Interning. The word itself conjures up memories of sweaty palms, overdressing for the first day of your internship, and memories of the inevitable coffee run, but to us, interning is an experience we are happy to give.

Launchpad has often been home to interns, sometimes even 3 at a time. That’s the case we find ourselves in lately. Meet Dawson, Noah, and David. Three friends that look at themselves as a pack, and continue to work together to create for themselves and their internship, while also bringing humour to the Launchpad office. The three of them approached Launchpad in September looking for a place to sharpen their skills. Take a peek at how their days pan out below.

David:

• First week at Launchpad was a blast!

By far my favourite part about working in the office is getting to watch the Cliffnotes happen live; Cliff is such an entertaining character and brings a whole new type of energy to a work environment. The work has been fun, I’ve already learned a brand new skill by making gifs in photoshop, and I’ve gotten really efficient at editing images for Shopify. Everyone here is a lot of fun to work with so far; the conversations that happen around the office can be both interesting and hilarious, it’s always something new.

Probably the most educational part of this first week was getting to watch Cliff, Jill, and Jason have meetings with clients and seeing how they handle different situations with certain clients, it gives me a lot of insight into the interpersonal aspect of working on a design team and it’s a really beneficial experience for me.

I’m looking forward to next week, I get to shoot a video and really show my talent with that! So far, I’m excited to see what’s up next and can’t wait to see what kind of impact I can make in the coming weeks.

Dawson:

• November 11
  My first shift as an intern at Launchpad started at 9 am with introductions from everyone else at the studio, Cliff, Jason, Jill, Jordan, Dylan, Dani and Bianca each talked about what they do for the company and some of their other interests. Me, Noah and Dave introduced ourselves, talked about our strengths, other interests and what we want to get out of our experience at launchpad.
  
  When asked about my strengths, I talked about web design/development, certain aspects of illustration and photography; something that I also pursue as a passion outside of school/professional work.
  
  The first project I was given was to make memes for Unicorn Snacking, a client of theirs that makes popcorn and other snacks; me and Noah each made roughly five memes for their social media pages. Trying to be funny but still reaching the target demographic was an interesting task, I am now a senior meme developer.
  
  November 12
  The second day moved away from memes to making snapchat filters for Sudbury Saturday Night, inspired by the stompin’ Tom O’ Connors song by the same name.
  
  Once I was done the snapchat filters, Bianca told me I was going to be taking product shots for their client Vivid Optometry next week and we were also doing a photoshoot with the Sudbury Five dance squad next week. I started making mood boards for each project with reference to what styles I wanted to mimic and any poses/composition I wanted.
  
  November 13
  Today we continued getting ideas for the Five Dance Squad photoshoot, making mood boards with reference for our ideas. Later I was given a case study that cliff had started the layout for, it was a study of some of their client’s competition and the comparisons between them, I found stock photos for the case study and I integrated some of the copy into the case study.
  
  November 14
  Today we started working on logos for launchpads’ client Blends and Curries; they are an Indian restaurant in Cambrian college and other schools that blend Indian food/culture with Canadian culture. My idea was to use the symbol for the rupee and reflect it; this made the symbol look like a bowl, using orange and other warm colours it looks warm and appetizing.
  
  November 15
  Today we continued working on the blends and curries logo, we shared ideas and got feedback from everyone else. At around 1 pm Cliff told me that he was doing a presentation for the Sudbury five players on Saturday and he wanted me to put together a slideshow for him; the presentation was about how the players should use social media to the best of their abilities. I worked on that for the rest of the day and finished it right before I left.

Noah:

• My name is Noah Robinson and I’m a third-year Graphic Design student currently doing my placement with Launchpad Creative. I’m confident this is going to be an amazing experience and will definitely give me a whole new perspective on the world of marketing.

I feel that after being stuck in the same classroom(s) for the past three years I’ve begun to lose my drive for design. Thankfully, with the aid of the awesome staff at launchpad, I’ve re-found my passion and I look forward to each day. I love the environment here and I find myself opening up and sharing my thoughts more than I ever would have with my classmates. It’s far too easy to isolate yourself in a classroom and this is definitely a bad habit I’ve developed. Through Cliff's advice, I’ve learned the importance of communication and teamwork and have begun the journey of leaving my comfort zone and growing as a designer. 

Although I’m only one week into my placement I feel the knowledge I’ve acquired isn’t something I’d ever learn in any classroom. I went into this placement with the misunderstanding that I was going to be an errand boy, making coffee and sweeping the floors. I couldn’t have been more wrong. From day one I was treated with nothing but the utmost respect and was given meaningful assignments that have challenged me to think outside of the box.

I am so grateful for the opportunity everyone at Launchpad has given me and I look forward to seeing what I can accomplish within my placement here.

Be sure to check in every week to see what the rap-pack is up to or follow us on our socials!

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