Maryland Science Center Museum

My name is Nilam Sari, and I am a rising junior at MICA studying Graphic Design and Interdisciplinary Sculpture. During the spring semester of 2016, I was looking for a graphic design internship opportunity somewhere in Baltimore.  I attended the Career Fair where I saw the Science Center booth and found out they were looking for an intern skilled in wood fabrication. 

Steven Valenziano, my soon-to-be-supervisor, explained the intern would help build their on-going exhibition and then be given the opportunity to design, plan, and fabricate their own exhibit. I showed him my portfolio we discussed my interest in toy design which made him encouraged me to apply because most of the exhibition is related to children’s interaction. I applied and went to the interview, and after two weeks I received news I and one other applicant were accepted for the opportunity to intern as an Exhibition Design and Fabrication Intern at the Maryland Science Center Museum.

During my internship, I learned more about materials, tools, fabrication method, and museum exhibition interactions. I got to learn a lot of things from being outside of the classroom in an environment more specific to my interests. For example, I learned about different kinds of fasteners and what each is best used for as well as how to choose materials for different projects and ways to handle them correctly. 

Most importantly, I learned how to use a CAD program, Solidworks, which is a important for me because its the most widely used program in the product and toy design industries. MICA doesn’t really have a dedicated class for this program but it is important for me to know how to operate it. I entered my internship with  zero knowledge of 3D modeling and, by the end, was finally able to 3D model my own sculptures, set up a technical drawing, and have a clear blueprint readable to other fabricators. This was a great experience for me and I would recommend becoming an Exhibition Design and Fabrication Intern at the Maryland Science Center Museum to other people who are looking to learn more about design and sculpture. 

Living Design Lab

My name is Valeria Fuentes and I interned the summer of 2016 at a local architectural design firm called Living Design Lab. I first heard of this firm when the Founding Principal, Davin Hong, gave a presentation to my department at one of our weekly lunch presentations. He later became a MICA adjunct professor for architecture where he taught my main studio course during the first semester of my junior year.  In this class, I learned not a lot about architectural design, but also about his newly established firm, Living Design Lab. He also consulted me on an upcoming side project of mine regarding neighborhood revitalization. After the class ended, I felt like I could still learn a lot from both him and his partner at the firm, Kevin Day, so I contacted Living Design Lab about the possibility of an internship.

The Living Design Lab is self-described as “a new kind of design firm with a comprehensive approach that aims to deliver projects that are successful by every measure.” It places a strong emphasis on establishing relationships with the surrounding communities and that also intends to create social impact through collaboration.

Davin Hong served as my direct supervisor though Kevin Day was also very present, particularly in the second half. During my time at Living Design Lab, my responsibilities varied from attending meetings with potential clients, making presentations for such meetings (as well as one for meeting with their existing clients), creating sketches on Autocad, as well as other tasks. Nearing the end of my internship, I worked primarily on tasks involving the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) where meet with the Nurse Managers of various departments to determine if the new medicine units being design will fit into their designated areas.

One of the projects I am most proud of was creating the visual presentation and site plan for a new development project in Druid Hill. Although I am not too fond of hospitals, I am proud of how much I accomplished with the degree of complexity this project entails. I am happy with the progress I made with the UMMC project in interacting directly with people, community engagement, and on-the-spot drawing floor plans.

SID LEE

My name is Aage Vetter, I am a Graphic Design major going into my junior year at MICA. During my second semester of my sophomore year, I was reading the ‘jobs’ email sent out by Brockett to the graphic design department. At the bottom she had listed a few summer internship openings, one of them being SID LEE in New York. This was an agency I had heard of in the past so I did more research on their work before quickly putting together a video and making my submission.

About a month after I had submitted for the internship, I was interviewed by Jen Adler in HR, who then told me a few weeks after the interview that I had been accepted! I was going to be one of only 2 design interns in the agency for 8 weeks. My supervisor for this time was Dannielle Hoodhood, Creative Resource Manager at SID LEE NYC.

SID LEE is an advertising agency primarily pushed and driven by creatives. They work with clients like Pepsi, Apple, Facebook, and Stella Artois to invent ideas, events, ads, campaigns, or whatever else the client asks of them. While working here, I was able to do some work each of these clients.

I was given much more responsibility than I had expected coming into the internship. I designed placemats and SID LEE team introductory cards for Pepsi, mockups and layouts for an Apple Music presentation of new ads, billboards, page layouts, and ideas for a new Facebook feature, and banners, layouts, mockups, deck presentations, type treatments, and logo lockups for Stella Artois and Ticketmaster. I did by far the most work on Stella Artois’ newest event ‘Le Savoir’. I am definitely the most proud of my 150 slide Toolkit I put together by myself for the event.

I learned how to work quickly and efficiently, as well and gained substantial knowledge about the capabilities of Adobe products I have been using for years. I have countless new contacts and my network has grown substantially. The office was so inviting and friendly and there wasn’t anyone in the office I felt uncomfortable asking for help, whether it was another intern, or one of the executive creative directors. I feel infinitely more confident going into the career and field I am studying for. I have learned so much about what goes into the job that I never could have in any classroom environment. I feel more prepared than ever to go into this coming year at MICA