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Week 4 (July 9-12, 2018)

Day 1: July 9, 2018, Monday

           There were accusations from the news that starting this Monday, a super typhoon might have a landfall here in the Philippines and it will last 72 hours. Several cities announced class suspensions, though Quezon City wasn’t one of them. I woke up early in the morning with no rain neither a storm. The scorching heat of the sun straightaway greeted when I was waiting for a jeepney outside. I thought that the landfall would happen later this afternoon. Mr. Herbert made a good decision that he didn’t suspend the classes. Surprisingly, there were only two people when I arrived at the office, Sir Jay and an intern. The office was very quiet because there were only three of us. Last Friday, our boss gave a typography task to my co-intern. He’s continuing it today and Sir Jay also gave me the same job to do. Before giving me the task, he enthusiastically asked me, “You haven’t tried typography right?” I agreed and he replied, “well now you’re going to try it”. I didn’t feel bad about task. In fact, I was even excited because I’m about to try something new. Typography is included as one of my subjects this coming semester and it’s a good thing having a background doing it. We were dismissed early because Sir Jay said if we choose will go home late, we might find it difficult to commute once the rain starts to fall hard. I continued working right away after I got home. It’s kind of weird for it didn’t rain that much today in Katipunan. Well I’m not saying it is a bad thing, I am grateful though it didn’t happen here.

Day 2: July 10, 2018, Tuesday

           My alarm usually rings at 8:30 A.M. When my alarm rang this morning, I immediately grabbed my phone and stopped the loud and annoying noise. Afterwards, I checked my phone and there was a text from my Sir Jay. He said that it’s been raining so we had to work from home, he’ll just send and email to us after his meeting today. I got up in the bed and peeked at the window, there was no rain. I think their area was affected by the typhoon. What’s happening is really a strange one for me because usually if there’s a storm coming, Katipunan will be vulnerable and always be busy with heavy rains. But today was sunny, Katipunan isn’t affected with the current typhoon that much. I feel bad for those who are affected by it. Moreover, I just realized that this week will be the last week of my OJT and this will be my last work from home.   Even in my last week, I still got to work at my place. Two studies of typography were added today. Sir Jay sent an email us that say we shall send our works in the afternoon but I forgot to email mine. I wasn’t able to read his note at the latter part of his mail.

Day 3: July 11, 2018, Wednesday 

    This is sad. At the first part of my journey as an intern, I usually do a countdown of my days throughout the ride. However, I stopped doing it recently because I just realized that time is running out. When I heard that I needed to accumulate the 160 hours requirement for the OJT, I was in disbelief because that’s plenty of hours. But in fact, 160 hours have passed through like the fastest train on Earth. Time flies so fast and I’m on my second to the last day of my on-the-job training. Chloe and I worked on our last school requirements. We handed the evaluation form and asked for the certificate of completion to Sir Jay. Both of us were too shy to do it because Sir Jay was kind of busy, nevertheless we still gave it. Afterwards, I showed him what I did yesterday because I wasn’t able to send an email to him after working. As like what he usually does, he gave some suggestions. I followed what he said and created new studies of typography. The office was so quiet and gloomy today… I’m not sure if everyone’s just busy or maybe it felt the bad energy that I’m producing. I can’t believe that tomorrow will be my last…day.

        Day 4: July 12, 2018, Thursday

Literally, I didn’t know where and how to start my last journal… My heart is breaking. Today is the day where I get to arrive at my final destination as an intern. It was a fun yet challenging ride for me. I came through a lot of experiences and learnings that I will surely and proudly carry as I step out into the real world. I’m thankful for the person who thought of making on-the-job training possible. Without this, a lot of students will surely lose their paths especially without experiencing hands on activity and a peek of what’s inside the real world. This journey groomed and helped me prepare to face the reality of my future career. Before, I was just hearing the word OJT from my older cousins. I remember that said that it is when I get to experience working but still I’m still a student. I looked forward to be in their place back then and now, I’m on my last day. Years, months, days, hours and minutes pass by so quickly that I wasn’t aware of what’s going to happen today. All I can feel was blues.

           All I did today was I finalized the task that I’ve been doing since the first day of this week. I created studies and Sir Jay chose two final works of mine. He also asked me a favor to resize some of the photos of Vista Cinemas that he’ll put on the upcoming website of Mindfuse. Sadly, I won’t witness the day where it will be published. Well, I will still be excited for the launching of the new website of my former company. Even Sir Jay startled when he knew today would be our last day in his company. It’s funny because he forgot that today is our last day, thought it will be next week. He just realized after giving the evaluation form to us. He felt apologetic because he failed to remember, we should’ve ate pizza all together for the last time.

           Words can’t express how thankful I am with my influential boss, the great company I’ve applied for OJT and for the talented people whom I shared memories with. I learned a lot from Sir Jay. He help me changed my mindset in design. From just designing a poster, he made me discover that there are critical steps to be followed before getting the final output. Also, he introduced us the world of business. He’s not just a designer but also a businessman. I admire him a lot because he really knows what he’s doing. Having him as a mentor for a short period of time gave me a goal to take things seriously and not for granted. However, working for a company can have its cons. If a person doesn’t want to be manage or controlled, applying for a company isn’t for him. But I’m a type of person who wants to follow or work for a company. Sir Jay gives comments about how I can improve my work. In this way, I can help myself accept critiques and use it as a lesson for the future situations. As to the people who I’m with within 8 hours a week, I will surely miss our small talks during lunchtime and the times where we’re in front of our phones playing Rules of Survival.

            What a ride it has been. I’m surely going to miss this kind of environment. When I was still starting, I keep on saying that I miss going to school, but right now, the feeling of longing for this place is doubled. I will definitely feel odd after all of these happenings. Besides all of these dramas, I’m grateful that I’ve achieved another chapter of my college year.

I’m done with my on-the-job training! Next stop, thesis!

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Week 3 (July 2-6, 2018)

Day 1: July 2, 2018, Monday

           Hey, it’s July and I’m down to my third week! But I’m also kind of feeling sad because my OJT will about to end. I’m surely going to miss it. This day was full of editing the portfolio page of Imprenta Ko. Though, I’m having a creative block the whole day, like I don’t know how to start, what to do with first or what to edit today. Also, I’m a little bit of sleepy… I think it’s Monday and the start of the week, I still don’t have the energy to work. Then, Sir Jay asked us what’s our progress. He didn’t reply to my message last Friday; I think he wasn’t able to read my report. I explained what I did and that I’m still working on what I edited last Friday. Sir Jay said some comments about the photos and some suggestions that can improve my layout and composition. He also numbered the layouts I’m supposed to make to finalize the arrangement of the portfolio. Sir Jay gave me sample guides of Imprenta Ko’s portfolio page that he made; made use of them as an example to improve the photos. We all played Rules of Survival to ease off after getting exhausted with all of the editing that happened today and before we go home.

Day 2: July 3, 2018, Tuesday

           Today was a bit of dull. All of my co-interns aren’t around (Mindfuse has a total of five interns including me). The two interns who are from CSB attended classes, one of the interns was absent because she was sick and the other one will have an early out so I’m the one who will be left alone. When my friend left, I felt a little bit lonely and anxious because I don’t have any companions until the end of our office hours. All I did was create new photos and find new mockups for Imprenta Ko’s portfolio page. Sir Jay then asked me how am I doing and how’s my work. I showed him what I’m up to and my progress for today. His business partner eventually came and they played ps4, that’s how chill my boss is. While they were playing, he said that I can already and continue working at home.

Day 3: July 4, 2018, Wednesday

           Just another day of editing again… I didn’t do anything today but the Imprenta Ko’s portfolio. Honestly, I was running out of ideas for new layouts and concepts. The fact that I’m having a creative block, I’m also getting lazier and lazier. I know that it a bad practice, especially when working, but I think I’m not getting or having any progress this week. As I notice, my co-interns get bored so what I will do is that I’ll adapt and be influenced with their attitude. They keep on saying they’re too tired to work and I’ll be affected by it. But I have some deceiving yet effective ways to disregard what they’re saying. What I usually do is tell myself the opposite and contradict their idea in my mind. In that way, I can escape the bad energy of procrastinating and help me push on working. In the afternoon, like what Sir Jay do, he came to our table and wanted to see our works. We presented it to him one by one and gave us comments to improve our works. After we’re being dismissed, he mentioned that we needed to finalize the entire portfolio tomorrow. I was shook because I’m not yet satisfied with what I did and my edits were still a joke for me. I slightly didn’t take it seriously because I’m currently in the stage of creative block. But I have already decided that I’ll do it tonight when I arrive home from training. By the way, today’s also my first day of training in cheerleading. Also, so not ready for it.

Day 4: July 5, 2018, Thursday

           I thought today will be a productive day; a different one. Yesterday, Sir Jay said that we would finalize the portfolio page layouts. But unfortunately, nothing happened. I think it is also a win-win situation for me because I was going to stay up to accomplish something but fortunately I didn’t risk my sleep and do anything. Cramming would be my last resort. I wonder why he didn’t push through with the finalization of the photos... By the time that I entered the office (I was the first one to arrive), he told me to disregard the portfolio first and do it later. Sir Jay asked me to edit some wireframes of the website of Imprenta Ko. I accepted the task, however I was unsure on what to do. Then, he showed a sample wireframe and now I get what he’s trying to say. All I did the whole day was to make wireframes of the website assigned to me. At least, today was a different task. Of course! Playing Rules of Survival is one of our routines before we go home. We did play and I think that is one way to bond us even just for a short time.

Day 5: July 6, 2018, Friday

           Coming to work with a sore body due to an exhausting training last night and catching colds because of transferring from hot places to cold area and getting my sweat dry with the air condition is very hard when you’re working. It’s too tiring and annoying. But hey! Week 3 is finally over and we were somewhat productive today! I forgot to mention yesterday that we will be having a shoot today to capture some photos that will be posted on Mindfuse’s upcoming website. The photo shoot happened after lunch. We were accomplishing some of our school stuff. I think Sir Jay saw us doing it and he let us finish it first then after lunch, we’ll proceed to the shoot. We followed what he said. Sir Jay even gave us some decorations that we can use as props for the shooting. After lunch, the team set up the office and began shooting. We had a couple of shots per company. I had fun today! We got to move around at the office more than just sitting butts off.

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Week 2 (June 25-29, 2018)

Day 1: June 25, 2018, Monday

          I’m back at the office for the second week! But before going back to work, I had to face again the never-ending traffic and jam packed train every morning before I go to my workplace. Good thing Cubao is near to Katipunan. I only need to ride 2 transport vehicles and my travel time will only take up to 30 minutes. Normally I leave my house at 9:20 A.M. All I want is arriving to work fresh and clean but it’s impossible with the Philippines’ failed transport system and intense heat. My first ride is a jeep going to Katipunan Avenue and there I will walk, going to LRT 2 Station. Usually, the traffic happens below the flyover near the jeep terminal. It irritates me because there are only few meters left before I arrive in the terminal but it takes a lot of minutes due to the extreme traffic. My agony isn’t done yet. I still have to ride LRT; it’s the cheaper and faster way to get to Cubao. I want to arrive at the office on time so I don’t have a choice but to compress myself with other commuters. Commuting under the fiery heat results to nonstop drip of sweat. This has been my routine every morning just to be on time. After all of those hassle rides, thankfully, I still reach the office safe.  

          What happened today was still the same with whatever I did last week; we discussed and planned the upcoming shoot for this week. While working on the layout, we were thinking about what to post next on Mindfuse’s Instagram page. One of my co-interns had an idea; since June is Pride month the post will be all about LGBT Month. We thought of making illustrations of four LGBT icons. Sir Jay suggested that we use the style of Andy Warhol in the illustrations. Chloe And I divided the work. I planned on illustrating Caitlyn Jenner for transgender community and Neil Patrick Harris for gay community. After lunch, I continuously illustrated Caitlyn Jenner. Exactly at 5:00 PM, I finished illustrating so tomorrow I will continue Neil Harris.

Day 2: June 26, 2018, Tuesday

          I wasn’t able to illustrate Neil Patrick Harris yesterday so I finished doing him today. As I was doing the illustration, Sir Jay called us to his desk because he has something to tell us. He wants us to present in front of him tomorrow to practice presenting in front of our clients in the future. He let us choose what topic we want to talk about. We went back to our workplace and decided to continue on finishing the illustrations before discussing about the presentation. I finished illustrating and we grouped the four photos and immediately posted it on Instagram. After posting it, we started planning. The topic we chose was strategies because a lot of corporations today use unique yet effective advertising campaigns. We found six potential companies and divided it by two since there’s a three of us. Afterwards, my boss invited us to play Rules of Survival before we go home.

Day 3: June 27, 2018, Wednesday

          Knowing that we had a presentation to prepare for today, I crammed on researching the two companies assigned to me. Unfortunately, I had to change my 2nd company because the information was not to support their strategy campaign. I continued finalizing my presentation in the office. I was feeling anxious because I didn’t get to finish my presentation. But it was so disappointing for there was no presentation happened today. My effort got wasted but good thing there’s no need for me to talk in front because that one of my biggest anxieties. Then, Sir Jay excused himself and he lent us a flash drive with some Mindfuse’s client portfolios in it. There were only three portfolios inside the flash drive. The three of us, Yamille, Chloe and I, distributed the companies; I stuck with Imprenta Ko.

Day 4: June 28, 2018, Thursday

          This would be my third time working at home. Sir Jay didn’t let us come in the office because he’s not feeling well. We noticed that he was having colds yesterday. He just sent instructions that we just have to continue to work on the portfolio page today and tomorrow (so tomorrow work from home again). We need to send an update by end of day and who's working on what. I didn’t do much today since I also need to think of a new concept using the photos from the portfolio. But I made use of mockups. They’re such a big help because they are already premade PSDs and contain aesthetics. I only have to put the desired photo on a certain layer, do some revisions and viola! I did three outputs but the other one isn’t done yet. I took a screenshot of my work and sent the photos that I edited to sir for report.

Day 5: June 29, 2018, Friday

          As far as I can remember, one time this week, we asked Sir Jay about his passport number/ SSS number for the MOA and he mentioned that he won’t be around this Friday because he’ll work on his passport. Also, he mentioned yesterday that we needed to work on the portfolio page until today at home. Thus, I continued editing Imprenta ko’s portfolio page. But I did realize something. We didn’t have shooting this week. I wonder why and what happened to the plan… Or maybe Sir Jay mentioned that he wouldn’t push through with it. Second week had a faster phase than the first week.

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Week 1 (June 13- June 22, 2018)

Day 1: June 13, 2018, Wednesday

          June 13 was first day of my OJT! I woke up early, thrilled yet anxious. Thrilled, in such a way that I would get to work for a company, meet other talented designers, learn from them and also experience the agony of commuting, facing the traffic and heat because I don’t usually commute going to school like other students do; anxious of what will happen. I still doubt myself, of what I’m capable of doing in terms of arts…

          Enough of the drama. I arrived in the office early. I was so nervous of what will happen on my first day but everything went well. I got accepted in a branding and digital marketing agency named Mindfuse. Even if they’re a small company, they already got big clients. I think this is a great opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to working with them. The CEO of the company, Mr. Jay Bernabe, was very kind and entirely accommodating. He gave an orientation about what the company is all about, asked our strengths and weaknesses in which I can develop along our stay in the company and also our expectations in Mindfuse.

          In my mind, weakness is immutable. But Mr. Jay told us that our weakness can change through time. I snapped and realized that I can beat my weakness. I shall not treat myself as a kid anymore because I’m a step away to reality. After that discussion, I gained more confidence and trust to myself that I can do it and enhance my skills in editing. I came hope tired though my first day went great. 

           After the orientation, he disseminated the tasks to the interns. He positioned me in social media marketing of Mindfuse where I will edit images and upload them on Mindfuse's Instagram account, also Facebook. Timely, it was Independence Day yesterday so I edited an Independence Day greetings to post it on the company’s Instagram account. Additionally, Mr. Jay told us to create a social media calendar to effectively strategize and carefully monitor our posts for the social media accounts. With my co-intern, we also created a feed guide for the company’s Instagram account to organize and plan accordingly the images that we’ll upload so we could achieve an eye appealing feed.

Day 2: June 14, 2018, Thursday

          Today the second day and the last day of my first week. Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to work in the office because our head (Sir Jay) said that we needed to work from home on that day because he had some emergency to attend to. Since our office was just in a condo unit and he’s the only one holding the key, we had to adjust.

          I have co-intern, Chloe, I know her since first year college. It’s great to have someone you know in a workplace. Chloe and I both have the same feeling, we’re still overwhelmed with the OJT. We were supposed to shoot at the office but unfortunately we had to work at home as told by our head. We decided to have a shoot at her place so we meet at 12:00 noon, bought some materials and went to her place to accomplish the tasks. The shoot was all about the “Back-to-School Survival Kit” and we were planning on posting it on Monday, June 18 2018. There were some unexpected changes so we had to adjust and modify the social media calendar and Instagram feed guide. But honestly, we were confused and we still didn’t know what we’re supposed to do but we just continued what we did on the first day. I think it’s normal to feel that way because we’re still adjusting.          

Day 3: June 18, 2018, Monday

           Monday means a new start of the week! Or I feel like it is a continuation of last week (June 13-14)… two days left me hanging. Though, calendar wise! I’m on my second week today. There was a new task given to me and that is to think of a new content for the work/client page of the upcoming website of Mindfuse. He told us to imagine Mindfuse as our client. But before giving the task to us, Mr. Jay discussed and taught us the meaning of branding and identity. I learned a lot of things in branding, identity, positioning, digital marketing, logo studies, etc.  This is what I love about our boss. He didn’t just let his interns do a particular work but also he let them learn new things while in the process. After the discussion, my co-intern and I talked about the layouts and sketched some possible contents for the work page. Thus, this week will be allotted for the planning of the website page. We also had a mini shoot for an Instagram post but the photos wasn’t posted.

Day 4: June 19, 2018, Tuesday

           Second day of my first week! I always arrive in the office so early that Sir Jay tend to text me if he’s on the way, stuck in traffic or if he’s in the office already. When I arrived in the office, I opened my laptop and continued the job that I was tasked to do yesterday and that is content mapping. Together with my co-intern, we were about to illustrate our plans directly on the editing software but our boss told us to write it all down first before putting it on the editing software because it is much easier and saves more time. He wrote down all the clients of Mindfuse and each service that they’ve provided. With that, we composed a Google sheet to organize and classify which is which. The sheet was composed of the clients, actual works of the company, the process in making them and where the works were applied. We also had a shoot for an Instagram post. The concept of the photo was all about planning first before jumping right away to the actual work.

Day 5: June 20, 2018, Wednesday

           I’m in the middle of my first week! A new intern just got accepted yesterday and decided to start today. She’s a comm student, also from Miriam College. Mr. Jay let her work with us so we explained to her what we needed to do. We planned together and did content mapping. To further understand the task that we need to accomplish, Mr. Jay briefed us about the company. He, again, explained that Mindfuse is a branding and a digital marketing agency. But it didn’t end there, they’re also a design studio, for graphics, marketing consultancy, strategists and for website development. I learned that their purpose isn’t only about designing but also creating strategies for them to help their clients connect with their customers. One great thing I knew about the company was that they do not forget the perspective of the customers. They prioritize the user experience because other companies forget to consider the experience of their consumers over their design.

           Moreover, Mr. Jay discussed about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and the important factors. Our goal is to be in the organic search. To get there, we need to master the factors (on page SEO, the duration, and content) and every page on the website has to have relevant keywords. Today I discovered what generic and long-tailed keywords stand for. Under each client, we listed down all the keywords, which are the necessary to the services that Mindfuse provided and added them all to the Google sheet. During lunchtime, our boss bought pizza for us so we had a free lunch! In the afternoon, we took a photo and posted it on Instagram. The idea of the photo was to have the basic essentials to be productive. Then before we went home, we all decided to Rules of Survival. What a fun day!

Day 6: June 21, 2018, Thursday

           Down to my second to the last day of my first week. I would like to share my daily routine before I enter the office because I already got used to it and I felt like I’ve already adjusted within the week. Usually, before 10:00 A.M. is my approximate arrival time in building where my office is located. They have strict security men that kept on stopping me from entering because I’m a visitor. When in fact, I am an intern there. But there are times that I can get away with it, only if the same guard was on duty the other day and still in charge for today. Though, I planned on walking straight to sign up on the logbook because I already knew and that  they won’t demand me to do it. It just irritate me. 

           Fast forward to when I arrived in our office. Minutes after I sat down, Sir Jay called me and asked me to edit the work “EXPERIENCE” with a glitch effect to put it on Vista Cinemas’ brand bible. I then made four different studies and sent them to him. After lunch I continued the work that I did this week. While working, Sir Jay came near to our desk and asked as to present our progress. I wasn’t ready but the show must go on. I just read what’s on the Google sheet and explained what’s in there. After presenting the agendas, he invited us to sit near his desk. He shared to us what we needed to do for next week. He also mentioned that we have a shoot in Rockwell Club by Wednesday or Thursday next week. I got thrilled because we’re going to actually shoot a specific client. 

Day 7: June 22, 2018, Friday

          Week 1 is finally down! My first week’s been great so far. Though, I had to work from home because Sir Jay will be out and he has a whole day meeting today. The first week was allotted to content planning and content mapping. Just like what I did throughout this week, I just edited and enhanced my works. I drew my final drafts for following clients (Imprenta Ko, GH Heritage and Rockwell Club) that was assigned to me. I finished Imprenta Ko and Rockwell club first then planned on finishing GH Heritage later tonight because I’m having a creative block. I took a break after Rockwell Club’s drafts. I checked on my Instagram and saw the photo that I edited yesterday in Mindfuse’s page. I didn’t know that Sir Jay would post it. It made me feel flattered after seeing that photo.

           I’m almost done with GH Heritage and I just realized that working at home is very different from working in the office. However, there are people who prefer working at home more than in the actual company. But I’m more of a company person since it gives me more energy and pushes me to grow as a designer. Ironically, I worked at home on the last day of my first week.