Haluka Yagi

The final blog post. This week was officially the last week of my practicum and the start of my internship here at Rethink!

I’ll start by finally showing more work I can share. Periods for Period is the world’s first all-period font, advocating for free period products in schools. The initiative was led by IDEA Alumni Ashley Visvanathan and was carried out by the amazing Rethink team. I was able to contribute by creating a period for the typeface!

The workload this week felt perfectly balanced. There was enough work to keep me focused and hustling but enough time to enjoy the process and remain calm. I had an amazing week, spending a good chunk of my working time outside on my deck! I think I’ll be working from here a lot during the summer. The energy I get from being outside definitely out powers energy from any caffeinated drink!

A new copywriting intern joined Rethink this week; her name is Helen, and she actually graduated from Capilano’s communication program! It’s nice to have someone around my age who I can candidly talk to, and we actually got assigned on an A&W project together, so it’s been a fun experience collaborating with a copywriter!

FINAL PRACTICUM REFLECTION

My practicum experience at Rethink exceeded my expectations! I loved how they gave a good mix in terms of tasks. I was assigned projects where I could brainstorm and push the concept out myself under the guidance of Creative Directors. I often assisted art directors in carrying out their visual direction into the tasks I was assigned to. This was one of the biggest hard skills I learned at Rethink. Sometimes it was hard sourcing images or sketching illustrations for the Art Directors because they usually had a clear vision of what it should be set in their minds, and I couldn’t always hit that mark the first time. I learned that it’s best to ask many questions upfront to fully grasp what they’re looking for and share lots of progress work to make sure I don’t end up doing extra work than needed. I’m still learning and have a long way to go, but I definitely feel like I’ve learned so much just within this month.

It’s a slightly anti-climactic end to my university life! Nonetheless, I had an amazing practicum experience at Rethink, and I’m excited to keep learning and absorbing as much as I can during my extended time here. I hope that the idea 21 class will meet up soon once vaccinations roll out and the pandemic chills out, but I guess this is the end for now!

Day 1

This is the last full week of my practicum at Rethink! I can’t believe how quick everything has felt. For most of the day, I was designing props to be used on the shoot for Wednesday. I was pretty nervous because there was a quick timeline for this task, and I was afraid something would get looked over, like image rights, file set up, etc.

Day 2

Happy Tuesday! I got some props looked at in the morning by the Creative Directors and continued producing more for the set.

Day 3

Today is shoot day for the art direction project I was helping out with! Although I’m unable to go to the set, the team had a zoom call set up so that the clients could watch the shoot, where I was also able to sit in and watch. Fun fact! Sofia’s guinea pigs may or may not have been involved…stay tuned.

I also had an amazing coffee chat with Aliz, a strategist at Rethink. We had such a insightful conversation on her role as a strategist, as well as how to incorporate strategic thinking in my own work. Since my design work has been a bit slower this week, I also got to see her process on a current project she’s on and even help out a bit with outreach work.

Some key points I took away…

1. Always ask why. As designers, we tend to hold interest in unique solutions, but why should our mom, sister, friend, and neighbours care about the campaign or product? What is the incentive for them? She said her role at the beginning of any project is to keep asking creatives and accounts “why” to distill the clear strategy.

2. Timing. For campaigns and projects to “blow up” on media, a lot can be because of timing. Some projects take a bit longer to gain media traction, and sometimes current events or key historical dates can trigger attention.

The day ended off with some amazing news…after discussing with Hans, I’ve gotten a 3-month extension at Rethink as a design intern! I’m super excited to continue my journey here and really pick at everyone’s brain and learn as much as I can about the company and creative process while I’m here.

Day 4

Today is a bit of a slow day! I wrapped up most of the projects I had, so I’m continuing to help out the strategist, but aside from that, my workload is pretty much empty for the end of the week.

Day 5

It’s another slow day, but that’s okay! I spent the day mostly looking at award-winning designs on D&AD and Communication Arts to ideate some CP (Creative Proposals). Grace and Hans suggested that I think of unique ideas to pitch to the Creative Directors when I have time. I feel as if I have a long way to go for that, but it doesn’t hurt to have fun and ideate!

RECAP

I’ll end this week’s blog with a quote someone included in this week’s Friday Update at Rethink (An email featuring project updates and shoutouts to each other! It’s super fun and warm initiative they do every week).

“Any seed of doubt will blossom into a tree of pain.”

Something that always needed to be remembered: over-communicate, over-communicate, over-communicate! All the CDs and mentors I’ve had at Rethink emphasize not to hold back on questions and that it’s better to annoy them than to make a mistake or cause trouble later on. Next Monday is my official last day of practicum, and next week will be my last practicum blog post! How time flies, holy moly.

Day 1 – March 29th

It felt like today I had the perfect amount of workload to have a good day! I kept busy for the whole day but didn’t have to rush for deadlines and meetings, so I enjoyed the process more of the work I was doing. I also received the exciting news that IDEA Grad Pamella came back from her maternity leave! I wrapped up the first project I got in this practicum, which was a small packaging project. Hopefully, it goes well in production!

Day 2 – March 30th

Today I had my coffee chat with Pam! She was so lovely to chat about her experience working at Rethink doing both Art Direction and Design. For the past while, I’ve been helping out Art Directors. It’s been a great experience sketching out illustrations to be animated, finding wardrobe or art department (props) references, and whatnot. Surprisingly it can take a bit of time!

Day 3 – March 31st

It’s been an exciting week! Today I got to sit in during a client presentation and present the part of the project I lightly contributed to. It was such a great opportunity to see the team walk clients through the deck.

Day 4 – April 1st

This week is a bit shorter because of Easter weekend, so only four days of work this week! I sat in on a pre-production meeting for the art direction project I’ve been helping out on, and it was great to see a collaborative conversation going on between the team and the clients. I also got a chance to look at audition tapes for the actors too, which was super fun! My next task helping out on this project is designing props, so posters, album covers, food packaging, etc., that may appear on set during the shoot.

RECAP

This week was nice in terms of workload; I think I got to dig deep into each of my tasks and enjoy the process while doing so. It’s near the end of my practicum, so, unfortunately, I can’t take on any new projects, but hopefully, I can help out other creatives during my last week at Rethink! I got a good look and experience into art direction after helping pretty hands-on for this last project, which was great because that was one reason I wanted to do my practicum at an advertisement agency like Rethink. Is art direction for me? Not sure yet! But the process is definitely more in-depth and detailed than I imagined.

Day 1

Today I got briefed on two new projects; it’s an intense start to the week! It seems like workload does come in waves; one week, it’s pretty relaxing and a bit slow, and then full speed back on the grind the next. I’m helping out an art director by sketching elements to be 3d illustrated and animated for one project and building out a brand kit for a rebrand Hans just finished off! Super excited to get started on both projects.

Day 2

I had a coffee chat with Shana, who’s an Art Director at Rethink! Holy cow, there are so many creatives here, and it seems like I can never get to the end of the list. It was really lovely talking to her about her experience starting off as an intern at Rethink.

Day 3

Wednesday, arguably the longest and most intense day of the week, has hit. I had 3 office hours today, which was a lot of critiques and comments to organize in my thoughts. Luckily my semi-legible notes kept me sane! I feel myself getting better at multitasking and making sure that enough progress is made for each project, but it can be overwhelming at times too.

Day 4

Today was a busy, busy day; one project was a bit overdue for client approval, so I had to scramble and get revisions from my CD back and forth throughout the day on Slack. Text critique can be quite hard; misinterpretation and miscommunication happen, but I managed to get it all done on time, phew! It was also the long-awaited grad show today. We had a fun and touching evening with some IDEA instructors and the whole gang. It was lovely to see everyone’s faces, and I definitely had some teary moments here and there.

Day 5

Today was client presentation day! It was a bit of a busy morning with making small changes here and there with Hans, but it went well. The client was pleased with all the options, and I was super relieved. I also got to see Hans talk, answer questions, and open discussions, which was an amazing opportunity to learn. Everyone at Rethink raves about how amazing a presenter he is, and I really felt that during the call.

RECAP

This week was honestly hard, but it taught me how to block off time within a day and to finish tasks within a given time frame. I’m excited to rest this weekend come back on Monday with a fresh mind! The week was a bit overwhelming with the grad show prep and a busy work week, but it’ll be nice to find the balance between work life now.

Day 11 – March 15

Happy Monday! It’s the start of another week at Rethink. Today, I mainly worked on finalizing my work and deck for my first client presentation tomorrow. It was a bit of a slow day after getting that work done, but I got to help out on a different project sourcing illustrators.

Day 12 – March 16

Today I was the first time presenting to the client during my practicum! I was quite nervous, but Grace, my CD for this project, gave me great pointers, and we had a practice run with the account people, which was a good test run. I definitely could’ve done better because I ended up talking faster than I wanted to, but I am glad I had the opportunity to present to a real client. I also got briefed to help out with another project, which came at a good timing because both my current projects are at a halt for client feedback!

Day 13 – March 17

Wednesday was spent working on helping Abrie, a Rethink Art Director, with the media kit content for a brand’s launch for a new product. Even though it was a simple layout task, I found it a fun challenge to work within the guidelines.

Day 14 – March 18

A slow Thursday! It seems like work comes in waves, and client feedback tends to take longer than planned. I spent the morning finishing up a task helping an Art Director with a media kit, and I got to sit in her OH to see how she presents the creative work to CDs. Rethinkers told me that watching good presenters present is the best way to improve, so I really appreciated her letting me sit in to listen. It seems like work is supposed to be coming soon, but I’m anxious to get started asap!

Day 15 – March 19

Happy Friday! Today I woke up to some new work waiting for me, which was great. I also had my weekly chat with Grace, who’s become my mentor at Rethink, about how my time has been here so far. I got some advice from her that when things are slow, I could work on creative proposals! Most of the award-winning work from Rethink comes from creatives pitching unique ideas to clients. She said that I could start ideating and pitch it to the CDs during my practicum at Rethink. I’m super excited to get started on those!

Recap of Week 3

It’s officially the mid-point of my practicum! Time flies, honestly, but I’ve been having such an amazing opportunity at Rethink learning from such amazing creatives who are also such great mentors. It is hard getting close to people because I work with a lot of different people for each project, but it’s a nice experience to work with diverse teams!

Day 6 – March 8

Happy Monday! Today I continued to help Ashley out with the previous project, with some file organization and exporting. This came at a good time because I wrapped up my first project at Rethink and some time to spare. The day was mainly spent getting a deck ready for the client and playing around with different packaging project layouts. I’m on a slight halt in execution because I need to get the copy first, but it’s good practice to make sure my designs can be flexible for whatever I get!

Day 7 – March 9

Today I got briefed on a new project that is exciting because I get to work with Brett and Grace, with whom I both got to have a coffee chat. It’s a quick turnaround project, so I’m a bit nervous, but I’m excited to get started on this poster and take away card. Hopefully, my time management skills pull through because two of my briefs have deadlines at the end of this week…On some exciting news, I had a quick coffee chat with Syd Danger, another IDEA Alumni! It was great to hear her experience as an Art Director, and it’s crazy that she works a full-time job plus managing SAD Magazine.

Day 8 – March 10

The middle of the week was busy as expected—today was a jam-packed day with coffee chats, briefings, and office hours! I felt slightly overwhelmed, but I felt a bit better about my workload after making a to-do list. This is partially on me for saying yes to small tasks that build up on top of one another, but I’m learning how to use my time efficiently as possible.

Day 9 – March 11

Today, I learned that over-communicating and showing progress to the team is very important! For the packaging project, the copy and design team weren’t aligned in terms of execution, so we had to have a regrouping meeting to rework the copy. It wasn’t a terrible situation, but I felt bad for adding more work to the copywriter last minute. Besides keeping up with all my work, I also got briefed to help out for a fun surprise internal Rethink event.

Day 10 – March 12

TGIF! Today was mainly spent tightening up the deck to send to the client for the packaging project. My CD and mentor for the past two weeks, Alex, had to leave Rethink today for his Paternity leave, but luckily, Hans hopped in to fill his role! He gave the final go to send off the deck to the client; hopefully, we hear back good things next week. I also had an Office Hour (Rethink terminology for crit sessions) with Grace for the poster/take away card project.

WEEK 2 RECAP

This week was overall a bit hectic; it’s been a bit of a struggle to transition to the 9-5 work-life after sticking to my night owl habits for the past 4 years. Nonetheless, it feels good to be productive and get lots done during the day! Maybe I can become a morning person by the time my practicum ends. It’s all been an amazing experience so far at Rethink; I’ve learned so many soft and hard skills around design, communication, and organization. I’m excited to see what next week has in store for me!

Day 1 – March 1st – Onboarding

Today was the long awaited first day at Rethink!

Most of the day was spent on onboarding: getting email, slack, zoom, universal type etc., all setup and synced with the Rethink system. It’s nice to be at Rethink with Sharleen because my first-day nerves were definitely hitting! We had a nice onboarding call with Hans, Alex (IDEA Alumni) and Maddy (Traffic). They put me right to work with my first project briefing; 3 illustrative posters for a virtual event. This project allowed for some conceptual thinking, so it was time to hit the sketchbooks to get to 100 ideas!

Day 2 – March 2nd

This morning I tuned into a Rethink Talk featuring Rahaf Harfoush. She’s a digital anthropologist and author who came to talk about work-life balance, burnout, etc. It was really insightful hearing about her experiences working in North America vs Europe and emphasizing taking forced breaks. Today was mainly an ideation day; I continued sketching concepts for the poster brief and got a rough deck ready to present my ideas tomorrow. I also had my first coffee chat with Ashley Visvanathan (IDEA Alumni), who gave me a lot of tips to make the most out of these 6 weeks, as well as a short intro on what Art Direction is like.

Day 3 – March 3rd

Today I had my first crit session with Alex! It seemed like I hit the mark on the 100 idea method, and we found some good leads to bring into digital execution. We also got a bit of time to slide in a coffee chat, and I got to hear about his journey that led him to where he is now at Rethink. Later on in the day, I got briefed on a sleeve packaging brief; there’s a copywriter for this project, so I’m really excited to see what the process is like working with one!

Day 4 – March 4th

Today I had a coffee chat with Brett Young, who attended Capilano’s communication program! She was the first non-design Rethinker I met, so I was slightly nervous about what to talk about, but it was interesting to learn about how the accounting side works. I got most of my work done during the day, so I reached out to Ashley if she needed any help and I did some file exporting work for the rest of the day!

Day 5 – March 5th

Today I started working on the packaging brief I got assigned. It feels slightly daunting to be doing work that will be printed and produced; the pressure is on, but I’m just as excited to get started too! In the morning, I met with Charmaine Cheng (IDEA 2019). It was great to hear about her experience, starting as a design intern and moving into an art director position. I also had a coffee chat with Grace Cho, an Art Director/ACD at Rethink. I had actually met her last year at Cossette, where I did my third-year mentorship, so it was nice to see a familiar face!

WEEK 1 RECAP

Everyone here is just so nice and friendly; it’s been a great first week! There were moments where things were slow here and there, but I’m hoping to keep busier next week with another brief coming my way. The feeling of guilt of doing nothing feels terrible, but I learned that I need to be more proactive and ask for more work/help. Communication is definitely key to working remotely because without setting meetings or checking in with others, you really don’t know what work is out there that you can do. I’ve been terrible with taking photos during coffee chats, but I’ll be back with more photos next week; sorry, Judy!