Raquel Reyes Interns at FSU’s Division of Student Affairs

From FSU Art BA ’18 Raquel Reyes:

“This Summer of 2018 I had the pleasure to work as a graphic design intern for the DSA (Division of Student Affairs) Marketing and Communications department, at Florida State University. The first week of my internship involved me going through tutorials to refresh my knowledge using creative cloud programs. After that I started assisting with actual design concepts for various departments at FSU, which included designing things like logos, t-shirts, posters, door hangers and snapchat geo-filters. Eventually, I was given the opportunity to communicate with one of our clients.

Before starting on a design, my co-interns and I would have to create a mood-board to show to our supervisors, Carmen and Kristen, as well as the client. Each assignment was very collaborative, so I was never really working on anything alone. For example, whenever my shift ended, my assignment would be given to someone else to pick up where I left off and vice versa. This was a great experience for working on my communication skills, to make sure everyone was on the same page. Because our tasks were very collaborative, I found it useful to leave sticky notes with the file path of my current task, so my co-workers and supervisors could quickly find the latest version I was working on and pick up from there. This technique helped me improve on my goal of becoming more organized and working with a team.

The main programs I had to use consisted of Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. If I ever had any difficulties figuring out how to do something around the office or with the creative cloud programs, my co-interns were always happy to help me out. Carmen and Kristen were also very helpful and constantly gave me great suggestions on ways to improve my work and build upon my goals. They did an amazing job of always making me feel welcomed and never let me feel discouraged if I was having a harder time figuring something out.

Aside from using the creative cloud programs, my daily tasks required a lot of sketching and hand lettering which I came to realize was one of my biggest weaknesses that would get in the way of my design process. I decided to make this one of my main goals to focus on. Carmen and Kristen were nice enough to suggest some books I could borrow from them to improve my hand lettering. I didn’t want to make a bunch of scanned copies, so I purchased my own books to keep. The office also provides a lot of resources for the interns to use such as light boxes and tracing paper which came in handy for working on my hand lettering.

This coming fall I will be putting my new acquired skills to work as I start a new design position as an art assistant for FSU’s Clutch Magazine. This internship has provided me with so many useful resources and connections to help boost my skills as a graphic designer. I am eternally grateful to my supervisors and co-interns who all helped make my internship such a fun and amazing experience.”