My name is Danny Varillas and I am a senior Graphic Design major. This summer had the privilege of being a design intern at The Working Assembly in New York, NY. I first heard about The Working Assembly during my junior year in flexible design studio. This course was structured around workshops with various professional designers and studios around the country, and The Working Assembly was one of those studios. A MICA alumni who is currently working at The Working Assembly encouraged me to apply for the summer internship position. I had been interested in their work and decided to give it a shot. I sent a brief email with my resume and portfolio link. They quickly contacted to schedule an interview. Within a week I had received a email of acceptance.The Working Assembly is multidisciplinary design studio that primarily focuses on branding. The studio is primarily women employed and led. This is one of the things that sets it apart from other studios. My supervisor was Jolene Delise, she is the founder and partner of the studio, along with Lawrence O'toole. The projects they work on are primarily for small start up businesses.
In my time interning at the studio, I was responsible for working on brand projects alongside other designers. Each branding project began with a project brief that introduced us to the client and the task. Two or three designers would work on one project at a time. Each designer would design several iterations of logos and identity. After several meetings, the client would give us their feedback, and eventually choose a logo direction. My biggest takeaway from this experience was being able to collaborate with designers that have experience in the field. I was able to learn so much by their dedication, organization and communication with each other.
This experience definitely challenged me, and I'm so grateful that I trusted and given a opportunity to be involved in large projects. I’m most proud of seeing my design being used in the real world. Several of my design iterations were chosen by clients for final application. I'm glad I was able to have this experience prior to graduation because it gives me a good idea of what working for a branding studio may be like. Even though I really enjoyed this internship experience, I’m still not sure if I want to continue branding design as a career practice in graphic design.
