Climate Action Museum Internship
A
fter my freshman year at CMU, I had the opportunity to intern for the country's seventh climate-focused museum! Working directly under Doug Farr, owner of Farr Associates and author of well-known urban design books "Sustainable Urbanism" and "Sustainable Nation," I volunteered time to help the museum get on its feet for the grand opening on June 21st 2023, and continued working for the rest of the summer. Splitting time between the Farr Associates office and Climate Action Museum space, I designed a variety of visual resources for the museum and assisted in constructing the museum space.
Contribution: Collaborative Project. Design system was provided. Composition, content, and layout varies; See more below within each individual image's caption.
Timeline: 3 Months
Material: Digital, Adobe Creative Suite
Date Completed: August 2023
Association: Climate Action Museum
Photos from the museum's grand opening at 300 S Riverside Plaza on June 21st, 2023.
Collaborative Internship Work
Original — Composition and Graphics
Collaborative — Content and Copy
I created this graphic to represent how our consumer markets should shift to a circular economy model instead of a linear economy model, exemplified through the "linear perspective" and "circular perspective." The idea is that you should "expand your vision" to educate yourself on the differences between these two systems. This graphic was then inserted into the larger graphic seen below.
Original — Composition and Graphics (minus photos/icons)
Collaborative — Content and Copy
The largest portion of me and the other interns' time was spent drafting up a graphic to explore the unsustainability of our consumer markets in the United States of America. I loved working on this because it is exactly what I am passionate about!
Original — Edits and Additions
Provided — Composition, Graphics, Content, Icons, and Copy
This graphic was created by another intern a few months prior to my arrival, and I adapted it by adding a few additional methods of travel and applying the museum's brand guidelines.
Original— Composition and Layout
Provided — Design System, Brand Guidelines, Content, and Copy
Given brand guidelines and required dimensions, I was assigned to mockup an interactive activity involving downtown Chicago buildings' insulation abilities and infrared photos of them.za on June 21st, 2023.
Original— Composition and Layout
Provided — Design System, Brand Guidelines, Content, and Copy
Given brand guidelines and required dimensions, I was assigned to mockup an easily-digestible analysis of the sustainability features of a variety of sustainable architecture projects in the Chicago area.
Work Environment
My desk in the Farr Associates office.
Various snapshots of my team's work mocking up the graphics and constructing the museum space.
Project Takeaways
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t was incredibly rewarding to work with a team that shared my values and passions, and I believe what we created shined at our opening party on June 21st. Through my internship, I was exposed to new prototyping methods and tools, experienced what it is like to work amongst professionals and to be placed into a position
with high expectations and tight deadlines. I made connections in the Chicago area and become friendly with the other interns and my superiors. Going forward, if I were to repeat the experience again, I would have taken more photos and documentation along the way; I want to be able to look back at my process from start to finish.