STA Blog

Student Services Movie Posters

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“Superhero” Style Poster

project: “Superhero” Style Poster
Client /Prof: New Student Services
completion status: Started May 3rd 2022
staff guidance: Valerie
STA team members: N/A
description/plans: Use a superhero poster of black widow and seamlessly blend the OA’s face in as the main character in photoshop. Also, include past UT Alumni and Bevo in the background.
To be completed: May 4th 2022

Progress

This was a fun project to complete. At the beginning of the project, my main focus was finding famous UT Alumni that fit the angles for these posters. Next, I needed to add in the main OA, and Bevo. These were really simple to implement and I had to do some color balance to give off the red hue in the original poster. Lastly, I focused on adding in the title and subtitle. I wanted the effect on the text to match the original poster so I bent the font and erased some of the texture to create the design.

 

Poster with Famous UT Alumni:

Kevin Durant, Janis Joplin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Renée Zellweger.

Final Design:

After this poster was uploaded, it was later realized that the titles of two posters were switched. Therefore, I was in charge of changing the titles and subtitles for both the superhero and horror movie posters.

“Silent Film” Style Poster

project: “Silent Film” Style Poster
Client /Prof: New Student Services
completion status: Started May 3rd 2022
staff guidance: Valerie
STA team members: N/A
description/plans: Use two silent film show posters, combine different assets from each and seamlessly blend the OA’s faces in as the characters in photoshop.
To be completed: May 4th 2022

Progress

This poster was a little more challenging because the poster was a sepia color with an older texture. I wanted to be able to add in the OA’s to create a realistic poster design. In addition, I needed to add in another “alien head” and three circles to make room for all five OAs.

Planning Process:

  1. Re-arrange the overall layout of the poster.
  2. Add in the the main two OA’s faces. Color match and blend into the environment.
  3. Add in the UT Tower in the background.
  4. Add the remaining OA’s into the scene and color match.
  5. Cut and format the text to say “freedom”

Original Posters:

 

Poster designs combined:

First draft of poster with OA’s, Title & Tower.

Completed Poster

“Sitcom” Style Poster

project: “Sitcom” Style Poster
Client /Prof: New Student Services
completion status: Started May 3rd 2022
staff guidance: Valerie
STA team members: N/A
description/plans: Use a sitcom show poster and seamlessly blend the OA’s face in as the main character in photoshop.
To be completed: May 4th 2022

Progress

For this project, I decided to use the office as the sitcom. Based on the images provided of the OA, it was best to use the image with them facing forward to match the composition.

In addition, I adding a slight grain to the image better match the quality of the background actors in the poster.

 

New Skills Learned:

  • Using the Spot Healing Brush Tool – It was nice to make things disappear

Upon some edits from Mike, I was asked to remove one of the actors from the background and rearrange some of the titles.

Afterwards, I passed this project over to Rachel to complete the Final edits so that I could work on completing the silent film and superhero movie posters.

Week XXXVI

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Week XXXVI

Texas German Dialect Project

My (final) first draft of this scrapped the vertical guides and evenly spaced everything. As of writing, I am still waiting for client feedback.

Basic Training: Research for Meaningful Brand Systems

This is an older training I’d finished the first part of months ago. The second part involves making a brand booklet for a fictional cafe with the following info:

  • Name: Fairy Forest Cafe
  • Mission Statement: Our mission is to inspire wonder and magic in the day-to-day. We are a 24-hour cafe welcome to all those who wish to enjoy a warm beverage, mingle, study, read, or just sit and enjoy the ambiance.
  • 3-5 Adjectives: whimsical, natural, cozy, fresh, relaxed
  • Messaging: Magical
  • Audience: in an urban environment, typically serves students and young twenty/thirty somethings who are looking to get a good read on, do work, and perhaps mingle with fellow coffee goers in a casual manner. These twenty to thirty somethings love organization, “quirky” things, and consuming caffeinated products.
  • Type of Restaurant: coffee, desserts, refreshments, and some light food (think sandwiches and soups). Like halfway between Bennu and this cafe (El Bosc de les Fades)

The booklet itself is to include a moodboard, logo, color scheme, typography guide, and merchandise.

I started with the logo, to work outwards from its colors/design elements. I’ve been taking my time with this training, since it’s been a slow week, and it’s a good opportunity to self-teach Illustrator and Indesign; I need a lot of refreshing for both. I wanted to incorporate moth/butterfly wings into the logo, so my first idea was to try tracing a photo as a raster, then vectorizing it.

 

…I wasn’t very satisfied with my mouse drawing, so I tried tracing vector shapes directly over an illustration.

…and was even less satisfied. (The image is a public domain woodcut from Wikimedia). 

I tried directly vectorizing it next and actually made it work pretty well, so I used that for this logo with a mint-chocolate palette.

The colors were sampled from some of my moodboard pictures, old growth forest photos and John Bauer paintings.

I’ve started drafting the actual stylebook, but it’s pretty plain so far. I plan to look at some references on Behance, and rework some things like the typography and my old InDesign nemesis, guidelines.

Chemistry Readiness Course

This was a quick exercise in independent problem-solving: a somewhat ambiguous design task assigned minutes before the managers left for a 1 hour break, and 1 hour before my shift ended, due by the day’s end. The source photo was low res, so I made several blurred versions blown up to the right proportions for a studio backdrop, and since I couldn’t upload into the requested Volume server, I left the editables in an accessible Box drive.

CE 333T Engineering Communication

Another quick design task, this one was just updating the professor for 2 Canvas graphics, and it came with its own moral too – always save your editables! After some sleuthing I deduced I would have to remake them from scratch. Thankfully that doesn’t take long for Style A graphics.

Summer Week 1: Posters and Cards

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Summer Week 1: Posters and Cards

Hello! I would like to organize my blog more systematically, so I am going to start labelling them weekly as I go through the summer. It is not technically summer until June, but it is summer break and certainly feels like summer and definitely is summer in Texas. So for me, it is summer.

I took off the past week after my semester ended to decompress and also visit some of my relatives in Dallas. It was very strange and unnerving to not have things to do, but I liked it! On Friday, I am going to have my official graduation and then eventually my Canvas dashboard for UT will kick me out. Do they actually kick you out? I wonder when I am officially not a student anymore.

I came back yesterday to start my summer appointment. A good chunk of STAs are leaving today and tomorrow, so I am really glad I was able to come in today. Goodbye Abriella, Thuy, and Cristina! Also while this is late, goodbye to Ingrid and Sheryl as well. It’s going to be empty over the summer, but perhaps we will get some new STAs (I did convince a friend of mine to apply!)

Business Card Assignment

Assigned by: Bill Murphy and Suloni

Task: Re-design the LAITS Computer Service business cards to include the new chat service, and reformat some of the text.

The initial business card files from pre-COVID had been lost, so I ended up using a business card photoshop template to create new cards. Fortunately,  LAITS computer support already has its own set of logos, so I was able to base the new card off of this.

Here were the initial cards from pre-COVID:

And here is the draft I created in illustrator based on these:

Bill noted that he wanted the chat website to be on top in order to promote this feature above the others, so I switched them around:

And voila! The business card template was complete. I exported them as .pdfs – both individually and as a front and back. It was fun to work on something where I had to keep in mind printing parameters, as I generally only work on website materials.

Poster Assignment

Assigned by: Mike Heidenreich and Valerie

Task: Create posters for the UT 2022 Freshman Orientation video. These posters are based on actual movie or TV posters but replaced with Orientation Advisors and text that reflects UT values and community.

Sci-Fi Poster

The first poster I was assigned was to resemble a science-fiction movie poster. They decided on using one of the posters from Interstellar:

The first thing I had to do was integrate photos of the OAs into this poster. I did this by first selecting photos from the folder of options that I thought would fit the poster best and match the angles of Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway’s characters.

The next step was to crop out the green screen and then add a filter to them so they matched the illustrative posterized look of the original. To do this, I made a system of steps for the first image, and then did the same for the second:

  1. Select > Color Range and use the eyedropper tool to get as much of the green out as possible
  2. Magic Wand tool as much of the rest out as possible
  3. Use the eraser to clean up edges and erase some of the green that the other two tools couldn’t get to (namely within hair strands and clothing folds.) Some of the hair strands were too complex to detangle the green out of, so I ultimately erased the strands entirely.
  4. Used a bit of a hair-like paint brush tool to clean up the hair edges so they weren’t too unnatural
  5. Remove all color saturation
  6. Apply Filter > Filter Gallery > Cutout and adjust settings until the image looks posterized while still readable and flattering
  7. Cropped the torsos roughly to where they would be in the final poster

Ultimately, they came out looking like this:

 

For the next part, I had to integrate them into the poster. The main thing here was using the stamp tool to erase segments of the original character’s space suits that stuck out from behind the OAs. I also had to remove a lot of the original imagery and space-ships to make things more clean, so I decided to add some extra space ship images from Interstellar as well as some other related effects. Here were some of the ships I added in:
I also took some of the lines from this alternative poster to replace some of the extra background space that seemed empty:

In order to better integrate the OAs with the bottom of the poster where the text would be, I also applied a field blur and a motion blur so that they slowly dissolve into the background color. I applied a color overlay over the whole image so that everything took on the same navy blue tint. The final result looked like this:

After making some changes to the text, it ended up like this:

This poster was incredibly fun to work on! I really relied so much on the stamp tool as well as gradient clipping masks and layers. Thank you whoever invented these.

Sit-Com Poster

For this poster, De’sha had already done a wonderful job photoshopping on OA’s face onto Mike from The Office. She also added in the text for the poster, and had everything set up in the .psd folder. I was tasked with replacing the people in the background of the image:

De’sha had already removed the guy in the center back, so my main goal was to replace the three remaining people with OAs. The original photos of the OAs had casual clothes, so we had to work with bodies from stock images of female business workers for the two people sitting who were male.

I referenced from these images:

I used the stamp tool to fix up the background and remove traces of the original people from the image. Additionally, since the skin tone of the OAs and the models didn’t match, I used color overlay to alter the color of the bodies. I also used some color overlay on everything to make them look more early 2000s greenish TV style.

It ended up looking like this. The most difficult one was definitely the OA in the far back with the blue shirt, as her face was blurrier than the body that fit with her. However, since she is in the back, the image still reads as proportionate. The OA on the right had a different lighting setup for her photo than the other two, so I tweaked some of the lighting on her face so that it was more similar to the others. Thank you so much Cristina for helping me with this!!

Also, Cristina and De’sha made lovely posters that y’all should definitely check out on their blogs!

These posters were a blast to make, and reminded me how much I enjoy photoshop. Hopefully I will be able to use it again in the future!

This next week I will be taking over some of the work handed off by Cristina for Psy Labs, completing an organization project for Maddy, and working on some animation for Tate. I will update my blog again with more progress as it comes!

 

Thuy’s Farewell Post

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Thuy’s Farewell Post

Knowing that I’m sitting at this computer, being in this lab for the last time is a heartbreaking moment for me, especially given that I love this job so much (I hope everyone knows that by now T.T, it is the reason why I am only working 5 hours a week, I wanted to be a TA this year, but I could not give up this job, so I’ve gotten an exception to only work one 5-hour shift per week).

Before I you read this post, here’s my last classical music rec on here. You can listen to it while reading this post, if you would like. I think it gives a nice “farewell” mood. This is one of my absolute all-time favorite calming piece, Schumann’s Geistervariationen (“Ghost Variations”). It is my go-to piece when I feel stressed out.

Let’s start out by how I came to this wonderful place. It was Spring 2019 when I was a Freshman, not knowing what I wanted to major in, and having a quasi “life crisis” as a 20-year-old. I wanted to try out design and development, just because it seemed like the cool, new “upcoming” thing. My friend Kevin told me about this application, and I decided to apply. I think Kevin got the offer waaaaay before me, so he must have been super qualified. I did not get my offer around the same time that he did, so I was very nervous.

I was in Vietnam over Summer 2019 when I got the STA take-home post-interview assignment. I was desperate to prove myself fit for the job, so I tried realllllly hard for that assignment (I did spent more than 2 hours on that assignment please don’t tell Suloni). To me at that time, getting the job meant a chance for me to find out whether I will like design and web development or not. I designed this slideshow on how to style PowerPoint slides, and at that time it was one of those projects that I was so proud of.

I was so happy with how the slides turned out. I got the job, and I remembered being very flattered that Suloni really liked how the assignment has turned out!

Fast-forward to approximately two-and-a-half year later.  A lot of things has happened: I changed my major to Computer Science, got a full-time job offer as a Software Engineer at Facebook, still am a classical music / piano maniac, am about to graduate in 3 days, and am dreading the thought that I will miss this job terribly. I have learned and grown so much during this job, and I am so grateful to have had this experience. I would not have traded this for anything else, and it is one of these college memories that I will never forget. I know that I am where I am today partly because of this job and all that I’ve gained from it. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

I wanted to take some time to give personal shoutouts to everyone here (stealing the idea from Abriella, sorry Abriella you always have the best ideas :p):

Kevin: thank you for having introduced me to this job. It is the best of on campus and by far one of the best jobs I’ve ever had (albeit I’ve only had 6 and I like 3 of them :p, I guess I’m not that picky). Hope you’re doing well in Boston!

Jake: it was super fun getting to know you! I still remember when we worked together late on Tue Thurs when we first started out, you’re a super cool person to get to know! Hope you are doing well.

Jalissa: you are so positive and kind, and I enjoyed talking to you a lot! I miss doing CS 312 assignments with you, I hope you are doing well!

Megan: you’re super cool and soo talented. It was my pleasure to be able to work with you in CLIO!

Poonum: you are so wonderfully talented and are such a great project manager. I’ll keep reading your food blog, please keep them up!

De’sha: you are so talented and artistic. My first impression of your work is all of your floral patterns! Also I love your fashion <3.

Athena: my STA orientation buddyyyyyyy! You are so sweet, thank you for always checking in with me on school. I love your food Instagram, please keep updating them.

Mounika: I won’t forget that day when Suloni told us to go on Speedway to get snacks during work! Thank you for all your help in web dev when I was still a freshie at the web inspector tool. I hope grad school is going well for you!

Angie: my other STA orientation buddyyyyyyyy. You are so artistic and talented and fun to be around, I’m always so impressed by your illustration and animation.

Miguel: you are sooooo detailed oriented. I love how engineering-like / research-focused all of your works are. I hope you’re doing well!

Bridget: you are such an incredible artist and designer. Your collage work was probably my favorite, it inspired me to do a lot of my collage work currently. I hope you and your dog are doing well!

Ishan: your WP demo video is so funny! I still remember your black background and half of your head on Zoom LOL. I hope you and your cat is doing well! Hope you’re enjoying Rice University!

Adrian: I will miss chatting with you every Wednesday when we’re the only two in the office. Thank you so much for the bread you shared with me, and thank you for trying your best to make it to my piano recital, I appreciate you a lot!

Hoa: stay in touch, my fellow Viet friend! I’ll remember getting Sip Pho with you!

Rachel: I love talking about classical music with you! Your illustrations are amazing, hope you have a great time in grad school, you rock!

Marianne: you are always so sweet, I love your cute Slack emojis! Happy graduation!

Cristina: your makeup color palette is soooooo diverse I’m jealous! And you are so positive it’s always such a pleasure just chatting with you. Happy graduation!

Ingrid: I love talking to you about web dev, you are such a fast learner. You will do amazing in Boston, best of luck on any future adventures you have!

Stacy: thank you so much for all you have helped me! You are incredibly supportive, and I’ve learned so much from you as a web developer. I wish you the best in anything you do!

Chris: thank you so much for all of your patience during Chatter, especially when I didn’t know anything about Vue. More than just an amazing dev, you are a wonderful teacher. It was a pleasure for me to learn from and work with you.

Ruben: thank you for all of your help in projects! I enjoyed talking to you about the dev / game industry in general as well, thank you for all of your advice.

Sheryl: Sheryllllllll! I believe the first time I met you was in AET 310, you seemed so chill and cool and I didn’t know we would cross paths again in the STA Program. You are such an amazing artist and friend, everything you do is so aesthetic. And your fashion is on point!!! I hope you enjoy yourself at Carnegie, I know you will do amazing!

Abriella: you are one of the best artists I’ve ever met in real-life. Your work ethic and attention to details is incredible, it inspires me to do the same. I love working on projects with you and twinning on clothing with you unintentionally sometimes! Thank you for all the snaccs you’ve shared with me in the office. You’ve also introduced me to Takis, my stomach will probably thank you somewhere down the line in maybe 20 years or so :p. Thank you for being so supportive of me in work, school, and piano, I appreciate you a lot. Thank you for carrying the mochi ice cream when I could not wrap the mochi for the love of my life haha. And for the cute gel nails on my birthday, that was the first time I got my nails done <3. I know you will do amazing at Deloitte because you are sooo talented and hard-working! Please keep in touch <3.

Maddy: Maddyyyyyyy you were such an amazing STA and Art Director. Your design eyes are incredible, you’ve taught me so much about design and layout and UI / UX, I’m incredibly grateful for you. I look forward to continue following your hand painted signs journey!

Estella: ahhhhhhhh Estella I’m going to miss bothering you 14968742413 times every time I had an error or a bug. You are so patient and kind and chill I felt so comfortable asking you for help. Please continue to update your webtoon you’re such an incredible artist I wish I’m half as cool as you! Ah and I will remember your fashionable flannel as well :p.

Valerie: you are such an amazing artist and are always so supportive, I remember when I first started out, you were always so patient with all of my questions and were always giving me great feedback on all of my training. I don’t think I will be able to find a manager who will offer me snaccs every day in the office, and reached out and cared for me as a friend as well! I love all of your earrings and fashion choices! And OMG YOUR PINSSSSSS!!! Please stay in touch, I will miss you so so much!

Suloni: Suloniiiiiiiiiiiiii! THANK YOUUUU for all that you have done for the STA Program, your talent and passion has brought the program to where it is today, and all of us are so so so grateful for you! The energy that you have brought to the program is so heartwarming, you are the reasons why I think the STA Program is the best job on campus! You are always so supportive of anything we do, and because of that you’ve helped us continue to grow as artists and developers. I will miss all of your cute emojis and boosts on Slack and Basecamp. You inspire your surroundings with your artistic aura, I am so grateful to have you as my manager. Please please please do stay in touch, I will definitely pay visits to the STA office if I come back to Austin to visit (which I definitely will).

Abriella’s Farewell Post

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Farewell STA Team!

 

Before coming to this job I was working at Kinsolving dining hall pursuing a degree in art education and just wrapping up my first year of college. It was rough. I hated my job, lacked community, was underpaid, and unsure about what i’ll do after college. My friend Roberto (later an STA as well) who was my student manager at Kins sent me a link to apply for the Design STA position and I went for it. I started in July 2019 working in office with Suloni and sitting along side Maddy and Valerie as my peers. I experienced many people leaving and many joining, some STAs becoming my higher ups after they graduated. I experienced a global pandemic, finished college, worked fall, spring, summer, and winter breaks for three years here in the office and in my living room for about 2 years of the 3. I think I’m the only STA who has reached 560 to-dos and have completed every single design training in the KB! It goes without saying more that I really valued this job and gave a lot of my time and energy to this position and made the most of every moment.

 

Now leaving this job, I am no longer getting an education degree but starting a career in product design at a firm. I took more design classes at UT my last 3 years and made a portfolio with lots of stuff I worked on during my time here. I learned how to use Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Figma, XD… the list goes on. Accepting this position in retrospect was a huge turning point in what I thought my life was going to look like and it was for the better. This was a safe place to learn and grow and challenge myself.

 

I’d like to say thank you to all the STAs I worked with. I strongly believe that we are the sum of all the people we have ever met. I was so fortunate to have met only the most amazing people while in this program.

 

Roberto: Thank you my former Kinsolving manager and fellow video STA. You helped bring this job to me and always believed that I could be great at whatever I wanted to achieve. Your friendship has been so valuable and I hope you are doing great things as well you amazing script writer!

Ean: This clown! Haha my favorite audio STA who is a killer sound cloud artist and DJ. Living it up in New York working in the audio industry. Thanks for being a best friend still and I hope to see you more often and visit NY more frequently.

Jake: Oh jake, your upbeat, positive, warm energy, the light of the office. I will never forget when Valerie was switching computers and transferred your meme folder on your work computer over to the new one. I loved all the profile photos you had on zoom, and yes I did look at your bookmark tabs when you shared screen with great concern haha! Thanks for always finding time to help me via slack with my coding questions. I hope to see you again soon.

Thuy: THUYYYYYY. What do I even say about you? Intelligent, reliable, talented pianist, amazing baker and yogi, hard-worker, great coder! You were my favorite person to work on projects with, we were the ultimate power team! I am going to miss you tremendously and our little out of work hangouts where we eat mochi and takis and paint out nails. Please take care and stay in touch when you’re out in California!

Adrian: eco-king! Tea-drinker! Book-reader! Adrian I hope you go off to do amazing things with your life and I really enjoyed the conversations in the office that we had. Every design you make gets better and better and I hope you fall into a place in work and outside of school that you really love. Keep on being your amazing self.

Marianne: Going to miss your boba tea earrings and your giggles during meetings. Although we haven’t had a project together, by Suloni’s praise I hear you are doing great work and I’m so proud of you to hear that! Keep on always doing your best and follow your passions.

Sheryl: You are such a great friend and co-worker. Your design work is amazing! You’re so reliable and punctual! You really came through for me this past semester when I was going through it and I am endlessly grateful to have worked and been friends with someone like you during my time here. Go do your thing in grad school! Hope I can stop by to visit one of these days while you’re over there.

Cristina and Rodrigo: I have never met a pair of siblings that were SO different. Let me start with you Rodrigo. You were so funny and talkative, always getting me in trouble but nevertheless it was a joy getting to work beside you. Thank you for the coin pouch and the cajeta! Cristina, so sweet and kind and not a trouble maker! I am going to miss talking to you as well and I hope you end up getting a job that you really love after college. I wish both of you guys the absolute best, FAMILIA!

Angie: Angie for some the reason the convos I remember most are about you growing oyster mushrooms in your room and the water damage that happened in your apartment. You are so talented and a great web designer. I believe you went off to do things in biology but nevertheless you were a fantastic artist and designer and it was so nice having someone like you on the team during covid.

Kevin: You were so sweet and kind and I will never forget running into you at HEB. I hope you and Thuy still keep in touch and that you are working at a really cool job getting big checks because you deserve it with all the hard work you did!

Jalissa: I swear you and Jake were complete opposites yet he seemed to get along the best with you in the office it was really funny and sweet to me. You were awesome to work with and I loved the energy you brought to the office every day, It’s been awhile but I hope you’re out there enjoying life.

Emily: You sat behind me when I first started here and you helped me with all my V-Lab Canvasser questions which I am thankful for. I always thought you had a nice sense of style and it was always peaceful sitting next to you, just the two of us some days in the summer.

Ishan: My memories of you are over zoom with just the top-part of your face against a black background. Still, it was always nice hearing from you in meetings and I wish we had the chance to meet in office. You were a great coder and very friendly! (:

Olivia and Jac: I also started off with you two in the offices, I don’t believe I had the chance to work on any projects with either of you yet you both felt like big sisters to me and seemed so calm and experienced at the work you did. Jac I am going to miss your cowgirl energy and Olivia I always loved your curly gorgeous hair!

Miguel: You were so sweet and nice to everyone in the office and SO GOOD AT DESIGN! I don’t know if LAITS has had an architecture student in design before but man those skills transferred nicely! I remember training you over zoom and making jokes with you and poonum during our meetings. I really hope that life gives you nothing but the best and that you design my future house hehe. It was a pleasure working with ya!

Chloe: You sat in front of me my first few days at the program, although we didn’t get to work much together I hope you are enjoying life wherever you are at and thank you for answering my questions that I had my first few days.

Athena: Foodie, Tennis enthusiast, business-woman! My last memory with ya was hanging out at Barton in the cold talking about networking and I actually had a really great time. I’m glad that we still keep tabs on each other via social and I intend to see you again and hang out soon. Stay your cool awesome self Athena I miss you!

Poonum: Poonum! You were probably the funniest person in our zoom calls I wish so so badly that we had gotten the chance to work in person together. You learned the ropes so incredibly fast and were such a talented and smart individual. I hope ones day I cross paths with you again in a work setting because you make a 9-5 feel like a part! <3 stay awesome

De’Sha: Roses, pink, style, cute cute cute. I love your brand and how organized and hardworking you with your side hustles and internships. You are going to do amazing things in life and I am rooting for you. You are such a sweetheart and a great person to work with. Great listener and thoughtful answerer. Don’t ever stop doing what you’re doing. Going to miss you!

Rahul and Asmita: You both were in coding so I didn’t get to work on projects with you all but for the short time that we spent together in the office during our return from Covid was really pleasant and it was nice to meet new people after being at home for so long. I hope you both had a nice time during the program and go off to do great things.

Keshav and Hoa: The freshest coders we have currently. I think I have managed to make my impression on you both for the few weeks we have gotten to work together. You guys are both really cool and funny and a great addition to the office. You all are going to go far in your careers. Take care, learn as much as you can, and always go for the opportunities to show what you can do!

Rachel: Purple purple purple you love purple and so do I! I’m very glad that we got to have a talented animator and illustrator added to our team we were long over-due for a person with your skill sets! I know that having me review your trainings was probably a headache but your designs and growth go from 0-100% in a matter of 2-3 drafts and that’s all you girl! Have fun in grad school. <3

Megan: From the Daily Texan to a Design STA we have stuck through them both. Thanks to you I know how to use InDesign and so do other STAs. Thank you so much for helping me out with networking opportunities and being a friend in the office. I’ve already missed having you around but I know you have big plans in life and you must go forward! Take care Megan, let’s talk again soon.

Ingrid: Ingrid just wanted to say thank you for the books and all the convos we had sitting next to each other this spring semester. You have been a great friend and I loved going to the mall and shopping with you! I’m sad you’re going to be moving so far away but I know the world is for you to conquer so go show them what you got! Love your cute dresses and always gorgeously done nails.

Mounika: You were the first graduate student I had ever worked with at the program I believe. You were so kind, calm, responsible, friendly. I can say you did really important work for us while you were here and I hope that you are at a job that you really like. Take care and I hope to see you one day in the future again.

Bridget: Awww Bridget, I remember so many mornings when it was just us here in the office at 8am on a Monday and I am so thankful for that, it was nice going in and seeing you at your computer and having friendly chit-chat as the day started. You helped me so much with the KB and WordPress and were an amazing writer. I have missed you since you finished the program and I hope that life is treating you well wherever you are at.

Relena and Danielle: My time with you both was very brief and fleeting but Covid was a really weird time for everyone. Of the few words we exchanged over zoom I know that you both were nice people and hardworking. Danielle I know you were in the education program with me but a year ahead, I hope the teaching situation is going great for you! (:

Tate: Thank you for always coming through with the files I needed via slack from your animations. I remember when you use to work in this office the first few months I was hired here next to Suloni. A true veteran of the STA Design program. You’re work, modeling, animation, etc all amazing!

Estella: You have also helped me out with maaanny coding questions Estella and I am endlessly grateful for that. I’m glad that you became a higher up along with Maddy and Valerie for the coding team, I couldn’t imagine anyone better. You are so friendly and radiate positive energy and a positive environment for your employees to ask questions and learn. Hope your DnD games are going well!

Valerie and Maddy: It was been really cool from working along side you guys to you both managing me here at the office, I am SO GLAD that it was you two that were hired for this job. You guys are both so understanding, talented, compassionate, hard-working, motivated, everything a designer needs to be. I really hope that after I leave the program the three of us can get together and hang out some time or go do something fun. I felt very well taken care of by you both and felt like you guys both did everything you can in the interest of the student employees here and that is so amazing. Anybody would be lucky to work with you both.

Suloni: Because of you my whole career choice changed, the classes I took changed, my skills improved. You believed in me and took me under your wing to work here at the program. You have been the absolute best boss I have ever had and I had a few in high school and my first year of college. You are a golden example of what a boss should be: patient, understanding, kind, idea-driven, etc etc etc! Thank you so much Suloni for everything you have taught me, every opportunity you have gave me through projects and tasks, all of it has been so valuable to me. I’ll miss you dearly. The STA design program wouldn’t exist without you.

 

“We are the sum of all people we have ever met; you change the tribe and the tribe changes you.”― Dirk Wittenborn, Fierce People

 

Part of the team when I first started in 2019: