Chronicle 39: Remarkable 2018 Student Intern

My name is Kayla Autrey and I am currently enrolled at Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies My school is very focused and centered on art and design. All juniors must complete a senior practicum. The purpose for the practicum is to gain experience and knowledge in the field we want to pursue a career in. I wanted to dive deeper into the process of Graphic Design because of how much it is integrated in today’s world and society. It can be found everywhere from the image on a coffee mug to a billboard overlooking the highway. Not only is graphic design seen everywhere but it comes in so many different ways and forms all unique to the person who designed it. I want to be able to put out my own voice through design.

I started my internship with Centric Design Studio in March and thoroughly enjoyed each day. Something new happened almost every day walking into the office. Everyone was welcoming and made the office a very pleasant place to be in. The first week of my interning, Vivian and I had very similar looking coats. This caused there to be some confusion every now and then where she would almost leave with my coat. We would all laugh and return coats to their rightful owners. I immediately knew that this was going to be an enjoyable and fun experience.

The first project I worked on was making a Facebook promotion for Centric Design Studio about them being first place in 2018 Detroit Homes Design Award. This was my first time ever making a promo for something and I was a bit nervous at first. Luckily, they had already had a basic layout for me to edit and make my own. This made it easier for me to transition into the future promotions and other design layouts I had the chance to work on.



The biggest thing I have worked on was a book for one of their clients.

Kayla working in Adobe InDesign
on community development project

What I did was help come up with some ideas as to the layout of the sub chapter pages and some of the layout of the inside text. This was a really fun experience because I thought “Wow, this project will eventually turn into an actual book and I will get to say ‘I helped’.” This also taught me about the amount of revisions it takes to reach an end result that was way better than the first.Teamwork and collaboration is a big part of the design which is something I never knew before.

I also learned a lot about the process of design and the tools used to design. One of the biggest things was learning how to use different programs. At Centric Design Studios I mostly used Adobe Illustrator, I program I had little familiarity with. Now, I have way more experience with this program and others such as Photoshop and can use them confidently. Overall, I had an amazing time working with everyone here at Centric Design Studios. I feel like I have personally gained experienced on not just design, but how the workplace runs that I can apply to a future career.

Kayla's last day after a very successful completion
of her practicum program