Blog 1. My WLE

My internship is called Unique DeZigns and Impressions. Its a graphic design studio located in Hayward that can make almost anything(a slight exaggeration). They can make things from coffee mugs, banners, and even t shirts. They create designs for small businesses and create products that they can sell at their business. My internship has a small number of people. Most of my coworkers are either graduates from college or pursuing higher education while working part time. The graphic designer went to Cal State University East Bay and the receptionist is hoping to become a doctor. The whole workplace is very relaxed and everyone is extremely friendly to each other.  One of the weakness of my internship is that I feel I'm not working on what I want to work on. On the first day, I spent the whole day making coffee mugs. While it was fun at first learning the process of heating images on the plain mugs, it started to get boring. On the other hand, my internship taught me to be "fuzzy" as my mentor would call it. Basically I learned to pay attention to the smallest detail. Back to the mugs, my mentor took ten of the mugs I made out of the pile. Nothing looks wrong unless you scrutinize the image intensely. Some were slightly crooked, and the logo's were off by half a centimeter. Already, I'm learning to take my objectives more seriously and to give everything 100% percent.

Blog 2. My mentor

My mentors name is David. He has been making t shirts for over the last thirty years. Unfortunately, my mentor did not have the chance to attend college but he makes up for it in talent. I saw the artwork that he made for breast cancer and his work is amazing. He is also skilled when it comes to being a leader. He makes sure that all of his employees are respected. He also made it clear that there is no fighting in the shop which contributes to the relaxed atmosphere. One a regular day,  I would learn a new technique about make a product. During the first two weeks, I learned to make mugs efficiently,  and the third week I learned to "weed" which is moving stickers out of a poster. Overall, I feel like I'm learning something new each day!

Blog 3 My role

My role at my WLE changes constantly. There is always something new every week but my main job is to do whatever my mentor tells me to do and to support my co workers. Last week, I helped my mentor fold shirts so that he could place them on heat presses. I also helped out Marcus White when he needs help on making stickers or banners. I don't have tons of time to slack of at my internship. I usually work two hours at a time and it can get really tiring really fast after doing a repetitive task over and over again. On breaks, I usually just chill and get to know my co workers. On one break, I had an intellectual conversation on copyright  and I learned a lot about how I need to do my own work rather than manipulating someone else work.   I'm really lucky to work at UDZI because my mentor David actually cares about my project and has given me time to think about my project throughout the day. After work, he would sit me in his office and we would discuss for about 20 minutes he and I could get clarification about what we can expect out of each other. That would be my typical day at UDZI.

Blog 4 Project Brainstorm

For my WLE project, I want to to be able to create a clothing line that is themed around empowering customers to support a cause, disaster, or idea that they feel strongly about. I came up with the foundation of this project when I took an entrepreneurship class at Chabot. At the beginning of my internship, I had a vague idea for what I wanted my designs to stand for. After having weeks to reflect and to think, I come up with a theme that best fits my needs and for where I want my clothing line to go towards. During the next few weeks, I would need to have some designs ready in order to have them burned onto the shirts. I'm excited to do this project because I think it will be fun and it will also help out the community. Another reason I'm really happy to do this project is because it will look good for college. After going through the SEE's College Prep program during the summer, I come to the conclusion that I have nothing noteworthy for a personal statement. I feel that this project will fix that problem because it highlights a passion, demonstrates entrepreneurship, and shows some real ambition.

  

Blog 5 Progress on my project

_Today at my WLE, I basically did things things that my mentor David wanted me to do. Unfortunately, I didn't have any talk about my project at my internship. The reason behind this is that my mentor has a clear idea of what I want to do which is to basically fund raise through t shirts. I didn't get have a formal sit down conversation with him because I was busy working that day. I core of my project at the beginning was to fund raise but I keep on working on different designs. Now that I have a solid idea of what I wanted to do, I was able to focus on my project the whole day.  So far, I have created two designs. One of them is a light bulb with a brain squished inside and one with books stacked on top of one another with Africa running through the pages. My next design that I'm going to work on will be themed around the occupy movement. It will include a huge pile of money with blood underneath and have text that say " Education shouldn't be a debt sentence" .

Blog 6 Leadership Skill

The leadership skills that I'm using at my WLE is collaborating productively and critical thinking. I'm using collaborating productively by talking with co workers. Since I'm new to Adobe Illustrator, I have to ask the graphic designer for help whenever I'm stuck. She is usually friendly and always put forth the effort to help answer my questions. I also talk to my co workers to give critique on what I make. When I was designing a t shirt for Joy's African Library project, I asked for critique from my co workers and from friends at school. Through their feedback, I was able to edit my design and made it much stronger overall. I also had to use a lot of critical thinking in my project. There is always a more efficient way of doing a job at my WLE and I needed to use critical thinking to see what that was. When I was making mugs, I had to make sure that there were more mugs ready so that the heating machine is always working and so that electricity was not wasted. I was not always really good at thinking critically tho. An example of this is when I was in Illustrator. I spent hour working on a design that would probably take me 45 mins after I had time to reflect. I could improve on my critical thinking skills if I pace myself and plan out what to do before I start a new task. The leadership my mentor uses a lot is completing projects effectively. My mentor is always on my case about making sure I get thing done on time. Whether its creating stuff for shipping or working on my own project, David always made sure that stay on top of my stuff.

Blog 7 What I learned

I learned that I'm more outgoing than I thought I was. At past workplaces, I never had a strong connection with my co workers. That all changed when I worked at my internship. In the short weeks that I worked at my internship, I have created strong relationships between my fellow employes. Towards the last weeks of my internship, I was able to have very strong deep conversations with my co workers. Through those conversation, I learned that we all share the common goal of wanting to be successful through school and made me feel like I'm not in it alone. One challenge that I've faced when working at my internship was trying to work on tasks effectively. When I worked on my project, I was working on a design for a t shirt. After having time to reflect, I realized how I could have saved myself tons of time if I did a few things differently. I learned to overcome this obstacle by creating a plan. By creating a plan, I've been able to accomplish task without having to stop and think. I learned the importance of creating my own artwork. When I had DMA with Feroze, I was thought to manipulate images without having to worry about the idea of "copying". At my internship, I was highly encouraged to come up with my own work because then I can be more proud of my work and also now have to worry about copyrights. I am very fortunate to be able to exercise my creativity at my WLE. I literally was able to display my creativity when I was creating a shirt design. Through my creativity, I was able to make everyone say "WOW" at my artwork. My WLE affected my because I learned a lot about what it means to run a business. I learned about all the necessary skills it will take for me to start my own business before I apply to college in a year. I believe that an art profession keeps people occupied. At my internship, there was always something going on which kept people busy. The skills that I leaned in my WLE is to involve people. I learned that through talking to people, I learned that how I can apply other people's skill into my project to make it successful. My WLE will affect my future choices because it changed how I want to run my potential business idea. At the beginning, my whole mission vision wasn't as powerful and through a lot of thinking, found a perfect recipe that I can stick to for when I start my business idea in January.



Blog 8

For me to get a job, I had to ask around a lot. Eventually, I asked Jackie Perez if she can give me contact information to UDZI. When I was in my interview, I was prepared to display all of my skills and qualities. I brought samples of my artwork from school and I made sure  I was dressed professionally. After only 15 mins, I was able to get my internship. I believe the most effective way to find a job is to ask people. This will give anyone an advantage when in an interview because they will have someone to use as reference. Its not effective to Google random people because then there is always an element of surprise. As a result from my WLE, I believe that being a profession is all about putting the customer first. Whenever I worked on a project for a client,  I always had to put my own work aside so I could get my job done. Putting their preterites first will not only help a small business build a good name but it will keep the customer coming back for more. 

Blog 9 Life at my WLE

_

After my presentation, life at my internship slowed down dramatically. Everything was really chilled. I basically helped David out with weeding stickers for a client. I also worked on folding shirts. I believed  I improved greatly as an intern. Throughout the whole process, I learned to be more attentive and cautions about how to handle certain situations. I also improved on being a better communicator during the whole course of my WLE. I was always a stubborn person and I normally drown out criticism because I'm afraid that it is being used against me when it is not. I learned that its important to draw wisdom from everyone so that I won't have to run into mistakes later on in life. My WLE is an amazing place to work at because it has a relaxing atmosphere. No one fights and we always encourage each other to follow our ambitions in life. The receptionist and I share similar goals about where we want to go for college and we always been pushing each other to do do well so we can reach our academic dreams. My workplace does get boring at times dude to the number of employes. It gets boring talking to the same group of people everyday.

Blog 10 The End

I do not have much to say after finishing my WLE except for the fact that it is amazing. I felt I was part of a family even tho I've only been at my internship for only a couple of months. Never have I been in such a supportive environment that supports my dreams and ambitions as well as foster my love for art and creativity. During my last day, my mentor had a formal dinner/lunch with all the employees. I was there with Marcus and Karen as well as every other employe. We all had lunch together and shared stories. I've had lunch like that in my life and it we all got closer as friends and co workers. When I look for my WLE next year, I will focus on what I love to do. Whether its working at another printing company or a graphic design studio, I will search for whatever will make me happy.  I will also make sure that I find a workplace that is small. I realized that I love being able to share my thoughts with people and being part of a stress free environment so I hope that wherever I work at next year, I hope I get to enjoy the same perks that I have at my WLE at UDZI.