This June, we had the pleasure of hosting Josiah, a talented and enthusiastic intern who joined our team at Haven Design Workshop. Josiah impressed us with his skills, creativity, and personality. In this blog post, we want to share some of the highlights of his internship and how he contributed to our projects and culture.
The early part of the summer, Josiah started out but simply getting familiar with our work and our values. He participated in our weekly meetings and sat in on some of our design discussions, where he learned about our design process, our tools, and our clients. He then was tasked to helped us with outreach and recruitment, by reviewing resumes and portfolios of potential employees. His observation was that there are many way people show their values and personal identity. By looking for candidates he was able to appreciate unique perspectives, experiences, and approaches to becoming a professional in this field.
Josiahs next challenge was a design prompt for marketing material. We needed to develop flyers and brochures, in addition to yard signs as way to showcase our project types. Josiah took on this task with enthusiasm and delivered some amazing designs that captured our vision and style. He also presented his ideas to the team and received constructive feedback. This demonstrated his ability as a communicator and presenter.
Josiah also made an effort to connect with his coworkers on a personal level. He joined us for lunch breaks, happy hours, and pickleball. He shared his interests, hobbies, and stories with us, and listened to ours. He made us laugh with his jokes and impressed us with his trivia knowledge. He was not just a head-down type of intern, but a friendly and sociable colleague who fit right in with our culture.
As the summer progressed, Josiah took on more responsibility and involvement in our projects. He worked on building internal systems and databases that helped us organize and manage our work. He also led a project to source market data in the region. He did research, analysis, and visualization of the data, creating a report that he presented to the team.
Josiah also had access to low-leverage design tasks that helped him develop his design skills. He worked on sketches, models, renderings, and diagrams for various projects. He received feedback and critique from our senior designers and engineers, who mentored him and guided him through the design process. He handled the redlines, the internal review, and the charette with professionalism and confidence. Through the course, Josiah learned how to balance creativity and feasibility, how to communicate his ideas clearly, and how to collaborate with others. He gained confidence in himself as a designer and as a person.
At the end of his internship, Josiah shared with us his thoughts on the future of Haven and his own future. He expressed his excitement about BoardMill, our project to help revitalize the shorefront. He said that Haven is a place that is pursuing big ideas for the future of this region, and that while here he felt his ideas and values were heard. He also talked about his aspirations as a designer and as a person. He said that he wants to find the right place to thrive, where he can make a positive impact on the world through design.
We are very grateful for having Josiah as part of our team this summer. He was an asset to our firm and a joy to work with. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors and hope to stay in touch with him.
