That's A Wrap

     It feels like yesterday that I was starting my first day at AmeriCheer. I cannot believe where the semester has gone. In a matter of 4 months the seasons have changed, designs have been made and I have started and ended my very first job that I have ever had while being a college student. I am happy I chose to work for a cheerleading business for one of my internships. Not only did I do it because I enjoy cheerleading but also because I knew I would be some fantastic and cheerful people along the way.
     Throughout the semester I have learned so much through the marketing and business aspects at AmeriCheer. I have learned that not everyone works the same and likes the same things you may like. There will be times when work can be hard because of other people's opinions, but it's just something that everyone must work together for in order to succeed. Co-workers must work together and communicate clearly to reach their goals. I have also learned about various websites that has helped AmeriCheer that I can possible use in the future. One of those is Constant Contact. When I first learned about this website I didn't quite understand it but now that I am familiar with it I think its a great site for businesses to keep organized and it's easy to work with.
     As the end of the semester drew near I learned that it takes more than just emails for any business to be successful. While working for AmeriCheer I learned and saw all of the various aspects that makes a business work. I saw (and worked) mainly in the marketing part of it but I also saw the other aspects run, for instance the camp coordination, the design, the logistic, the first desk as well as the presidents view on things. Every single area is very important because that is what makes the business run. After looking at these aspects through AmeriCheer I can do put this into realization with any other business.
     It takes a lot to make a business run and I have now experienced this first hand with working at AmeriCheer. I have learned a lot and met such nice, wonderful co-workers that I know I can look to in the future if I need them. I look forward to using these experiences that I have learned in the future and will not forget my time at AmeriCheer.

20th Anniversary

   School is about out and summer is right around the corner. It's about that time to start thinking about what cheerleading camp middle schools, high schools, as well as college teams want to attend this summer. If you haven't found one yet for your team to go to, check out AmeriCheer's. This year they are offering 18 different summer camps for cheerleaders (not counting the home camps if your team is interested in that.)

   So with camps right around the corner it was time to update the website so athletes and coaches could find more information about the camps. Last week I updated the AmeriCheer website, so this week I worked on the AmeriDance website. I updated all of the pages under the Camps tab and made them look similar to the AmeriCheer website. Add some new information, editing old information and got it ready for the viewers.  

   On Thursday I worked on creating an excel document that will consist of all the teams that ever competed at the AmeriCheer & AmeriDance InterNationals within the past 20 years. This document will help the staff next year (when it will be their 20th anniversary for the event) to invite all the coaches and teams to come back and celebrate. I am putting in the document the teams name, the year they competed, the division they competed in, as well as their current contact information now. As of right now I only have a few years done and I already have a long list! I am looking forward to seeing how many teams total competed there in the past 20 years. 

Are Visuals Essential?

     Do visuals to a company or organization matter? Do people really see them and are then affected by them? As a communication major and an interest in graphic design, visuals are very important..in my opinion. When I look at graphics on billboards, websites, posters and magazines I am constantly looking at them and thinking about how the message is being received to viewers.
     This week I look that thought upon my work duites. This week I was to make a program cover for the All Star Nationals competition that is happening April 20. Just like the Internationals program cover I made before, this one is the same thing but for a different competition. 

     As you can see on the the left I added pictures from other Eastern competitions and put the date, location and name of the event in the middle. I think it turned out well, the only thing I don't like about it is that there is a lot of color in it but I think it works.

     The other thing I worked on this week was the AmeriCheer website, the AmeriDance website as well as the Eastern website. I had to update most of the pages under the Camps & Clinics (which there is 20 different pages). Some of them I simply had to copy and paste the information from the AmeriCheer website but others I had to create all type in all new information for the page, and other pages I didn't touch at all.
     It was a very different process when working their website because I am used to creating it and then uploading it while for AmeriCheer the site is already created all you have to do is decide what pages and link you want where. At first I didn't understand it but then after a while I got it. Now I am capable of adding documents, PDFs, pictures as well as text to any of their websites. I'm happy that I know how to do this because this can possible help me in the future if I am working for a company that uses the same website setup.
     With adding and editing things on their websites I also brought in my skill that I knew, and that was I know from taking the AGCOM 5530 Website and Design class that information on the web needs to be easily read and short in words. So I took that into consideration and tried my best to make the information worth reading on the AmeriCheer, AmeriDance and Eastern's websites. 

CAP Discounts

    After a week off for spring break it was back to reality this week. The AmeriCheer and AmeriDance staff were coming back this week from their long cheerleading adventure at Orlando, with their InterNationals competition.

    Though I wasn't coming home from the Sunshine state like most of the staff, I was still put to work. Tuesday at the office I was busy making two documents for the summer camps that will show the CAPs discount. CAP stands for Costumer Appreciation Program and its discount/reward program that AmeriCheer and AmeriDance offers to Coaches Athletes and Parents. So my job Tuesday was to create a document that costumers can look to see what kind of deals they can get if they attend an AmeriCheer and AmeriDance summer camp. So I made one document for cheer (the one on the left that is in yellow) and one for dance (the one on the right that is purple).


    On Thursday I created a registration form that athletes, coaches and teams will fill out for summer camp this year. This registration form is strictly for college teams. The form will be available online and every college/university team will fill one out. I made this form in InDesign and it is shown here to the right.

Countdown to InterNationals

   With less than one week till the 2013 AmeriCheer and AmeriDance Internationals, the office was busy getting ready for the competition, including me.

   Last week I made DVDs that will be shown at the competition. On the DVDs there are videos that promote summer camp, promote the InterNationals competition, and videos of some cheerleading teams that have dedicated their time to help the community. Since most of those videos were from YouTube I had to convert them to MPEG4 files so they could be put onto a DVD. Though it took a while to find the right program to do such a thing, it all worked out and the DVDs are made!

   I also had to change the color on some of the badges that the vendors and the sponsors will be wearing. Each person at the InterNationals competition will be wearing these badges and I had to change the colors in the psd file for each one, vendors and sponsors. The red was for the vendor badges and the green were for sponsor badges.

   Since Ohio State is on spring break this week and Thursday the office staff with be in Florida for InterNationals, I am not working at AmeriCheer this week. I hope all the staff and workers at AmeriCheer and AmeriDance have a successful turnout at the competition. Good luck to all the teams competing! 

Learning to be Considerate

   This week I was busy as a bee working on the Internationals program. This program that I have been working on will be sold to athletes, coaches and spectators who attend the event. The program is filled with ads from various cheerleading companies, a list of the teams that are competing and a list of teams that won the event last year.
   I have learned from this project that everyone has their own opinion. Though you may like one certain design, another person may not and in the end it all depends on what the company or organization whats. Being an intern, it is not about my opinion and what I think. Instead it is about what they want, with me giving my opinion and thoughts on the side...taking it if they want. But this is how life works, you cannot always get what you want. Instead you have to realize the opinion of others and take that into consideration.
   With designing this cover of the Internationals program, (shown below) I made a few of different versions. The first is on the right, then the second and then the final one. The first one I really like but the marketing coordinator didn't care for it and wanted a different background, but that's okay because I'm learning. This internship is about learning how to A. work with others in real life situations and B. do projects in the area I enjoy doing (designing) in real life situations. I am learning a lot through my time at AmeriCheer and enjoying creating the designs that I am in charge of. 

InterNational Time

With the AmeriCheer InterNationals right around the corner, the office is very busy. From designing the Internationals program to promoting the other competitions that are coming up and starting with summer camps my job has been busy.

    I started the week off by creating two promotional slides for competitions that are in the near future. One for EDA Dance Nationals in Myrtle Beach, SC and one for All Star Nationals in Hershey, PA. I created these to put up on the AmeriCheer website to promote the competition. 

    As you see the designs to the right and below, I created them in photoshop. I added pictures, textures, and played with the drop shadows and inner drop shadows.

    After I created these I started on working on designs for the InterNationals program. In this program there are ads for various cheerleading companies, a list of all the teams competing, and various other promotional pages. So far I have completed 1 page and in the process of creating two more. With InterNationals being in three weeks, it's time to get busy!