C&G Internship

As a capstone to my BA in Graphic Design, I was required to complete an internship in the design field. I interned in the Art Department at C&G Media in Norwalk, CT. C&G Media Group publishes a number of monthly magazines that showcase architecture, design, art, and antiques to affluent communities.

This learning experience was the first major step in my design career. I worked closely with two directors in the Art Department and had a chance to work on almost all of C&G Media Group’s publications.

Mockup Articles for Publication

Adobe InDesign

There were three major design projects I would be tasked with on a daily basis to be completed in Indesign: table of contents pages, feature contents pages, and publication layout.

Creating contents pages involved sourcing images from any of the photos featured in the publication. The images had to meet two criteria: it cannot be an image being used for another article or in a previous publication, and it had to work well with the overlaid type. Once the images were selected, I laid out the type over the image in InDesign and edited the photos in Photoshop. Editing usually included extending negative space in images to fit type, removing shadows or other distracting forms, and recoloring/adjusting the contrast to better see type.

For publication design, I was given a contact page of images with notes scribbled all over by various department heads. The notes spelled out which images would be used, in what order they were to be used, and the dimensions for each of the images. Using a template, I would piece together the feature using these notes and the estimated feature article word count.

After completing a few of these feature articles, I was given more freedom to choose the images used in the articles. Most of the articles were featuring a home, so it was important to showcase the images in a way that tells a story.

I had to be mindful of how a viewer would walk through the home and illustrate that path by putting the images of the home in that order.

Conclusion

This internship gave me an insight into the design process of print media, the intricacies of a multi-department work dynamic, and the real-world application of what I have learned as a design student. The Art Department was a well-oiled machine. They worked months in advance piecing together the articles, images, advertisements, and contents pages for all of their publications concurrently.

The whole process was extremely collaborative between departments. It was exciting to be a part of a design team and be able to see a project move from completely digital to printed, in-hand.