Insights

Hello, my name is Olivia and I’m a senior at Western Michigan University studying graphic design. My schooling has taught me very well in that area, however, there are some aspects surrounding the creative process that I wanted to explore. Coming to Trent Creative I hoped to learn more about the business, branding, and marketing side of graphic design. At the end of this experience, I can say with confidence that my goals were met.

In my short time at Trent Creative, I worked on social media marketing, sat in on meetings, helped create assets for website design, learned about new programs, and even sat in on a mini branding session in Detroit! I learned a lot from all of these experiences. Marketing was demystified as I narrowed in on target markets and researched how best to reach them. The definition and difference between brand and branding were explained to me clearly through Marilyn’s presentations and the real-life example of Detroit Food Academy. Office dynamics, workflow, and communication were shown to me through the wonderful people I worked with and the programs and tactics they used to stay organized. Even programs I was already familiar with started to make more sense as I learned small tips and tricks to be more efficient.

I’ve worked in an office environment before, but never in this context. Trent’s team and the work that they do has helped me to expand my knowledge of graphic design and the fields throughout and around it. Plus, it’s been a lot of fun! The people I worked with were very kind and open to helping me learn as much as possible from this experience. The interactions I had with them personally, learning about who they are and how they work best, gave me another thing to take away from this internship.

I was able to take full advantage of this experience by asking questions and engaging my coworkers. My time here has helped prepare me both for the coming school year, including my senior show and thesis, and for when I break into the workforce post-graduation.

Olivia B.