Blast to the Past

I'm a graphic designer at a marketing firm in Little Rock and I love it. In fact, I've wanted a job in this industry since 2006, when I declared a major in Advertising/Public Relations and a minor in Art. I knew that this was what I wanted to do. It's funny to think how little I knew about the industry when I made that life-changing decision.

After studying at the U of A for a few years, it was time for me to get an internship. Heavens knows I needed the experience so I put together a few things I had done from art classes and applied. And applied. And applied. And I got a lot of no's. 

But, I got one yes. And that, my friend, has made the world of difference.

The summer of 2009 I interned at Stone Ward, and agency here in town, and I loved it. Looking back, I didn't know anything about anything back then. Luckily, the staff took their time with me and taught me more than I could ever fathom. 

You might be wondering what the heck I'm jabbering about so I'll get to the point. There were 7 other interns with me at Stone Ward and we had our own client: Arkansas Sherrifs Youth Ranches, an organization that provides a healthy home to kids who come from abuse and neglect. Being the Art Director Intern, I got to design a website redesign for them, which looked a little something like this:

My design: 2009

As you may have figured out by now, I finished my internship a long time ago. Two years, to be exact (which is crazy and makes me feel so old). It's incredible how fast time goes! Anyway, about a week or two ago, I found out that Arkansas Sherrifs Youth Ranches had finally upgraded their website. So, two years later, here it is:

Website 2011

Definitely some similarities, which makes me really happy. I found out after I'd designed the first one that a lot of the elements I brought to the table really wouldn't work unless they did flash, so I'm just happy they stuck with the general idea of the design.

Anyway, happy Monday!