Since we are the halfway mark, I thought I’d share some tidbits on how the coffee chats are going! We are encouraged to have a coffee meeting every day for at least 4 weeks. Since we’ve gone virtual, I’d had as many as 4 chats a day or none, as scheduling is a little more flexible…and I would be bouncing if I had 4 coffees!

One of the common technical difficulties I’ve had on some zoom calls! I better find that Ethernet Cable to connect myself directly.

Each meeting is either 15 or 30 minutes and I’m surprised how even the short ones are also effective! One first topic to cover is getting to know the person, their journey, role, and what they are currently working on. It’s a good way to understand other roles from design and how they would link to us. I learned some differences between an art director and a creative director as it was a little fuzzy to me.

I also learned about people’s journeys, especially how they felt right out of the gate. Meeting someone who may be in a higher role might be intimidating, but having this discussion helps a little to find out that everyone has the same feelings/worries, etc. starting out.

All these coffee chats and learning about the “Game of Design Life”

Another big piece of information that was consistent with most people I talked to was the big tip for interns is to put your hand up and help when you can. There is so much opportunity here to see different things, shadow different people. It’s nice to know that it’s encouraged and you can even request what you might want to get exposed to! Another thing people kept encouraging is to shadow/sit in on specific people and sit in on things like video editing and motion! These were things we don’t get an opportunity for much in school, so I’m pretty excited!

One interesting thing I noticed after a few weeks of the coffee chats is after the introductions, I found I was able to ask questions intuitively, and not from a handy list I kept beside me to keep the conversation going. I think being here a few weeks, you get to know a little more and may get more specific with questions as you can tell what you know/what you don’t know a little better! A few additional nuggets that were helpful are using your intuition and being comfortable with uncertainty!

I’ve also heard this from a quick mentoring conversation via RGD last fall. I was feeling stuck in my capstone and that inspired me to ask myself a few simpler questions and listen a little more to my intuition! It led me to the final direction that made sense! I hope this ability downloads a little more quicker with time and experience!

Back on the work front, two of the projects I was on were delivered to the clients! I also got to sit in more on a future photoshoot that I’m helping source images for. It’s quite interesting to hear the conversation and considerations for a photoshoot (eg. budget, talent, scenes). I’ve also continued on the dentist brand identity project and will be my main focus this coming week!