Paperwhite Studio

I’m Reyna — a senior Graphic Design major at MICA. This summer, I spent 3 months working as a design intern at Paperwhite Studio, a branding studio based in Brooklyn, NYC. The New York office collaborates with food and hospitality brands, creating visual identities for cafés and restaurants as well as food product packaging for small businesses. They also have another office in Austria that specializes in tech-related projects.

Before the semester ended, I applied to a lot of companies and studios in NYC, understanding the competitive nature of NYC internship. I was open to different areas but my latest design works are related to food and cooking. I found Paperwhite on LinkedIn under the ‘Similar Company’ tab while doing my research. I checked out their website and recognized most of their restaurant projects. I reached out to the team and received positive feedback shortly. After some emails and phone calls, I was offered a summer intern position. Laureen Moyal was my supervisor and she is the partner & art director of the studio. I joined a team of 5 designers and we work everyday from 9 to 6 — some days busier than others depending on stages of projects. The nature of a small studio allowed me to get involved in every part of a design process, from concept to execution to production.

I helped gather ideas, developed mood-boards & brand personalities and execute design concepts for client presentation. I worked on a lot of typesetting and illustrations. Dipping my toes into various assignment types helped me see how a project evolves. I understood the creative struggle to come up with design solutions and effective ways to communicate your ideas to clients. Our team was able to divide tasks based on everybody's strengths which resulted a smooth and engaging process.

I’m proud to have worked directly and independently with the art director to execute a brand refresh for two different restaurants in NYC. The first one is 180 Tenth, a summer Italian restaurant located at The High Line Hotel, and Bobo, a high-end French country style restaurant. I appreciate the trust that Laureen has given me — I was corresponding with the clients through email so I could understand the briefs or their requests better as I move forward with the designs.

It’s my third design internship and this time I was able to recognize my strengths, interests and potentials as I consider about plans after graduation. In the future I hope to marry my love for design, business, culture and meaningful human interactions. All in all, it was a very productive and transformative summer!