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Day 27, Dec 9/Day 28, Dec 11

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours,  215.30 hours total)

For my last week at Design Edge, the first thing I was asked to do was help one of the other designers clean and organize the studio. Getting rid of discarded scarps, returning tools the proper drawers and placing old toy models into boxes for storage. After I was done with this I continued with the Oswald and Cleo (Pee Point) product photos. 

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 223.30 hours total)

On my last day, the first thing I did was finish the last of the clean up on the Oswald and Cleo (Pee Point) lifestyle photos. After that, I posted the next Animallusions video to the Animallusions Instagram account. And finally, I reshot the Red Light Green Light 1-2-3 Dominoes instructional video due to some changed and adjusted made to the game rules.

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Day 25, Dec 2/Day 26, Dec 4

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 199.30 hours total)

To start off this week I continued with the Pee Point product photos, taking another round of pictures of the products in use, then brought them into photoshop to lighten and color correct them. After that, I prepared the next animal illusions video to be posted on Instagram.

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 207.30 hours total)

After I got in that morning I sent compressed the Red Light Green Light Dominoe video and sent it in for review. While in the middle of continuing to edit the Pee Point photos, I was asked to scan and clean up three watercolor sketches for a new project. The last thing I did was take new photos and documentation of the new sets of fuzzy palm tree mirror hangers. 

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Day 23, Nov 25/Day 24, Nov 27

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 186.30 hours total)

To start off this week I went straight to work finishing up the Red Light Green Light 1-2-3 Dominoes video. I made the last few tweaks to the video’s speed, adjusted the font for the on-screen instructions and adding the company that will be manufacturing the game. Once that was done I was asked to make some changes to a Christmas card by the same people who make the convenience kits. For this task, all I had to do was update the names of the people on the card and find a substitute font for the “Season’s Greetings” message that might look nicer than the default. The last thing I did was set up a rig to take more videos of the animal illusion figures without the shakiness of my hand messing up the footage.

9:30 am - 2:30 pm (5 hours, 191.30 hours total)

Continuing with the animal illusion figures project I and another intern, decided to make the videos more interesting by treating them like little skits. We placed them around the office and even outside and then filmed ourselves reacting to them as if seeing them for the first time. We manage to make several videos like this, which can be found on the Animallusions Instagram. After that, we spent the remainder of the day taking photos of the latest version of the Pee Point products.

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Day 21, Nov 18/Day 22, Nov 20

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 170.15 hours total)

I began that morning right where I’d left off last week, continuing to make adjustments to the Red Light Green Light 1-2-3 Dominoes video. Adjusting the timing, size, and font for the text before having my supervisor review it. I later had to refilm the demo round due to the orientation of the recording leaving empty space on either side of the composition board. Sometime later I took a break from that to work on another video, this one for a set of toys called Illusion Animals. Which are optical illusion figurines of different animals (we currently have three versions, a camel, a dog, and a zebra) that look like they’re moving their heads to follow you around the room. I was tasked with getting videos of each that could be posted to social media. I spent the remainder of the day taking filming the figures moving and bringing them into After Effects.

9:00 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 178.30 hours total)

Continuing from the previous day I finished speeding up and adjusting each of the videos I’d taken. Unfortunately, they turned out to be low quality due to how much more noticeable the shakiness of my hand was when the clips were sped up. As such, to get better footage I had to do numerous reshoots, trying different things to get a clean shot. The things I tried varying from taking my time moving around the figures to minimize the wabble, to using a rolling desk chair as a tri-pod, (as we do not have one with wheels). Eventually, with some input from my supervisor, we came up with the idea to remove the back from the desk chair to use as a rotating stand and use pieces of black foam board as a background. This way we could use a tripod to keep the camera steady and move the figurines easily without the shakes.

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Day 19, Nov 11/Day 20, Nov 13

9:00 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 154.15 hours total)

To starts off this day, I was asked to take pictures of the Artsbot series, getting photos of the best looking ones of the four available types we were sent. Once I‘d done that sent them to my supervisor for review I spent the rest of the day designing the instruction page for a board game called The Trail to Washington. To do this I was given an Illustrator file with the vector art used for the box and was given the freedom to take those assets and arrange or modify them as I saw fit.

9:20 am - 5:20 pm (8 hours, 162.15 hours total)

On this day I and another intern filmed a short instructional video on how to play our newest game, Red Light Green Light 1-2-3 Dominoes. We did this several times, filming at different angles in order to get something that was as clear and concise as possible. Once the filming was completed I went to work bringing the video into After Effects to speed up the footage and add the necessary text. Some point in the middle of working on the video I was asked to assemble another cardboard box for the women’s convenience kits.

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Day 17, Nov 4/Day 18, Nov 6

9:15 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours, 139 hours total)

Once again continuing from last week, I spent the entirety of this day working on the Taught Tot Toys samples. Where I assisted the senior designer finish the panels for the third and fourth sets.

9:30 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours, 146 hours total)

This was the last day for working on the Tot Toy samples were I worked on the fourth and final sample set. I went through the same process as described before; where I made photocopies of the artwork to use as a guide when cutting out the shapes for the removable pieces. Then spray glued the refined artwork onto the pieces and added the velcro on the back before placing them in their correct spot. Once everything was placed the final step was to use wood to lock the panels into their frames.

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Day 15, Oct 28/Day 16, Oct 30

9:15 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours,  123 hours total)

Continuing from last week, I spent the entirety of this day working on the Taught Tot Toys samples. Where I assisted the senior designer finish two of the four panels for the second sample.

9:15 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours, 131 hours total)

This day was split in half between two projects, the first being the work I was doing with the Taught Tot Toy samples and the other was a new project to realize a logo concept for a client. They wanted a nice clean vector graphic for a local baseball club that they could use to announce their Patriots Day Tournament and likely also put on a variety of merchandise like shirts or hats. The client seemed to have a very clear idea of what they wanted so for this project I was given a rough sketch with some basic color guides and went to work recreating it. The design is heavily inspired by the patriot flag and shield with some minor tweaks to make it have that baseball and sport-like feel. It features a white shield with six red bats for the stripes, surrounded by nine white stars and set inside a blue circle. Then set inside a white circle with a red baseball on either side with the name of the client and the event on the top and bottom.

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Day 13, Oct 21/Day 14, Oct 23

9:15 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours, 107.45 hours total)

This week was very hands-on in terms of the work I did. My first task was helping one of the senior designers create the second iteration of packing for the convenience kit project. We made 11 sample boxes out of sulfate-board then packed them up to be sent to the client for further review. After that was completed we moved onto the Taught Tot Toys project, creating a second version of last week's prototype with a few minor tweaks made to the sizing.

10 am - 5:15 pm (7 hours and 15 minutes, 115 hours total)

The first thing I had to do was repack cosmo tiles, foam pieces, so the samples could be sent to the client for inspection. Then I continued working on the Taught Tot Toys version 2. Repeating the earlier process of mounting the artwork onto the thin wood board and cutting it into the proper shape before replacing the cheap paper with the glossy paper.

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Day 12, Oct 16

9 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 99.45 hours total)

I spent this day fixing a mistake with the Oswald and Cleo labels that the company had made when assigning which labels would go on which product. I had to switch the information of the two labels, resizing text and rearranging the graphics in order to get everything to fit on its new space. I had to reprint the labels each time in order to properly determine if the new placements were spaced out correctly and all of the information could be properly seen.

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Day 10, Oct 7/Day 11, Oct 9

9 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes,  83.15 hours total)

I spent most of this day working on a project called Taught Tot Toys, a kind of fold-out playset for toddler age children. I assisted Dez, one of the other designers to create a wooden mockup for the factory based on the prototype given to us by the client. We printed the art on test sheets that we mounted onto wood boards then cut to the right shape using a band saw and then a belt sander to smooth out any rough edges. Once that was done we removed the test sheets and replaced them with glossy paper then mounted them onto their respective panels.

9 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 91. 30 hours total)

My first assignment that morning was to do a comparison between a factory sample and a customer sample for a product called fuzzy palm trees, a set of plushie palm trees to hang on the rearview mirror of a car. For this, I took photos and videos showing all of the differences between the two samples. Once that was done I continued working with Dez to finished the Taught Tot Toys mockup so we could send it to the manufacturer.

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Pee Point labels on test bottles and a cozy phone 3-in-1 headband.

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Day 8, Sept 30/Day 9, Oct 2

9 am - 5:45 pm (8 hours and 45 minutes, 67.30 hours total)

This day was mostly dedicated to completing some basic work. I took the labels I edited for the Pee Point, printed them and then took photos that were later touched up in photoshop. After that, I made some cards for collectible digital codes, the kind that usually comes with a toy and can be used redeemed for in-game computer prizes. Finally, I ended my day by prepping a prototype for shipping then cutting out and adding foam backing to a set of printed characters for another test box.

9:15 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours, 75.30 hours total)

Similar to the previous day not much was done other than some simple upkeep. The first thing I did was take the measurements and photos for our cozy-phones project, a series of soft, character-themed headphones for younger children and putting that information into a spec sheet. After I’d completed that I was given a new assignment for an art and crafts activity series for kids called Artsbot. Each Artsbot kit contains everything a child needs to create fun little arts and crafts projects while on the go. As an example, I was given a sample Artsbot baggie that had the supplies for making a felt pillow character. From there my task was to research other art activities in order to come up with options for later Artsbot bags.

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Day 6, Sept 23/Day 7, Sept 25

9 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours and 30 minutes, 50.30 hours total)

In addition to completing a suitable working prototype of the sneaker toss game, I assisted Dre (one of the senior designs) film a demonstration video of the game for the client. Once that was done I was given the task of cutting and assembling a die-cut for a puzzle game card pack as well as some new boxes for the convenience kits. Which I then photographed, along with a series of 3-in-1 comfort headphones for children.

9 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 58.45 hours total)

I went over the information and specs for a new project called A Jar from Afar and put together a pdf print for easy use. After that, I spent the remainder of the day making adjustments and resizing the assents for the labels of a pet hygiene line called Pee Point. Printing out the labels and fitting them onto test bottles in order to determine how to get the entire design to fit properly.

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Day 4, Sept 16/Day 5, Sept 18

9 am - 5:30 pm (8 hours and 30 minutes, 33.45 hours total)

That morning I was asked to make further edits to the background design of the sleeve for the women’s travel kit. The client had expressed concerns that the original pattern was too busy and competed with the pattern of the bag. I spent some time creating simpler patterns that would complement those of the bag in illustrator before bringing them into the photoshop mockups. Once I was done with that I was asked to create my first physical prototype of the box for the stuffed dog toy out of cardboard. After getting a brief demonstration on how to take the proper measurements and being shown how to create the template for the box I was able to create two working prototypes with an additional window for viewing.

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9 am - 5:15 pm (8 hours and 15 minutes, 42 hours total)

Beginning right where I’d left off I continued work on the boxes, this time using high-density polyethylene. This allowed for a 360-degree view of how the dog and book might move around in the given space as this product is meant to be circulated through Amazon shipping. After taking some progress photos of the two sample dogs and the storybook, I made another set of patterns for the women’s travel kit. Once all of that was completed I began doing research for a new sneaker toss game we’re developing. For that, I looked up references for the design of the shoe and then created a prototype, cutting out a pair of sneakers from foam core and making a ‘telephone line’ style net out of some sticks and string where the ‘laces’ of the shoes would wrap around when thrown correctly.

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Day 2, Sept 9th/Day 3, Sept 11

9:15 am - 6:00 pm (8 hours and 45 minutes, 17.30 hours total)

Going off from the pizza box designs that I’d made prior, I was tasked with taking each design and placing it into a photoshop mockup to see how it would look in a 3D space. Once that was completed I started sketching some rough concepts for alternative packaging for a stuffed dog toy. As well as come up with additional alternatives for the box shape.

In addition to that, I made some minor edits to a card game template and was given a brief demonstration on how to use the machine that they use to create the shaped plastic molds for some of their toy packaging.

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9:30 am - 5:15 pm (7 hours 45 minutes, 25.15 hours total)

My third day was basically a continuation of my second where I continued working on the box for the stuffed dog. I created several more styles for an enclosed box before my boss had me sketch and then mockup a zip style bag that would allow for better visibility of the toy itself and the storybook that comes with it.

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Day 1, Sept 4th

9:15 am - 6:00 (8 hours and 45 minutes, 8.45 hours total)

I arrived at the Design Edge studio where my new boss (Chris) started off by introducing me to the other members of the design team, then assigned me a desk with a Mac desktop where I’ll be doing all of my work. From there one of the other designers (Doug) guided me through where to find the daily To-Do List, how to access the team’s Dropbox and how to set up design files.

My first few assignments of the day ranged from making small edits to packaging mockups for a women’s travel bag, creating several designs for a pizza box and even solving a four-piece puzzle ring to check any default before sending it off to a client.