Remember that awesome internship?

Why hello there, blog.

Remember that awesome internship, the perfect one I was fawning over? Yea? Oh. well, just to let you know...I got it!

Oh yes, yes I did. I am SO PUMPED to start!! I'll be working full days Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The commute will be a cinch compared to the summer. I can take the blue beetle to Mineola (huzzah for not having to bum rides), 37 minute train ride, and 10 minute walk from Penn Station. How glorious! I'll be working mostly with the Senior Marketing and Events Manager and Marketing Manager, both extremely nice women who I had the pleasure of interviewing with. Also, at Time Out they let interns work with other departments also, so as I had hoped, it seems like I'll get to put my design skills to work also! Again, perfect.

So for now, I am trying to make it through the rest of the semester. Finishing up papers and projects. Also, working out what I will be doing for my senior project...which has not been an easy task. My professor had an interesting idea, doing a promotional/marketing/advertising campaign for the Art Department. It'd be awesome if I did something like this and it got used! We'll see.

January Break Goals as of Now:

• Learn to knit a hat
• Create a text animation in After Effects. Maybe for Ultimate Frisbee? Like a recruitment video.
• Spend a day at the Guggenheim and MoMA.
  
• Go through clothes and get rid of some, donate to Salvos, and get some new clothes.

And for your entertainment...a video I made for my Time Out New York application :)

The Perfect Internship!

Well, HOO.RAAH.

I found an internship that would be PERFECT for the upcoming Spring! I was organizing my old "favorites" and came across the Time Out NY internship page. I had originally "favorited" it for Promotion Design and Online Design. BUT, looking through again, I found

EVENTS and MARKETING.

I'd be involved in the planning of their weekly events! Being able to do event planning at a magazine is pretty perfect because I'd be able to use my design skills if needed also!

Just wanted to add this funny graphic I found after reading a NYT article about internships and their negative effects. I don't know if I agree with the article, because I believe internships are necessary mainly, for students to figure out what they want to actually do. That's why I'm trying for a different type of internship than what I had this summer.

Say Anything Concert!!!

This Saturday I went to one of the most epic shows I'll most likely be a part of.

SAY ANYTHING AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY!

Reasons for epic-ness:

• Third row seats, absolutely perfect
• Max Bemis and the band kept saying how great and awesome we were
• Perfect mix of old and new songs
• Played ALL my favorite songs
• Played a new song for us that had never been played in front of ANY crowd
• Two song encore.
  
• Let us choose old or new song for the last song
• We chose old...Max played "I want to know your plans" .. acoustic baby.
• I teared up :)

These are my two favorite pictures that I took. See more HERE!!!

The Aftermath!

Why Hello, Blog!
Long time no speak.

Welp, I am back at school once again. Still trying to adjust to being a Resident Assistant...though it hasn't been too bad yet. My biggest incident was dealing with a leaky ceiling.

Since I wrote last I've been to some great concerts!

Jelly Pool Party with Kenan Bell, DDMMYYYY, and Del 8/16/09

Jelly Pool Party with Girl Talk 8/22/09

Deer Tick aboard the Pearl, 9/7/09

I've also decide to continue my internship with +1 through email. Today I did about 50 tearsheets.

Right now I'm trying to look into internships having to do with "Special Events" or "Events Management." As much as I love graphic design, I don't want to waste my natural talent of organizing shit! So with me luck with that search.

Week 9.. the last week :(

Well. I won't lie. Week 9 was a boring one, which was unfortunate.

At +1 Jonny and Shelley weren't there because they had gone to Lallapalooza. Shelley usually gives me lots to do, so without her things were dull. The one thing I did do was send a bunch of CDs to Nusrat, a General Manager at MTV. And I burned some CDs for myself. I wish I had done more...I wanted to get a copy of like every CD they had, but I forget. Ah well. I asked Jonny for a recommendation and he told me to write a mock up for Lauren to edit. It was definitely awkward, writing my own recommendation.. but I think I did a pretty good job.

Sunday is a big pool party. Kenan Bell (above) is opening, and he was just signed to +1. I actually had just seen a dude on the subway wearing a Kenan Bell shirt so that was funny. But yea, I'll be at the pool party VIP to help out! Should be fun. I'm going to try to go to the rest. I KNOW I'm going to GIRL TALK!!!

Partisan was also a bit slow. I did do a few useful things, which is always good. We got to have a wine tasting on Thursday! That was fun, since I'd never done that before. And not the official wine guy, but the guy who was choosing the wine for the club went to Wine School so he knew what he was talking about, which was cool. My favorite was Boutari Moschofilero. Dionysus in Spring! Mmmmmm.

Oh yea, and I also created the graphic for FELA.NET!!! They changed it a little bit though.. took out the color. Ah well. Still looks cool!

Before I left Partisan / Knitting Factory Tim and Ian invited me out on the roof to have a glass of wine. We had a really nice conversation, shared some college stories, talked about what I thought about both internships. Ian said if I ever needed anything to let him know. I really believe he was sincere when he said that.

SO. Penguin Publishers called me on Thursday! I had applied for the summer and gotten a call, but told them I would reapply for Fall because I already had a summer internship. Well, I never reapplied...

So the conversation went like this:
Basically, I lied and said I was still interested for the fall, but was honest in saying I wasn't sure if I'd have the 14 hours to dedicate to it. She asked me what I was interested in doing, I said graphic design. Then she asked, children, or adults. !!! I said children! Because ya know what, I've always loved kids so I thought this would be a cool way to involve them in my career. She said they would call if there was further interest.

And guess who knows someone at Penguin in the children's department?
Ian.
YES! I'm going to write a new application and cover letter for the Spring...and at this point I'm thinking I'm going to try for that, try something new. I feel like after making all the contacts with Ian and Tim, and sticking with +1 for the Fall, that I could try Publishing, and if I didn't like it...come back to music. I'm not sure if the Publishing industry is any better to get into with everything going digital...but it's worth a shot to see if I like the people and the atmosphere. It'll definitely be a lot different. Plus they have a REALLY LEGIT PROGRAM. I get paid! $7.25. Balls!

HOT TIP:
Write thank you notes. Yup. I'm going to write actual thank you notes and send them by snaily mail to both offices. They should be impressed by that!

GOODBYE, SUMMER INTERNSHIPS! How I loved you so!

What I'll miss, and won't miss

During this last week I thought I'd make a couple of lists!

What I'll miss about my internships:

• being an intern
• going to cool events and concerts
  
• walking around and exploring williamsburg
• listening to business conversations
  
• $3 falafel
• cooking myself nice meals
  

What I won't miss about having internships:

• the 15 minute walk to the bethpage station from my house
• running to catch the train / subway
• making no money but still paying rent
• carry around my heavy backpack
  

Week 8 - Air Guitar!

WWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

8

Shit's crazy. And almost done. Sad.

This second to last week was pretty cool. At Knitting Factory, I finally finished the business card design, and edited the HTML for the Deer Tick tour site. I also came up with a new tour poster concept but I don't know if that's going to go anywhere... don't know if they really liked it. That's probably something I should have worked harder on, but I just didn't feel confident about it. I feel like Ian wold have said he liked it no matter what. MEH.

Monday at +1 I just did print tearsheets pretty much all day, and left early because my dad visited. We ate at a sweet little place. Scanner went crazy at one point though and spent about 30 minutes trouble-shooting. I didn't want to bother anyone asking for help and finally I figured it out! Cleaned up the shitting scanning computer in the process.

Wednesday was a full day. I went around and collected newspapers, did a crap-ton of both kinds of tearsheets, and got asked to work doors at THIS:
Even though I'd been sick the whole week, of COURSE I said yes!!! And it was a great decision. First, they had me drive the company car. Now, I haven't really driven very much since college, not having a car idea and all, and I vocalized that I wouldn't really be the comfortable. BUT, I did it anyway!

HOT TIP of Week 8:
Know the area you work in. I drove ALL around Williamsburg without a map or anything, AND figured out the one way road system and everything. And it's because I spent so much time exploring the area, getting lost, and staring at the map in my Not for Tourist guide book. I reccommend this book for anyone who goes into the city. It's small, so easy to use, and if you actually take time to read the descriptions and all, it's really witty too.
After I was through running errands before the show I started working the door to the club. It was pretty funny. It was a cool crowd and pretty easy. The only thing was one co-worker told me to do one thing, and I got contradicting instructions from another. That was a little awkward. I sort of tried to error on the side of the higher up up guy, but it really wasn't a big deal.

Everyone from the office was there at one point.
BEST PART OF THE NIGHT?

Jonny (the boss boss) introduced me to his friend,
"This is Emily, she's our best intern...BY FAR"
**ANGELS SING!!!!**

SO awesome!!! And added bonus, Nat PAID me for working! Double awesome. That was so nice of him. I mean, I worked those Stellastarr* shows and didn't get any money. I really needed it too, seeing as I've been doing the two unpaid internships and paying rent.

Also, the bar tenders and my boss were buying me drinks, so that was super cool. Mikey, the other intern was there too for awhile. I talked to him for a bit, he seems pretty cool. He's an RA too out somewhere in the middle of nowhere but lived in NY. I just hope they didn't call him the best intern too :-P But he just came to hang out and didn't help like I did! Either way. I felt really appreciated.

AND. It was SO MUCH FUN. My first Air Guitar contest, oh and it was at a gay bar. hehe. I met Hot Lixx Hulahan (reigning champ) and his fiancee and friend, hung out with them for a good chunk of the night. They were really fun and cool. We danced on stage at the end to Free Bird, which I guess they play at the end of every competition. So goofy. Ended up seeing my OTHER boss there too! haha.

Walked to the subway super fast to catch the 1:37am home. Forgot MY BACKPACK and had to run back, and STILL made it.

All in all, good week. Events make the week so much more fun. This week I move in for RA training on Sunday, and I'm still gonna try to make the Pool Party because there's supposed to be an after party with some really cool musicians. Hopefully, RA training the next day isn't too early. But either way, I'll just have to hope to make the 1:37 :)

I don't want it to be over!!!!

Illinois Concert

So it all started with:
and wanting to work there. Through them I found these guys:

This awesome band, Illinois.

Who inspired me to make this for them:
Which I subsequently sent to the singer, Chris Archibald, letting him know I wanted to intern for his label, Acefu. He responded and let me know that Ace Fu went under, and their new label was these guys:

http://www.plusonemusic.net/

I researched the place and fell in love with it and planned on applying since December.

Then around April, Ian Wheeler, founder of Partisan Records, came and spoke to my New Media class:
(hehe. I made this above image).

SO. I decided to email him BEFORE he came and spoke, asking him about interning at a record label. He wrote back and asked me what places I was looking at, so of course I mentioned +1.

"My good friend Jonny owns +1, so that one would be easy. I don't know too many folks at those other companies. We'd also love to have you at our office this summer... Maybe we can work out something where you can do both? Both offices are in Williamsburg. Anyway, look forward to meeting you and discussing this tomorrow."

And that's how I landed my internships, in a nutshell.

You can see what a critical role Illinois played in this chain of events. I'd been trying to see them live for months, and I finally got the chance last week. It was super shitty weather out and I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I was starting to feel like I didn't wanna put the effort into going and chit chat with people, be all awkward by myself, etc.

BUT. I went.

BEST DECISION EVER.

I meant to get there only in time for Illinois, but caught a good chunk of the band before that, called "Drink up Buttercup." Click the link for a free mp3 download. They had this very unique sound. The vocals were grungy and raspy yet when 3 of the members sang together in harmony I would say it was almost angelic! They also had intense percussion stuff happening all over the place, including the drummer putting a tamborine around his neck and hitting himself and the piano player using two old school tin trashcans to bang about. And they were just so INTO it! I love seeing performers like them. Check out a video I found from that night.


AND THEN.
ILLINOIS.

The set was PERFECT. They had just come out with a new CD, and I was afraid it would be all those songs, but it was a perfect mix of old and new. They rocked out so hard, I loved the music even more live. I stood in the front and just danced, man. They crowd was older and not too many people were moving around, but I didn't care.

THIS is why I want to work in the music industry.
THIS is what I'm inspired by.
I don't know if I've ever had a better feeling than knowing I work for the people who've helped this amazing band play awesome music. Definitely got that, coming full circle feeling.

AND Jonny (my +1 boss) gave me a hug, and I chatted with Ashley for awhile.
Then I introduced myself to Chris as the girl who sent him artwork who's now interning for +1.

And he said, oh yea! awesome! welcome to the family!

and that's why I don't want to stop working at +1. Or in the music industry in general.

Week 7.. only 2 more left!!

So here's where I start to get really anxious about what to do next semester, internship wise.
But Let's focus on this week.

Oh, well first of all, here's me at +1 Music! Took this on the way to the Jelly Pool Party a couple of weeks ago :)

Partisan / Knitting Factory was sort of stressful this week. Morgan, the CEO finally sent me all the new logos. They are Ok but I had to pretty much re-do the business card layout. I also thought I'd be editing Partisan's HTML but I never got the code. I was sort of dreading / looking forward to giving that a shot. Ah well. Maybe it'll get done in the next two weeks.

I was also asked to do a new tour poster. It was a tad frustrating because I wasn't told exactly what copy to put on the poster... just to come up with a really rad design first. But the thing is, if there is or isn't copy has a huge effect on the design. I mean, I could make it type based or not...etc. I guess I should have explained that, but I didn't have the balls. Regret #1.


Regret #2: my bosses invited me to have a glass of wine with them at the end of Thursday. At first when I saw them get out the wine I thought, man I wished they asked me to have a glass! But then I was packing up, and I was going to see RX Bandits that night, so I was all ready to go. When I went to tell them goodbye, they said, "free free to grab a glass of wine and sit with us if you want, if not see you next week." And I was so anxious to leave I'm pretty sure I said "sweet, see you guys later!"

HOW LAME OF ME!!!

HOT TIP FROM WEEK 7
Never miss an opportunity to sit down and talk with bosses, co-workers, higher-ups, what have you. Every time that I HAVE been with co-workers outside of the normal work environment, the talks we've had were beneficial. Topics included how I've been doing, other interns and their work ethic (or lack thereof), what brought them to the company, etc. Plus it's just fun!

Mid Week Update. Website?

So I need new business cards. My old ones have my deviant art site on them, which is my least favorite on-line portfolio site. I have a few.

Deviant Art
Coroflot
Behance

(plus I have this blog, and I'm on linkedIn, twitter, facebook, myspace, flickr, and tumblr, although I never figured out wtf a tumblr is for haha).

I like Coroflot the best.

view my portfolio:
coroflot.com/emilymiethner

The thing is, if I'm going to re-design my cards, I think I really need to consider getting my own website/domain name. I've definitely decided my freelance business is just going to be my name. I'm not going to come up with something random. My last name is so unique it'd be a waste not to use it!

emilymiethner.com

I mean yea, it's not the easiest last name to remember or spell, but again, it's unique. If you google my name, almost everything that comes up is something about me, and not other random Miethners.. cause there aren't that many in the US! Mostly just my family.

BUT ANNNNYWAY.
Getting my own website...

That could be a big project (EDIT: WILL BE DUUH). Maybe I should do it this coming semester since I probably won't have a real internship (being an RA ruined the chances of that because of the class I have to take). I've been favoriting people's porfolio's site so I can use them to determine what I like and don't like. I definitely like the cleaner, simplier looks. I just want a space where all my links can be in one spot. Updating all 3 online portfolio's can get really tedious too.

Starting my own site would definitely be good web design practice. I'd really like to increase my skills in the department. But that allllso means I need to come up with a logo for myself.

Yea man.
That should probably be my next project eh?

So many questions...

From Looking at other design portfolios so far I think...

• I'd separate my work by: Band and Musican Artwork (then split from there info fliers, web ads, posters, myspaces, photography), Typography / Case Studies, and Independent Projects.
  
• I saw one and I think he was calling his class projects "case studies" which I think was smart.
• I like a white background. Because (thanks 2-D with Barnett!) the background color can have a huge effect on how the subject is seen.
  

Week 6

Rain makes me sad sorta when I'm in the city.
Tuesday and Thursday it rained so badly, it really affected my mood.

Worked on more business card / logo stuff for Knitting Factory. Now just awaiting all the final logos to finish the card. I must say, after doing so much logo ish, I really don't think it's for me. At least not for corporate stuff. I don't know, I just couldn't get into it this week. If I was doing something for bands I think that'd be different.

+1 was pretty uneventful too. Did a lot of tearsheets as always, probably mailed a few things. hah.

There was nothing for me to do in the city this week after work so I think that's why it seemed a bit boring.

HOT TIP:
If you're going to get an unlimited metrocard, don't LOSE IT. And if you do, call the number on the back RIGHT AWAY and leave a message saying you lost it, so you can get refunded from the time you actually lost it.

Meh.

Early week 6 Post! Stellastarr* show!

\\::Stellastarr* show :://

I arrived at the venue, the Highline Ballroom about 6:30. It's a great venue. Mid-sized, with bars on either side and space to sit down and eat dinner on the floor and balcony. Arthur, the drummer of Stella found me and showed me around the merch, then brought me upstairs to the greenroom. They had some great food so I munched on some pita bread and celery, but I always feel awkward eating in front of people like that (even though I was starving). A member of the other band asked if I would sell their merch and they'd "take care of me" at the end of the night. I originally wasn't going to, but assertive Emily was hiding, and pushover Emily couldn't say no when the guy was telling her how to sell their merch.


Eddie from ILG was there and I talked to him about their internship program. I may try working there in the Spring. I'd be an actually New Media or Graphics intern, which would be great!

Selling merch in my little corner was hot. and boring. And I actually felt sick for a lot of it because of the heat. Arthur was really nice though, and checked on me about 5 times before they played, asking if I needed anything. I met a lot of nice fans and it was cool having a tour pass and waving that around to get into the venue and the green room.

When Johnny got there I gave him his pass right away before he got to the guestlist woman and he said "wow I'm impressed!" Love hearing stuff like that...even if it was for something really easy :-P

At the end of the show the merch rush wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. Their tour manager said everything added up so I was super excited about that. I met two people who came from Mexico City to see the band and they were SUPER nice so I told Lauren to get Arthur.. then he brought them upstairs to meet the rest of the band. HOW. COOL! I was really happy for them. I went to the greenroom after everything was cleaned up and hung out with everyone. Min, Lauren, and Johnny were there so we were all talking.. Min shared some of his interning experiences so that was funny hah. Everyone was really chill and it was definitely nice to hang out with everyone after working in that hot mess of a merch table all night. I got invited to the after party but I figured my 30 minutes or so of mingling was enough...still felt pretty crappy afteer being in the heat so I headed out after that.

What I've learned so far (especially after the concert):
I still don't know what I want to do for a living.

I really love doing graphic design, and being creative. I just don't know if I want to freelance my whole life. I think I really want a permanant job. Something my professor said to me once really stuck in my mind. He said it after we were talking about the Fine Arts show that I helped organize and run. He said, "You're an Ok designer, but you're a great organizer. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years you were president of something or running something."

I actually took it as a compliment. I know I have a lot to learn as a designer. But I've always had a natural knack for running and organizing things. Some of my proudest moment's were running HAGA's career night and the Vagina Monologues and the Sex Toy Raffle. So who knows.. maybe I can get a job in the music industry. The fact that there are like no women involved in that industry makes me want to get into it to proove there is a girl that can do it. ME. hah. Who knows...

What I do know:
I want to be around music, and I want to be in New York.
This is me + music :)

WEEK % (5)

HOLY SHIZ does time go by fast. I just finished writing Week 4's entry!
It's been very busy at both places lately, giving me *gasp* barely any time to fuck around!

Had to sort through MAD FELA images to find ones that are re-printable at a large size. Really frustrating man, but quite rewarding to be done with. I even worked on it on the train rides to and from the city. HARDCORE! And Tim was very happy with how I organized the final documents and whatnot. Huzzah.

Almost done with the business cards I've been designing for the Knitting Factory. I think they are pretty sweet! I'm just awaiting final comments from the CEO of KF.


Did another huge mailing at +1 for Future Sounds. They have an interesting logo.
Tonight I am once again selling MERCH for Stellastar* woop woop! Should be fun! Got a VIP pass babyyy. Aurther, the drummer I emailed my portfolio to, never emailed back. I'm hoping it's not awkward and that it just went to his junk mail by accident. Definitely brining it up though!

I also don't have to come to work until 2pm at +1 because the Jelly Pool Parties are the day before. I think I may go to the one this Sunday and I'm super excited! It got really awesome reviews! I'd know.. cause I did mad tearsheets for it...


Another busy bee week! But I like it that way. It's really great knowing you're making a difference :-)

Week 4

Week 4 baby!! It's weird, I sort of feel like I've been with both places much longer than 4 weeks! In a good way :-)

So originally, I thought I was interning for just the Knitting Factory. Then, I was doing mostly work for bands on Partisan Records, so I thought, maybe I'm not working for Knitting Factory and they just share an office. BUT, I finally think I figured it out. Partisan Records is now a part of "Knitting Factory Entertainment." So, I am working for both Partisan Records and the Knitting Factory.
I'm designing business cards for the Knitting Factory! SaWEEET! I've been in direct contact with the President of the Knitting Factory deciding on design direction.

Although I've been getting some cool assignments at Partisan, I do like to go in with a list of things to do for myself (send emails, create portfolios, update website, etc). Because sometimes, I sit around for 5 hours doing nothing and theeeen they tell me they want me to make business cards.

HOT TIP IN RELATION TO THAT:
Have other things to keep you busy (bring a book, surf the web if you can, etc) during down time. But always be ready to drop what you're doing to be ready to do work. You don't want to make it seem like you're unavailable. But I think it's good to keep yourself occupied when they have no jobs for you so it doesn't seem like you're trying to guilt trip them because you're bored.

This was a super great week at +1 for a lot of reasons. First of all, there was a lot more to do, so I actually felt pretty productive and helpful! Found out that +1 is doing the PR for the Jelly Pool parties... huge, awesome, FREE shows in Brooklyn! I'm hoping I can get to at least one of them.

It was also release week! Stellastar's album "Civilized" came out and there was a private show held for a radio station at Mercury. I was up in the air about going, but my friends convinced me.. and I'm SO glad I did! The band was great and it was really intimate, in a good way :-) I helped out by selling merch after the show, which wasn't bad because most of the audience was friends and family. But being the awesome salesperson I am, I convinced most new fans to buy both albums that were for sale!

The drummer of the band, Arthur, thanked me numerous times for helping. Since he was so nice I gave him my business card and he told me to email him some samples of my work. Awesome!


After the show I got delicious Falfel with two of my co-workers and then went to St.Jerome's for $2 beers! How. Rad. Had nice chats with co-workers and their friends and they gave me some nice compliments, doing a good job and all, so that was awesomely reassuring.

Also this week, I finished a GIANT mailing in one day all by myself (which made me so proud!). In the process I met two of the guys in another studio. One's a graphic designer. Sweet! I got his card, it's super fancy and lovely. I have to hit him up soon.

Nat's also back in the office, which is nice.

All in all, a fantastic week! I felt super helpful and productive. I hope next week is the same!

Week 3

Well, that mid week update covered a lot.

The only other thing I'd like to talk about is how I went on the worst errand of my life on Thursday.

Mind you, week 3 was filled with random scattered thunderstorms and sun showers.

So, at Partisan. I was asked to go to UPS to overnight one letter. I looked up the location and it was actually really close to +1. Easy stuff. So packed my little bag and went off.
I make way more mistakes walking around Partisan because the streets don't run in the normal grid-like fashion. Needless to say, I went in the wrong direction about 3 times. No worries though, because I wasn't in a rush.
Until it started MONSOONING. Eventually, realizing my umbrella wasn't really protecting me that much, I decided to wait under an apartment's trellis thing. Then I realized the envelope was soaked. I called to ask if it was ok if I just buy a new one. Yes. I finally get to the store, pants SOAKED, but it had stopped raining and it was sunny, thus I was extremely uncomfortable.

Then I found out, the UPS store doesn't ship to PO Boxes. I'd have to go to the Post Office. I was on North 7th. Post Office Location: South 3rd.
GRRRRR!
Finally got around the location and followed a mailman the rest of the way. Waiting in line for a half hour or so. Standing there all gross and uncomfortable.

Worst. Errand. Ever.

TIP OF THE DAY
UPS does not ship to PO Boxes. Do not make the mistake of walking to a UPS store, then realizing you have to go 10 blocks in the opposite direction.

Mid Week Update 2

Hey Hey Hey!

So this week's been very up and down with being busy and doing nada!
Cool thing is I got help for some myspace fixin! So now Partisan Record's myspace looks cool! Or better at least. I also made a lot of ads for Deer Tick's new t-shirts!

The beer can ad won :-) I like that one a lot too!

So things I learned design wise while making these ads:
-how to create beads of sweat on stoof.
-the transform "scew" option (used to create the beer cans). absolutely amazing!
I used a lot of DMOG (dark multiplied outer glow) to make things pop (mostly type and logos).

*TIP OF THE DAY:
Here at +1 there isn't a ton of work for me to do, and the work I get I pretty much blow through pretty quickly. So when I went to lunch with Lauren I asked her a bit about what people do in particular, and she said Ashley mainly does HTML and graphics.

SO I JUMPED ON THAT BIT OF INFO. I emailed Ashley the following:
Lauren was telling me you do a lot of the HTML and design stuff.

I'm not sure if you knew but I'm studying graphic design. I usually finish the tearsheets I get quickly. So if there's anything you need help with in the design area I'd be glad to help out!

I'm pretty decent with the basics of myspace stuff too.

http://www.myspace.com/partisanrecordsnyc
I did most of the graphics and layout of this myspace.

So, let me know!

Right away she gave me something to do. Alas, I don't have Dreamweaver so I couldn't look through the HTML code she wanted me to, but at least now she knows I want to help with that sort of stuff. So hopefully I'll get some work from her to do. Maybe something cool! Fingers crossed!

In stupid news...I forgot my sandwich at home today :-((((
That was heatbreaking. It was going to be yummy. And so I had to spend money I don't have on lunch. Ah well.

IN GREAT NEWS:
I just landed myself a PAYING job as a private inDesign tutor. HooHA!
They we very impressed by my resume and portfolio that I sent. So now I'll probably spend my down time here creating sample files for this new job. I haven't used inDesign for awhile so I'll need to brush up on my skills. First day is July 17th.

Well, I'm going to start on that.

Week 2

Why hello dear blog! Week 2 after two weeks in Europe. First of all, forgot how tired I get after a day of like 4 hours of commuting and an 8 hour work day where I don't really take a break.

So what did I learn this week?

Not as much as I wanted to when it came to editing Partisan's myspace. I did a whole lot of google-ing trying to find answers to certain things I wanted to do. I was getting a tad bit frustrated. I'm still trying to meet up with a friend who can teach me more myspace tips and such.

Made some new graphics

+1 seemed a bit more relaxed this week. And holy crap did I do an insane amount of tearsheets. I did get a pretty good system going so it became very sort of mechanical, which made it go by fast. I also made a signature for Min and he was very happy with it! I also go to listen to them talk about bad interns from the past, a conversation that was spurred off of them saying how great it was that I came in and owned all the work that had to be done.

TEARSHEET!

Tips about working hours / hours worked:
Let me preface this with every internship is going to be different. I've definitely landed myself two laid back internships in terms of the hours and when I have to come in and leave and what not.
BUT:
At both places I don't really take a lunch break. I just sit there as I eat. At that's while working for 8 hours. Thus, this week I had two issues. One, I left my wallet with someone so I had to take a later train to +1 to wait to get it back. So I emailed two people to let them know, and also sent some finished tearsheets before I got on the train. So I didn't feel guilty about coming in late. Especially because I often sit there for bits at a time with no work to do.

On Thursday I went to the 311 concert, so I had to leave Partisan early. I did everything they had assigned me for the day, plus, they were having a meeting, so after I sent them all my work we wouldn't have been able to really talk about it for a while. So again, I think leaving early was alright.

Now, of course you want to impress your internship bosses by being responsible and on time and all that. BUT, at the same time, if you are a good worker, and occasionally have good excuses as to why you need to come in late or leave early... remember, you're not getting paid! So unless they actually have a big project for you to do that would require you be there the max amount of time, I wouldn't worry about it.

Mid Week Update

I thought I'd update with some interesting news while I await a work assignment.

In Partisan Records news, Deer Tick's new album, Born on Flag Day, was reviewed by Pitchfork this week. It wasn't very good. Basically called them unoriginal. Other reviewers liked the album, but since Pitchfork is really the audience Deer Tick seems to be aiming for, it's unfortunate that it was pretty negative.

In other news, I got the urge to look at MTV Iggy's website after talking to my friend Doreen who interns there, and found this.
Organized by China's largest condom manufacterer, this runway show of Condom Dresses has occurred each year at the China Reproductive Health New Technologies & Products Expo. The next expo will be on August 5, 2009. No wonder China does such gimmiky things to promote condom use. I mean I'd be afraid not to use condoms with the whole one baby rule. I wonder what happens if a women has twins, triplets, etc...

Back to Internship stuff...

Did mad tear sheets yesterday. Web AND print. The print ones, holy shit did they take forever. I had to scan the covers of the papers in pieces and the scanner is mad slow. BUT. It was was better doing something tedious than not doing anything at all. I'd rather feel useful.

In Knitting Factory news, there's a lot of construction going on under the office! I REALLY hope the new Knitting Factory is finished before the summer ends. I want to be able to go to a show there right after work. How cool would that be? I'd be sitting in the office while the opener goes on (because I work until 7) then I'd be able to just head on down and see a show! Unfortuntately, the construction business is not known for timeliness. Boo.

Music Business Note:
A band's management is not the same as their record label. I noticed a some of the bands are on different labels but managed by Partisan or +1. I wonder what the difference is? Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll find out.

Got my assignment!
Peace!

Week 1

Why Hello Blog.
Here is my first entry after a week and a day of my two internships!
For any one who's forgotten, my internships are at +1 Music and The Knitting Factory / Partisan Records.

Feelings from the first week:

• Working with Partisan Records is AMAZING. The first day when I got in Ian had work for me ready to go. I got to design web ads from scratch for Deer Tick's myspace and insound.com. The next day, after doing a bit of mailing, I got asked to design a sweet tour poster :-) I worked on it for about 4 hours while Ian and Tim were out at a meeting. I came back and they gave me some suggestions, and by the end of the day we had a sweet result! It's being sent out to the venues where Deer Tick is headlining.

• +1 Has a really cool vibe to it. There's always awesome music playing. They do publicity for The US Air Guitar Championships. So basically, they are awesome. I delivered something to Manhatten to the guy that runs it. He's got a sick apartment. I did a lot of "tearsheets" there, which are like screen caps of on-line articles about their clients.

• Learning about the label's / "favorite-ing" all the bands' myspaces was a great idea, Shelly at +1 was impressed. And I definitely felt more prepared.

• I never feel lost in NYC / Williamsburg. Although, I walked an average of 3 "wrong blocks" a day, I'd say. At this point, I pretty much have about 10 streets in each direction named.

• I'm pretty much OWNING the subway system. Knowing my way around is such a fantastic feeling. I'm starting to feel like a real New Yorker, doing as much as moving to the side of the Subway car that's closest to where you want to go.

Tips for people planning to Intern (I'm not trying to be all high and mighty "I can already give tips after a week"...I'm just saying, I already learned stuff! Which is awesome...):

• Be the person to make the introduction. If you walk and and don't know people, make sure you leave knowing everyone's name.

• It's better to look lame and take out the guide book than to keep walking the wrong way and miss your train.

• Ask questions if you're unsure of something, otherwise you may make a mistake that will take way more time to fix later on.

• When it's lunch time, ask if anyone wants to join you, or if they have any suggestions. Or if people say anything like, "lunch run!" ask if you can come along. It's a great way to get to know your colleagues and get to know the area by walking around with people who already know the area.

So, the other great thing about my internships, they were both totally cool with me taking off for two weeks to go to Europe! So, I will be in London then Barcelona until June 18th.

See you folks when I get back!

Oh how neive I was... :-P

THE NIGHT BEFORE MY INTERNSHIP STARTED:

Alrighty babay!

So I am writing this blog entry on a stickie note on my mac. We have no internet here until tomorrow. Where is here?!
My new house for the summer in lovely Bethpage NY. After getting pretty much settled today I really believe this was the right choice. Ran to the train station and then walked back this evening, to know exactly how long it will take me...a mere 13 minutes! And I was walking at a slow/normal pace! This is great news. It's also extremely easy to get to.

Phew. I'm actually tired right now. I cleaned out my backpack tonight! I know I'm a loser. I actually vacuumed it and everything! I'm catching the 9:44 tomorrow. Gets in at 10:32. Hopefully I can make it to +1 before 11.

---
Edit.

Note to self, everything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong the first day of your internship.

It's so easy.

Being a good listener is probably the best personality trait someone can have.
I need to be a better listener.

"How to Win Friends..." told me this too. I know it's a book and not a person but jesus I've gotta listen!

OH THE IRONY!

Redesign of FREENYC.NET

For my last graphic design project we had to pick a logo to redesign, and create an identity system as well. I was taking the class as an Honor Option, so in addition to the logo, business card, envelope, and letterhead, I also created two screens of the website.

Above is the logo and screen cap of their "site" (which is really just a blog), FREENYC.NET.
I absolutely love this organization. They send out newsletters with "cheap and free events in NYC." Although, it is frustrating that they send out their newsletters Friday, and they have Friday events listed! They should send it Thursday night.

ANYWAY.

Here is my redesign.

And here is my Web Design
HOME:
BLOG:

2 Weeks.

Well Hello Blog! Only about two more weeks until I will be writing, AT MY INTERNSHIP TODAY...

I'm very very anxious to start! Very curious to see what I'll actually be doing. I think I'm going to be doing more graphics stuff at Knitting Factory, and more generic tasks at +1. Which is fiiine by me! Ian Wheeler asked what my web design skills are. Obviously I was honest. I said proficient and told him what I've done before. I mean, I feel like I could edit things and make adjustments and whatnot, but I don't think I'd be able to start one from scratch. I'd just work off the one we made in New Media II!! :-P Here are screen caps of those sites.



So I have two weeks to learn myspace coding, keep HTML and CSS fresh in my mind, perfect my letter to bands that I've put on Club Loaded fliers, and I think I'll finish, "How to Win Friends..."

In other exciting summer news, I have already a great list of summer concerts and events to attend!
Check it!

• June 10, Elvis Costello
• June 12, Bubble Battle
• June 16, Third Eye Blind
• June 21, The Aggrolites
• June 24, Bedouin Sounclash
• June 25, 311
• June 28, Gay Pride Parade
• July 1, MGMT
• July 11, Doreen's Birthday
• July 24, Deer Tick
• August 16, Life Ends, RA Training Begins
  

Junior year coming to a close!

So this is it. Finals week as a junior! I'm trying to manage all the free days I have coming up.. making sure I get enough work done!

In addition, the stresses of "the real world" are already upon me. Trying to find a frikken place to live. I have three different options right now. To be honest, I don't really know which I would be most happy with. There's a house right behind campus, in bethpage, and east rockaway. They all have lots of ups and down. Being close or far from campus, the safety of the area, the condition of the place. Tomorrow I find out if the bethpage house is even an option and I'm visiting the east rockaway place.

It's really nerve racking because I feel like this will have a pretty big effect on my summer. Who/where I'm living. Bleh!

I just want to KNOW. I have to move in a WEEK! This will be my first time living off Hofstra's campus since I lived in MA before college! Wow. That's a crazy thought.

I actually think no matter where I am, I'll be homesick. From Hofstra. I know...I'm a loser!
Yup... I'll definitely miss it! But it's only 3 months.

My Coolest Web Portfolio!

view my portfolio:
coroflot.com/emilymiethner

This is a great little button. This was the only site I could get it to work in...

I gotta get better at HTML!

Be GOOD at least.

In Seth Godin's entry he talks about how because there are so many tools for learning graphic design that are readily available / cheap / free, so everyone should be decent at it, at least! Better yet, good.

Obviously, studying to be a graphic designer I want to be GREAT. But the above is how I feel about web design / ccs. I feel like I should be at least decent. And I'm getting there, with trying to learn the band myspaces. Problem is there are so many tutorials and what not, it's hard to decide which to trust and whatnot. But it is true that everyone should use their time wisely to take advantage of these things.

I'm working on it!

List of places to learn about graphic basics from Seth.

Editing Band Myspaces. AH!

Ok. So I am working on learning how to edit band MySpaces.
GRR ARG is best way to describe it.
Yet, getting little things to work is very rewarding!

I'm doing it through CSS. I have codes in for a background and a header picture, but they are not working, and I don't know why.

Before

After

How to Win Friends... THE BEGINING!

This book was recommended to me by Ian Wheeler, the guy who I'll be interning with this summer at the Knitting Factory.

I've only just started it, and it's really intense, but exciting. It makes me feel like I am going to learn A LOT, that is if I follow the 9 rules to getting the most out of the book! Some of which are:

• Reading each chapter twice
• Using a highlighter
• Reviewing the book each month
• Develop a deep, driving desire to master the principles of human relations!

Some of the ideas seem very common sense, BUT they give really good reasoning, examples etc, that make you really and truly want to carry out the advice. For instance, Don't criticize, condemn, or complain.

Already working on it!

Woah. I was misguided :-(

Alright folks, so yes, I have two summer internships already. And they are confirmed and all. BUT, I applied to other places. For instance, Penguin Publishers. They called me yesterday and I asked my mom what I should do. She said go for an interview. I was a little unsure though, so I called the career center.

He told me not to take an interview, and just tell them I'm interested for Fall.

MISTAKE.

Klinkowstein said to always keep interviewing, applying, etc, until you are at the job or internship. So crap. I made that mistake with Decaydance too, told them I already had internships. DAMN. Lost out on interview practice too. That's what I get for listening to a generic career counselor, and not Keesha, my personal one.

Live and learn.

lame but, staying true to yourself.

So I found this picture on facebook (it's the new craze, tagging all our friends as "the (insert adjective here) one."

Notice, Williamsburg Hipster, bottom left corner.
In my grad art history course we talked about the difference between being "cool" and being "hip" while analyzing Pulp Fiction. Conclusion, it's better to be cool. Being hip is temporary. Being cool is a constant state of being. I've never liked the term "hipster" for that reason.

I'd consider myself cool. I have a solid sense of who I am, what I like, and so forth. Yes, I may change during my internship due to a lot of different reasons, the area, the people I work for etc, but if I change, it'll be on my own terms. Not to fit in, and not to make others happy.

Just to make me happy. Cause that's what's important :-)

Two Summer Internships! Here we go!!!

My name is Emily Miethner. I am a graphic design major at Hofstra University, and I just landed TWO summer internships, both are located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

+1 Music.
The Knitting Factory Label.

I'll be commuting from Mineola to Penn, take the A, transfer to the L. Really easy commute actually! And the walk from the L station to each place isn't more than 10 minutes.

Secured a house behind south campus, splitting a room to save money! Transportation wise, I'll only be paying for a cab to Mineola in the morning, or maybe the bus, or maybe paying a friend to drive me. We'll see. +$4 for Subway. Not bad!

Goals before Internship:

• Learn how to do HTML for band myspaces
• Have message ready to send out to bands when I do a flier they are on for Club Loaded.
• ? More to come!

(Funny) Notes from today's trip to Williamsburg

• saw a guy take a obviously fake $10 bill
• saw a girl walking a pug, then noticed she had a baby one zipped in her jacket
• went into the nicest public bathroom (well, in a restaurant) ever. it was lit by candle light.
• Amazing place to continue my "True Bike: Life on The Streets" project from Photography. Interesting bikes all over the place.

I'm starting this blog because I feel like this summer, and the time leading to it, is the start of some real good shit that's about to happen in my life. Career wise and just in general. Things are going good, and so now, you can here about them :-)