YOU ARE THE REASON
todays bird
Andulka
Misplaced Lens Cap
trying on a metaphor
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if i look back, i am lost
dirt enthusiast
Not today Justin
Discoholic 🪩
tannertan36
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
Mike Driver
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ojovivo
titsay
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roma★
i don't do bad sauce passes
Cosimo Galluzzi
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@asmawinterim-blog
The PR/Communications office is such a fun environment! Very unlike a typical cubicle setting. There are even stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling. Kandace and Jenn's cubicles both have these beautiful murals on the wall, so I asked about them. They were gifts from artists in Toledo, Spain, to commemorate the sister-city relationship they have with Toledo, Ohio!! Read more about the sisterhood here: http://www.toledosistercities.org/sistercities/toledo-spain/
Zoo Things
On Friday, I spent a few hours with Andi Norman, the Director of Public Relations and Community Affairs at the Toledo Zoo. I got to park in the Employee Lot behind the Museum of Science building. I met Andi in the Admin offices, and then she took up to her own office upstairs.
We spent about an hour talking about what a PR/Marketing job at the Zoo looked like. They are composed of a team of four - a director (Andi), a copy writer (Kandace), someone to run the web (Casey), and an event planner (Jen)! They're a small team, so the hours are long, and the work is (sometimes) physically demanding. Andi says the only way for someone to handle a job in this field is to be fast & efficient with high volumes of work.
After my time speaking with the four of them was over, Andi walked me over to the Graphics Shop so I could see what they did. The Graphics Shop essentially designs everything you see at the zoo - signage, menus, pamphlets, brochures, exhibits...literally everything. They also put in long hours, and have to run on deadlines.
The most valuable lessons I got from today:
1. College doesn't necessarily help you in the workforce (good news for me 0.0) because a classroom doesn't give you any experience. College just gives you the basic tools - you have to make the best of every situation on your own.
2. It's essential to become a people person. In any work environment, you need to know how to get along with your co-workers and your clients. You have to realize that they are human too, with feelings, shortcomings, pet peeves, likes/dislikes, and a sense of humor. You have to learn how to deal with all that in order to produce solid work.
The "before" look, and the "after" look. The form on the left isn't exactly the same as the one on the right, but all the old forms looked like that.
InDesign
I finally found the time to sit down and re-do some old forms for the school on InDesign. I have some experience with the program, but not as much as I would like; this project gave me a good refresher.
The forms that needed updating included the International Student Medical Form and the International Student Summer English Program. The copy was outdated, and the graphics didn't match our school now.
The process took a lot longer than I originally expected. But in the end, I think they turned out looking pretty good!
Melissa supplied me with a packet about 50 pages thick that covers everything relating to brand/logo usage, print guidelines, our colors in RGB/CMYK, and how to use MyMV and the Content Management System. While that sounds overwhelming, it was neatly organized and really easy to use.
What are your professional goals for the new year? Check out our roundup of tips, research, and frameworks to help you improve your communication skills, strengthen your relationships with teammates, and push yourself to new heights in 2015:
GOAL: MEANINGFULLY EXPAND YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK...
Hey creative people. Tumblr already loves your stuff. Now we wanna make it huge. This is Creatrs.
Emerging platform "for creatives" made by Tumblr...wonder what this is going to look like!
Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015
Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015 from We Are Social Singapore
CHECK THIS OUT. Comprehensive slideshow with tons of statistics relating to digital, social, and mobile usage on a global scale. Admittedly, I haven't gotten though all 376 slides, but it has a wealth of information.
Concentrek Website
Check out their website HERE and make sure to watch their 100 second demo reel.
Concentrek
Concentrek Group is "a creative agency offering insight and experience in graphic design, website design, app design and development, video production, motion graphics, animation, social media strategies, public relations and branding." In other words - they're a really sweet marketing agency and do almost everything under the sun.
The office is located downtown in the Industry Square building, right on the corner of Monroe and Summit. The outside building looks small from the outside; the first floor is a few feet of tile and an elevator. I headed up to the third floor and buzzed in. When I arrived, the person I was supposed to meet was in a business meeting, so I hung out until someone could meet me.
Mr. Paskvan was the one who put me in touch with these guys. His friend, Eric, works as a copy editor, and was able to talk with Kent (the co-owner of the group) to get me in for the day. Anyways, Eric came over after a few minutes of waiting and gave me a tour of the place. It's a large, open space, with a couple rooms lining the east wall. There are two offices for the Account Managers, one for App development, one for Sound development, one for Kent, and one for his business partner. Then there's a printing room and photo studio! They try to do as much photography as they can in-house.
I was able to sit in on a team meeting where they went through their Best Practices manual. A Best Practices manual is essentially a "what to do, and what not to do" guide for their clients. It gives a general overview as to how branding works, the benefits of having a website + app, what to avoid, ect. It was only six months old, but in need of updating because they are currently trying to phase down out their print services. While they aren't going to stop, there's better benefits in moving towards a more digitally-focused model.
After that, I spent the rest of the day talking with some core members of the team. I got the run-down of the business from Kent to understand what it's like to be in his position. He has the same mentality as Bill from Madhouse - business execs have to always keep their business moving forward. They have to always be looking for new things to do, ditch what isn't working, and cut some losses.
Kent has a background in journalism, which he said was extremely handy when he started working in marketing. I'm starting to realize that I don't have to pick just one or the other - marketing or journalism - because they can work hand-in-hand. Journalism is a really tough field to stay afloat in on it's own. The world is rapidly changing, and it's moving away from conventional news delivery methods. Look at The Blade, for example - they no longer print!! The need for news will never, ever end, but it's getting harder and harder to get it out to the public. Attention spans are shortening, and hardly any one takes the time to physically pick up a paper anymore. Who knows, maybe the first newspaper using Twitter as their only platform will start up within the next few years. One article = one tweet. I wouldn't even be surprised. Not to mention, it's a great/fast way to get everyone reading a soundbite of news every day...
My time with the Account Managers was pretty interesting too. Despite the fact that it's a desk-job, they get to deal with the external side of a marketing firm. All clients communicate with them directly. Account Managers oversee each project and keep tabs on client happiness. Pricing, billing, scheduling, and communication with the designer is part of their job too. I'm not sure if I'm interested in pursuing this as a career, simply because I feel like I need to be more engaged with the creative side if I'm going to be working at a desk all day. However, a benefit to this job is gaining fantastic people skills. They were so nice to me and super easy to talk to.
Eric has a really interesting job as a copy writer and editor. He gets to work with the art director and write all the copy on the pieces that need it. All the words that go on diagrams, advertisements, pamphlets, websites - that's all written and edited by him. "The art and the words have to work together like beautiful ice dancers" as Eric explains (he's a really funny guy).
Friday Night Basketball
I made it out to the Varsity basketball game against Northwood on Friday. (We won!) It was good practice for me, since I don't do sports photography very often.
A Thank You
I had a great time at Muir Graphics. It's very difficult to convey all the information I learned! There are so many processes I didn't touch on simply because they are so complicated and lengthy.
Feel free to send me a message using the "MESSAGE" tab on the left-hand side if you have any questions.
1. An original Heidelberg press. These things are super old. school. They're still used now to create creases and perforations.
Printers use a CMYK color model: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Every single color is made out of a unique blend of these four colors. Using a magnifier called a loop, you can actually see the tiny dots. From far away, the human eye would never be able to pick up on this!
1. My file coming off the press. Notice all the borders!
2. Getting put through the trimmer.
3. All done!
1. The machine in the background creates folds! It's resembles an assembly line; it spans the length of two full walls.
2. The excess borders that get trimmed off.
3. The scrap paper gets sorted into different categories for recycling. Different types of paper are worth more; for example, blank sheet is worth more than a sheet that has ink and color swatches on it.
