The Beginning of an Internship

When starting something new, I think an important factor to consider is what you want to get from that adventure, how you want to grow as a person, and how you want to leave an impact through the work that you do. For me, I wanted to experience design in a real world context with people that truly love design and get to do work on projects that matter. That is exactly what I am doing now and I couldn’t be happier.

This past week I started an internship at co:lab, a design studio in Hartford, Connecticut! It has already had such an impact in the way I think about design and there is so much more to learn this summer.

Here is how they describe themselves:

CO:LAB is a branding company comprising thinkers, writers and designers.

WE ARE BRAND CATALYSTS : collaborating with companies going through or anticipating “change”, we uncover the critical spark—the true potential in the growth—and we help our clients celebrate their evolution. 

OUR CLIENTS benefit from our ability to bring their brand, products or services to life on a sustainable platform. We define the messages and images that will amplify their core values—the things that make them iconic. Our clients reap the rewards of creativity that grows out of real insights, that places them in a league without competition and with a market positioning that defies commoditization.

Each morning we meet in the conference room to figure out where all the projects are, what needs to get done that day, and what everyone is working on.

During this week I sat in on group discussions about projects that were already underway, worked on designing an email newsletter template and had a meeting with a client to demonstrate how it worked, we designed the tickets for AIGA Connecticut’s movie screening event series, and worked on a placeholder graphic for the AIGA Connecticut site. Also, I got an official co:lab email address, finally learned about slices and transparent PNG files for use online in Photoshop, and started to explore the co:lab brand and marketing materials.

Collaboration and process are the two things that I have started to focus on after experiencing them first hand this week. They are what I really love about the internship and about design in general. It is remarkable to be in an environment where there is such a great emphasis placed on both of them.

These are the two things that I have been wanting to embrace but have found it hard to in school. The past two years have been about making work as individual designers and artists, and while this is great because it allows you to explore your creativity, I find the model of collaboration to be much more logical, effective, and enjoyable. Luckily, this coming year at school there will be some collaboration and exploration of process as I start to take more classes in design.

There is a different feeling to actually be part of something in the real world. We aren’t just designing things to learn from our experiences as we do with assignments in school, rather there are real clients and the work is produced and printed. It’s a place where they all work from the heart and love what they do.

At co:lab I get to work along side four amazing people, all of whom I met over the past couple years on different occasions. First I met Troy at the Connecticut Art Directors Club Annual Student Conference when I was a senior in high school. He reviewed my portfolio, offered some great feedback, and I took the opportunity to invite co:lab to be part of Creative Grab Bag. That day Troy also had great things to say about the Hartford Art School which made me seriously start considering it as the place for me. Turned out it was. 

Constanza and I met when she was a senior at the Hartford Art School at the AIGA Design Legends Gala and later that year I was really impressed with her senior project. Her and I are now part of board at AIGA Connecticut together.

I met Rich when I joined the board for AIGA Connecticut at the end of my freshmen year. And Brian and I were introduced at an AIGA event a little while after.

Thanks to all them for what is sure to be a great experience over the next two months. During the internship I will be writing weekly posts focusing on what I am learning and thinking about.