Allow me to introduce myself...

I’ve learned that when meeting new people in a college environment, you basically get boiled down to three little tidbits of information: your name, your name, your year, and your major. These are apparently the most important insights into a student’s inner being, which leaves undecided seventh-years without names in a tight spot when it comes to making new friends. I, however, face a different problem. When I say, “Hello, I’m Angie; I’m a junior in Visual Communications Design,” I often get a blank but polite smile in response.

“Oh, yes! Visual… communication… what?”

Oddly enough, when I reply, “It’s Graphic Design,” everyone knows exactly what I mean. Whatever you want to call it, design is what I do. I take a message and present it in a visually pleasing way that complements and reinforces the content. The title of this blog stems from that very idea of taking the message, the “talk,” and giving it substance—backing it up with solid, beautiful design—and I’m going to use this blog to chronicle my journey through the professional design world.

I am currently working as a design intern with the College of Liberal Arts Career Development Office here at Purdue. I’ve been working with two other interns in Communications to market a big new event for the College of Liberal Arts, “The Professional Forum.” The Forum will combine a career fair with panel discussions and a professional networking event, and it’ll be the first big liberal-arts centered career event Purdue has seen! …I’m pretty excited about it.

Working as an intern has been an eye-opening experience so far. It’s my first real job as a designer! I’ve been picking up a lot of general office-type things as well. The more people involved on a project, the more chances there are for something to get lost along the way! I’ve really started asking more questions to keep up to date and CC-ing my colleagues on emails so we’re all on the same page. I’ve been working on a few designs for the Forum, but the first real wave of satisfaction hit me when I sat down for a couple of hours to put address labels on the postcards I’d designed. They’re going out to every on-campus liberal arts student; this wasn’t the sixteen classmates in A&D 332 or the half-dozen people who happen upon my website, this was page after page of sticky labels, and when the lower-back pain set in there was still quite a stack left to go.

That thrill of creating something that’s going to be seen by thousands of people hasn’t really worn off yet.