My name is Stephen Heo and I’m about to enter my fourth year at UCLA as a Design Media Arts major. While the major gives me a lot of exposure to everything from graphic design, 3D modeling, interactive works, animation and more, I specialize mainly in film and photography related projects. After graduating, I’m hoping to work closely with visual animation and programming for concerts and music festivals!

I’ve always felt that my pursuit towards the arts and entertainment industry has only been able to make the progress that it has through not only my major and minor classes at UCLA but also because of the wide variety of talented people I’ve been able to meet through my extracurriculars as well as its location right in Los Angeles. Organizations like the Film and Photography Society, Korean Culture Night, and my work-study at UCLA Enrollment Management have contributed to my growth as a designer.

For my last summer before starting my fourth year, I’m excited to have landed a Marketing internship where I get to continue developing and applying my skills as a designer off campus! Over the next 2-3 months, I’ll get to work beyond graphic work and expand into working with marketing strategies and research, optimizing interdepartmental communications, event planning and management, and more.

I’m super thankful for how friendly my team is and for my tasks that are much more significant and meaningful than I expected to be doing as an intern! For example, one of the first projects I took on was to help design an unboxing experience for a giveaway we had for some sample skin care products. I helped work on the process behind designing the cards, stickers, and notes that were included in the box to help decorate the experience and make it something worth sharing on social media. We got around to individualizing every package with the winners’ names to make them feel that much more special 🙂 More recently, I’ve been helping strategize and make pitch decks for how to best market our upcoming grand openings, learning how to cater to both the younger and older populations while working within the limits of things such as budget, brand identities, and more.

I’m hoping to come out of this internship with a better understanding of marketing strategies and communications on a higher, industry-related level. With the way things are going now, I already know I’m going to miss the time spent here once it’s over. The things I learn and take away from my three months there will definitely add to my overall growth and experience as a growing designer and student at UCLA! 

by Stephen H.