Tonight, Monday January 28^th, concludes my first official week (10hrs of work) at my new internship at the Museum of Art Deland! So far I’m loving every minute of working there. Technically I started on the 16^th of January but my supervisor who coordinated my schedule told me that I was starting at the busiest time of their year and that the week of January 14^th and 21^st would be unique because the museum was having several special events going on in which I would observe and take part in. So week one and two was a little unusual because my work times were so scattered. During this time, I attended an orientation for the museum, a WordPress orientation, was able to see the new exhibition being put up, and went on runs with my supervisor to destinations such as banner delivery, the flier printer, and the museums downtown location. They have been keeping me super busy, which is great, and I’m getting to know everyone I work with. During this time, I have already gotten to utilize my photography and graphic design skills. I developed flyers to promote their upcoming Harlem Renaissance Film Festival Series coming January 31st, social media platforms, and museum cards. I was also able to attend their fundraiser gala event this past weekend and take photos to promote their Facebook. This was such a fun event and I was able to meet the museum director, the collector for their new exhibition, and some board members. Now that some of the events have past I have a set work schedule and know that in the upcoming weeks I will probably be working on some fliers, the museum website and some of the social media platforms. So far so good!!!

This week I started my internship on Monday. I was a bit nervous coming to intern for the agency, but my supervisor was very welcoming and had some tasks ready for me to do. This week I was doing some filing of paperwork, but also I was able to work with Photoshop and edit some images for the models’ composite cards. I was also asked to organize a little bit and make sure everything was in order, so that when people come in for the interviews, the office space would look neat and organized. I was also sending out emails and talking to different people to resolve any issues they had or answer any questions they had regarding this agency. At some point during my internship, my supervisor had to leave for a short time, and left me to keep doing my tasks, but then somebody who had an interview came in early for their appointment, and I didn’t really know what to do, but I was able to manage this situation and called my supervisor who told me to speak with them, make them feel  comfortable and provide any paperwork that they would have to fill out. Surprisingly, I was very communicable and confident, which for me is not always true and sometimes it’s hard for me to talk to people, since I am a little shy. I also got to be a part of a photo shoot and observe what really happens. I was able to see what type of styles are used for the comp cards, and also I witnessed how photographers work with babies and how they make them smile for pictures, in order to get a good shot. I was able to recall some skills I learned last semester from my DIGA 101 class and how lighting plays a big role in photographing as well as how photo editing should be done. This experience was rewarding, and I am glad that I could utilize skills learned in class towards this internship week. I liked that supervisor needed my input in editing and I also got a confidence boost from communicating with others. I hope after this internship, I would be more confident and comfortable with myself and this would be a big improvement for me.

With my time consuming and insane schedule, the weeks have continued to blur together and go by quickly. The semester will soon come to a close and with the upcoming portfolio assignment things have been hectic. It’s really forced me to take a step back and recognize how I spend my time and what I should be prioritizing between studying for finals, work, projects, and reading assignments.

As far as my internship at the marketing office is concerned, I feel like I have made improvements in my work and my ability to judge what is needed for different projects. At the moment my task at hand is to design an infographic for a new program that Stetson is working out the fine details of. Essentially it’s a way to give incentive for graduating high schoolers to apply and start their college career at Stetson, and it has definitely brought some challenges.

I’ve been pushed to use outside sources for different pieces of the project, which has been tough for me as I usually try to create everything from scratch. I can say though that it does take some time out of the process and tends to keep everything in the same art style. Before starting this internship I assumed that most creators design graphics from the bottom, up but on the contrary they use resources from Adobe Stock and various stock image websites and take inspiration from all realms of the internet and publishers.

Looking back at my progress throughout the semester (both in the internship and in my digital art class), I’m pleased with what I’ve learned and feel as if I have a better sense of reality in what to expect in my career field. 

So last week I did not post anything because unfortunately I wasn’t given a new project. My internship is based out of California as you know and my bosses were evacuated so they had a lot going on. However, before they were evacuated I was asked to design some graphics as they are doing a twelve days of Christmas giveaway. They shared some files on google drive that was a collection of holiday graphics that they had purchased. This packet included letters but not numbers, and since a twelve day giveaway is centered on numbers I had to design my own numbers based off of the designs they provided me with for reference. They wanted me to design them in Canva because they have a group on their to share documents so I began work on that, but didn’t receive any feedback since they were dealing with the fires in California. Thankfully they and their homes were safe from the fire but many of their friends were effected. Once they had that all figured out I finally received some feedback from my first design. Heather said she liked the design but wanted it formatted differently and wanted to focus more on the numbers rather than SHE as I had assumed, as well as wanting a different color palette. So it was back to the drawing board and I changed my colors from soft sunset colors to a cold wintery color palette. After doing this Heather was happy with the design and we were able to speak at our weekly conference call where she asked me to make the design in different sizes so they can post them on all of their different social media platforms. Lastly, since she like the style and layout she then assigned me for this week to continue my work on this and begin making a graphic very every one of the twelve days.

Although this is my first week of posting, this is not the first week of my internship! I started working for them over a month ago now, but it’s still just as exciting as when I first began. This past week was a hectic one as usually, we have conference calls every Tuesday, meaning my work is due every Tuesday. However, this was not the case this week. This week they wanted to send out a PDF about coffee almost like a magazine, but they wanted it by Thursday. That meant I only had TWO days to compile and design a thirteen-page guidebook about coffee, which by the way I didn’t know too much about to begin with. Despite my lack of knowledge on coffee they provided me with a brief outline of what they wanted and I began my work on this guidebook. Despite the short deadline I was proud to say I was able to complete it to the best of my abilities and turn it in on time! By that Friday my boss Heather had been able to look over it and only made minor changes, and then this guidebook was sent out to their email list! After being able to complete that I was then assigned to design a shorter condensed version of this meaning they only wanted one to two pages rather than thirteen, but for this I was given a full week. Given a full week to complete this you would think it would have been easier, but in all honesty, I struggled more with these two condensed pages than I did with my thirteen pages and the short deadline. However, before this, I always thought that I didn’t work all to well under pressure but with this assignment I proved myself wrong. So overall this experience helped with my design skills, but also my confidence in myself to be able to get things done in a timely manner.

So this past week was my last week of my internship. I ran audio in the Student Center for the last time, and honestly I’m going to miss it. I finally feel like I’ve really started to get the hang of it, and the whole experience confirmed my interest in live sound. When I first started at Stetson, I thought I wanted to exclusively work in recording studios but the past few years have definitely opened my eyes to other things. I love live sound, and I even enjoy working in different areas (like lighting) sometimes too. 

The past couple of weeks also presented an unexpected opportunity as well. I mentioned to my supervisor awhile ago that I had an interest in graphic design and I’ve done some minor work in the past. Last week, he asked me to create an information packet for any volunteers that are interested in joining the music and tech team at the church. He gave me a rough sketch of the information and general layout he wanted, and let me roam free from there. I used Adobe Illustrator to create a foldable brochure that I think he was pretty happy with. It’s not entirely done, because the communications department has to review it and make any necessary changes, but the final product will be rolled out sometime over the next month. I thought this was a really cool part of my internship because I’ve always liked doing graphic design on the side and didn’t really think I would have a chance for that to play into this internship. 

Overall, I had an amazing time over the past couple of months and learned SO MUCH. I’ve also  developed a lot of relationships that I can already see will definitely be beneficial down the road. Working in this environment while being exposed to concepts I’ve learned and things that were entirely new to me definitely confirmed that I love this industry, and I’m excited for what’s to come after graduation!

My draft took slightly longer than I expected it to since I have yet to figure out how to diffuse the gradient for the backgrounds shadow in illustrator. This has so far created an issue with too harsh of a contrast of the colors I decided to go with, which were shades of orange, red, and yellow. I attempted to use the gradient tool alone, but I couldn’t get the angle just right no matter how much I played around with it.

I went over this issue with Joel in our meeting and he agreed that it didn’t suit the overall look. I got a lot of other feedback from him about the first draft during the meeting and I’ll admit I feel slightly discouraged, but now I have a lot to reflect on and learn from for other projects.

The main issues being the color palette which was compared to Halloween rather than a winter event. It also didn’t fit to the “Stetson brand”, which I wasn’t aware existed until noted by Sonja and they showed me the list of typical things that the school tries to stick to. Now that I know what the schools brand is I have a more specific idea of what I can work with and I’m starting fresh with a new concept and design thats minimalistic.

In reevaluating my font choices I have found a thinner sans-script font, in addition to a new graphic to replace my old hand-drawn illustration. Let’s hope my next design works out better than I imagined in my head.

The past week has been full of a lot of unexpected firsts. To begin with, I helped put together a cat 6 cable. We were using it for a connection to be able to monitor wireless microphones from a laptop. So, we took a cat 6 cable and cut off the end, and then uncoiled all of the colored wires inside and aligned them in the correct order.  After that, we fed the coiled wires into an RJ45 connector. This was kind of cool to actually physically put together something before we even got to the tech part of the project. It was a quick process, and the hardest part ended up being able to cut through the wires with the wire cutter we had. 

Another interesting thing I learned was about cameras and video switching. I learned all of the proper angles that things should be displayed from stage, and to be mindful to always keep the lower third of the image plain because the lyrics are always displayed there. Camera switching was a lot easier than I expected it to be. There’s one screen that shows you what you’re currently airing, and then another screen that has all of the other camera shots you can switch to. In order to switch, all you have to do is enter the number on the keyboard and press enter, and the image automatically fades to the new camera angle. I actually got to control this during a worship night we had on Tuesday. Even though it was really easy, I was still a little stressed I would somehow mess it up. Thankfully I didn’t!

The coolest part about this week happened out of nowhere. The band was rehearsing for the worship night, and our lighting guy noticed that some of the spotlights weren’t working correctly. They were on, but needed to be refocused manually. So, he had to go up in the catwalk to mess with them. He knows that I had been asking for weeks for a reason to go up there, and I finally had the chance! It was actually a lot scarier than I anticipated. The only way up is by a straight 90 degree ladder that just fades into pitch black darkness as you climb up. Literally, if the spotlights weren’t on to cast a slight shadow in the corner where the ladder was, I never would have found the ground of the catwalk. After gripping EXTREMELY tightly to each step, I finally made it up and had a pretty awesome view. We refocused the lights (which was literally just gently moving them) and I saw that this is also where we keep the projectors for our screens too. After watching rehearsal from a different perspective, we headed back down. It definitely took me awhile to hit real ground again, but when I finally did, I have to admit I was pretty relieved. Although it was a little scary climbing up and down the ladder, going up in the catwalk was totally an amazing experience. 

Today was the day that I finally got to go over my Yule Log sketches with my advisor Joel Jones, and we decided to lean towards the first version I created. The first sketch included what I envision to be a newer look for the event in comparison to past flyers. The main focus being an illustrated graphic of a fire that would cast a light on to a 3D extruded text with the bold font.

As I try to describe it in written word it seems complicated, but my goal is for it to be simple and seemingly rustic. Now that I have an approved sketch I have to start thinking about color and font types to use and I’m thinking of using a warm palette to play off of the light from the fire for vibrancy.

I also have to consider if I will be creating my own vector image in Illustrator or if I will find one through Adobe Stock like Joel showed me for the sake of saving time. So far it’s been difficult to find images of fire or a yule log that will go with the look that I’m trying to create, so for now I’m starting to make basic sketches in Illustrator.

My hope is to finish the first draft for Joel by Friday for our next meeting on Monday so I can get his opinion and maybe some help with what text should be included on the flyer. As of now I’m feeling optimistic in getting the project done fast and hope to find some fitting fonts.

So, I know it’s only been a few weeks but I think this past week has been my favorite part of my internship so far. On Friday, we had a kid’s event in the Adventureland Theater and I got to run sound all by myself. It was super simple though because we were basically just playing tracks and using two microphones, so it was pretty much just fader up/down and mute/unmute the whole time. However, on Tuesday I did get to help set up for a concert that we were having a few days later in the same room. We transformed the room from a simple stage set up to a stage ready for a full band. I helped extend the stage, put together a drum kit (for the first time ever, actually), set up mic stands and XLR cables for the mics, and watched one of my coworkers program lights for the set list.

The part that I really loved happened over the weekend. We had another middle school service, and this time the band was doing an acoustic set. Instead of a full band (vocals, keys, drums, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, and tracks), we just had vocals, two acoustic guitars, keys, ambient tracks, and a cajon. One of my supervisors is actually the worship leader for the middle school service, but he’s been out of commission lately because he fractured his knee. He’s been one of the main people teaching me the ins and outs of the Student Center, but this week he was out of town and left things in my hands. His girlfriend, Bri, also happens to be a worship leader, so she’s been filling in for him on stage. So this weekend she was basically my only lifeline if things got a little sticky from the sound end. We were both nervous because she’s still new to the church and isn’t entirely familiar with the room, and of course neither am I. Plus, there’s only so much she can help troubleshoot and guide me with once she’s onstage. Thankfully, we were both able to work together and everything went relatively smoothly. The only problem we encountered was that the acoustic guitar player’s guitar signal was super patchy and we couldn’t get it to cooperate. After some trouble shooting and testing different guitars, we realized it was his guitar and not the connection. Since it was an acoustic and relatively intimate set, we just let him play rhythm guitar unplugged alongside the band. 

I was really stressed when I first found out that I would be running sound essentially on my own, but to my surprise (and honestly, probably everyone else’s too), things went great! Bri was able to help me set up everything, and once we were up and running I was able to slowly but surely adjust everyone’s in-ear mix and find a good house mix that suited the acoustic vibe. I had been extremely nervous as soon as I found out I was on my own, but it turned out to be an awesome weekend!