Crystal Amberlyn

As much as we would like to think otherwise, money is a necessity in today’s world, and it is generally understood people must work to make money. Therefore, work has a value, and this can include both money value and personal value. When working as an employee for a company, there little to no complications with getting paid. You are paid for the work you do or the hours you have worked. I have found it is when you are asked to work outside of your job things become complicated with payment.  This can happen with anyone in any field, but I have experienced this a lot as an artist and graphic designer. Through my experience, there are two complications with payment when working for someone outside of your work. The first and most common is the client or customer expects to pay little to nothing for your work . The second complication is the client or customer is unorganized in how and when they pay you . This can be very frustrating for the one doing the work because as I s...

Last summer, I had the amazing opportunity to complete an internship at Ohio Northern University’s office of communications and marketing. If you did not know already, I am a graphic design student at Ohio Northern University (ONU). Since I live two minutes from the university, this opportunity was very convenient. Although I did not have to travel far, I had a helpful experience which taught me many lessons and skills. The transition from the classroom to the workplace in my profession was difficult for me. In the classroom, there were set steps which were monitored and graded by the professor. Other students in the class gave feedback as well to improve your designs. For my internship, this was not the case. I was given a project and once completed, I sent the completed work back. Rarely would I receive any feedback at all. This was stressful and often lead to me questioning myself and my work. It felt as if my training wheels were removed, and I was given the full responsibi...

Recently, I had my first big interview experience. I have interviewed for jobs before, but those required little thought or preparation.   This position, on the other hand, required much more time and effort. I ran for the graphic design intern position at Thirty-One Gifts in Columbus, Ohio. I originally found the position online and applied. To my surprise, they set up a phone interview with me. Of course, I was nervous for the phone interview, but I was not too nervous. For a phone interview, you can wear what you want and stare at the ground as much as you want without the interviewer knowing! I did research on the company to prepare. I guess my joyful voice and charming personality won over the recruiter because they invited me to their headquarters for an on-site interview. The moment I was told they wanted to interview, my mind started rolling. I truly love the Thirty-One brand, so I wanted to make sure I did the best I possibly could. Therefore, I had to do some work...

It looks like I am going to have a semester full of blogging! That said, I feel it would only be fair to share a little bit about myself. Of course, you will learn much more about me in my future blogs, but here is some information to get started. My name is Crystal Amberlyn Brown, but I go by Crystal Amberlyn. I am currently a sophomore graphic design major at Ohio Northern University . Practically all my life I have lived in northwest Ohio. I graduated from Upper Scioto Valley High School in McGuffey which is approximately 10 minutes from ONU. My mother and I moved to Ada my junior year of high school and I still live at home with her. It has just been my mother and I since I was four. It has never been easy for us. I would go into further detail, but I plan to save that for a later blog. Within the first visit of Ohio Northern I knew college would be much better than high school…   and it is. I love ONU and I am proud to call it my home away from home. Therefore, I try...