Brian Kaspr Studio

My name is John Vetter and I am a Junior Graphic Design major. During the Summer of 2016, I was an intern under Brian Kaspr at his studio in Norwalk, CT. I first met Brian as my Graphic Design 1 professor during the fall semester of my sophomore year. Over that semester, we found out we had a lot of common interests, including music, screen printing, and most importantly, sign painting and lettering. On the last day of class, he asked me if I was interested in being his intern. I have always loved hand lettering and sign painting, so I jumped at the opportunity. This was a great opening to learn about what goes into being a successful freelance designer and letterer.

When I got started, my first assignment was to scan in, adjust the curves, and retouch some lettering he had done for a client. Since I was commuting and only working with Brian two days a week, I did a lot of work from home, and practiced my sign painting techniques from home as well. The more I worked, the more he trusted me with. 

On all of the screen printed posters, He acted as the Art Director and I was the Designer. He would sketch something out and explain what he wanted, and I would design it in Photoshop. Lots of back and forth with corrections until we nailed down his vision, and were ready to print. During my time there, I learned new and more efficient screen printing techniques, short cuts and tools in Photoshop and Illustrator, and practiced many different types of lettering. 

By the end of the internship, Brian trusted me enough to help him design, measure, project, trace, and paint murals in the Flatiron Health office building in NYC. I am most proud of this because it is the culmination of what I have learned, and is definitely not something I would have been able to accomplish prior to this summer.

My biggest take-away from this experience is to not undersell myself or my artwork. Not only am I devaluing myself and my time, but I am undermining everyone else in the field. By keeping my prices up and steady, I may not get all the work that comes through, but I will be paid fairly for my time. This experience helped clarify my career goals by giving me a great understanding of working as a freelance designer. It was something I had considered, but had struggled to figure out on my own. With the knowledge I have gained, I feel very comfortable leaving this door open as a future career option.