Athletics is a mid-size independent creative studio based out of Brooklyn, NY. Their clients range from large companies, such as IBM and Square, to smaller companies like Turf, Galileo, and Tia. The Athletics teams work on everything from strategy to design to create incredible products for their clients. My supervisor was a Design Director who has been at the company for many years.I found out about this internship opportunity through one of my instructors at MICA. I asked him if he knew of any companies hiring summer interns, and he presented me to a colleague at Athletics. I went through the interview process in January and was hired.
The main project I was involved in this summer was designing a website for 826NYC, a nonprofit in New York City that helps underprivileged students improve their writing skills. My job was to take the wireframes designed by the team and figure out the best way to organize all their information clearly, keeping in mind that their main audience is low-income families who oftentimes don’t speak English. This involved clarifying the system in which programs and workshops are displayed/filtered, figuring out how best to apply the brand’s visual identity, and organizing huge chunks of information to help the site communicate clearly. My supervisor guided me through every step of the project yet gave me a lot of responsibility as time progressed. I was also involved in other projects, such as designing a booklet for Catskill Art Space, or assisting in creating brand guidelines for their clients Trace and XQ.
I’m proud of how much responsibility I was given as my internship progressed, as well as how quickly I learned a variety of new skills. I learned so much about how a real agency works, how projects are organized, and how much thought and work goes into a high-level design project. Most importantly, I created valuable connections with my co-workers and learned so much from them in terms of communication and presenting ideas.At the midpoint of my internship, I was offered a full-time opportunity after my graduation. In the meantime, I was promoted to Associate Designer in a part-time, 24 hour/week capacity. I did a lot of UX work this summer, which solidified how much I love creating digital products. I hope to continue down this path, but what this internship has taught me is that new experiences will show me what path I need to go down.
