Day 11:

We started the day with another weekly team meeting and then went straight into work. I adjusted some of the beer packaging layouts I worked on yesterday and finished my notes for the website QA phase. I caught quite a bit of minor problems in the text and links, so I’m glad I could contribute to the reviewing. I ended off the day with some quick photo sourcing for the ad campaign and a new, quick video editing task I got this morning.

I learned that (once again) rationales are super important to include in presentations. I forget that since we don’t present anything verbally and communicate asynchronously, I need to share everything through text.

Day 12:

Today was very quiet; I just finished clipping some videos today and then on-boarded to help do some branding moodboards for a social media management tool. I’m super stoked about the direction and the images I get to source for it!

I also got to talk to Jesse, the motion graphics designer, which was a super fun discussion on motion graphics, the industry, video games and anime.

Day 13:

There was nothing too new on the work end, but I got to sit into the diversity committee meeting today. It was super exciting hearing experienced industry professionals discuss how to actively do better after recognizing their working structures’ flaws. It honestly got me emotional and teary-eyed as someone who’s one part of the demographic they talked about being more mindful of. I felt I was seen and heard as a young creative.

As a relatively small and new-ish agency, I hope that their structural changes will bear fruit. It was a wholesome talk overall and a highlight of the practicum so far at 123w. It was very telling of their culture, I’d say, and I hope I can contribute in some way.

Later, I had a quick chat with Natasha Lakhani, the Production director! We mostly chatted about 123w and what’s it like working there from both our sides. It seemed like a pretty busy week for most people, so I didn’t get to ask too many questions.

Day 14:

I mostly helped with odd tasks for the other CDs today while working on my ongoing projects. Tim show me the large brand identity project he was working on with Mo, and it was super amazing seeing the brand development and strategy behind the creative. The deck must have been 100+ pages long, covering everything from the logo to improved photography style to different promotional applications and brand extension guidelines. Sadly, our talk was short because I needed to jump into another call, but I hope to help out with that project in the future.

In the afternoon, I took a break and chatted with an accounts person, David Felizarta, about the company and his different experiences working in a big versus small agency. He mentioned there are both pros and cons about each side, so it depends on your work style. Also, his connections have been a huge asset on his career journey. Most of his jobs have been gotten through another person.

Day 15:

I had a quick chat with Pierre Chan in the morning about some work. He gave me great advice on how to show the various options to clients without overwhelming them through a slide deck. Pierre also gave me a (much-needed) push to make the most of my practicum aside from doing the small odd jobs. As a result, in my weekly check-in with John, I brought up attempting a personal project to work on while at 123w.

We decided on a fictional brand, and packaging design with an advertising campaign would be good. I’ve wanted to showcase my culture and style in my work, so I’m leaning towards creating mooncake packaging and brand identity. It will be a fun mentoring experience going through the 123w project development process!

John’s work tip: when doing ad campaigns, always account for the layout and sketch it out precisely. It’s expensive to do the shoot and then realize that there is no room for the text afterward. You most likely won’t have the money to redo it.

Like every other week, I ended the day with Friday with virtual drinks, but it must have been a busy week for people since only 2-3 other accounts people were there.