My October!

Summer!

This summer, I spent time interning in Boston! I worked with the Accelerator team at Boston Children’s Hospital and was able to learn a lot about internal workings of a hospital. As someone hoping to work in healthcare someday, it was really eye-opening to see how designers fit into the landscape of a large hospital. I mainly worked with shaping experiences of the patients and their families– this was anywhere from reshaping the check-in process, to exploring the patient portal.

Given that this was my second summer in Boston, I found that a lot of the exploring I did was revisiting my favorite places. It was an interesting experience being able to navigate the city like a local and show people around. That being said, I had never missed Austin more than I did this summer. Living in a city that growing quickly– there’s always something new to see; but Boston being an older city, I found myself being taken to the same places. One thing I didn’t miss? The heat. Boston stayed an even 80 degrees most of the summer, with the exception of a couple “heatwave days” where it launched up to 90.

I loved getting to be in a city with such a rich history, not only in the area, but with the people as well– many of the people I met were born and raised in Massachusetts, making Boston their home and hometown. With the amount of change that the Boston population goes through, I was able to meet people in every career and hear stories of the amazing things they were pursuing. It made me a lot more excited for the post-grad life– seeing what was possible and the opportunities I may have.

I had a lot of fun working with my team at BCH too! They were extremely supportive and I loved being around people who genuinely cared about the patients they were affecting with their decisions. It was interesting to see how larger teams work in tandem with other departments. I learned that in healthcare specifically, teams can be pretty siloed off, so it’s important to communicate with multiple leads and make sure everyone’s on the same page. I had a great time getting to exercise those skills as well as presenting to multiple audiences within the department.

All in all, this summer was a good time, but it also came with a bittersweet ending. Knowing I was about to begin my senior year made this summer a lot more nerve wracking, but I’m glad I got to get an experience I will remember in the future. Now that I’m back, I can’t wait to get started and make this year count!

Week at a Glance

02/27-03/05

This week, I completed the PSY306 – Introduction to Human Sexuality Course Graphics, and finished the color theory and typography trainings. I also got started on the STA presentation poster.

PSY306 – Introduction to Human Sexuality

Programs: Photoshop
Mentor: De’sha Bass-McClellan

I was assigned to create a Canvas dashboard image and homepage banner, as well as the pre-roll video. These are finished and approved assets:

Color Theory Training Module

Programs: Illustrator

Through KB’s training page, I learned about how colors can work together to change the connotation of the design.

The first part of this training was to create a non-traditional color wheel that depicted hues, tints, and shades.

In addition to the color wheel, I created 3 color palettes based on the prompts given in the training assignment.

Typography Training Module

Programs: Illustrator

In this module, I learned about the different typefaces, and how to pair fonts.

The assets for this training included creating pairings of my own:

STA Presentation Poster

Programs: Illustrator
Mentor: De’sha Bass-McClellan, Leilani Cabello

Based on the inspiration I was given for this assignment, I began putting together elements for the STA poster template. I built out the basic elements to better account for the theme as well as the amount of STAs in the poster.

You can take a look at the initial process here!