STA Blog

My Summer

By

It’s finally back-to-school season, and the “How was your summer question” is at its peak on campus. This is the part where I say. “If I had a dollar for everytime someone has asked me about my summer…”, but I am not going there.

So, I have a prepared line that summarizes my summer in 5 words, India, Singapore, Internship, singing lessons, and yoga.

I visited my grandmother and my extended family in India. There was good food, beautiful scenery, and great conversations. I was also able to meet my friends in Singapore when I had a 1 day lay-over in the journey from The US to India. Reconnecting with my friends and learning more about their experiences in college was such a joy.

After returning to Texas from my trip, I interned at a Fiber Glass Manufacturing company. I was able to learn so much about the Electrical Engineering side of manufacturing. I used specialized software like AutoCAD Electrical to update existing drawings of the system and digitize drawings. As an engineering intern, I learned a great deal about design. And design affects every facet of your job. The design of your machine, the safety considerations and mechanisms, the accessibility of your design, the functionality of your machine. As I sit here writing my summer reflection, I can’t help but think that design is such an instrumental part of our life, and an important part of my job as an STA at UT Austin! As I design websites, I think about the accessibility of the website (thank you past STA’s for your training), the functionality of the website, and of course how secure is a website. These are considerations that govern how we make choices. What I learned from my engineering internship is that, design thinking is applicable everywhere –– from engineering to web-design to even our life.

Summer!

By

Summer!

I spent most of my summer working here at LAITS; however, when I wasn’t working, I spent my time exploring Austin alongside my friends who also resided here over the summer. We visited many of the local coffee shops, shopped at thrift stores for clothes and knick-knacks, and tried many restaurants!

Another thing I dedicated a lot of time to was working on projects for my portfolio. I decided to revamp my entire portfolio to better showcase my best work to try and land an internship for the summer going into my senior year.

After the end of my summer session at LAITS, I returned home to Houston while I waited out the gaps between my old and new apartment’s lease. A week or so after moving in, I went on a 3-day trip to New York City with some friends! It was the first time I went on a trip with friends so it was very exciting.

This was the first summer where I spent most of it away from my family. I did miss them, but I felt like this summer was great for allowing me to grow more as an individual! I hope I can continue to keep this up throughout the school year!

Summer in the City

By

Summer In The City

My Corporate Era

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at Siegel + Gale’s New York City office as an Experience Intern. It was an extraordinary experience to work in such a big city at one of the top branding agencies in the country. Additionally, the chance to explore my passion for user experience and user interface design in a real work setting was truly invaluable. This experience allowed me to find how much I did actually enjoy UX/UI and how badly I want to keep working hard so post-grad I can return to NYC with a job in this field.

The Internship consisted of two main responsibilities one being the intern project, a prompt given to all the interns to complete as a team, and second being the client work assigned by manager. While both challenged me in different ways these tasks allowed me to grow as a designer and see where I have room to improve as well.

Overall, the friends and connections I made throughout this experience were invaluable. Working alongside talented professionals and fellow interns not only expanded my network but also provided me with a wealth of knowledge and support. The collaborative environment and mentorship I received greatly enriched my understanding of the industry and helped me refine my skills. I am excited to leverage these connections and lessons learned as I continue to pursue my career in UX/UI design, with a clearer vision of my future goals and a passion to contribute to the field of experience design.

The 5-9 After The 9-5

Along with the incredible work experience I gained, I also had the opportunity to live in New York City for three months! Exploring the city’s food scene, hanging out with friends, and soaking in the energy NYC has during the summer made every moment outside of work truly unforgettable. When coming to NYC I had the goal of going to a different coffee shop every chance I got and rating them all so I have a collection of pictures and notes. I am happy to announce that I did complete that goal and have succeeded in making the best list of NYC coffee shops!

Being in New York City for the summer has always been a dream of mine, and I feel incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it. The combination of an enriching internship, city life, and meeting friends made this summer truly the best one ever. This experience has not only reinforced my passion for UX/UI design but also made me more motivated to continue my hard-work this school year. I will cherish these memories forever and I look forward to carrying these experiences with me into the future.

Shriya – Week 3/1 – 3/9

By

SAVE THE DATE:

2024 STA PRESENTATION EMAIL INVITE FLYER

 

START: March 7, 2024

COMPLETED BY: March 14th, 2024

 

BRIEF:

This week I was tasked with creating the email flyer for the 2024 STA Presentation. For this flyer they wanted a concert/festival theme to match with the rest of the graphic assets.

IDEATION:

To start this poster I first wanted to outline my vision for what I wanted this 600px width graphic would look like. For this, I referred to a mix of both Last year’s SAVE THE DATE flyers and other concert festival graphics and posters.

From here I took the direction of a wristband style that would use the idea of concert wristbands to display the required information

Inspiration Picture from the 2023 INCHEON PENTAPORT Rock Festival

LAITS 2023 STA Presentation Email Flyer

DESIGN + ITERATION:

Through this process of design and iteration, I experimented with various elements to capture the essence of a concert/festival theme while drawing inspiration from the festival wristabnds and last year’s SAVE THE DATE flyers. Iterating on this concept, I refined the layout, color scheme, and typography to create a visually striking email flyer that resonates with the spirit of the event along with icons that represent the multiple different sections of LAITS.

FINAL PRODUCT:

WHAT I LEARNED:

This project challenged me to think creatively and adapt design principles to fit a specific theme and audience. By exploring different visual styles and experimenting with layout techniques, I gained valuable insights into effective communication through graphic design. Overall, this experience reinforced the importance of flexibility, iteration, and attention to detail in creating impactful design solutions.

 

week 3/18 – week 3/22

By

Back from Spring Break

My spring break was pretty low-stakes which I am very grateful for. I went to some SXSW events which was really fun. The ones I went to ranged a lot in subject matter like I got to see the creative careers expo which was heavily focused in tech innovation in the creative industry. I also attended some pop-ups and a filmmakers lunch where I met some really cool directors and film buffs.

Apart from SXSW, I got to hang out with friends and see my family which I think was the most refreshing part of my break. I’m back feeling refreshed and excited to get back on previous projects.

 

Small projects that are now complete

I was assigned to work on a new UTFC vocabulary sheet and got approval on it this week! While the vocabulary sheets can be rather tedious, it’s a nice breather project that I can just listen to music and spend time finding images. After finding images, we’re tasked with filling out a PowerPoint template with the approved images. After getting approval on the PowerPoint, we go to a seperate spreadsheet to put in the credential info of all the photos we found.

These assignments usually take a good amount of time but they’re pretty easy to figure out once you get used to them. Like I said, a good project to just zone out to!

I also worked on some STA cutouts this week to help with the STA roster poster. I look forward to how the finished posters will look!

Week 6

By

Week at a Glance

This week, I worked through the PSY306 – Introduction to Human Sexuality Course Graphics, finished How to Manipulate Shapes, and started working on the Color Theory training module.

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 image. I am currently still receiving feedback on these assets, but so far, this has been my progress:

 

 

 

 

Manipulating Shapes Training Module

Programs: Illustrator

In this assignment I created shapes using the shape-builder tool, pathfinder tool, and rotate tool.

 

 

 

Color Theory Training Module

Programs: Photoshop

In this module, I was introduced to color theory, and selecting color based on context. For the assignment, I began creating a color wheel that is non-traditional and shows hues, shades, and tints.