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I finished the flyer and sent it off! I thought this was a really fun project to work on! I added the food elements (making a ham was a little more difficult than I expected). I used the same gingerbread man from the man’s sweater to be the cookies on the table. I really like the eggnog whipped cream I made, it looks delicious and I don’t even like eggnog. I sent the design off to my supervisor and I can’t wait to see what she says!

I started designing the flyer for the Ugly Sweater Christmas Potluck! I am excited to be designing at my internship! I do not think I can post pictures of the flyer on here though since it was made at Panther and I think it is technically Panther’s property. I will just explain my idea.

I made two people (a man and a woman) looking at each other wearing different ugly sweaters. The man is wearing a red sweater with a gingerbread man whose leg was broken off. I added some words to say “Oh Snap!” I thought it was kind of funny. The woman is wearing an ugly sweater that looks like a Christmas elf uniform. Both people have their elbows on the table of food which will include a ham, eggnog, and cookies. I still have to make those elements yet.

My first project at Panther is creating a poster for their annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Potluck! It is a fun project and I have a lot of freedom with the design. Of course it has to include ugly sweaters and food! Right now I am just brainstorming ideas of how I want it to be laid out.

It must include the title of the event, the date, the location, and a sign up sheet for who is bringing what item. They gave me a Thanksgiving event flyer to look at to see how they designed it before. The Thanksgiving flyer was set in landscape orientation and I think I want to make mine portrait with the sign up at the bottom. We will see how it turns out!

I asked people around church about how they liked the new logo and was met with very positive feedback. I also learned more about the design of the logo and why they chose specific aspects. The logo has a gold cross in the middle to stand out and identify the church. The letter ‘G’ of course stands for Grace and makes up part of a double circle, which gives it movement. They said the circles represent both the world that the church serves and indirectly references the ELCA logo. They chose burgundy and gold colors to match the primary colors inside the Sanctuary and exterior of the building. I also included burgundy and gold in our wedding colors for those reasons. I really like that they explained the reasons for the design and I think it really works well together.

For our magazines, we had to interview a media industry leader and a small business. For my small business, I chose to interview Shania Rozeboom, the owner of Rainy Day Coffee Co. She is from my hometown and has made a successful business selling coffee and treats out of her truck “Lucille”. She has also just opened up a brick-and-mortar shop in my hometown too, complete with a drive-thru. I really like her products and it makes me happy to see her so successful! The interview went great and I was able to get a lot of information! I just hope I can fit it all in two-pages in my magazine.

This week, my church introduced their new logo. I go to Grace Lutheran Church in Luverne, MN since that is my husband’s church. We actually just got married there in October. Anyways, the new logo looks really nice and they have implemented it a lot of places already. I first noticed it when I wanted through the doors because they put decals up.

They hired McQuillen Creative Group of Aberdeen, SD to do the logo. I was surprised they did not hire Quality Printing in Luverne, but maybe they don’t do logos? They said they wanted their logo and branding to be both modern and forward looking, but also classic and simple. They wanted the logo to connect with their Christian identity first, their name, and their church home. I think it looks really nice!

I accepted a graphic design internship at Panther Premier Print Solutions and ADARTS! My class took a tour of the facility in October and they mentioned they were looking for interns during the tour. I really liked the company and learning about everything they do. While on the tour, we listened to all the information and answered questions at the end. I was picked to answer a question and since I answered correctly, I won a padfolio that was lasered with the STC and Panther/ADARTS logo! I really wanted to gain some design experience before I graduate from STC, so I am so thankful for this opportunity!

In one of my classes, we are designing our own packaging for a product we come up with. It is a fun assignment but very broad! You could make anything! The only thing is that you have to be able to fold it together. At first it is tricky to think of all the different layers and how to make each one work.

I think I may have gone a little overboard. I saw a package for a treasure box and decided to go with that. I am going to make “Truffle Treasures”, totally not inspired from my honeymoon where we went to the Chubby Chipmunk in Deadwood. I have to make some wood looking planks for the background and rounded sides for the top of the chest. It will definitely be a process, but if you don’t challenge yourself then what is the point? I think it will catch some eyes with the unique chest structure instead of just a box. Next semester we will actually print them out and put them together so I hope it works!

When I interviewed Carly Schultz from Lemonly for my magazine article, she discussed workplace culture as a significant point. She said Lemonly has a fantastic workplace culture where the company puts people first. Lemonly emphasizes its core values of Adventure, Collaboration, and Integrity in its work and people. They value working together as a team to build each other up and lead to overall success. They also want people who are willing to admit when they have made a mistake and be humble to help them learn and grow from the past. Adventure is essential because team members must be willing to take risks to improve and grow in the design industry. More values, such as trust, creativity, and growth, are formed through these three core values.
Carly talked about how others around her at Lemonly inspire her to grow and improve in her work. She emphasized that each member of the team works together to improve as a whole. The Lemonly team builds each other up and trusts each member to promote the best services they can provide. Learning how much Lemonly cares and wants to ensure a great workplace environment and culture for its team is inspiring. Lemonly’s workplace culture inspires me, and I would love to work for a company that values me as much as I would value working for them!

Next week, in our Design Development class, we will start working on designing packages. Thinking about what catches your eye and inspires customers’ interest is fun. I have bought things based on their packaging before. The texture, color, spacing, and overall design are what consumers notice first, and it is essential to grab their attention immediately. Take a book cover, for example. Although the saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” the cover does matter because it has to grab the attention of passers so they are interested in looking at it deeper.
A couple of months ago, Tucker and I were watching a documentary about how popular food products were created. One of the foods was Pringles, and how they decided to use a canister to house their chips instead of a bag. They did not want their chips crushed and wanted to ensure they stayed uniform inside. Now, Pringles is unmistakable; it uses a can for its chips and benefits consumers. It may seem overlooked to us because we are so used to seeing Pringle’s design like that, but back when it was first created, it was revolutionary and sparked new ways to package food products.
I have yet to decide what I want to design packaging for, but I want to ensure it is eye-catching and beneficial to consumers. I think it is crucial to think about the user’s experience as well as the overall look.