“Design is creativity with strategy.”
Students at Temple see thousands of advertisements on campus each day. Some are hung on bulletin boards; others are passed out on Liacouras Walk. But the ads and event posters hanging in the Louis J. Esposito Dining Center and the Valaida S. Walker Food Court in the Student Center—are made by me and the rest of the marketing team at Sodexo!
Sodexo is in charge of all dining services here at Temple University. This includes the Dining Hall, the Student Center Food Court, and other retail locations located all over campus, including Starbucks, Jazzman’s, Lucky Cup, Simply To Go, Café 613, The Artist’s Palate, The Night Owl, The Paley Perk, The Bean Counter, and Fresh Bytes. The marketing team is in charge of all marketing aspects (of course), including advertising for these locations.
Being an advertising major looking to pursue a career in the art direction, becoming the design intern for Sodexo was a great opportunity. My job is to create monthly calendars, design posters for events going on in the Dining Hall, help to brand retail locations and our catering services, and even design internet ads. After creating these designs on the computer using the Adobe Creative Suite, we send a printing order to our printer telling him what material it needs to be printed on and what size. It’s really awesome to see how marketing assignments make their way through the company from start to finish.
It’s also really great to see my designs hanging all over the Dining Hall and the Student Center Food Court. One major assignment we worked hard on was to brand Baker Dave’s Sweet Treats. These “treats” would be in a glass case in the Student Center Food Court across from Benny’s Steaks. We spent a lot of time working on the header of the case, the back cling, and the side menu (see photo below), along with “Coming Soon” posters. But the hard work definitely paid off when I walked into the Student Center the day his “treats” were introduced and saw excited students looking at the case.
Although most students think internships entail getting coffee and taking phone calls—they’re wrong. Hard work definitely pays off when you see your designs hanging all over campus. I’m definitely excited to start bigger assignments and continue to work with the rest of the team to market new ideas!
