This is the first post in a series of short interviews with IMT's terrific interns. Today we're talking to Michelle Rock, IMT's Visual Communications Intern for Summer 2013. Michelle is from Yorktown, Va., and came to IMT after graduating with a BFA in Graphic Design from James Madison University. We're delighted that she could join IMT this summer.
A fun fact about Michelle: She recently went on a service trip to Redwood National Park in California and would like to be a park ranger there one day.
When and how did you first become interested in graphic design?
I became interested in graphic design in high school. I’ve always had a creative itch, but didn’t have an outlet for it. I would play around with Photoshop and some very elementary web design. It wasn’t until college that I realized I could pursue a career in visual communication.
You did some design projects in college that had a sustainability theme, right?
I worked on a corporate sustainability report project based on the company Patagonia, and developed a brand identity for a hypothetical company that advocated for sustainable, organic agriculture and Fair Trade. I have a particular interest in environmental advocacy, so I really enjoyed learning how to effectively promote companies that share the same values.
What direction, or directions, would you like to take your career in?
I would like to point my career path toward my interests in environmental sustainability and human rights advocacy, which is basically a combination of my graphic design skills and education in sociology. Ideally, my ideas and work can go towards increasing awareness of social issues and supporting companies that have missions I admire.
You're working on a variety of projects for IMT: Can you describe some of them? Which one is your favorite so far?
I’ve worked on a new infographic to explain the benefits of energy benchmarking, designed a brief “About IMT” marketing piece, and revised the layouts for reports. However, my favorite project thus far has been creating a poster to visualize IMT’s vision statement. It was pretty open-ended, so I got to be creative and really have a lot of fun with it.
Poster design by Michelle Rock