Ashton Design

My name is Bo Ra Kim and I am a senior Environmental Design major with a Graphic Design concentration. Over the summer of 2012 I interned at Ashton Design, a graphic design studio that produces brochures, college admissions and development publications, websites, environmental graphics, and even prototypes for public sculpture. I found this internship opportunity from Brockett Horne, the chair of graphic design at MICA, who knows my interest in Environmental Graphic Design. I submitted my resume, cover letter, and portfolio to Jenny Hoffman, the creative director at Ashton, and had an interview with Ronald Younts, the principal and design director.

At Ashton Design, my projects included working on a poster card, designing environmental graphics, and creating graphic design mock-ups. I especially enjoyed the environmental graphic design projects, which are unique from anything I have worked on in class at MICA. It is the perfect blend of my dual interests in Environmental and Graphic Design.

When I was involved in the concept design for Pentagon Row, I had to come up with a signage for a parking lot. Since it was my first time doing environmental graphic design, I was both challenged and excited by the task. I also involved in a MICA project, for which I designed a banner and a wall ID sign.

Interning at Ashton Design gave me a very valuable opportunity to build strong connections, learn how to communicate with people in the field, and develop my graphic design skills. The people I worked with were very friendly and gave me advice about class and internships. Interning at this studio has only made me more eager to work in the environmental graphic design industry.