Yikes tomorrow is August and my last post was the beginning of June, oopsies! I've tried to sit down and give you an update on the internships, but I've been so busy that I resorted to making notes in my sketchbook for when I found the time to actually sit down and write an update. I will not lie work has been a little overwhelming, some days I feel like I am in school. It really is nothing to complain about though considering I love everything I've been working on and I've been learning things that I would never learn sitting behind a desk in a classroom. There is especially nothing to complain about when you have at-least one tweet a day that says #ilovemyjob.... we all know that twitter doesn't lie! Trying to juggle two internships at the same time has definitely brought a couple challenges, but at the same time it has in no way been impossible to manage. I work at the EDC Monday, Tuesday, and then I go to the ECPC Wednesday, Thursday, and I split Friday's; morning's at the EDC and afternoons at the ECPC. Working at two different places gives my week a lot of different variety. At the EDC there are major long term projects as well as short little jobs that may need to be finished within the day. My boss came in to me the other day and said "can you fix this? ...and by the way you have 15min." So, I said sure READY SET GO! Whereas at the ECPC the work is more uniform, I usually have a good idea as to what I will be working on over the course of the day. The work is also different because it is mostly small ads, so in one day I may have worked on 20 different designs. Working two different places at two different paces keeps me on my feet. Some days are slower than others, but at the same time some days you have to settle with the notion that not everything will get done and that can be frustrating. The theme of last week was "due date was...yesterday." I don't know how many times I heard this and it was funny because I heard it at both the EDC and the ECPC. My advice is not to panic, you have to just take a deep breath open a new document and begin it is really not that bad. This last week at the EDC was exciting and I'm learning that designers get excited at the littlest things. I had sent off one of my major projects to the printer the week before and on Monday the proof had arrived!! It was so exciting to see my first "real" project in print form. What I mean about "real" is that instead of just printing one and handing it in for a grade, it will be printed in thousands and sent off to people across the country. The second project, a mailing piece, I had sent off to the printer did not go as smooth and had a few set backs. I just keep in mind everyday that this is a learning process, right? A major thing that I have learned in the past week while sending off files to the printer is how to prepare them. I had a number of different adjustments that I had to make to my files such as color corrections and bleeds. Also each printer has their own specifications on how they would like the files to be prepared. Being able to work one on one with the printers and requesting project quotes is frustrating at times, but it is great experience because it is not something you are taught in school and it will only benefit me in the future. Aside from dealing with printers the project I have been working on keep getting more exciting!! In just this last week I worked on a mailing flier, a magnetic notepad, and a billboard!!! The billboard is pretty exciting I can't wait to drive by it! I have also made some updates to the website and learned what a favicon is and that I will be designing one within the next couple weeks. I have also had the chance to get out and use my camera for a couple of different projects. The project that is being printed now features my pictures on every page including the cover making it even more personal to me. Aside from designing at work I have been trying to sketch as much as possible, above you'll see a little something I did on my lunch break in the park. I am also working on wedding invitations and always looking up new contests to enter. And aside from design entirely I have been keeping busy with my training for the Madison Mini Marathon in 3 weeks!!!! Life is good!
