Colossus Media Group Internship: Week 1 (2/18-2/27)
Updated: Apr 23, 2021
ABOUT COLOSSUS MEDIA GROUP
Colossus Media Group is a digital marketing agency located in Eatontown, NJ. They specialize in creating social media and print content such as, photography, video, web design, social media posts, flyers, posters, etc. What caught my eye about this agency is their boldness, simple designs, and friendly team that provides great service to a large variety of businesses in New Jersey.
General Learning Objectives:
1. What client-based design work is like and how to manage it.
2. How to work with a marketing team to develop multi-channel campaigns.
3. Learn more about designing for brands and learn new techniques to help stick to brand guidelines in a timely manner.
WHAT I LEARNED/WORKED ON THIS WEEK
TEAMWORK
In my first week I learned how everyone communicates and stays on top of client work in the agency. Their primary tools for communicating with each other and tracking work progress are; Monday.com, Slack, Dropbox, and Gmail. They also have a team meeting every Monday where everyone gathers to discuss upcoming projects and to brainstorm new content ideas that will improve the reputation of their clients and CMG.
As part of my intern position I am required to attend these meetings to understand what the design team needs to do. Monday (2/22) was my first team meeting with them. It was interesting to see how a digital marketing team like Colossus Media Group collaborates and brainstorms for real clients. Although I could have participated in the brainstorming session, I wanted to sit back and learn a little more about CMG's team and the work they do.
THE CLIENTS
The majority of their clients are located in New Jersey and I got to design content for some of their biggest clients including; Tre, Rosalita's, Farro'sTees, and Jersey Strong.
Tre is an Italian Restaurant located in Brick and Freehold, New Jersey. They are known for their casual Italian menu and brick oven pizza.
WHAT I DID: I worked on a couple Instagram story posts for them this week.
Brief Overview of Rosalita's Roadside Cantina
Rosalita's is a Mexican Cuisine restaurant located in Englishtown and Brick, New Jersey. They are known for their Mexican menu and famous margarita selection.
WHAT I DID: I designed an Instagram/Facebook story post for them as well.
Brief Overview of Farro's Tees
Farro's Tees is a business that specializes in customizable apparel. They are located in Toms River and Brick, New Jersey where they "offer apparel for high school, middle school and elementary school as well as spirit wear in adults and youth sizes."
WHAT I DID: This past week I designed a couple flyers and a hiring post for them.
Brief Overview of Jersey Strong
Jersey Strong is a well know gym with locations all over the state. Their primary goal is to match their members with the proper workouts they need and want through services such as group/studio classes and personal training.
WHAT I DID: This past week I designed their Instagram/Facebook stories for class schedules. I also got to go on site for a production to learn how CMG shoots video and photography for their social media posts that I will eventually be designing.
DESIGN PROCESS/TECHNIQUES
This past week I learned that design work for a digital marketing agency like CMG can be very quick, requiring the designer to create templates for social media or to come up with new designs in a short amount of time. I still need to adjust to this fast pace environment which means some techniques I will be working on are memorizing more adobe shortcuts for illustrator and photoshop as well as how to set myself up each shift for a quick and functional process.
CLIENT WORK
Tre
My task was to take one of the previously designed menu posts and divide the menu by day as separate Instagram/Facebook story posts (1080 X 1920). My graphic design supervisor provided me with Tre's original menu post as well as assets used to create it. He also provided me with photos taken from a previous shoot to use for these posts.
Most of the deadlines they receive are short due to the need to post content as soon as possible. This task was due by the end of my shift so I had little time to research or sketch. The goal is to stick with brand aesthetics so I did some quick research of previous Tre posts and the aesthetic of the brand itself. The most logical solution I found was to stick with the same design, and of course font, and to use the same assets but narrow the image and divide it by day.
(The provided Menu Post as Reference)
(My final design that was chosen and posted)
(A second variation that was not chosen)
After hearing feedback about the two, the second variation was not accepted because it didn't quite match the aesthetic of Tre. It also wasn't as uniform as the first set shown. My supervisor also said that they try to stick with images of Tre's food because that is what they're trying to sell and it's more appealing to look at.
ROSALITA'S
I believe it was on the same day I was given the task to do the daily specials menu for Rosalita's. Again, assets were provided for me to work with. In this one I thought since both brands have the same identity lets stick to what I did in the last design in terms of structure and aesthetic but create a different variation of it.
(The provided Menu Post as Reference)
(My final design that was chosen and posted)
FARRO'S TEES
Another task I worked on this week was to redesign two poorly designed flyer's for Farro's Tees. This was once again a short deadline to work with. I did do a few sketches and researched their social media posts to get some idea of how I could fix the original to look more appealing and similar to the aesthetic that my supervisor has created for this brand. There wasn't much worry about bleeds for this design because although it is a flyer, my supervisor told me they were most likely going to use these for their website.
(Left = Original || Right = Redesign)
(Left = Original || Right = Redesign)
I also created a quick hiring carousel post for them to post to Instagram. I didn't want to make it too flashy but I wanted each part to be noticeable and clean while using imagery from the store that depicts the job that is being described. I don't know if any of these works for Farro's will be used because they have to go through the marketing team first to be approved.
JERSEY STRONG
For Jersey Strong I created a new design for their Instagram/Facebook daily classes story posts. This was actually an assignment CMG gave me as part of the interview process where I took one of Jersey Strong's story posts and redesigned it to look more eye catching and appealing. I provided four variations and they liked the fourth one the most which is the one I will be editing each week with different class schedules. Below in order is the original post - variations - final design.
(Jersey Strong's Original Class Schedule Design)
(The Variations I Created For The Interview)
(The Design That Is Being Posted Weekly and Edited By Myself)
BONUS
These are the other assignments I was given as part of the interview process. I had to redesign one of CMG's Instagram posts and create a valentine's day carousel for Tre. None of these were used but I feel they are interesting designs that show my creativity with social media content.