Girl Meets Real World – Commentary by Megan Albright

As one of the youngest (and newest) team members here at Lime Valley, I have realized looking back that I have learned a great amount in such a short amount of time.

During my time at The Art Institutes International Minnesota, I had demanding teachers who weren’t afraid to tell you what you were doing wasn’t working and to start over. Our projects had to
be done within days and meet the deadlines and necessary criteria. I think this helped me develop the skills of adaptability, accepting critique and addressing priorities. It definitely pushed me and my creativity.

My school experience helped me prepare for what was to come in the “real world,” but some things you just can’t prepare for.

I started at Lime Valley a little over two years ago, fresh out of college, as a part-time Production Artist. When I came to Lime Valley, I was still pretty naïve as to what really happens in the industry. We discussed it in school, but it hadn’t fully clicked. I found out pretty quickly that I could do more than what I thought and remembered a lot more from my education than I realized.

Now that I have been working full time for a year, I have continued to learn and grow. It’s hard to define my role as “production artist”: my days vary dramatically from print materials to e-newsletters to websites to trade show graphics. When I first started I didn’t know anything about how websites were put together. Not only have I learned more about the web side of the industry, but I have also learned some simple and silly things like short cut key commands or how to get what you want from a stock image site. I have learned to adapt even more by working on several different client projects in a day and even within an hour.

I can say for certain now that I have fallen even more in love with the design and advertising industry. I’m kind of liking this “real world” thing.

Megan Albright is a Production Artist at Lime Valley Advertising, Inc.