Polygraph Creative

Polygraph Creative is an award winning design studio based in Washington,D.C. that specializes in branding, product, editorial and environmental design. They have a reputation for finding truth and authenticity in their work by fusing creativity, passion and craft into their creative decisions.

Due to the lengthy and competitive nature of finding a summer internship position, I sought advice from my department chair. She recommended several local design studios and agencies, one of which was Polygraph Creative. Their website did not list any open positions, so I did not expect to receive a response to my cold email. However, one of the principal designers happened to stumble upon my recent packaging project on MICA's Instagram account and recognized my name upon reviewing my email. He replied a day later, and I went in for my interview soon after with my physical portfolio in hand. The next afternoon, I received the official offer and was welcomed to become part of the team. While working with these talented designers, I discovered that Polygraph’s love for the poetic stems from their appreciation for design that starts its journey outside of the computer. 

Each day varied as I worked on many different projects for several companies. My responsibilities ranged from designing graphics for product and environmental spaces, to creating artwork that would be used to create identity systems. In addition, I was introduced to branding for the food and hospitality industries. I experimented with pattern making and fine tuned my skills in typography. I learned how to integrate my love for analog art and design with functional logos and identity systems. Aside from acquiring skills in conceptual design and overall career skills, I also learned new technical skills in photoshop and indesign. I became more confident with laying out large areas of text, using Pantone colors, making my own mockups, overall communication, photography, and word play.

One of the highlights during this internship was my opportunity to create abstract artwork for the Washington DC National Portrait Gallery. To my delight, my work was approved for their 2019 gala brochure cover and inner panel design. I was also proud to be able to create patterns and original artwork that would be used for the identity system of a hotel. It was so encouraging to have real clients be excited about something I created.
This summer, my taste in design was elevated to new heights because of the time spent with top caliber designers and artists. The line between good and bad design has started to become clearer. My experience as an intern at Polygraph Creative was an incredible opportunity that helped open my eyes to the design world. This exposure has enabled me to feel more prepared to tackle the beginning of my career, as well as help highlight areas to work on during my final year at MICA. 

Cinema Chef Productions

I first met Cinema Chef Productions at the MICA Internship and Career Fair, where the creative director first interviewed me. There, I presented a portfolio of my work and gave out my business card. After that, I received many follow up emails and a phone interview before I secured my position as an environmental concept artist and illustrator.

Cinema Chef Productions is a small production company looking to make a name for themselves through their new animated show, Cypher Drive. My responsibilities were to create environmental concepts and then illustrate backgrounds for an animated short. I was also occasionally given the task of illustrating key frame concepts or splash art for characters.


I’m most proud of the environments I’ve textured and colored throughout the internship, I feel as if my concept of color theory and texturing has grown a great deal. Throughout my internship I learned the 3D program Sketch Up, how to texture and paint over 3D models, and how to work on a production team. Taking an unpaid internship can benefit you in the long run. Cinema Chef introduced me to a partnering company and secured me a freelance illustration job over the summer. 

Overall, I am very grateful for my time spent at Cinema Chef Productions and I hope that my future endeavors prove to be just as fruitful. I feel very blessed to have been given this internship opportunity and the doors it has opened up for me as well.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

I found out about this internship as I was scrolling through the website for my school work. The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) holds a strong place in my heart, but I never thought about interning there as it doesn’t have a connection to my major. It was a stroke of luck that I manage to secure it as I found it three days from the application deadline date. My amazing professors were extremely kind and helped me write a letter of recommendation (I found out later it was my letters of recommendation that pushed me ahead of everyone else). Otherwise, using the 3 days, I asked as many people as I could to read through all my materials, including Career Development and my Academic Advisor. 

NMWA in Washington, DC champions and supports women artists. It is the only museum in the world solely dedicated to women artists. They feature a variety of art forms, mostly focusing on contemporary art. The department I worked in was Digital Engagement, this applied to all social media platforms, website, photography, all online activity. My direct supervisor was the director of Digital Engagement. As NMWA is quite small, her role encompasses almost everything related to the department other than website coding. 

My list of responsibilities varied during my internship, depending on what the department needed help with. I drafted Instagram posts highlighting women artists/art pieces, wrote tweets for Fresh Talks and calendar events, researched and wrote about exhibitions for the website, edited and sorted old photographs to upload to a digital server, photographed weekly gallery talks and events, researched and read case studies for previous museum’s social media initiatives during closure, and made guides for future interns. 

I am most proud of the connections I made through exhibition openings and talking to curators about their work. I never thought I would experience a job like this, so I made sure to learn as much as I could doing many different things. 

My biggest take-away and clarification of my career goal is that I would rather not work a 9am-5pm job when I’m older. This experience was amazing, but only because I worked with a museum that championed women artists. It’s hard to imagine putting in this type of time for an organization/company that doesn’t have a good ethos. With working Monday to Friday and commuting from Baltimore, the time to make art was extremely condensed. I learned that social media is currently one of the largest factors of business success. The Digital Engagement department is linked to every single other department and social media brings in more people than any other platforms (e.g. advertisements, email, print) for the museum. 

FILMARTIST Creative Agency

I found this internship when they did a pop-up show at Stackt market in Toronto. Stackt has taken unused land and transformed it into an experience of curated discovery. It’s designed entirely out of shipping containers. I really loved this space and the concept but was very interested in the interactive work FILMARTIST had done.

FILMARTIST is a creative agency dedicated to crafting innovative and artistic contents for brands and businesses. By harnessing the talent of commercial artists, brand specialists and digital content creators, they produce memorable visual experiences and design.

My direct supervisor was the co-founder of the agency. I was involved in the design process of many of their projects, including design the 3D/4D graphics of an augmented reality business card. I also designed a lot of things for proposals like an interactive, immersive experience gallery space for two artists in China. I designed web layouts and logos for clients as well. I was given a lot of creative freedom in making interesting gifs for their social media using C4D.

I am most proud of getting out of my comfort zone and trying things I’ve never done before. I was encouraged to experiment, which lead to many new learning experiences and developing new skills. Some new skills I have acquired from this internship is understanding how AR works a little better and how to create virtual spaces.My biggest take away was how important communication is in design. Convincing a client to take chances and try untraditional and unconventional solutions is a challenge. It’s important to make them feel confident in investing in these projects. 

This internship really helped solidify my goal to work in the intersection of graphic design and interactive arts. I was unsure of how I would like it, but it excited me and I loved learning new things about technology and its endless possibilities.

Creative Capital Shanghai

I learned about this Creative Capital Shanghai (CC) from a MICA alum. CC is a brand advertising company and now it is collaborating with Altavia, a French advertising firm. My direct supervisor was the creative department manager.

I participated in design idea generating, presentation designing and even designed a project independently. I learned how to present my work more professionally. When I was in school, I only needed to think about my own feelings about the design, but when I work, I have to think about how everyone feels about the design, not just from the designer's point of view.

I am most proud of my time management and multi-stream working schedule. I learned about managing my time with various projects going on, and I think designing culturally is the most important thing I have learned. I am also more familiar with Adobe Suites.

This internship experience has given me a better understanding of what people at a branding company do, and showed me the right attitude to have at work. I'm also more responsible with my work, because the design is no longer just your own responsibility, it’s about the whole team.