Day Forty-Nine: Thursday 08.01.2013

As expected I created wireframes today and made a written outline of different options for content. The different options are varying degrees of change from the current content. I can see the splash page being more of a login page with a simple link to request more information. The current page has a lot of corporate catch phrases to describe what we do. I want to pare down this information no matter what, but it could be included if the page keeps the brochure style. 

I'm really happy with how the wireframes are going. Even though they are just rectangle boxes, I am mentally filling them out more. I make notes off to the side of the different options for each box and the overall layout has a more specific plan compared to how I normally do wireframes. I think this method will work much better when presenting to Chris, as well as make the step between wireframes and mock ups much smoother. I will be able to communicate my vision to Chris better and we are much more likely to be on the same page from start to finish.

This is a good example of a process of design that I learned about, but it makes way more sense in practice. In class I was designing for myself, I didn't think through my wireframes as much because I wasn't going to explain it to anyone. There may have been a brief class discussion, but for the most part this stage was largely for myself. Perhaps other students were better at making themselves slow down and utilize their wireframes as a map, but I breezed over them, excited to put together content. Now, I very quickly realized I needed to be specific in my plans, even though a wireframe is visually unspecific. This project is really exciting for me and I want it to go as smoothly as possible.

Day Forty-Eight: Wednesday 07.31.2013

Well, tomorrow is my last day of my internship according to my school paperwork. I plan on ending my journaling on this day as well so I will have enough time to compile everything in to the final "book". Unfortunately this means my reporting doesn't end on a nice clean point of finishing a project. In fact it ends almost the opposite, as I am just getting knee deep in a new project. 

Today I finished reading the article/book about homepage design. The end was mostly about how to place ad space, graphics to represent stocks and some other very unhelpful topics. However it has helped me know which stuff to cut out (press coverage) and I have a better idea of what I want to make prominent. I want to move the sign in button, but that's something that will definitely have to be cleared by Chris. I will go ahead and move it in my sketches, but I know there will be a discussion about it. I am also going to try and design with the idea of not moving it, but changing how the link looks. This way we have a couple of options and I will have a more open mind. The only other aspect that is a bit challenging is figuring out who exactly the audience is. My understanding is that it's mostly seed company consultants and growers coming to the page. There might be an investor or generally interested person here and there, but they are the minority. However, the call to action on the page is for this minority. That is why I want to move the 'Sign In' button down and put it next to the 'Request a Demo' button. Then it would be more with the standard of profile login websites. The user asks for a demo if he/she doesn't have an account, or just signs in. We'll see if Chris would agree with this or if he likes the current set up better.

Day Forty-Seven: Tuesday 07.30.2013

Today I tried to finish off the mock ups for Yield Environment. Kelly said she liked them and Tim agreed as well. I e-mailed Phil to see if I could "Finish" the project, or if I needed to wait until we had a certain column title checked off. I haven't gotten an answer yet (Phil has been in and out of the office), so I guess that will have to keep sitting as it is.

Besides that, I kept reading the article/book on homepage design. I am a little concerned with the development of this project. I am not entirely sure which parts to tackle first and how much of it do I just decide and how much do I try and talk through with Chris. It is larger, important projects like this that really make me wish that I was working under another designer more. I know Kelly is always willing to help, but I don't think she would know much more than me at this point. I think the thing I am missing at this point is the confidence in my position and skill. That's just something I need to be aware of and work on - I think I've said that exact sentence before.

Day Forty-Six: Monday 07.29.2013

Only three days left of documenting my internship! The time has gone fairly quickly, but I can't say that I will miss writing down what I do each day, it has become a pretty tedious task. However, it will be interesting to read back over everything and write a reflection. 

Today I continued reading the homepage design article and planning our new homepage. I would love to get this done by the end of the week and possibly include it in my practicum book, but I just don't think that's possible. Right now my goal will be to make more detailed wireframes and begin gathering and creating content. If I were to try and get much more done I think it would be rushed and definitely not up to par. 

I have found out a lot of good information about homepage design. Since my previous work experience was all at Taylor, I have very little information about what corporations want or expect. After just a couple days of research I understand a lot more; like why there is an About Us page or Contact Us and what type of information to list there. I would not have thought through how the information on those pages changes for each type of company. Also, I learned that having a designated "In the Press" page can encourage more coverage because journalists see you value their work. All of this is so interesting! I know our new page is going to be pretty simple, since our web presence is focused on the actual application. But, that does not take away from the value of knowing this and it will definitely help when explaining the design I come up with.

I know that I've said I think my education was missing a lot of web information. There is so much out there and I think we only skimmed the surface. However, this internship is a part of my education and I definitely think it helps prepare me for the corporate world. I am doing my internship a little out of order, normally I would take it before or during my senior year. Instead, I am taking it as my last class and I'm at the job that will become my full time career after the summer. Being in this position has made me very aware of how important real life experience is. You cannot understand how being a designer actually works in a class room. You can gain a lot of great tools and get really prepared, but it's not the real thing. Internships are just such an important stepping stone before a "real" job and I'm really happy that Taylor makes us do them. 

Day Forty-Five: Friday 07.26.2013

It's Friday!! Wooo! ...That's not as much fun to say outside of chapel. Nonetheless it is Friday and today was a great end to the week. I think I have completed the Yield Environment/Zone Edit mock up; it's at least at a point that I would greatly defend against changes. I haven't come up with a title for the expected yield range, every so often someone pitches a new idea, but none have worked yet. Otherwise I really like the layout, it's clean and organized, there is clear hierarchy and I think the user will be able to quickly adjust.

The rest of today I continued reading the article about homepage design. It is very long and tedious, but I am getting some good notes from it so I definitely think it's work my time. I take some breaks and peruse the web for visual examples of good homepages and jot down some content ideas. It helps me break up the content and digest it so I actually remember good points and weed out inapplicable things. I also caught up on my practicum documentation and timesheet entries. I will be sending in my internship book next weekend, so I wanted to take some time to make sure everything was in order. I collected previous weeks form my sent mail, sense I lost the original files with my hard drive, and made sure their formatting was correct. This way when I set up the book to be sent I can focus more on the design/layout and get my images of my work together and not worry too much about the copy.

Day Forty-Four: Thursday 07.25.2013

Since this week ended up being a little mixed up, today was the day I worked from home. Being able to work from my (new!) couch was so wonderful and ended up being perfect. I had no idea how tired I had been, but it felt great to lean in to a comfy couch while working. I embraced the relaxing feeling all day and took it kind of easy. I continued reading various articles about homepage design, focusing mainly on one from Nielsen and Norman Group. I've come across other helpful articles from them, and the one I read today was more like a book. It's 113 Design Guidelines for Homepage Usability and I know I will have lots of useful notes to work from. 

I've said this before, but I think web design principles is a topic really lacking from my education. I took Web Design, but that was focused on how to make menus and a basic web page. I would like a class more like Visual Communications, but focused on the web. The principles I'm reading about now are really helpful and very web specific, they are not something I could transfer from basic design classes. I'm learning about usability, what a business will want and how that might not be best for design purposes, especially when it comes to advertising for partners. I've also learned about the benefit of having some kind of call to action with a button or some other action the user will do. This makes perfect sense, but with nature of our site I might not have included it, or made it a less prominent feature.

Day Forty-Three: Wednesday 07.24.2013

Wednesdays are normally my day to work from home, but since Chris is in town for a short time we all came in. He didn't actually need me there, but I figured I'd change my day just in case. 

I hit a bit of a slow spot with mock ups and decided to work more on the homepage design. Since I had found some interesting articles yesterday, I thought I would continue this research. I found lots of smaller articles, some really not helpful and one really great (long) one at the end of the day. I have not added to my sketches, but it is helping me know how to organize information and which pieces to cut out. Since my sketches were more like wireframes, I don't really need to adjust them at this point. I still want to keep the simple idea I started with, using three images and a tag line. However, now I know why this will be most successful and I have a better idea of what the pictures should be. 

Another thing I need to do is go and photograph more farm scenes. I had done this a couple weeks back and I got some amazing shots during the golden hour. Unfortunately that was included in the files I did not back up, so I have to redo them. I'm a little worried the corn will be too tall and I won't be able to find high enough ground to shoot from. However, if I can, I think the tassels on the corn will look really great with the sun setting.

Day Forty-Two: Tuesday 07.23.2012

After getting feedback from Tim today I set off to get these mock ups done. I ended up changing quite a bit today and put most of my time into discussing and editing them. I am really happy with where they stand, but I think there will be some more alignment adjustments. 

I started working on redesigning the homepage, something Chris had mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago. I started sketching some ideas and looking up information about good layouts. Right now we use the home page as a "splash page" and the user will only see it once, before logging on. However, other people who find our site may look to it for information about what MyFarms is and how to contact us. The current design is four different tabs the user can click through, each having a catch phrase about the process of increasing your yield by using MyFarms. The major problems I've identified are: the page doesn't clearly state what MyFarms is, it doesn't show how we are different from the competition, and there is way too much copy in each tab. Finally, there is a bar on the left that links to various articles/publications we are mentioned in. Chris explained to me that each of these publications are well known and help establish our credibility. I understand that, but right now they are too big and command too much attention. On top of that, they're kind of out of date and none of the recent ones focus on us. If I were a user and clicked one, I would not take the time to figure out why this link was important and where (or if) it talks about MyFarms.

Day Forty-One: Monday 07.22.2013

Today I emailed Phil and Tim to remind them about the mock ups I had done to see if we could make a decision. Both of them are pretty busy getting ready for the release later this week, but I started to get comments from Phil at the end of the day. I will remind Tim tomorrow and begin editing them from what Phil has written. 

Tim was in an out of town wedding this weekend, so we were gone on Friday. That day off helped me move on from from the branding project and the frustration with my computer. Today I reprioritized my to-do list and continued installing programs and trying to organize files. I also backed up current projects on to my google drive. This way if I am at home and can't access the shared drive, I'll still be able to work. Of course this is in addition to my local files and it will probably never actually be necessary.

Day Forty: Thursday 07.18.2013

Yesterday was a complete bust. My hard drive is gone, nothing could be salvaged. The worst part is that I hadn't backed up in a couple of weeks. So today I started from scratch to try and get the seed link icon done for the code freeze on Friday. This project somehow spun out of control in the last week with a major communication break down. The specifics of what was actually needed by Friday had been misinterpreted by all parties. The designers and developer had thought we were doing the general branded experience, but the logo was coming later. Management had gotten their wires crossed and seemed to communicate everything was due Friday, but it ended up only Chris was expecting this. It was really frustrating, especially combined with my computer breaking. I would get a call from Chris asking if he could see something, but I had nothing because of my computer. Plus, in the end (today) we decided to use a padlock icon from Font Awesome. I really like this final choice, but that means all my time was for nothing; or at least it feels like it.

The rest of today I did more mock ups and kind of remade the ones I had previously done. I got a little feedback, but I think this project will be stalled until development time. If I have some down time this next week I'll push for more conversation, but we'll see.

I am trying to carefully reflect on today because I don't want to be in this situation again, it was really frustrating. Most me thinks that this is just a one time situation and it will help me speak up earlier on in a project if I think I'm getting different directions. Before I had assumed the due date moved up and it just needed to get done. Next time I will ask why it's been moved up and make sure everyone working on this project is aware of the changes. I think it can be easy to assume that people know what's going on in a small company, but for now I will assume not.

Day Thirty-Nine: Tuesday 07.17.2013

Today my computer broke. It had been acting up the night before and in the morning it couldn't even handle two browsers being open. Tim thought we should run a memory test on it which would take a few hours, so I went home. He and Phil checked it again before lunch and decided the hard drive was corrupt. So I couldn't access any of my files and was out of commission the rest of the day. Chris called me in the afternoon (he's out of town) and we talked over the branding experience more. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication and he thought I was doing parts that Kelly was doing. I think we got it all straightened out; it's at least clear between Kelly and me.

Whenever Phil or Chris check in with me, I feel a ton of pressure to list lots of things I'm working on. I don't think they're expecting me to do this, I just finish the list so fast I question what I'm doing with my time. Design takes a lot of though and time spent on versions no one else will see. So when I tell someone what I'm doing, I'm going to skip over those parts or summarize the hours as, "I sketched a few ideas.." There are hours of work behind that tiny sentence, and that's kind of really frustrating.

Day Thirty-Eight: Monday 07.15.2013

This morning I came in bright and early to print off the brochures I made over the weekend. This project was a little different because I didn't check in with anyone before calling it done. I had Tim give me his opinion, but other than that I got to call it. This job was a little bit of a reality check because it wasn't something I was super proud of or anything that was terribly original. It made me realize that sometimes a brochure is just a brochure, and while it's not amazing and beautiful, it's also not bad. When I would do a class assignment the goal was always to create something amazing and ground breaking. However, that's not always going to be possible in the real world. It's not that I'm aiming for mediocrity, I have just realized that setting my goals so high will lead to a lot of frustration and probably no sleep.

The afternoon I continued to work on the icon for seed company links. I'm getting a little frustrated with this because the final product is going to be very small and my illustration just isn't translating. We also had a meeting for new employees and "unaware" employees to go further in depth with the placement program. Those of us who don't constantly work on the code don't necessarily know how exactly it's being used and what each input variable means. The meeting was to go (thoroughly) over the raw data and algorithm of the placement program. Just about everything is clear to me now; I can see how each company can adjust the inputs and why they use what they do. I also understand some of the problems the developers have been handling, especially the bad data. I really appreciate knowing this because I think it's important for me to thoroughly understand how we work and why seed companies use us.

Day Thirty-Seven: Friday 07.12.2013

Today was an odd day of schedules getting changed and mixing up. The showcase had been a long 13 hour day, so all of us who went were in a weird fog today. Originally there had been multiple meetings scheduled for the afternoon, two for both Tim and me. We usually have just one a week and these were in addition to that one. However, one meeting ended up being short and casual. It is called Tech Time and it's just a scheduled time for Tim to update all of us about any new features or answer questions about the framework. The second meeting was canceled for both of us, even though they were two seperate, unrelated meetings.  

I worked on the icon for the seed company links some more, I also read back through some changes suggested on the mock ups I had done. At the end of the day I was given a brochure to design for Monday that will be a guide for seed consultants at Mustang Seeds. I'm actually really happy that this was handed to me, because it was another project that our support guy had done himself. I will complete it this weekend and print it Monday morning.

Day Thirty-Six: Thursday 07.11.2013

A few weeks ago Chris told us the Indy Innovation Showcase would be July 11 and anyone who wanted to come was more than welcome. I immediately said yes because I thought it would give me a really good idea of how Chris networks and presents MyFarms. All of this was true, but I kind of overlooked the fact that I would be there representing the company as well... I would have to make pitches and talk to investors. Oh boy was that a big oversight. That reality check came during practice when I was not entirely sure how to do a field placement. I made sure to shadow the others as the day went on and by the afternoon I was much more confident. I ended up pitching solo to 4 different people, one of whom made sure to exchange business cards. 

It was a really interesting atmosphere, one that is entirely different from any academic fair. Everyone there was in business and was passionate and intentional about being heard. I am not a schmooze-y person, so it was a little overwhelming being surrounded by good talkers and being expected to be one. 

One company I was really impressed with was Adproval. They had an amazing design campaign that seriously stood out from all the other booths. Everyone had nice printed signs, some had some form of a screen to show off their product. However, this company had just hand painted words on a black board. The sign was not only really questionable looking, but they also hung it sideways. It was amazing! You noticed it right away because it completely stood out, and you took the time to read it because you're thinking, "Which company made such a crummy sign?" It was completely memorable and made you want to go talk to the guy and hear what exactly the company was doing.

The setting also made me really happy that I have a grounded, Christian boss. He is determined and hard working, but he will not play games or put us in any uncomfortable situations. I noticed some booths pretty clearly used the attractive girl from the office to draw in interest and keep investors listening. Also, there was a bar open at the end and it wasn't such a big deal to us. The guys had a drink, but it was never uncomfortable or concerning that someone would drink too much. It made me really grateful for this company and my position in it.

Day Thirty-Five: Wednesday 07.10.2013

Today was my day at home and it was a distracted one. We found out on Monday that we were going to get possession of our house on Tuesday or Wednesday; so we were both antsy waiting to get a call to pick up the keys. On top of that my new phone came today... so today was kind of a half day.

I worked on the icon for the general link. Phil set up a story for me on tracker to work on that and discuss it, like we did with mock ups. Logos are not my strength, I tend to go with the obvious. For this icon I'm trying to challenge myself and work out the bad ideas first. This is ending up like the 101 challenge from Visual Communications. I think I will end up making a bunch of these little icons and putting them all up on my white board. This way i can cross out the bad ones and then get feedback from others.

Day Thirty-Four: Tuesday 07.09.2013

Half of today was spent working on mock ups and the other half was spent on the icon for links from seed company's sites. We also had a meeting about how to handle "The Branded Experience" for seed companies. Kelly had done mock ups for this and we (Chris, Phil, Kelly and I) had been commenting and discussing. After a few days of this we had deicded to just sit down and talk through the different ideas. Chris had also created a few of his own mock ups that he and I had talked over on Monday. We came up with a game plan and Kelly will be working on those mock ups further.

It's a little hard for me to understand the direction we're going with the branded experience. Right now we're changing the website layout to highlight the seed company's logo. The trouble we're dealing with is how to place our logo so that it doesn't clutter or unalign the header bar and to not be too small. In class we always focused on treating your brand with highest importance and why it was important to not downplay it. We're not doing the opposite of that, but it sort of feels like it. My gut reaction was to say "NO! DON'T DO THIS!" but as I listened to Chris and thought about it more, I agree with his goal. Now my problem is making sure the end product is balanced and purposeful. It's easy to just agree with Chris and put things where he says, but I don't think that's being a good designer. The main point is, we're heading in to unfamiliar ground and I'm trying to make sure I have secure footing.

Day Thirty-Three: Monday 07.08.2013

Happy Monday! I started my day by preparing to work on tutorials, only to find out I had some mock ups to create. This was a nice change of pace and it's a task that will be pretty common later on. The project was to  mock up a menu that combines two (currently separate) menus. I needed to keep continuity with the other menus, but I could choose how to do the headers, alignment and I could suggest a change of input method. I created three choices and talked them over with Tim, Phil commented on them on our tracker. Later in the day Phil asked me to add another piece of information, so I did this as well. I ended the day with 5 mock ups and a tentative decision on one of them. However, this project is in the "Icebox" right now, so we might change things once it becomes a working project. We shared these images and commented through Pivotal Tracker which is what we use for our job process. I have not been using this previously, it seems more targeted for developers. However, after seeing how fast the response can be, I might go ahead and post work there.

In between the mock ups work I continued creating more ideas for the general button. I am trying to create something interesting with our name on it. I am also still working on creating an image with a safe (as Chris had originally wanted), but none of them are clearly relating to us. As I said before, there is no deadline on this, just as soon as possible. The mock ups on the other hand were and open-shut situation, which is why I did them first.

Mock ups are kind of time consuming, but I gain a lot of knowledge about functionality and information our site is providing. In creating the new menu I had to talk through the pieces with Tim about what the user would be expecting the data to do and which parts would be used.

Day Thirty-Two: Friday 07.05.2013

Somehow it was harder to get up today than it is on a Monday. Once Tim and I were up we were both pretty unfocused, so we packed up and went to Starbucks. I decided to work on the button for seed companies to use that links to our site. Each seed company calls us something different, because to them we are a tool/service that they brand individually. I don't quite understand why we do it this way, but I just have to make some sort of outline or graphic to have next to all the links. Chris doesn't necessarily want it to be our logo, he wants something like a safe. I am trying some options that might have a more direct link with our brand and then we'll talk them over. We actually aren't even sure if seed companies would be okay with using this, so it probably needs to be on the neutral side.

In the evening I headed to the office to take care of our bunny. With everyone being away for four days I wanted to at least get her some water and exercise. Tim came with me and we timed the trip to head back during sunset so I could take some more pictures for the overview document. I shot non-specific farmland, just in case someone would have a problem with their barn or house in the background. I got some really great shots, the sunset was amazing! The sky was so orange and the clouds were really cool and streaky with darker colors. I will edit them on Monday and try to get the document put together. 

Day Thirty-One: Wednesday 07.03.2013

Wednesdays are when I normally work from home, but this week has changed around because of the holiday, so I will be at home on Friday instead. I continued working on JQuery and I actually finished this afternoon. Apparently I was wrong in thinking it would take me a while to complete. I think I have a solid grasp on it, but I think I'll be looking up more information when I have to work with it. That is fine with me, I actually expect to do that a lot once I'm working on our site. Whenever I start coding again I look up a lot of things just to make sure I am doing things right the first time, so I avoid wasted time debugging later on.

After I finished JQuery I went to the Project section which uses the past three languages to create something.  I had anticipated this section taking quite a bit of time, but I was once again wrong. I actually finished it this afternoon after a couple hours. I had thought I would have to review quite a bit, but they had very clear instructions and set it up so you won't get stuck. Also, half of the projects were under development so I couldn't do them... that was probably the main reason it went fast. 

I still plan on doing php next, I haven't worked with that since I was in IAD (Interactive Application Development). It's a server language, but it's very useful and straightforward. I know we use it and even if I don't edit it, it will be helpful to understand.

Overall work has been going well. I started to feel like I was spending too much time on these tutorials, but I know they will need to get done and nothing else is pressing. Today Kelly showed me how we do mock-ups and I think I will be doing some of those for Tim. It's essentially taking screenshots and moving elements around in Photoshop. I definitely think that the design work expected of me is pretty simple, so I am trying to stretch myself and think beyond the current outlines. Hopefully this will show through with the overview page and the homepage on the website. The deliverables page was good, but I want to improve with each project, so hopefully these will be even better.

Day Thirty: Tuesday 07.02.2013

This morning I wanted to take a break from tutorials, so I went back to working on the overview page. I started by looking through the photos again and editing a few more. I am not thrilled with how they turned out, especially to use with my original plan. It is times like this that I wish I would have taken more photography classes... but nothing I can do about that now. I thought I should explore other layouts to see if there is something that would work with the photos better. While browsing through google I realized I had been stuck on an 8.5x11 portrait layout. I found two layouts that I really liked, one is a simple landscape layout with three images going across and the other is a tri-fold but with the outer flaps folded like doors. I think the latter could look cool with an interesting edge using the hexagons. After this exploration I realized how important it will be for me to push myself and break out of the box with layouts. I can usually be creative on a plain page, but I don't always turn the page or cut it down or fold it. It was easier to think this creatively in class because assignments were set up to be that way. However, when Chris brings me something he doesn't have that same expectations and somehow that caused me to forget to be creative in this way. I plan on going with each of these ideas, as well as the original and then get Chris's feedback.

In the afternoon I went back to the tutorials. I am still on the JQuery section and I think it will last a bit longer, like Javascript. There are fewer lessons, but it is definitely a language I don't know well. I am making sure to take my time and ask Tim lots of questions because I know we use it quite a bit. I also think it's something I will be expected to work with and edit, not just read through and work around; which is what I expect to happen with php. After JQuery I plan on doing a section called "Projects" which I understand to be developing web sites/applications using html, css, JQuery and Javascript. Then I will do php and Python, although I think I'll do the latter more on my own time. I don't think we use it much, if at all, so I don't want to take too much time away from other things for it.

Day Twenty-Nine: Monday 07.01.2013

Happy July! This morning I spent a fair amount of time updating my intern journal; I had forgotten a couple of days and the others needed editing. I usually end up revising them a bit on mondays, but since I had skipped a couple days it took a bit longer. I also did some other documentation things, like time sheets and checking on other practicum requirements.

The rest of the day I worked on JQuery tutorials. This has proved to be a really good section to work on. Whenever I have used JQuery I would use plug ins, so a lot of the heavy lifting was done for me. The lessons help explain how exactly JQuery is different from Javascript and how to use it correctly. Even if I don't end up using JQuery here, this has definitely been helpful for me and I know I'll use it down the road. I am really grateful for my background in computer science, it makes the lessons on Codecademy make a lot more sense and I can more easily translate concepts. It also helps by giving me a foundation/starting point when talking with Tim or any of the other developers. Usually the technical conversations don't involve me, but I can pick up on what they're talking about. I can also pipe in and voice why designing sometime might be best in a way that will carry more weight. 

This is an area I wish the Taylor Art Department would cover more. I bring it up only because this was a point we are encouraged to cover in our journals. I think I'm well equipped on the coding side because of my previous major, but there were times I was shocked by things my art classmates didn't know. I think understanding some broader coding concepts could be so helpful, especially in the job market. It was one of the biggest selling points I felt I had, and one that I thought would help me stand out. I've always thought it would be awesome if there was a year long class for graphic design and new media concentrations (and perhaps some from media comm), where they learned design principles for the web as well as coding principles of html, css, Javascript, JQuery and probably some others. Then, on teams of mixed majors they would design and develop a website for a client so they can help each other and use the lessons in real life. I can't image the amount of planning and restructuring the majors that would take, but I think it would be awesome. 

Day Twenty-Eight: Friday 06.28.2013

Today I finished html tutorials! This one, as expected, went extremely fast. It was all review for me, including the more complex css. The one section that felt like a necessary refresher was the position property in css.

I also worked on something else today - I edited a picture for our support guy to use on a document to a seed company. Does that sentence sound strange to anyone else? We have two designers here, I think at least one of us should look over a spread before sending it to one of our clients. In my opinion, all exiting documents are a marketing piece and as a young company we need to take advantage of each of them. We should at least make sure our brand is consistent and communicates a high level of quality and professionalism. No offense to our support guy, but text boxes in Word doesn't say high quality. I have the entire Adobe suite, let me use it! This is something I will pay closer attention to so I can bring it up to Phil next time. Tim and I were discussing it and we think it would be best if I were more straight forward with my perfectionist designer brain. Tim and I both agreed that as the company grows it will be important that people stick to their focused area and go to others if their project needs another area of expertise. And for something like design, that isn't always clear and often people think they can pull together a layout themselves. Like I said before, it's probably sufficient, but it could be better and when there are two designers already being paid they should be used.

I also put together a to-do list for myself since I have quite a few abstract jobs that I could be working on. I often forget about them when I could use them as a little break from tutorials. That list includes the general logo/button for seed companies to use, the home page redesign, blog layouts and to push forward with the overview page.

Day Twenty-Seven: Thursday 06.27.2013

I finished javascript tutorials!! Hooray! I hit this "milestone" a little before lunch and it was absolutely wonderful. From here I had to decide whether or not to go all the way back and do the html and css section or to completely forget this and do the jQuery sections. I looked over the section titles of html and thought it might be good to review, it definitely couldn't hurt anything. As I started the lessons I realized it was extremely easy and it definitely wouldn't take me long to get through. By the end of the day I was almost half way done and was still going strong. The lessons start with basic html and then goes to simple in line css and finally external css files. Those were what I completed today and the in line css was the most helpful, but still just a simple review.

Day Twenty-Six: Wednesday 06.26.2013

Today I worked from home... on tutorials. However, I ended the day being suuuuper close to finishing Javascript. The office has been really stuffy lately, so I thought my cooler apartment would help me focus better. This proved false, but mostly because I hit some tough lessons on objects. Being at home ended up being a good thing because Tim was literally right next to me. He was able to help me when I was stuck, as well as talk through concepts after I finished their lessons. This helped smooth out any unclear details and I would not have been able to talk with him as much in the office. Another good thing about working from home was being able to take longer breaks and work through the evening. I completed the same amount of hours, but at a much more relaxed pace.

Day Twenty-Five: Tuesday 06.25.2013

Today I just continued to plug away on the Javascript tutorials. We had a team meeting to catch everyone up on what each of us are doing. For me, it was kind of nice to hear, but I still don't really know how our system works, so specific descriptions went over my head. I have also quickly learned that I like to push through meetings, no matter how enjoyable the company may be. So little comments or side conversations really got on my nerves. However, this company has a very laid back atmosphere and I will have to learn to adjust. Perhaps after being here longer and working on the tech side I will appreciate them more.

I have been working here for just a little over a month, but I've learned so much about myself, about the business world and how to work with others. Mostly I have learned it's not what I expected, nor what I experienced previously. I had a full time summer job in IT and I thought this job would be fairly similar, at least in how things are run and the general atmosphere. It is completely different! I actually find that my bosses are more supportive and encouraging. Not only is Phil a good friend, but he and Chris genuinely care how we are all doing in our personal lives. There is a greater sense of community and it is just more cheerful and fun. We all talk to each other during the day and make jokes; there is even a quote board on the admin site. I found my previous job to be fairly stern, I didn't feel like I could leave my desk without a good reason. Now I can go get up to play darts, to make coffee and chat with others in the kitchen whenever I feel like it.

I apologize in advance, I think most of this week will be reflective because I am just doing tutorials. I am still on Javascript, which is frustrating... On one hand it's really good, because I have discovered it did not know about Javascript objects, but on the other hand I don't know them, so I get stuck! Fortunately Tim can help me and he's very patient with me. Plus, I don't mind being straightforward even when I know I'm being dense. In past jobs I would shy away from asking for help because I thought was being annoying or I knew I just wasn't getting a concept when I knew it had to be obvious. For me, working with my husband in these situations is a huge plus. I can be blunt with him and I know he'll be equally tact with me.

Day Twenty-Four: Monday 06.24.2013

This week Chris is out of the office, so we're all pretty quiet at our desks just working away. I decided this would be a good time to devote a couple of days to finishing Codecademy tutorials. I really want to push through Javascript; I don't have a whole lot left and I know this will be a low priority later on. When I get done with my design assignments I will be working on the front end of the site, so I will need to be mostly done with these tutorials. However, when I'm nearing the end of a design project I know all my attention will be on that project and not the tutorials. So my fear is I'll push through the designs and then have all the tutorials waiting before I can move on. 

I have found that I get stuck on the tutorials after so many hours and I end up beating a dead horse. Working on them now lets me bounce back and forth between them and designs when I'm stuck. I think I get stuck so much because I haven't had to think this way (for hours on end) in a long time. I just need to condition my brain back to a code mind frame, but that will take some time.

I really appreciate this job because I have quite a bit of autonomy. Phil and Chris will check in, but it is up to me to decide what to work on for the day. As long as I don't have pressing deadlines and I am working on the projects, I can manage my time however I want. I appreciate this a lot, especially as an intern. The other two internships I was deciding between were going to have about the same freedom, but I know that's rare. 

Day Twenty-Three: Friday 06.21.2013

Yesterday I stayed home sick with some bad stomach pains. Today I was back in the office, although Tim and I came in late because I had to rent a tripod for Chris at the ETC. He is going to be filming some interviews while he's traveling next week. Those will be used for the home page video along with some other footage that we'll do after he comes back. I really appreciate how quickly Chris moves on these concepts and gets them going at full speed. I don't know why I expected him to think about them more or just wait, but it's a nice reality.

After finishing the coverpage Chris asked if we could do some kind of heading or border as well. (I mentioned this on Tuesday's post.) Today I put those ideas in to practice and used a document we had on the network drive to print with. I ended up using an extremely simple green line to separate our logo from the content and that was all. The pages are completely filled with copy and sometimes screenshots, so adding an unnecessary graphic element on the corners/top greatly unbalanced the page. I sent Chris what I had done and explained how other options made it hard for the eye to flow down the page and maintain hierarchy. I have not heard back from him, so hopefully we can expand on that conversation.

Sometimes I feel like I tell Chris no a lot and I feel like maybe that's not right, but I make sure to check myself a lot and think through all other possibilities. I think this comes from a lack of experience, which creates an unsure confidence. I pray that my anxiousness will go down and that I'll soak in all that this job opportunity has for me. I know God has put me here, I know this work is honoring to Him and that is what I should be most concerned about.

On a side note, Tim and I closed on our house!! It's so exciting! We'll move in the middle of July and I can't wait!

Day Twenty-Two: Wednesday 06.19.2013

Today is my day at home and I focused on getting through some more tutorials. I am still working in javascript, but now I'm in the different kinds of loops. This is still review, but it's a little more challenging and a good reminder that this doesn't come as easy as it used to. 

On a side note Tim and I are closing on our house on Friday, so there's lots of paperwork and such things to get figured out beforehand. Including making sure we won't have to leave our apartment too soon.

Day Twenty-One: Tuesday 06.18.2013

Today I worked on the last adjustment for the coverpage. I ended up changing the background gradients to be a bit stronger and adding a couple of highlights around the edge of the main hexagon. Chris loved the final result and I loved checking it off (I liked the design too). He asked if I could come up with some ideas for a header or border for the content pages.

Later in the day Chris showed me the new Google page for project Loon. It's really interesting and the design of the site is really well done. Chris was intrigued by the video they have on the home page and asked if I thought we could pull off something like it. I enjoyed it a lot, but the style wasn't quite right for us. We talked it over and decided to go with another format, but to still do a video. I think the final product will fit really nicely on our home page, which is on my list to do.

In the afternoon we had a team meeting to talk over some changes in Pivotal Tracker, which is the application we use to assign and keep track of projects. This did not really apply to me since I'm actually not getting my assignments from there, but I will use later on. At the end of the meeting Chris talked to everyone about his blog idea. Some critiques were given, I e-mailed Chris a couple of articles I had found online about corporate blogs. Right now we're trying to figure out what the mood and writing style will be; so nothing for me specifically yet.

Day Twenty: Monday 06.17.2013

This morning I worked hard on editing the rest of the pictures. I had take just over 100 shots, so I had a lot to work through. I did not bother editing all of them, some were too similar, some had weird lighting from the clouds and in others the models were blinking. I still want to go back out sometime with Phil and go during sunset. I have been trying to look up about rules of photographing any farm land for business purposes. Is it okay if the image has some one's barn or house in the distance? Do I need their permission? I haven't found anything, I think I'll ask Chris to see if he has any idea. I'm thinking their farm doesn't have a lot of high points to work from, but maybe further from the house there could be something.

In the afternoon I finished the coverpage and sent the word document to Chris. I have it set up so the background and our logo is one embeded image and then there are text boxes for the content he'll be adjusting. There is also a lot of space to drop in the logo of the company it will be delivered to. Chris was happy with is and asked if I could work on one part, but he'll use what I gave him. The hard part of being in a new job is learning how to read your boss. I didn't get the feeling that he was super pleased, but perhaps that is normal? I will just roll with it and try to keep reading what he's thinking as we go. When I've thought that he wasn't ecstatic before he has come back to me within a day and asked for changes. As long as I can anticipate a change like that, I'll be fine. It's helpful to work with Tim, because I can check with him on what's normal around here. I am an intern so I don't always like to speak up, but Tim is encouraging and reminds me that it's an even field here and Chris would be happy to get my true opinion.

I ended the day with more tutorials on codecademy.com. I like checking things off lists, it helps me feel like I'm making progress. These tutorials are great at that as each section is divided in to many achievements. This all adds up for me since the other projects are a slower process.

Day Nineteen: Friday 06.14.2013

Today was a short day and I spent most of it editing photos. In reviewing them, I'm even more sure Phil and I should go out again, but there were some good ones. I worked on color correction, I'll do artistic changes later on when I can tell which pictures are best. In the afternoon I took a "break" and worked on more javascript tutorials. In the afternoon I sent a few of the pictures to Chris so he could see where we're at with those. Then I worked on the coverpage so that I could be finishing it.

Day Eighteen: Thursday 06.13.2013

In the morning today I worked on more tutorials. I am now on arrays, still in javascript. After lunch Chris and I caught up on what I had been doing and talked over the coverpages. He chose one, with only a few small changes to be made. He also talked to me about some future plans so that I can be brainstorming ideas. We also set up a time to go out this afternoon and shoot the farm. While on the way we talked more about future plans and what else I can be working on. This included a splash page fro the website and a small logo for other companies to use. Both of these are things that I can be sketching and working on, but aren't pressing.

Photographing went alright. The sun was a little harsh since we went at 3pm, but I got some good shots. I had brought a tripd, but the fields were muddy and I was moving around so much that I never used it. I think Phil and I will probably go back out again at some time, but around sunset.

Day Seventeen: Wednesday 06.12.2013

Wednesday is my day at home and I spent it working on tutorials. It was a simple day, I sat in my living room and worked through javascript. I made it through functions with no problems.

Day Sixteen: Tuesday 06.11.2013

After spending most of the morning finalizing four coverpages, I printed them and put them up on the whiteboard. After this I sat back and listed necessary corrections below them and other points that could be checked. Tim was free so I asked for his opinion, as well as Kelly (she's the other graphic designer). A couple other people around the office piped in with their opinions and from here I worked on corrections. I printed the new versions, made corrections to two more, nixed one and ended up with three "final" versions. I will wait for Chris's input from here to proceed.

Chris was out of the office and I knew I would be working from home tomorrow, so I asked Phil what I could work on in the mean time. I have hit a few other points like this and I would like a small job that I could fill waiting time with, rather than reworking a design or just making small tweaks. Phil said I could work on reading documentation and practicing on my javascript and css and some other things that Tim is writing up. Kelly pointed me to codecademy.com for tutorials and I started in basic javascript. It's been review, but it's good to brush up.

Day Fifteen: Monday 06.10.2013

Today I continued to work on the coverpage. I found that sketching simple layouts does not help me, nor do they translate well to digital. This means I am working in illustrator on various graphic elements. I am doing it this way because Chris will have to edit/enter content with Microsoft Word. This means I need the type layout to be simple and very basic font choices so it can't get messed up easily. It is important that I keep all of these aspects in mind, but still create in interesting layout. I will rely on the graphic elements to be the solid foundation and it will probably be the most creative piece.

Day Fourteen: Friday 06.07.2013

This morning I began working on the coverpage and was quickly interrupted by Chris to work on some images for Burrus. They are highlighting us on the back of their new Product Guide and needed updated screenshots. I photographed their summary report (something we generate for them that gets sent to their clients) and our iPad. Then I edited a screenshot of our site on to the iPad and fixed some of the colors and outlines. All of the photos took quite a bit of editing, so that ate up the rest of my day. I sent what I finished to Chris and gave him some reasoning on my designs because I knew they didn't look impressive. The page our info is going on is already nicely laid out and has a lot of texture and other partners' logos, so I knew our stuff needed to be super simple and well framed. However, when you see them alone, not on the spread, they look somewhat insignificant. It was nice to be able to check this off.

Day Thirteen: Thursday 06.07.2013

Today can be easily summarized: coverpage. I brainstormed all day long. I started creating things, I deleted them. I started sketching, I put down my pen after drawing the page outline. It was a challenge; one that I will still be contemplating tonight.

The end of day I worked on some expense reports for Chris. By this I mean I scanned and organized receipts. I was actually really nice to complete a project, mindless as it was.

Day Twelve: Wednesday 06.05.2013

Today is the day I work from home, and I am starting to get the hang of it. I worked on the coverpage, Chris ended up having some tweaks for it. Although. later in the afternoon he asked for me to come up with three entirely new concepts. I also worked on text boxes for the overview and getting the document prepped for pictures. Chris called me and said we will be shooting it tomorrow and the other ad idea next week. I was a little overwhelmed by the idea of shooting a large landscape since I have no professional experience with it. This evening I went and reserved the equipment (at the ETC), I will need two tripods and an HD camera for next week and then I took one tripod with me for tomorrow. Then I walked down Berry and practiced for about an hour during sunset.

Photographing for a layout is one of my favorite parts of designing, so I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Chris is getting the models together and we're using his family's farm for the setting. We'll head over at 4pm so he can show me the tractors available for next week and still have plenty of time to pick a spot to photograph. We'll then hang out until around 6, when the sun starts to set, and then I'll take the actual shots.

Day Eleven: Tuesday 06.04.2013

This morning I worked on the concept sketches for the overview. I had aimed for 5 and ended up with 7 total, 6 strong. After looking at how seed companies were creating content I thought photo imagery would fit best. However, to stand out I want to integrate content to one fluid picture, rather than using a different image for each concept. Chris ended up liking this concept the best, but still wanting to push more and be more daring. I am not entirely sure how to create an informational page that pushes the in-your-face concept. We decoded to go forward with what I had, but to try and view it as a starting place. 

With that in mind, this afternoon I kept coming back to a tag line I had thought of and wanted to think of strong imagery to go with it. Success came! Chris loved it and now we're thinking of how to shoot it. I won't go in to more detail, but it was an exciting break.

Day Ten: Monday 06.03.2013

I came in to work after lunch because I went to a doctor's appointment with Tim in the morning.

I talked with Chris about the direction he was looking for with the overview. On Friday he had said to create 5 totally new and different concepts for the overview. I needed more direction than this - what about the previous one was lacking; what direction exactly did he think, did it mean more of a re-branding; clarifying the target audience. All of this helped a bit, I will still create 5 new concepts and I'm going to stick to 3 styles. One is heavily graphic, the other photographic and the third is character driven. The first two styles will have two layouts each and the last only one. I will try and draw the layouts by hand, but if my sketches seam too rough I will create a comp with illustrator. I spent the rest of the day researching how the seed companies we work with present their information and writing outlines of the different pieces of the overview.

Day Nine: Friday 05.31.2013

Today I tweaked the illustrations I had created and the layout of the overview. They were not major changes, just playing with the gradients and spacing. Then I worked a little more on my work laptop to get it ready for me to begin working on. I won't actually start using it until we get Adobe set up on it. Also, JD thinks it will take at least a few days before he can get the image file de-bugged.

Today was kind of frustrating because I was really just waiting on feedback on the overview page. Chris was back, but he was catching up on e-mails and phone calls and Phil was out. I was at work the whole day, but really only productive for half of it.

Day Eight: Thursday 05.30.2013

This morning I put the final touches on the overview, looking over layout and rereading the content. I like where it stands, enough to send it off to Chris and Phil. I did that around 10 or 11, fully expecting a revision to be coming. However, I did not get feed back today because Chris was traveling home and Phil's wife had her baby!

The rest of the day I worked on getting my work laptop set up. I worked with the sys admin (JD) to get a virtual linux machine set up. However, we found the image file was corrupt, as well as the backup file. I will have to wait to finish that until he gets it fixed. Otherwise I worked on installing small programs like Notepad++ and some other non-necessary ones. I also had to install the correct touchpad driver because the laptop I have came with Windows 8 and Phil wiped that and put on 7 - so not all the drivers are correct.

After that I had around an hour left, so I filled the time by reading articles Phil had given me about precision seed planting and then I finished by tweaking the info-graphic.

Day Seven: Wednesday 05.29.2013

Another day of working at home, this Wednesday was more successful than last. In the morning I continued working on the tractor. Yesterday I had googled illustrated tractors, so I wanted to tweak my work based on some great simplified sketches. Those examples helped me pin point the important details to leave in and what to cut out while still clearly being a tractor.

Later in the afternoon I worked on the layout of the info-graphic. There are only three steps and I have 4" on the paper and the entire width (8"), but the last step is also three parts. This makes the illustration sizing kind of awkward to get everything to fit, plus room for arrows. The last step is just three rectangles and they end up being the focus and then the eye falls of the page - not okay! After adjusting the layout I went back to fiddling with the tractor. (I know I will have to go back to the layout again after the other parts are done.) I started with a more simplistic style, but it's too juvenile. MyFarms has a very professional, sleek, technological feel to it, but I am trying to not go overboard with that. The coverpage I made is very sleek; there are a lot of gradients and gray highlights. That page worked because there was minimal content and it would only be used once. The overview page is double sided and has a lot of content. I need it to feel sleek, but much more simplified. I've leaving more white space open and using small pops of green for the layout. The large image on the first page is a screen shot of the website, that obviously fits perfectly with the rest of the page. The info-graphic needs to be as seamless and I don't doubt I can get it there. Every time I take a step back I see it needs more detail to get rid of the block-y, vector feel. I want it to look digital, but in a very different way.

Day Six: Tuesday 05.28.2013

Another early morning back at work. This morning was a little slow, but around 10 o'clock I talked to Phil about the overview. Our conversation gave me a lot of good information and a clear direction of where to go. We also talked about the company and the expectations he and Chris have when assigning projects (especially open ended projects that I've received).

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent working more on the overview. Phil and I went over some of the content and hashed that out more. We looked over an article Chris had originally given me and then Phil gave me something else to read that might tie in better. Then I worked on the info-graphic for the back page. I'm trying to create something that is professional, yet friendly and gives a friendly and welcoming feel with the colors and line work. Part of this includes illustrating a tractor, and that (surprisingly) took the rest of the day.

The conversation with Phil was wonderfully helpful and motivating. This job is feeling more like my own position; I understand my current role better and what my future role can hold. I think it's a little different to come in a job to a company you're already a part of; the change from casual to professional isn't clear cut. That being said, it's not a bad thing to know everyone and have close friends already there.

Day Five: Friday 05.24.2013

Today went well, I finished the cover page and e-mailed that on to Phil and Chris. It seems to have gone over well. I haven't heard back from Chris, but I think if changes are needed they will be small. I will need to know what format they want it in before I can put it on the shared drive. I created it in Illustrator and InDesign, but I would guess that they will use Word when using it. Another issue I've had in the back of my mind: I think the printer they'll use willl not have a full bleed. This is just another aspect I want to check on before truely finishing.

The rest of the day I worked on the overview page. This did not go as smoothly as it did yesterday, but that is mostly because I'm struggling with figuring out what the content is exactly. I've been given plenty of information and places to research, but I don't khow the company well enough to pick out main headers that prospective clients want to know. Honestly, who the perspective clients are isn't entirely clear. This is something I will push to get help with on Monday. We ended the day early today to hang out in the back and start the long weekend early.

Day Four: Thursday 05.23.2013

Back in the office and today was much more productive. I got a lot of work done with the cover page. I swear I dream about ideas for this layout. I decided to hash out my two best sketches and see how the translated from drawings to digital. Both were tweaked along the way and by the afternoon were combined to one idea. I think this idea is getting really strong and I think I really broke through my mental block of being my own critique.

On Wednesday I had found lessons about using gradient meshes and "drawing inside" in Illustrator. I can't believe I didn't know how amazing both tools are! My entire morning was spent creating frames for information for the coverpage. I think I was a little slow since it's a new skill, but it's one I'm so excited to use more.

By the end of the day I had stared at the coverpage way too long. I switched back to working on the flyer and knew with an evening away I could easily finish the coverpage Friday morning. I only spent an hour on the flyer, but it just clicked. I changed the titles to be green and started playing with the header of the page. The previous design was three pages, so stapled together a reader could easily identify the start point. With just a one page (two sided) layout, I needed to make something that was more clear. I hadn't committed to this change before; but like I said, something about today just made things click. I committed to this decision of a main header and got a great logo treatment and design working. I will continue the infographic and other pieces on Friday.

Today was so much better. I was able to hit a good stride and stay focused and working hard all day. It was a good comeback from Wednesday and it'll help the week finish strong. I don't think I will finish both assignments this week. I will get the coverpage sent off to Chris (he's overseas right now) on Friday afternoon and aim to get the flyer in a state to get sent too. My goal is to finish these over the weekend so I can move on next week.

Day Three: Wednesday 05.22.2013

On Wednesday I worked from home. We all get this one day a week to stay at home so we don't have to drive all the way to Portland. I learned that I am not very productive when I'm at home. I just worked on sketches because I was still feeling stuck with the two assignments. I identified one major problem of mine, and that is that I tend to design trendy and colorful pieces. So narrowing down an assignment to professional and only using green, I got pretty stuck.

As I said, I didn't get much done today. I researched some tutorials with Illustrator that should help. Otherwise I sketched wireframes of layouts and that was about it. Definitely not a full day's worth of work. I will be figuring out a new plan for how to work from home and making up hours this weekend/evenings.

Day Two: Tuesday 05.21.2013

MyFarms is in Portland and Tim and I still live in Upland, so we carpool with three other people living here. This means that my day starts at 6:15 and I'm in the car by 7:20..ish - we're all slow in the morning. I haven't had an 8:00am class since... fall of 2011? Welcome to real life Tori.

On Tuesday I continued working on my two assignments. When I got stuck on one I switched over to the other. For the flyer/overview document I'm redoing the infographic about how the company connects the grower to seed companies. This is part of the new concept. The previous illustration was a simple graph chart and the new one needs to be "shiny" and illustrate the how we (the company) view the data as being high value. I've enjoyed talking with Chris (the company's founder and head boss) about how the company works and why he thinks it's better than anything else out there. This is where most of my research comes from, plus some articles and informational videos.

For the coverpage I came up with two concepts, both had cool vector headings, but simple layouts. I sent these along with what I had done on the flyer to Chris for some feedback. Today was essentially comps; I wanted to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Chris and I talked over what I'd done - we agreed the coverpage needed more structure. Each part of information should have its own place and this will also create a more dynamic page. I didn't get too much direction on the flyer, mostly that it just needed more: more color, different illustrations from what was used before and a more interesting layout with titles and such. I totally agreed with all of this and was happy to continue working on them.

Today was a good day of experiencing feedback from someone who is not an art professor. It made me realize that I knew what needed to be done and it was my job to just do it. While Chris was fine with seeing what I had and how I was working, he's not an art prof. His directions were helpful, but not as eye-opening as class feedback was. It was a good push for me to just go forward and trust my knowledge. However, this realization really came a day or so later. Initially I felt stuck and frustrated again about why these projects were taking me so long when they weren't too hard.

Day One: Monday 05.20.2013

This blog will be where I post my daily summaries of my summer internship/practicum. I am obviously not writing this on the day of, so a few are getting cranked out on the same day for this first week.

The first day was like most first days. There was some paper work for payroll, for Taylor and a "Know Your Goat Test". I kid you not. I was essentially give this image, but with blanks to fill in all the body parts. More seriously, I was given my first design assignment.

The company has a flyer/overview page that they take to various conventions and other networking opportunities. My job is to amp it up and apply a new concept to the information, one that will define us from the competition (no pressure right?). I was given a Word document that was the old flyer and I am using InDesign to construct the new one. On this day I really only got to researching and a couple of sketches. Now that I am working for the company I am realizing I have a lot to learn about what exactly we do to be able to translate that on to a flyer.

At the end of the day I was given a second assignment to create a cover page for any "deliverables". This page needs to have our company's logo, a space for the logo of the company being delivered to, the date, the document name and the name and contact info of who's sending it. There is no previous document for this one, my instructions were to just make it pop.

Just as a quick reflection on my day, it was really (unexpectedly) overwhelming. I wasn't given a deadline for these two assignments and since they didn't feel too far off from class assignments I thought I should be able to get it done by the end of the day. That definitely didn't happen - it's Friday and I'm still working on them. I don't think I realized what an adjustment it would be to leave the academic setting.