Newhouse

Falling Into Place

Inspiration

Make things happen. Although I created the image featured above for my internship at Career Services, I can relate to this design on a very personal level. I live my every-day life with the mentality that I want to make things happen. That I need to make things happen. Living like this means that most days are spent making and creating in hope of reaching eventual end goals.

Reaching end goals is something that takes up significantly less time in my life and I’m guessing, in yours also. Said times are rare moments.

This week was one of those magical times when this actually happened. This week saw the completion of three main events that not only signify the end of my time in graduate school, but also illuminate the future that I am soon to have.

Here’s a recap:

  1. Sponsors’ Night: This past semester I have spent 9 hours every week interning for Syracuse University Career Services. I am so thankful for having had this experience and being able to develop my PR skills, specifically writing and graphic design. Although my last day is not until this coming Tuesday, the internship is essentially over, having culminated at sponsors’ night this past Monday. A way to celebrate the end of the semester and recognize the PR Practicuum students, sponsors’ night was a lot of fun and a great way to wrap up the semester.

2. Chobani Internship: I am extremely excited to announce that I have been offered and have also accepted a full-time internship position with Chobani this summer! My position will focus on internal communications (an area of interest of mine) and also allow for some community relations experience. Words can not describe how excited I am to be working for a company that I watched grow from nothing.Ā  When I began my Master’s program last summer IĀ  possessed the dream of working at Chobani. To now see this dream become a reality is overwhelming in the best of ways.

3. Campaign: This whole semester I have been working with five of my colleagues to complete a campaign for our client, the New York Beef Council. This project was actually a lot of fun to work on as I was able to design a lot of graphics and also make “cow pie” cookies for the presentation. That being said, it is always a relief to be finished with major projects, especially as the semester draws to a close.Yesterday we pitched our campaign to our client and were rewarded by her asking for a copy of our campaign book.

Congratulations to my wonderful team!

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In summary, it’s always fulfilling when hard work pays off. My time at Newhouse has been absolutely incredible and nothing short of life-changing. To watch everything fall into place is the best thing I could have asked for.

 

 

 

Delving into Design

Design

Over the summer, I took my 2nd graphic design course. Unlike the first course which focused solely on Photoshop, this one was only 6 weeks, intensive, and covered three of the Adobe Creative Suite programs. Although the GRA 617 course was stressful (It’s not easy learning all of that in 6 weeks!) it also provided us with a unique education in an area that most of us had little to no experience in.

Since the summer, I have found myself delving even deeper into the world of design. One of my jobs at present involves teaching graphic design to undergraduate students through an instructional associate position.

Additionally, I have found myself designing quite a bit in my current internship at Syracuse University’s Career Services. Wanting more experience in graphics, I had communicated to my supervisor that this was an area of interest. Below are a few designs that I have completed over the last few weeks as part of this internship. As you can see, as Tweets, I have also been contributing to the office’s social media presence.

Am I a better artist than I am designer? Why yes, I think so. But will I continue to get better? Absolutely!

So I encourage all of you to try new things on a regular basis, especially those that induce the fear of possible failure. Even with skills sets as daunting as graphic design, you will never know your potential until you try!

(Side note to SU students, LinkedIn Live is happening today!)

Pop-Castle

Art, Pop Culture

It has been much too long since I have been in a painting studio. In undergrad, I was extremely fortunate to be an art major who was privy to newly-renovated studios. As a painting specialization, I spent a particularly large amount of time in this studio creating with oil paint.

Currently without a studio, I am confined to acrylics and watercolor, presently afraid to use oils within my house. Although I plan on having a studio in the future, I am currently grateful for any chance that I get to enjoy painting.

As an art student, I was always encouraged to produce conceptual work. However, getting a masters in public relations from the Newhouse school is a stressful experience.Therefore, lately, I have been enjoying painting for the sake of painting.

To start this new, once-forbidden period of my artistic life I have decided to do a series of acrylic on canvas paintings featuring castles from pop-culture. The first castle that I recently completed was Elsa’s ice castle from Frozen.

frozen painting

I decided to start with this castle for a few reasons. The first being my recent inspiration from the movie (mentioned in a previous post) and the second being the limited color palette. I knew this painting would go quickly for me and therefore chose to do it now as I have been especially busy with midterms having just recently passed.

The next castle on my list is the fictional castle that has had the greatest impact on me and my life: Hogwarts. I obviously have a long way to go on this painting, but don’t mind sharing this very early-stage snap shot as I love looking back and seeing how far a piece has come.

Hogwarts painting

So again we are presented with the question “Is it alright to create art based on copyrighted images?” The answer to that questions is yes. So long as you either:

  1. Alter the original image or
  2. Reproduce it in a new medium

The bottom line is that you must make the piece your own, in some way or another. Both of these paintings are legally OK as they are in new media. I have taken an animated castle and reproduced it in paint. IĀ  have also added my own designs.

In regards to Hogwarts, which obviously has a long way to go, I will make it my own through color choice and the fact that it is being created with paint.

So as I have mentioned before, don’t be afraid to be inspired by the world of pop-culture. It is popular for a reason! Just be sure to make things your own. We are all creators after all.