So here it is. Today is my last day as a Design STA. It hasn’t quite sunken in yet and I’ve been distracting myself from writing this post.

It’s been such a beautiful experience working here. I truly enjoyed working with each person in the STA program, and I’ve grown a lot in the year that I’ve been here. I’ve grown a lot as an artist, as a designer, and as a person. I’m so grateful for Chloe for introducing me to this program and for helping me get to where I am today. The folks I have met at my time here have been amazing and I’m so appreciative and grateful for their existence. I’m so thankful for my fellow STAs for tolerating me and for teaching me and humoring my questions. Everyone has impacted me so immensely and my life is all the more better for it. If any of my fellow STAs are reading this, know that I am misty-eyed right now and that I’m so glad that you all exist. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for being a part of this period of my life.

And I am going to always be eternally grateful to Suloni. I’ve been so spoiled, truly. One can only dream of having such a caring and kind and wonderful manager. Suloni has curated a space that is fun, but also enriching and challenging. I am so grateful for her and all that she does for everyone in the program. Suloni, if you are reading this, thank you so much. Your thoughtfulness and kindness and expertise has influenced me greatly. Thank you so much for granting me the opportunity to work here.

My experience here at LAITS has been amazing. I really do love everyone who I’ve met through this program and I’m grateful to them. I will carry my memories of my time here at LAITS always and forever. I hope that my growth here at LAITS will carry on in all my future endeavors. I hope to become a medical illustrator someday and the skills I’ve picked up from being a design STA have certainly made a stronger, more well rounded student, graduate applicant, and human being. I am forever grateful. Thank you.

For fear of this post being too sappy, here is an image of me on my last day. I hope you got a chuckle out of this selfie.

Here are some updates on V-labs via my Daily Plans:

8/5/2019

a. Last week, I assigned Emily some PSD files to review that were originally Maddy’s, reviewed PSD/PNG files, reviewed Canvasser assignments, assigned work to my coworkers, assisted those who may need my help, and continued working on redistributing assignments to my coworkers.
b. Today I will check Chloe’s review work, review PSD/PNG files, review Canvassers, try really hard to stay awake, assign out PSD/Canvasser to-dos as necessary, find all the hypothesis/quiz/graph interactives so that we can work towards standardizing them, and assist those who may need my help.
c. No impediments!

 

8/6/2019

a. Yesterday, I reviewed PSD/PNG files, reviewed Canvasser assignments, assisted those who may needed my help, and met with Stacy to work on a spreadsheet for Fall projects.
b. Today I will train Chloe on PSD/PNG review, assign Chloe PSD files to review, review PSD/PNG files, review Canvasser assignments, and assign work to my coworkers assist those who may need my help.
c. No impediments!

 

8/7/2019

a. Yesterday, I trained Chloe on PSD/PNG reviewing, assigned Chloe PSD files, reviewed PSD/PNG files, reviewed Canvasser assignments, and assign work to my coworkers.
b. Today I will assign Maddy some PSD files to review, review PSD/PNG files, review Canvasser assignments, assign work to my coworkers assist those who may need my help, and update my blog.
c. No impediments!

 

8/8/2019

a. Yesterday, I assigned Maddy some PSD files to reviewed, reviewed PSD/PNG files, reviewed Canvasser assignments, assigned work to my coworkers, updated my blog, and reorganized the V-Lab to-dos.
b. Today I will assign Emily some PSD files to review (originally Maddy’s), review PSD/PNG files, review Canvasser assignments, assign work to my coworkers, assist those who may need my help, and continue working on redistributing assignments to co-workers.
c. No impediments!

 

8/12/2019

a. Last week, I assigned Emily some PSD files to review that were originally Maddy’s, reviewed PSD/PNG files, reviewed Canvasser assignments, assigned work to my coworkers, assisted those who may need my help, and continued working on redistributing assignments to my coworkers.
b. Today I will check Chloe’s review work, review PSD/PNG files, review Canvassers, try really hard to stay awake, assign out PSD/Canvasser to-dos as necessary, find all the hypothesis/quiz/graph interactives so that we can work towards standardizing them, and assist those who may need my help.
c. No impediments!

 

8/13/2019

a. Yesterday, I checked Chloe’s review work, reviewed PS/PNG files, reviewed Canvassers, tried REALLY HARD to stay awake, assigned out PSD/Canvasser to-dos as necessary, found some of the hypotheses/quiz/graph interactives so that we can work towards standardizing them, and asssisted those who may need my help.
b. Today I will talk with Tate about the Russian workbook layout meeting, review PSD/PNG files, review Canvassers, assign out PSD/Canvasser to-dos as necessary, continue finding all the hypothesis/quiz/graph interactives so that we can work towards standardizing them, and assist those who may need my help.
c. No impediments!

 

 

I’ve been going through the Grav and the OG Flash site to find hypotheses, quiz, and graph interactives so that we can attempt to standardize them. I’ve also updated the template and asset PSD on Box (https://utexas.app.box.com/file/454374379623).

Not much has changed since the last meeting. We’ve been working on V-labs and trying to get things done as soon as we can. I’ve been working on reviewing PSD files and assigning more PSD files to other co-workers to review.

V-labs is chugging along just fine I think!

Luna has been doing well! She really likes climbing my shoulders.

Last week, in place of our meeting,  my coworkers and I went to the Blanton Art Museum and saw Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin. I’ve been to Austin once before, but it was very crowded and it was difficult to move around. Going with my coworkers last week was a much better experience.

It wasn’t crowded when we went to see Austin and it was nice being able to walk around and admire the building without having to maneuver around folks. Here are some pics I took while we were there!

 

We also went to the Blanton to take a peek at the current exhibit!

 

 

We’ve also made a lot of progress for V-labs! The process goes from PSD/PNG creation to PSD/PNG review to Canvasser for assembly and then it’s placed on the site. Assembling the interactive in Canvasser is the last step of the process so looking at the Canvasser To-Do list gives me a good gauge of our progress.

 

We have a lot of PSD/PNG files to review, but we’re already deep in Lab 12 which is very exciting! I think we got a lot more done than was originally projected. Hopefully I can get the PSD/PNG files reviewed soon.

 

In other non-work related news, I have a kitten now! My family and I were aware that there was a litter of kittens residing in our backyard. We knew that there were 3-4 black kittens and one gray one. The gray kitten was much friendly than the others and would follow my mother around and let people pet her. This past weekend, my mother was looking for her little garden companion and couldn’t find her. My mother walked around over to behind our shed because the kittens frequented that area, and she found the little gray kitten by herself. The mother cat and the other kittens were on the patio and my mom was confused about why she was left behind. My mom picked her up and saw that there were pieces of leaves and debris stuck to the discharge coming from her eyes and nose. She brought the little kitten in and she and my sister took the kitten to the only pet hospital that was open on Saturday.

The doctor was briefed on the situation and he said the mother probably kicked the kitten out of the litter. It was fine to take care of her though because she no longer needed her mother’s milk. He checked up on the kitten and said that she had an upper respiratory infection which explained her crusty eyes and runny nose and gave us antibiotics. And then they adopted her.

So anyway here she is! She recently learned how to use the litter box, she’s eating a lot more food now, but she still has to take her water via a syringe. She’s a lot more playful now too 🙂 OH! Her name is Luna :^)

IMG_6745

It’s been a long time since I last updated! Working here in the summer has been great so far. V-Labs has consumed much of our time among the Design & Coding STA team.

V-Labs was always present in the long semester, but it was usually on the back burner for most of us. Now that there are many of us working in the summer, our time is primarily allocated towards making V-Lab interactives, reformatting the site, and attempting to finish before November. A lot has changed since the beginning of the V-Labs project.

The style guide and standardization process for the interactives has been made more clear, thanks to my fellow design co-workers like Jac! A master sheet was made in Basecamp to store all the style notes, layouts, important URLs, and assets. It’s proven to be extremely helpful. In addition to the master sheet, a PSD template was developed by Jac and it has made PSD/PNG graphic creations much easier.

These are screenshots of the V-Labs Master sheet that has helped streamline & standardized the process.

 

I’ve made some PSD/PNG graphics and they can be seen below:

 

I’ve also reviewed and edited some PSD/PNG graphics. They can be seen below here:

 

Since so much time has passed since the summer started and the V-Labs project was kicked into high gear, I think that it’d be best to share my daily plan. My daily plans for V-Labs span from late May to the present. The daily plans consist of:

• What I did the day before
• What I plan to do
• Any impediments I may have

The dates will be listed to better visualize the timeline of events for this large project:

5/14

a. On Friday, I worked on  v-lab interactives.
b. Today, I will work on v-lab interactives and review/approve others’ interactive graphics!
c. No impediments!

5/15

a. Yesterday, I worked on  v-lab interactives.
b. Today, I will continue to work on v-lab interactives and review/approve others’ interactive graphics. I will assign to-do as the pngs are made.
c. No impediments!

5/17

a. Wednesday, I worked on  v-lab interactives.
b. Today, I will continue to work on v-lab interactives and review/approve others’ interactive graphics. I will assign to-do as the pngs are made.
c. No impediments!

5/20

a. On Friday, I worked on  v-lab interactives.
b. Today, I will continue to work on v-lab interactives and review/approve others’ interactive graphics. I will assign to-do as the pngs are made.
c. No impediments!

5/22

a. On Monday, I worked on  v-lab interactives and assigned to-dos for Canvasser-ready interactives.
b. Today, I will continue to work on v-lab interactives and assign to-dos as the interactive .
c. No impediments!

5/24

a. On Wednesday, I worked on  v-lab interactives and assigned to-dos for Canvasser-ready interactives.
b. Today, I will continue to work on v-lab interactives and assign to-dos as the interactive .
c. No impediments!

5/29

a. On Friday, I worked on  v-lab interactives and assigned to-dos for Canvasser-ready interactives.
b. Today, I will attend the group re-training meeting for v-labs, continue to work on v-lab interactives and assign to-dos as the interactive .
c. No impediments!

5/30

a. On Wednesday, I attended the group re-training meeting for v-labs, worked on v-lab interactives graphics, and was trained on canvasser.
b. Today, I continue to work on v-lab interactives graphics and re-assign to-do’s from Ruben and Rodrigo to Olivia and Bridget.
c. No impediments!

5/31

a. On Wednesday, I continued to work on my assigned v-lab interactive, edited some of the assignments I made for canvasser ready interactives, and re-assigned some of the Canvasser assignments.
b. Today, I continued to work on my assigned v-lab interactive, edited some of the assignments I made for canvasser ready interactives, took note of the interactives that are published on the site without a begin screen/begin button element, and updated the v-lab spreadsheet..
c. No impediments!

6/10

a. Last Friday, I continued to work on my assigned v-lab interactive, edited some of the assignments I made for canvasser-ready interactives, took note of the interactives that were published on the site without a begin screen/begin button element, and updated the v-lab spreadsheet.
b. Today, I will edit the v-lab spreadsheet, work on my assigned v-lab interactives, address/complete assignments that have been assigned to me or ones I have been tagged in, and continue assigning canvasser-ready interactives.
c. No impediments!

6/11

a. Yesterday, I edited and updated the v-lab spreadsheet, reviewed canvassers/interactives, assigned canvasser-ready interactives, and went through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line.
b. Today, I will edit some COLA photo IDs, work on my assigned v-lab interactives, address/complete assignments that have been assigned to me or ones I have been tagged in, and continue assigning canvasser-ready interactives.
c. No impediments!

6/12

a. Yesterday, I edited a COLA photo ID, edited and updated the v-lab spreadsheet, reviewed canvassers/interactives, assigned canvasser-ready interactives, and went through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line.
b. Today, I will continue updating and editing the v-lab spreadsheet, address/complete assignments that have been assigned to me or ones I have been tagged in, continue assigning canvasser-ready interactives, and go through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line
c. No impediments!

6/17

a. Last week, I updated and edited the v-lab spreadsheet, addressed/completed assignments that have been assigned to me or one I’ve been tagged in, continued assigning canvasser-ready interactives, and re-organized the canvasser-ready interactives.
b. Yesterday, I briefed/trained a new hire on the basics of v-labs, assisted a co-worker with the processing of a multi-layered/multi-faceted interactive, assigned canvasser-ready interactives, reviewed and approved interactives for the Grav site, assisted the previously new hires through the canvasser training processes, and responded accordingly to the assignments/comments that I was tagged in.
c. No impediments!

6/18

a. Yesterday, I briefed/trained a new hire on the basics of v-labs, assisted a co-worker with the processing of a multi-layered/multi-faceted interactive, assigned canvasser-ready interactives, reviewed and approved interactives for the Grav site, assisted the previously new hires through the canvasser training processes, and responded accordingly to the assignments/comments that I was tagged in.
b. Today I will continue assisting the new hires in navigating and creating canvasser interactives, assign new canvasser-ready interactives, add videos to the Grav site (lab 5), review canvasser interactives for site publication, and make PSD/PNG graphics for an interactive
c. No impediments!

6/19

a. Yesterday, I assisted the new hires in navigating and creating canvasser interactives, assigned new canvasser-ready interactives, added videos to the Grav site, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and edited PSD/PNG graphics for an interactive.
b. Today I will continue uploading and embedding videos into the HTML of the Grav site, review canvasser interactives for site publication, go through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, update the v-labs spreadsheet, and work on some v-lab interactive graphics.
c. No impediments!

6/20

a. Yesterday, uploaded and embedded videos into the HTML of the Grav site, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, went through the interactives that are i=online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, and updated the v-lab spreadsheet with a new column for audio.
b. Today I will continue uploading and embedding videos into the HTML of the Grav site, review canvasser interactives for site publication, go through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, and assist co-workers with PSD/PNG graphic creations and canvasser.
c. No impediments!

6/24

a. Last week I uploaded and embedded videos into the HTML of the Grav site, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, went through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, assisted co-workers in training for PSD/PNG graphics creation, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to members of the team, and updated the v-lab spreadsheet.
b. Today I will continue uploading and embedding videos into the HTML of the Grav site, review canvasser interactives for site publication, go through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, and assign canvasser-ready graphics to other members of the team for assembly.
c. No impediments!

6/25

a. Yesterday I uploaded and embedded videos into the HTML of the Grav site, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, went through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, assisted co-workers in training for PSD/PNG graphics creation, and assigned canvasser-ready graphics to members of the team
b. Today I will make a vector of a mosquito image that I made for the Zika Virus project, continue uploading and embedding videos into the HTML of the Grav site, review canvasser interactives for site publication, go through the interactives that are online to find out which ones may need editing later down the line, and assign canvasser-ready graphics to other members of the team for assembly.
c. No impediments!

6/26

a. Yesterday I made a vector of a mosquito image I drew for the Zika Virus project, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, assisted co-workers in training for PSD/PNG graphics creation, and assigned canvasser-ready graphics to members of the team.
b. Today I will continue to upload and embed videos into the HTML of the Grav site, review the canvasser interactives for site publication, and assign canvasser-ready graphics to other members of the team for assembly.
c. No impediments!

6/27

a. Yesterday I talked with Ruben about the interactives that I was having trouble with, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other members of the team for assembly, and worked on making PSD graphics for an interactive.
b. Today I will continue to work on making PSD graphics for an interactive, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and updated Emily on the changes that have been made since she went on vacation.
c. No impediments!

7/1

a. Last week I worked on making PSD graphics for an interactive, assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and updated Emily on the changes that have been made since she went on vacation.
b. Today I will continue to work on making PSD graphics for an interactive, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, and review canvasser interactives for site publication.
c. No impediments!

7/2

a. Yesterday I worked on PSD graphics for an interactive, assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication.
b. Today I will continue to work on making PSD graphics for an interactive, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, review canvasser interactives for site publication, and re-format the PSD/PNG assignments on Basecamp.
c. No impediments!

7/3

a. Yesterday I worked on PSD graphics for an interactive, assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication.
b. Today I will finish the PSD graphics for an interactive, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, review canvasser interactives for site publication, and re-format the PSD/PNG assignments on Basecamp.
c. No impediments!

7/5

a. On Wednesday, I finished the PSD graphics for an interactive, assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication.
b. Today I will start some new PSD graphics for an interactive, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, review canvasser interactives for site publication, and go through the in-progress site to make sure things are consistent.
c. No impediments!

7/8

a. On Friday, I started and finished a new PSD graphics for an interactive, assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, and reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication.
b. Today I will start on PSD graphics for an interactive, update Chloe on v-labs, assign PSD/PNG assignments to co-workers, assign canvasser-ready graphics to coworkers, review canvasser interactives for site publication, embed more videos into the HTML, and go through the in-progress site to make sure things are consistent.
c. No impediments!

7/9-7/10

a. On Tuesday, I assigned PSD/PNG graphics assignments to other co-workers, assigned canvasser-ready graphics to other co-workers, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, updated Chloe on v-labs and embedded videos into the Grav site.
b. Yesterday, I assisted with orientation for our new hire, Abriella, reviewed canvasser interactives for site publication, embedded more videos into the HTML, and discussed formatting for the Grav site.
c. Today, I will assist Abriella in whatever she needs, take on the PSD/PNG assignments that are to be reviewed, review those PSD/PNG assignments, edit the instructions in the PSD/PNG assignments, touch base with everyone who is involved with v-labs right now, and slowly stop assigning canvassers until we have enough PSD/PNG graphics.
c. No impediments!

7/11

a. Yesterday, I  assisted Abriella in whatever she needed, took on the PSD/PNG assignments that are to be reviewed, reviewed PSD/PNG assignments, edited the instructions in the PSD/PNG assignments, touched base with everyone who is involved with v-labs right now, and slowly stopped assigning canvassers and shifted gears so that PSD/PNG creation is our primary object for the next few weeks.
b. Today I will assist Abriella with Photoshop and review a PSD/PNG graphic.
c. No impediments!

7/15

a. Last Thursday, I assisted Abriella in photoshop and reviewed a PSD/PNG graphic.
b. Today I will continue to assist Abriella, participate in cascade training, finish reviewing the PSD/PNG graphic I was working on, review canvassers, review other PSD/PNG graphics, assign canvassers and other PSD/PNG graphics, and update my blog.
c. No impediments!