I am Sumangla Bishnoi, a graphic
design student doing my MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in
Baltimore, MD. During the summer of 2018, I was interning with WWP
multinational branding company named Landor. Landor is a brand consulting and
designing firm with more than 25 offices around the world. I interned at their
San Francisco office. This office is full with strategic experts and creative
explorers.
To get this internship I messaged
HR head of Landor, Missy Lavoy on Linkden. As I had a premium account, my mail
for application went directly to her gmail account and then she connected me to
the creative director of Landor, San Francisco, Thomas Hutchings. He held my
Skype interview and hired me as design intern. He was my mentor and also a
great supporter during my internship tenure.
Thomas gave me opportunity to wear
multiple hats in the company. Because of him I got to work on major projects
like Teck, Accenture, Office Depot, Comcast etc. Teck was my major project. I
rebranded its whole identity system, which involved research, brand language
and application design for the brand. All designers had to create a unique
brand language of their own for this brand. I created three and we presented 7
different directions out of which the clients finalized my direction. This was
the greatest achievement for me. Everyone including my mentor and our head
designer were really impressed with my work and they have also assured me that
they will hire me whenever I want to join the company. My mentor quoted ’You
have set your foot here’. We had a wine cheering moment after that and that was
the proudest moment for me.
Additionally I had worked with
other designers to design new brand identity for Office Depot. I also created
environment design for Accenture and VR storyboards for Bang 9. I also got
chance to create logo for parent companies of Comcast and I also designed the
tape packaging for them. I have worked on other multiple projects.
There are so many talented souls in
Landor and I have got the most satisfied first international exposure. I have
learned so many new things from designer’s feedback, client servicing team,
client meetings, presentations, client’s feedback etc. Biggest learning was the
research process that Landor does for their clients before jumping to the
designing part.
I always wanted to attend the
client meetings so as to get their insights as well and I have got that
opportunity here. I got a chance to improve my illustrator and after effects
skillsets. I learned a few new 4D functions. As a result of this internship I
have built great connections in the design industry and I have impressed many
people with my work and as an international student this was one of my main
goals.
Now I have realized the field of
designing I am interested in and want to pursue. This internship has helped me
a lot to refine the list of companied I want to apply in for my job. This was
the most fruitful learning experience for me.
