實習 Week 1

First Week of Internship in Springfield.

July 1

First day of internship. Although the office gave a fresh and cozy vibe, I got quite nervous when I initially enter the room. After all, this is my first day and I’m so excited to meet new people! The first intern that I met was Phoebe. She’s a nice, friendly, and also an incredibly multi-talented person. In fact, everyone seems to have extraordinary skills and experiences! They all have an internship/experience as an exchange student in a foreign country and are very active in different kinds of organizations. In short, they’re a bunch of admirable people that I can’t wait to work with!

Following the office tour and self-introduction, we got our first assignment; making Da Zhi travel map for the newcomers. After brainstorming and mind- mapping we finally decide to focus on the nearby cafes (Seems like afternoon tea break is quite popular among locals because Da Zhi area is packed with cafes.) Yu Chen and I got to travel around the “right side of the map” while the others travel along the Shi Jian University area. This observation trip allows me to understand Da Zhi environment better. My final verdict is, the lavish area around Miramar does actually smells like money.

July 5

We finally finished our first warm-up project. I'm so proud of what we had accomplished in 4 days. With Ray's suggestion to adjust our target audience, we decided to change our map's topic. We come to a decision of a specialized map designed for Shi Jian University's freshmen students.

Initially, we had this cool idea to make our map into a multi-layer transparent file that students can get at their freshmen orientation. But after extensive budget research, we finally settle on the idea to make the map as a postcard instead. My main job is to design the overall look of the map. We pick Pantone color of the year, coral pink, and its complementary color, sage green, as our visual theme. This fresh and trendy color would be the right statement for our TA!

We had limited time for this project. So, to maximize our productivity, we downloaded most of the icons we used from a free database cited below:

Icon source: Multiple Artist. “Flaticon, the Largest Database of Free Vector Icons.” Flaticon, accessed  2 July 2019. www.flaticon.com

We also add a QR code linked to our Instagram page. Surprisingly, our page got a couple of likes and followers on the course of 1 day!

After finishing our first warmup activity, Ray gave us lessons about brainstorming technique using post-it notes. I think it's an interesting way to gather ideas without having too much restriction.

Next week we'll have the second assignment; Taipei Main Station observation. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed so we can find interesting problems to solve!