Clocky LLC, Brooklyn, NY
This summer, I had the privilege of working remotely as a graphic design and illustration intern with Clocky—a small company that sells cute little alarm clocks that can run away on wheels. I worked mainly with the CEO/founder of the company, Gauri Nanda, as well as a few other members of the team via Slack and Asana. As the Clocky team is small, the communication and leadership style was fairly relaxed.
I worked on multiple projects, which was exciting as it gave me a sense of the variety of ways in which my artistic skills could be functionally applied. To kick off my internship, I redesigned the look of Clocky’s illustrated characters and adjusted the branding color palettes. This initial work of determining the brand’s visual voice was an exciting and novel challenge. A few weeks later, the official Clocky website was actually updated to include my proposed changes—my drawings are featured on the front page of the website today.
My longest-running project was to write, edit, and illustrate children’s storybooks with my supervisor, Gauri. While I was not expecting to have writing become such a big part of my job, it was rewarding to be the primary creator of the content that I ultimately illustrated. Even more exciting, these storylines will eventually be sold alongside other Clocky products as published books and pamphlets included with the packaging!
Another fun project that I proposed later into my internship was apparel design. I developed and uploaded 4-5 different t-shirt designs featuring Clocky to the official store website, all of which are available for sale today. I learned an incredible amount in this process, aside from the artistic components; I was introduced to the logic of product pricing, online shop organization, and basic product marketing.
Throughout the course of my work, I honed my skills in applied design and illustration through the use of drawing software such as Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, and Photoshop—opportunities that studio art students do not often have at Williams. While I am incredibly grateful for Williams’ robust fine arts program, my internship exposed me to out-of-studio applications of the arts. Making revisions in order to fit a company’s vision showed me that I could produce and direct my art towards carrying out and amplifying others’ ideas. By the end of the summer, I was able to extend my contextualization of art in the marketplace, and the use of it all around us.
My internship with Clocky helped me realize that design is a potential career path for me. Once I got some solid experience in the professional art world, I began to see the practical possibilities of an artistic career. I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Thomsen ’79, and the ’68 Center for Career Exploration, without whom I would not have had this opportunity to explore. With this support, I realized that my artistic talents could lead me to find a career that is both practical and fulfilling.