My Experience at BrownFlynn

By Erin Murphy

My name is Erin Murphy. For my senior year internship for Aurora High School I worked with BrownFlynn and their Senior Design Consultant, Jennifer Griffith, in the area of graphic design. I learned many new concepts that reinforced and also changed my perception of a career in graphic design. During my time at BrownFlynn, I learned some key things that reinforced my desire to pursue a career in graphic design, including:

• Working with different Adobe software that I can have fun with
• Helping different people communicate in a more effective way
• Not everything in design is fun, but 99% of it is
• I can work at a place that would allow me to do all different types of design work
• Every day is different, but the projects will always be interesting and challenging

Also during my internship, I learned some new concepts that changed my perception of a career in graphic design. A couple of examples are:

• It can be long hours depending on how far away you live from work and how much work you have to do
• A graphic designer does not only do design, but also has to know the business side of the organization
• There is a front and back door to design (or the designer and the person who brings those designs to life through coding). It’s hard to do both and do them perfectly.
• Sometimes you might have a project that you do not necessarily want to do, but you have to do it anyway because it’s your job
• A lot of responsibility can fall on your shoulders and sometimes a client might want you to do something at the last minute, and you have to be able to adapt and deliver for them

While my internship helped me realized what a true job in graphic design could be, I also know that for now I can just focus on college and enjoy the next few years before entering the workforce myself. Thank you everyone at BrownFlynn for helping me understand what a career in graphic design can really be.

Top 3 reasons to take your sustainability report online in 2015

By: Jennifer Griffith, Senior Design Consultant

Increased transparency and external reporting are essential for companies. Yet, getting stakeholders to read a company sustainability report and derive value from it is one of the biggest obstacles for corporate responsibility reporting. When done right, online reporting helps to overcome this challenge. Online CR reports are more accessible, engaging and measurable than stand-alone print reports.

1. Report Accessibility

Offering your sustainability report online and supplementing it with additional formats for a variety of readers is the best way for stakeholders to have maximum accessibility to it and thus, greater opportunity to read it. A stand-alone print report limits its accessibility by virtue of its medium; the report is only available to the number of people less than or equal to the printed quantity, and only those who can physically get their hands on it.

In addition to offering your report online, several other supporting formats expand readership.

To read the full article, please visit GreenBiz.com.

5 ways to communicate sustainability beyond words

Gone are the days when we used only words to tell a great story. Today, especially when communicating sustainability, we rely more on the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Please don’t get us wrong; words, statistics and data measurements are crucial to sharing a company’s focus on the triple-bottom-line, but we need to use more visual and compelling elements to truly portray a commitment to sustainability. That’s the only way to break through. Furthermore, effectively communicating sustainability can be a key driver in positive organizational change.

To read the full blog post please click here!