Just the Beginning
Hi everyone, my name is Colin and I’m a Senior Art Direction track, Advertising major graduating in December! I started my current internship in the middle of September at a new startup company in Conshohocken called The Workshop Mercantile as their graphic design intern.
The Workshop Mercantile is a veteran owned, workshop building company that offers specialized training workshops to professionals, to upgrade themselves and their skills. Some of these two and three day workshops offer 1 college credit per workshop completed, with one of our newest partnerships being with Fox School of Business. This is something different from all other workshop companies before it and the first of its kind. My CEO started his first company in 2004 called The Hub which was a meeting hosting company, but sold all of his locations as of last year to pursue this unique opportunity.
At first I was confused as to what the company did and even for a week or two into it, I still was a little unsure as to what they did. I quickly learned that as a first of its kind start up, everyday was a new day and something new was going to happen that had not been previously expected by anyone. What I have been doing is the day-to-day graphic design work along with a wide variety of other stuff thats needs to get done but may not be in my field of study. I create slide decks and infographics for presentations to new clients, and design ads for possible workshop campaigns in all print, outdoor and digital forms. I also designed a company letterhead, and workshop catalog. I also do things like communicate with printers and our design studio regarding specific details on printing and branding. I’ve also done things to try and stand out and impress when I can, like coming in Sunday morning to paint the company logo and some of the walls since I have a painting background.
I work beside a number of very talented, and experienced professionals and learn more from them then I would ever being in a class. I’ve learned a lot about working in a professional environment and how to communicate professionally. I’ve also learned a lot about how a company works and the craziness that is a startup looking to expand countrywide. The company’s launch was November 7th, as they hosted 10 workshops in 10 different cities around the country and are looking to expand.
Overall, this is something that I would have never experienced in a class and am grateful to be a part of it. My internship ends at the end of December and I haven’t heard anything about a position after graduation, but I am very intrigued and anxious to see where this company goes. I have made some great connections with some very experienced people over the past couple of months and that was my main hope going in.
