve the NPR news experience never ceases to amaze me. For the most part, people who work here are genuinely happy and love their jobs. I can see why :)
CD@Work: Nick: LPK Designs for the Celebration of Black Music
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
The Celebration of Black Music is an annual event in Cincinnati sponsored by many local organizations. The goal of the event is to encourage interest in the different genres of black music and to highlight current musicians and their contributions to each genre. LPK has supported the event in the past pro bono, and this year was again responsible for the design work including identity, print materials and website. I was a part of the design team for this year’s event that happened last month and helped work specifically on the posters for the event in collaboration with 3 fellow interns and 4 other LPK designers.
CD@Work: Victor
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
I can’t believe I am halfway through my summer here at frog already! It seems like yesterday that I was just relearning how to make a comp. I can confidently say that this summer at frog is much more fun that last summer. I think the creative director and senior designer are giving me more responsibility - I am doing the same work as the junior designers and producing deliverables and assets. I even got to travel to Connecticut last week to meet with our client – in a minivan.
↑ iPhones, iPads, Macbook Pros, and a minivan – en route to Connecticut.
What I am realizing more and more is that the digital experience is inescapable. Even traditionally print based design jobs are making the move (ie. Condé Nast’s push into the iPad magazines). As much as I enjoy what I do at school, the changing design world is not looking for someone who knows how to set type on a press bed (as fun as it may be). I keep saying that print is what I love and designing interfaces is “not my thing” but I have actively been trying to bridge the two. The more I separate them, the more one becomes a chore and the other a hobby. I still find it challenging to translate the more traditional typographic education I have been receiving into widgets, icons, buttons, and dialogue boxes. Maybe I am doing most of my learning on the job - there are few rags to be adjusted, limited typefaces to choose from, and corporate colors to adhere to. It’s a design problem, and they did teach me how to solve those in school.
LPK Summer Blog
Interested in what Nick is doing over at LPK? Follow other interns at their Cincinnati office!
Follow the link to check out our summer blog created by the summer creative interns at LPK. Hopefully through all the pictures and short stories we can give you a taste for what life is like working here at LPK Cincinnati.
Source: nickabele
CD@Work: Ah Ra
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
Hello and An nyung from Seoul!
I guess I’m the first and probably the only international post for CD@Work 2011.
So I just started my second week working at Yahoo! Korea as a UED (User Experience Design) Intern. By the way, I have to spell Yahoo! With a “!”. Apparently including the exclamation mark is very crucial.
Process
Yahoo! Korea has a two-month internship program every summer and winter open to all students. In the first week of June, Yahoo! Korea posts a notice stating which internship positions are available. For the UX position we only had to submit a portfolio, resume, brief descriptions of ourselves and why we want to work for Yahoo! However others were given a very specific essay or presentation topic related to their positions to submit. In the first few days in the 2nd week of June, those who made the 1st round get notified and later that week they conduct interviews. Then in the 3rd week of June the final results are announced. I had to do a phone interview with the team since I was still in Pittsburgh at the time.
CD@Work: Victor
Following the summer adventures of CMU Design students.
↑ Just another day at the office …
Last week, we had a company frog outing. It’s always a super fun getaway from the stresses of work. What I really take for granted is how friendly the people here at frog are. I haven’t worked at too many places but I don’t know many design firms where I can go out to a karaoke bar with my boss and belt out some (embarrassingly out of tune) hits. Maybe the real world isn’t that scary.
