Skandalaris Design Agency Spotlight: Sol Bae
When I accepted the opportunity to work at Skandalaris’ Summer Design Agency, I had no idea of the gold I had struck with just one handshake.
I’m a student currently studying Communication Design, but to more aptly put it, I’m a designer. I had the chance to put this title to the test this past summer at the Skandalaris Center, where I had an exciting (albeit nerve-wracking) opportunity to collaborate with 20 startups to fulfill their design needs. As I was signing the contract, the summer months ahead seemed to loom over me. I was able to offset this nervousness with the prospect of how much knowledge I’d be able to gain from working in this environment. However, what I had yet to realize was the range of experience that was to come.
Although some parts were still in the planning stages, my fellow intern and I were introduced to a very organized structure for the summer. Essentially, startups would be free to submit detailed requests to the agency, outlining what sorts of design help they needed. Before the heavy lifting would start, however, we had to curate this intake process first. I thought it to be a pretty straightforward task to start the program off on, but even this came with its set of mini-hurdles.
User testing the draft revealed a few hiccups in the wording, prompting me to realize something that was, in hindsight, very obvious: design language isn’t the most universal in terms of accessibility. More specifically, startup founders didn’t seem to be very familiar with design as a process, viewing it instead as a product. Design language has been so ingrained into my mindset that I admittedly hadn’t foreseen this coming, but this is to be expected from those not as familiar with the field. There are plenty of other industries where I’m not sure what happens behind the scenes (chemistry still stumps me to this day). But this kind of revelation was exactly the reason why I committed to this job: unlocking insights from perspectives I would have never otherwise had the exposure to.
After the form was finalized, we moved onto accepting and tackling requests. Startups would ask for a variety of deliverables, from website re-designs to full branding packages. We even designed banners for a glow-in-the-dark tennis court! And over the course of these projects, I started to become aware of skills I was using every day that I’d never had the chance to utilize in a traditional classroom setting.
Working in a fast-paced setting is tough. Working in said environment with such a large number of priorities and deadlines to juggle meant that, as designers, we had to adapt to setting definite scopes and managing our files in systems that would promise the most efficient flow of work. Compared to my classes, where I had a syllabus and assignment guidelines to lean back on, applying my skills in the real world forced me to update how I managed my time, as well as taking initiative when a project was backed up from needing feedback. It was a challenge that was thrust upon us, but one that was extremely rewarding to take on.
Ironically, despite my major being called “Communication Design,” I felt like I was also able to improve my communication skills in SDA. I expected that being able to cross-functionally collaborate was an essential skill when working with multiple startups, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize how much I had exponentially improved in communicating over these past 10 weeks. It helped that the startup founders I worked with were equally passionate about learning about design as I was about helping their missions, many of which were about tackling pain points I’d never even thought of in my day-to-day life.
At the culmination of this program–the Skandalaris Summer Expo–I was able to see that our efforts paid off at several of the startups’ tables. Seeing our designs come to life, presented with the passion of hard-working entrepreneurs, was a truly surreal experience; it prompted a sense of satisfaction I’m not usually prone to feel.
When I reflect now on my brief full-time effort with Skandalaris, I can say for certain that I’ll forever be grateful for this opportunity. I hadn’t been intentionally seeking out an agency environment to work at, but because I took the chance, I was able to see firsthand how design can solve problems in a variety of contexts, greatly improve on some micro-leadership skills, and unexpectedly become part of an effort to promote the importance of the design process. As I continue my journey into this ever-growing field, I know that this summer will forever inform how I hope to impactfully help people with my designs.
Check out the Phoenix Biomedical website Sol helped create here.
The Skandalaris Design Agency pairs student designers with startups needing branding, product design, websites, and more. This summer, two designers were selected to work with the Skandalaris Launchpad participants to provide design support to the startups.
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