SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY ATHELTICS
From July 2019-September 2021, I worked with the Athletic Department at Seattle Pacific University performing a variety of duties. This was first an internship, which this transitioned into an annual position, and then as a contract job. During this time, I also participated as a Varsity rower on the women’s team at SPU (yup, there’s me fourth from the back). Check out some of my work!
Role: Graphic Designer
Duration: July 2019 - Sept 2020, Sept 2021 (Contract)
Work: Branding, Social Media, Print Design, Merchandise Design, Photography, Videography
Social Media
An important part of this position was to manage and create for the SPU Athletics Instragram, Facebook and Twitter. This consisted of creating hundreds of posts over the course of two years highlighting athletes, promotions and upcoming games as well as creating campaigns that would increase fan engagement.
Photography
For promotion and media purposes, we would instigate and event called “Media Days” each year in which we would capture posed photos of each athlete, both as a headshot and a portrait photo. These would later be featured on the schools website and on our social media. I became the media coordinator of this event each year, gathering props and backdrops, and planning different lighting and poses for each athlete.
2019-2020
2020-2021
Branding
Another important responsibility of this role was to “rebrand” the department each year. This included refreshing the font, color and graphic choices of the design produced by SPU Athletics. In addition, I created a cohesive set of templates (PPT, WORD and Email) to emulate the theme.
Print Design
As a part of its promotions, the department would also produce several different print items including pamphlets, posters, flyers and banners. These would all be my responsibility to design and then send to a printer to be materialized. I would use Adobe Illustrator to create each design, and then work with my direct supervisor, the Fan Engagement Director, to review, edit and improve each design.
Merchandise Design
Often, as another incentive to increase fan engagement, we would run promotions rewarding various students who participated in different competitions, answered fun questions correctly, or had the greatest spirit at an event. These rewards often came in the form of things like t-shirts, pennant flags and even coffee mugs.
What I Learned
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Double Check. Then Triple Check.
With the volume of work that came along with this position, I was often tempted to “call it good”. I soon realized that this was a sloppy way to operate and usually resulted in many mistakes being made. Rather than succumb to my exhaustion, I learned to have an eye for fine detail and to be sure to thoroughly check your work before presenting.
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You Can't Make Everyone Happy.
During this time period, not only was I working with a large volume of work, but I was also working with a great volume of subjects - all the athletes. When my work was produced - whether through posters or media - there was almost always someone who wasn’t happy. Usually because they felt they weren’t featured enough, or they didn’t like their photo. I had to remember who I was designed for - the fans and the department.
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If You Don't Know It, You Can Learn It
Although I had a partially completed graphic design degree under my belt, this position challenged me to form new skills and accept what I didn’t know. If my supervisor asked me to do something that I wasn’t too familiar with, I learned to say “I don’t know, but I’ll learn it”.