Jane Park (A1)

As a Communication Design and HCI double-major, I am interested in working with both creative and logical/analytical ideas and utilizing various medium and technology to solve problems. Based on my experiences so far, I enjoy collaborating with thinkers from various fields and disciplines which is why I can see myself working in an in-house design department or a full service firm.

I would love to work in a firm that does a wide variety of work so that I would have a greater chance of being exposed to different types of groups and projects. Environment and co-workers are probably just as important to me as the type of job I would be doing, and I would like to work in an environment that has a friendly and free atmosphere, where people are laid-back and open-minded so that ideas can be exchanged freely and easily. Ideally, I would also love to work in a place where I can be flexible with my schedule and the work I'm doing (but this would be more of a freelancing I guess).

As of now, I'm not sure if I want to work in a larger firm or a smaller firm because I see pros and cons in both environments. For example, I wouldn't want to work in a firm that is so large that all I'm doing would be sitting in my cubicle working isolated, or a firm that is so small that each person gets an overwhelming amount of work or that the studio gets too quiet from time to time. I can see, however, how smaller firms can have a more family-like atmosphere although bigger firms might offer interaction with people from different disciplines better.

One thing that I'm not sure about is how projects are being distributed to different positions and how the group dynamic of each project is being formed. For example, if your title is "graphic designer," are you bound to work only on graphic design projects? I'm also curious about how projects are being handed out in general, i.e. based on what criteria people are being "assigned" to projects and how likely it is that a person would work on multiple projects at once. And finally, I'd like to explore more of the dynamics and pros and cons of both larger and smaller firms.