Day 1: Continued work on project #2. Things have finally started to fall into place with this project. I got some great feedback from Jesse over Teams throughout the day. We chose the layout that we liked the most/was the easiest to read. A great start to the week! 

Day 2: Spent the morning applying the layout to the other pages of project #2. It started to get tricky on certain pages because of the huge variation in the amount of text for each page. The layouts that looked good on pages with lots of text looked weird and sparse on pages with less and it was hard to stay consistent while trying to fit everything on each page. Sought Jesse’s advice in the afternoon, got some feedback, and went right back to work. 

Day 3: Spent the morning tweaking the layouts on project #2. I also had the chance to meet with some of the other lovely team members of PSDDB throughout the day. I met with Rob Newell the strategist, Monica Martinez one of the freelance designers, and Lorill Hancock one of the project managers. They gave me some great book and movie recommendations and some even better advice. I learned that it’s important to keep an open mind and to maintain a big appetite for learning. I was also reminded of the importance of staying connected with people in the industry. 

Day 4: Spent the day making more tweaks to project #2 in order to prepare for the second internal meeting in the afternoon. I was feeling quite nervous but things were slowly but surely coming together. Everything started to feel more manageable and I could feel myself improving my typography skills. I guess practice really is the best teacher (not to discredit the incredible teachers at IDEA. I just felt myself starting to marinate a bit more in the lessons you all taught me). Had the internal meeting in the afternoon and got some great feedback on making layouts more consistent. After that, I met with the lovely project manager Erica Johnsson. She gave me a great book recommendation and told me that her husband, Markus Wreland was an IDEA alumnus. What a small world! Also the IDEA 21 GRAD SHOW SITE FINALLY LAUNCHED!!! I was so nervous and my hands got really sweaty, which made it hard to focus. Luckily it was almost 5 at that point.

Day 5: Had my weekly meeting with Jesse. We went over what I did during the week, who I met up with, and chatted about random things like what movies/shows to watch and how deadlines are a great way to cure perfectionism. We also discussed what games people at PSDDB could play together online to make up for the lack of in-person interaction. In the afternoon, I continued my work on project #2, mostly incorporating the feedback from yesterday and getting into the details a bit. I also met up with Dan O’Leary, another freelance designer. Got a great book recommendation from him as well (I might become a bookworm again with all these great recs). We also talked about how hopping from hobby to hobby had helped us with design and how exercise was also a great way to bring out creativity. 

Day 1: Had a morning meet up to go over what we were doing this week. Spent the whole day working on project #2 and met up with Jesse in the afternoon. Teams was down so it took about half an hour to get the meeting to work. Luckily we were able to meet up and I was able to get some great feedback. 

Day 2: Worked on project #2. It’s a long document so I’ve been given lots of time to design it. So far, it’s been a great exercise in text-heavy typography and user flow. 

Day 3: Spent the day hammering out layout variations for project #2. Even though I spent a lot of time on it, it wasn’t coming together. I kept trying though and made as many variations as I could. I also felt like what I currently had wasn’t good enough to show and so I refrained from sharing it until I felt a bit more satisfied. In the afternoon, I started getting affected by stuff outside of practicum which made it quite hard to focus on work. Hopefully, it’ll pass tomorrow…

Day 4: Today was a bit of a time crunch. Because of things outside of practicum, I was unable to work effectively in the afternoon. The internal meeting for project #2 was set to be this afternoon so I had to work quickly in order to get the best feedback possible to move forward. Once the afternoon came though, most of my anxieties dissolved. I got great feedback from James and Jesse and was reassured that there was nothing to worry about since I’m here to learn. After my workday was done, I took a glimpse outside and saw a gorgeous double rainbow over my neighborhood. It was a great reminder of how fleeting everything is. The bad moments will pass and so will the good. I took it all in (and I took some photos too <3 ) and decided to properly relax in the evening. 

Day 5: Today was my mid-practicum check-in with my host James and our lovely practicum coordinator Judy!! We also invited Jesse as he’s been the one overseeing most of my work. We had a lovely chat and I got some insightful feedback. They mostly told me not to put so much pressure on myself and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. They also encouraged me to book one-on-one meetings with everyone at PSDDB to supplement the lack of interaction from remote working. In the afternoon, I continued my work on project #2 and got an incredible album recommendation from a friend. Amazingly, it helped me get out of my creative block. Later, I sat in on a meeting to receive client feedback on project #1. A great end to a chaotic week.

Day 1: Continued work on the logo project (Project #1). Got briefed on a new project. PSDDB has just finished getting approval for a rebrand project for another one of their clients. My assignment was to create one of the first pieces of collateral while working closely with James and Jesse to test out how to apply the branding elements on various documents (I’ll call it Project #2). It was interesting to see how a brand is applied to such a wide variety of things, including corporate documents rather than just brand swag that I’d usually see on Behance or Instagram, etc. 

Day 2: Today, we had the client presentation day for the first logo in Project #1. Spent most of the day making final adjustments to one of the logos and laying them out in the correct format for the presentation. In the afternoon, I went to the meeting. It was an interesting experience. The clients knew what they wanted and gave great feedback. 

Day 3: We had the client presentation for the second logo in Project #1. Everyone was very engaged and involved when it came to the feedback this time. My stomach was hurting in the afternoon so I had oatmeal for lunch. I spent the rest of the day working on Project #2.  I read through and observed all the work that James and Jesse put into the rebrand in order to get more familiar with it and started creating layouts. 

Day 4: Was not feeling well today. I spent the morning working on Project #2 but sadly, working didn’t make me feel any better. I made the mistake of trying to power through and had to take the afternoon off. My assignment for the afternoon was to rest and try to get better. Oh well, Tomorrow is a new day.

Day 5: Felt a bit better than yesterday. I spent the whole day working on Project #2. It’s a print piece with lots of typography involved. I haven’t done a print piece in a while so it has been a challenge so far. But with time, I started getting used to things again. Everyone was pretty busy today so hopefully, I’ll be able to meet with James and/or Jesse on Monday for feedback. 

Day 1: SO NERVOUS! I spent the morning getting acquainted with everyone at PSDDB and getting my email and Microsoft Teams account set up. I dove in headfirst and was briefed on an extension logo project from a big rebranding project they were currently working on. I also briefly met up with art director/ designer/ IDEA18 alumnus Jesse Ellingson. Jesse and I met again in the afternoon to chat and to go over questions I had regarding the project. After work, I went for a run and was rewarded with a spectacular view. Not so bad my first day I guess :)) 

Day 2: Meetings on meetings on meetings!  Spent the morning making logo iterations. I spent the afternoon sitting in on meetings with illustrators for an advertising campaign where I saw Cheyenne Manning from IDEA 18! I’m still feeling overwhelmed from all the info and meetings but I’m getting the hang of it a bit.  

Day 3: I spent the morning working away at the logo iterations and searching for inspiration. Nothing seemed to be working today. I sat in on an illustrator briefing for the same campaign as day 2. I met with James Bateman, the creative director of PSDDB in the afternoon for some help in getting past my creative block. He suggested that I look at a variety of inspiration sources rather than fixating on things related to the client. I had fallen into a sort of tunnel vision trap and so my talk with him helped me get back on track! As soon as it hit 5, I received some lovely flowers from PSDDB!

Day 4: I Spent the morning working on logo iterations and met up with Jesse for some feedback and found a few other directions to try out. In the afternoon, I had my first internal crit session for the logo project. I was so nervous!! But it was a great experience! The team gave great feedback and briefly commented on their favourite concepts that I created. They also gave me a few more directions to try within each concept. Unfortunately, we ran out of time but James, Jesse, and I agreed to meet up tomorrow morning to discuss some more in detail. 

Day 5: I Met up with James and Jesse in the morning to discuss the logo project. With the client meeting approaching, we needed to solidify which concepts to keep exploring and which ones to drop. In the afternoon, I was plopped into “Friday Shoutouts” with no context and was barraged with compliments. It was a great way to end the week haha!