Week 1: I had my first meeting with my boss! I am so excited for this position. It feels like the best possible scenario for my practicum. My goal with this internship is to create impressive portfolio pieces. We discussed starting a booklet for the “Fall Fest” that the Pittsburgh Playhouse puts on annually. I am highly interested in this project, and excited to begin.

 

Week 2: I began formatting the Fall Fest booklet, along with sketching out concept art and designing the random-style title font. I want this booklet to translate as a colorful, cozy, family friendly piece. It will reflect the mood of the imagery that was already given to me. I was also given a character called “Boo” who is a little friendly ghost. Boo is to be repeated around the pages of the booklet. The back of the booklet is supposed to be a coloring page, on which I will add a “find the boos” game along with an illustration of our own Pittsburgh Playhouse. Things are in the early stages but looking up!

 

Week 3: This week, I designed a knit frame motif, background colors, and designed more of the coloring page. I took great time and effort to create sweater patterns to frame each page, creating a cohesive design with varying patterns and moods per page content. I made the middle of each frame a solid color derived from the sweater pattern. I also got to work making my coloring page digital! It is a challenge to make the building translate as such, so I am adding details of line and shadows to make the image more readable.

 

Week 4: The coloring page is now complete along with the rest of the booklet’s typography! I picked out a font with a horror motif for the coloring page, and designed the activities on it, and finalized my illustration. I also completed most of the typography by placing it where it needed to go on my layouts, and organizing where all my information is going to go. I inputted what text I do have and began the process of designing the smaller imagery. I think that this is progressing nicely, and my boss agrees as well.

 

Week 5: My booklet is starting to look more complete, as I’ve completed all the text and graphics with the information that I already have. I made a cover page, calendar graphic, a map of the event, a program for the Halloween show, an artist highlight page, a list of the playhouse policies, and a graphic for the activities. I am proud of where this is going, and I am awaiting the rest of the information I need to complete 4 of the 12 pages.

 

Week 6: I finally have all the information that I need, and I now have a complete first draft of my booklet! I have received critique and edits, so once those are worked out this project should be complete. I need to reformat many things, input new information, and create more graphics for the games/activities page. I am very stressed, but I am happy with where I am.

 

Week 7:

I finished all the edits, and I am awaiting feedback! This is one of the biggest projects I have ever been given, and I am proud of myself.

 

Week 8:

The fall fest booklet is finally complete and printed! However, we experienced setbacks with printing. The printer who does the prints for the playhouse did not have the correct paper. There was no time to get the correct size and material of paper that we were planning to use. For this reason, my boss took the liberty of changing all my work to be rectangular over square. I am disappointed in the new results, so I will be using my original work for my portfolio (the 10x10 piece). I am interested to see what’s next!

 

Week 9:

We decided to take a break this week, as we just finished a highly stressful, long project.

 

Week 10:

Beginning the postcard project, I am learning a lot about printing. I am primarily trained in Illustrator, so I was having a hard time navigating InDesign. Given that InDesign is used primarily for printed works, gaining experience with it has been extremely import to my growth as a designer.

 

Week 11:

I am mid postcard production, and I am working hard to make this a great informational piece! I am paying great attention to the postcards created in the past to achieve continuity. The original WMF logo contained a snowflake halftone behind it, so I incorporated a snowflake motif acting as bullet points. It should be ready to go out next week!

 

Week 12:

We wrapped up working on the Winter Music Fest (WMF) Postcard! I think our final project looks very clean and professional. We incorporated the photos from the WMF poster instead of the snowflakes last minute to create more imagery and continuity. For my last project, I will be designing a poster for a future Pittsburgh Playhouse project. More details to come!

 

Week 13:

My final project is a flyer that includes the main information for the Backstage/Onstage series at the Playhouse. Each event includes the date, time: 5pm, the guest, and the host. I am awaiting critique on this to see if there is anything else that I need to complete.