This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to work as an intern under a supervising Designer for a startup accelerator based in Kyoto, Japan that is focused on creating a healthy startup ecosystem for Japanese and North American IoT startups to launch their products in Japan. Makers Boot Camp, they parent company, used design to help in their marketing efforts while Kyoto Makers Garage, a subset of the company developed with funding from the local government, is a makerspace designed around prototyping ideas, organizing and interacting with the local community, and generally speaking, the good old fashioned fun in making things.
I worked with my supervisor and other interns on the design, manufacturing, and assembly of various promotional materials for the company. I was also charged with assisting in the creation of assets for the company to use on their event pages on various social media platforms to help them maintain a cohesive brand identity. In addition, I was asked to give suggestions for ways to redesign the Makers Boot Camp website, which wasn't especially welcoming and didn't quite project the image that the company intended to.
All in all, I feel that the collaborative nature o f my internship experience was what helped me develop skills as a designer the most. An iterative process using revision based on feedback from colleagues and peers worked well for the fast-paced nature of a startup environment. I am proud of both the work I created and the professional experience I gained, skills I developed, and relationships I formed with other people during my time in Kyoto.