INTERNSHIP STORIES

I had the honor of being the ArtTable fellow at the Studio Museum in Harlem. The opportunity was presented to me by my program director. ArtTable is a professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts. Through this organization, I applied to the Studio Museum in Harlem. The Studio Museum is the nexus for artists of African descent, locally, nationally, and internationally, and for work that has been inspired and influenced by Black culture. It is a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society. The selection process was competitive and long. I had to submit a written application, and from there the committee at ArtTable decided whether to send my application through to the Studio Museum. Once my application was selected, I began the interview process. This entire process took 2 months. When working at the museum I worked on two major projects. My first project was supporting the Curatorial collections team in the ongoing maintena...

The company I interned for is called A—Company. It is a fashion brand based in New York City. My direct supervisor was the founder of the company and the creative supervisor. I found out about this internship through a professor at MICA and the company’s Instagram page where they were searching for interns. I secured the internship by speaking to the founder about the position and what I would be interested in learning from her and helping her do.  My responsibilities at A—Company varied. I mainly did digital work that revolved around fashion. In my first couple weeks at A—Company, I was editing and retouching eCommerce photos for the new season’s clothing items. After that, many of my weeks at A—Company I spent looking through footage and editing them into short video collages for the website's home page. I also did standard intern things like running errands and updating the email newsletter format. I occasionally created gifs out of the runway footage to add to the new season’s ...

Marine Lane is a NYC design+branding studio founded in 2012. It is a place composed of highly inspired women, bonded by a shared love of design and belief in the power it has to connect, inspire, sell and amuse. To secure this internship, I went on the company's website, found their email and wrote them a cover letter expressing my interest in the position and introducing myself. My supervisor was the Creative Director and responsible for giving me tasks as well as revising and troubleshooting them with me. Her role within the company is to coordinate all the design related things, making sure they are perfect to be sent to the client. My involvement in the projects depended on the demand that was needed that day. On Fridays, we had an overview meeting of what the next week would look like, but sometimes we had to play it by ear and change the plans a little. I worked on branding projects, social media, animations, website design, presentation decks, packaging, etc. I am proud of ...

I found this internship from researching different museums that have graphic design internship opportunities. I applied through the official website and got interviewed and then notified I was accepted. My direct supervisor was a graphic designer at the Met. In my department, I participated in the process and collaboration in between the graphics, exhibition, production and lighting designers. By working closely with my mentor, I observed the way he works from his technical skills and time management skills. I was also able to learn more about how to prioritize projects based on their importance. Having real deadlines and thinking about the next steps when the files were out of my hands made me work in a more organized manner.  Additionally, It was really valuable for me to experience creating works that will be installed and printed in real space instead of just existing in digital form. Thinking about how things would look in actual scale, under the lighting of a space, with a cr...

This summer, I had the privilege of interning at the Small Editions Bindery (SE) in Brooklyn, a shop that, as stated by their website, “ offers services in book and print design, bookbinding, fine printing, and box making,” as well as publishing. To secure this internship, I emailed SE and after a brief email exchange and a more extensive phone interview, they agreed to take me on for the summer. During my time in this internship, I was given a wide range of tasks. I worked on every aspect of assembly throughout my internship; cutting bookboard, gluing boards down to the case material, assembling pockets & straps for the books, assembling the cases themselves, as well as the cleaning/packing process for this hefty undertaking.  Looking back on this internship, the thing that I am most proud of is the personal project that I took on to restore a very important book for my mother. My supervisor made it clear that she wanted me to have a personal project to be able to walk away f...

I had my first internship in the US this summer, and it turned out to be one of the best  experiences in my design learning. Instead of being like an internship, Wix Design Playground is  more like an academy of website design and project management. It is affiliated to  Wix.com, who attribute their expertise and powers to help and educate the young  designers.  I learned the information about this program through the MICA Career Fair. Vuong, the head  of Wix Design Playground, visited MICA and had a brief interview with me. Afterward, I  had one more online interview with another program leader before I was accepted . This 7-hour a day, 5-day a week for 3 months program is actually a little bit heavy for the summer, however, I enjoy the intensity and am very satisfied with what I acquired. During the 3-month program, we are given diverse resources to develop our  own interests and careers such as lectures, workshops, and one-on-...

During my internship this summer at Hyperakt, a design studio in Brooklyn, I got the  amazing opportunity to work with a passionate group of designers, strategists and  developers. The great part about Hyperakt is that they believe in the power of design for good. All  the work that is done was for clients who are working towards social justice. The  highlight of my internship was working on developing a brand identity for Donors  Choose, a crowdfunding platform for public school teachers. My concept went onto  become the final option and the entire team worked together to build a whole world  around that identity. It was a huge learning experience for me to see the trajectory of  the idea grow from a simple sketch through multiple renditions to the final shape it  took. Other than that, I worked on developing options for other brands like MTV Social  Impact Squad, WeWork Veterans in Residence. I also worked on creating illu...

My name is Janella Branch and I am a senior photography major. When looking for internships I knew I wanted to be part of a major company or work for a big photographer as I am interested in the commercial and editorial side of photography. During the summer of 2018 when I was looking for internships on Indeed, I came across one for Mark Seliger. Seliger Studios was looking for a studio intern for the summer. I was extremely excited because Mark Seliger is a huge name in photography and I couldn’t believe he was looking for interns. Mark Seliger has been a photographer for over thirty years, he used to be the chief photographer of Rolling Stone, has shot hundreds of editorials and campaigns for famous brands and celebrities. Some people he’s photographed include Obama, Kim and Kanye West, Steve Martin, Drew Barrymore, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Jimmy Carter, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, and many others. Most of his iconic images have been catalogued by the Library of Congress. ...

My name is Morgan Smith, and I am a senior Graphic Design major. My previous professor,  Hieu Tran, was an intern and designer at Studio Rodrigo in 2017. Knowing that I had taken on  UI/UX in the past year, he mentioned that they were looking for design interns. Studio Rodrigo is  primarily a product design studio, and I figured this would be a great way for me to test the  UI/UX skills I’ve gathered. Hieu thankfully passed along my resume, and I even had the chance  to interview with their team at the 2018 Career Fair. After going through this process and  sending up a follow up email, I got to interview with other members of the team to review my  work and goals as a designer. Later, I was accepted as an intern in late May of this year.  Studio Rodrigo is a design studio located in New York that works in various fields of design  including: product design, brand elements, and more. Studio Rodrigo does focus more on  product des...

During the Summer of 2018, I was a graphic design intern for Paperwhite Studio , a design and  branding company in Brooklyn, New York. As a Graphic Design MFA student at MICA, I have a  strong interest in identity design and packaging, especially in the food industry. Thus, while  searching for an internship for the summer, I specifically looked for studios that have done  projects in this food-GD area. Paperwhite is prestigious in the industry of restaurant/cafe branding and food packaging, and  also famous for helping small restaurants explode in popularity thanks to a strong conceptual  and carefully crafted design that connected with their audience. Jackʼs Wife Freda, by CHLOE,  and The Sosta were three signature cases designed by Paperwhite. T o prepare for this experience, I have spoken personally with Laureen Moyal, the co-founder of  Paperwhite Studio, about the job, and I also have contacted to one past intern and one current  i...

I had an amazing summer at Gretel , a design studio in New York City. As I prepare for a  career in graphic design, I am dedicated to gaining practical experience to complement  my academics. I had always hoped to immerse myself in a studio culture and  collaborate with creative people from different disciplines. After the spring break, I  found Gretel on imageofthestudio.com and looked through the works on their website.  I loved the use of bold typography in their visual designs and their creative motion  works. I emailed them immediately and inquired about summer internship opportunity. The production coordinator emailed back within one week and asked me for an  interview. I decided to visit their studio in NYC and meet them in person. I took the train  on a Friday morning and made it to Union Square, where Gretel located. I met the  coordinator and one of their designers, introduced some of my works on my portfolio  website, and ...

I’m Juliette Wang, a rising senior Graphic Design student. For 2018’s summer, I was a Design Intern for Studio Rodrigo , a product design agency based in New York. They produce various work from products, marketing websites to branding; clients include Adobe, This American Life, Serial Podcast, Comcast, ABC News, xfinity, and more. Studio Rodrigo is most focused in helping companies identity and evaluate product opportunities, developing strategies, and designing and bringing new products and services to market. I became aware of Studio Rodrigo last summer so this summer I decided to apply for the internship. Hieu Tran, my professor and good friend, interned and worked at Studio Rodrigo last summer so he mentioned me to Rodrigo as they were looking for interns. I also met them in person at MICA Career Fair and after, I sent a carefully composed ‘cover letter’ email to Rodrigo with my resume and portfolio website. After a couple of days, I got an email back from the Creative Direc...

My name is Tanvi Sharma and I am a rising Junior Painting and Humanistic Studies Major.  During the summer of 2018, I was an intern with the artist Matt Bollinger , based in Holmes,  New York. I had been interested in Matt’s process of combining digital and analog media and  creating compelling narratives since a couple of years. During the spring semester I had been  working on creating similar work of my own and decided to shoot Matt an email. He turned  out to be a friend of my professor, Sangram Majumdar and he went on to recommend me to  Matt. Matt agreed to have me work with him for the summer, which turned out to be the  most enriching experience. The experience included long conversations with Matt about his practice, the art world and  what he wants to do in the future. I think the most valuable thing I have gained from this  experience is getting to intimately know a working artist I strongly look up to. During the d...

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 apar...

It all started when I was watching several films on a raining day. These films ranged from  documentary to scripted narratives. As I would scroll down at the end of the film to see the  credits, I would notice one similar logo. The logo was “ Tribeca Film Institute ”, or “Tribeca Film  Festival”. My interest grew as I started to research them. I was fascinated by their goals and  philosophy of finding independent filmmakers and producing their work so that larger audiences  can see the films.  A couple of months went by and I was still searching for an internship. Until one day I  was talking to my brothers friend who is a filmmaker himself, and I told him my interest in TFI.  He smiled and said that he worked with the head director of TFI on a film. Her name is Amy  Hobby. He gave me her contact information and I drafted a email to her. She was happy to see  my interest so she connected me to Olivia Creamer who is in charg...