I started my internship last week as a graphic design intern with The Public, a local alternative newspaper, located off of Elmwood in Buffalo. The first days of anything are always nerve wracking no matter how much you prepare yourself. I kept thinking to myself, “What if I don’t meet their expectations?” Which only made me more nervous. As I arrived for my first day as an official intern, the staff was more than welcoming. I was introduced to the staff and they explained their roles that contribute to the weekly newspaper. The first task I was assigned to do was resize images for their website headers. This sounds like a pretty simple first task to a graphic designer but I found that resizing images to a specific format without losing content and quality is actually pretty difficult. The first day and I already learned something new..

Once I finished all the images, I uploaded them to the Daily Public’s website to finish the task. Their graphic designer then gave me a second task which was much more interesting. I chose a company that works with print media because that’s the medium that I’m most interested in my field. Working with a newspaper not only gives me that print media experience but it also allows me to work on my web design skills and create advertisements. On the first day, I was creating a local ad for The Public’s sponsorship for Nietzsche’s. I created a Facebook header ad for their page and three print designs to be published in this week’s issue.

Leaving my first day, I felt very accomplished. Knowing that I’m working for a company that allowed myself to design and create an advertisement on my first day shows their trust and confidence in me. This is going to be a great and final semester…here’s to new beginnings!