FSU Art BFA Ana Bartel on her Spring ’13 Internship with Legally Copied

I have had the pleasure of being an intern at Legally Copied, a local print shop, during the Spring of 2013. The shop primarily works with lawyers and architects around the Tallahassee area. This internship focused on the actual production of documents ranging from 8.5×11 to 40×60. Production consisted of copying, scanning, binding books, printing, mounting boards, prepping documents and converting files.
For trial many lawyers use trial boards to better show a court their findings. It was part of my responsibility to take documents our clients would provide, often in 8.5×11, scan them in and format a document to be oversize printed and then mounted on a large board. The resources at Legally Copied were not limited to paper. Transparency, Canvas, and X-Ray prints were also materials I was trained to use. This internship benefitted me as a design student because the actual production of a document is critical to its distribution. If a designer doesn’t know how to create a file with proper bleeds, margins, or resolution the design itself will be impacted by those errors. Using a printer seems like a simple task yet sit in 320A or B and it’s shocking how many design students aren’t sure how to print. 
Communicating efficiently with the client was another imperative factor to this internship. There are a multitude of questions that need to be answered when producing a document. If this is done incorrectly it loses money and reflects poorly on Legally Copied. Being a perfectionist is essential to the production end of design. When clients give us their documents, they expect a flawless job in return which is based largely on dedication to good work. After I graduate this spring I plan to stay in Tallahassee for another year or so and in that time continue with my internship and help Legally Copied expand their graphics department.