Hanan Alshawi completed a summer internship at Circle, a graphic design agency in Saudi Arabia. She learned about following brand guidelines and worked on several social media projects, including infographics about selfies, mosques, and preparing for Ramadan. She attended meetings to discuss campaign ideas and learned about different aspects of branding projects. While the internship provided valuable experience, Hanan felt her creativity was sometimes limited by the need to follow Circle's style guidelines.

1. Hanan Alshawi
MA/ Graphic Design
Summer Internship Report
July 27, 2015

2. My experience at Circle
www.circle.sa
During my summer internship, I worked under Ostar holding at
one of their offices in Riydh, Saudi Arabia, which is called Circle.
Circle is a fully Saudi-owned agency, Circle boasts a team of
sophisticated Saudi professionals with extensive international
expertise. Working together under the same Circle roof, they bring
to the table diverse skills, top-notch communication knowhow, and
a wealth of cultural insights. Their experience with clients around
the globe and exposure to various markets enable them to see the
entire circumference of brand challenges, helping them provide
nothing less than the perfect solutions.
On my first day, I met Bassem the creative director of the company
and he gave me the company’s guideline file. I read through that
file carefully, and I noticed that I must use specific colors, patterns
and typefaces in all the designs. I learned where the logo should be
placed and in what size. Then Bassem explained to me why should
I follow the guide line and how it is crucial in the advertising to be
consistent. Basically, the work that I did for them was digital projects
that been published Online. The time that I worked at Circle is during
the summer so the work load wasn’t heavy, and there wasn’t a lot
of clients but the focus of the company was only on the social media
projects. I sat once on a proposal meeting with a client, who is an
author that wanted to do a book cover and a web site. I learned that
as a graphic designer I don’t have to do the research part because the
company has a marketing department, that took care of the research
part and started working on a proposal for the client.

3. There was many meetings with my colleagues ( two graphic
designers, two marketing, and the creative director) one of the
meetings, we discussed Ramadan and Eid posts and how to make a
series of posts that tell advices to Muslims during Ramadan. Also,
there was a brain storming meeting for the blood donation day post.
All the meetings were a great opportunity to communicate with
my colleagues and get to know the type of work that the company
usually do. Once I asked Bassem about the process of their previous
branding projects, the next day he gave me a project folder that has
all the information from the first meeting with client until the final
deliverables. I sat and read the whole thing, I learned new things,
especially their was a part about scent branding, which I didn’t
know about it before and it is really interesting. After that I talked
with Bassem and discussed the process of the branding projects
together and how it is different in Saudi Arabia and it is been
developing these last 5 years. Working at Circle in one hand, added
to my work experience a lot specially working in groups and knowing
which part of the project is actually my job. On the other hand, I felt
that my creativity is limited and controlled by the company’s guide
line and style, which I never experienced during school projects at
NESAD. Take a look at the following pages that include copies of all
the projects ( please note that I couldn’t get high quality images
because of the company’s policy !).

4. Selfie Info-graphic
In this Project I sat in the
meeting with my colleagues
and we discussed the selfies
phenomenon that became a
crucial thing to do during the
day, so we did a questionnaire
about the age, gender, plastic
surgery, selfies sticks, and where
does people usually upload
their selfies. Then according to
the results, I designed the info-
graphic which been published
on the company’s twitter and
facebook accounts.

5. Traveling Check list Post
In this Project the creative
director gave me the content of
the traveler’s check list. Since we
are in summer and most people
are preparing to travel after
Ramadan so this post could help
people not to forget anything
important. I designed this post
in two days and this is the final
draft after the feedback. This
had been posted Online as well.

6. Blood Donation Day Post
In this Project I sat in a pop up meeting with my colleagues
and we discussed ideas about how to demonstrate the
blood giver as a hero, since the slogan of the blood donation
day for 2015 is “ Thank you for Souls’ Savers“, so we did a
brainstorming, until we arrived to the point of making the
“Saudi guy” wearing the cape as a superman but instead of
the cape we added “shomagh” which is the traditional men
clothing here in Saudi Arabia. Then it has to be done in one
hour so I did

7. Mosques Infographic
In this Project my colleagues
from the marketing department
gave me the content about the
mosques quantity in Saudi
Arabia and the Islamic center
work around the world that
translate Quran to different
languages. I focused in this
design on the Islamic look and
feel. I got the inspiration from
the shape of the traditional gates
of the mosques.

8. How to Prepare your Body for Ramadan Post
In this Project I got the content from an Online article that
Bassem sent it to me. The task was to transform the information
from the article to an infographic. I chose the shape of the design
as circles around one whole circle, which indicates to the shapes
of the moon during the Arabic month. Since Ramadan is an
Islamic month that the shape of the moon is very important to
know the start and the end of the month.

9. Emsakyat Ramdan
The task was about creating a
table of the prayer’s call times
during Ramadan. I chose to make
it simple with a background of
the popular Islamic lights.

10. Almaraai Ad Review
The task here is to create a
template for an ad review that
will be different every week.

11. Hillary Clinton logo
Article review
The task here is to create a
template of an article review that
will be changed every week.

12. Brand, logo, and Identity
Infographic
In this Project Bassem asked
me to do a research about the
difference between identity,
brand, and logo. Then simplify all
the information into infographic.
So my main concept in this
infographic is to illustrate how
these three terms are related
to each other in every branding
project and it is crucial that
they are connected as a pyramid
in every successful branding
project.

13. Voice Actor Post
In this task they asked me to do
a template for voice actor review
that will be changed every week.

14. Riyadh Eid Alfiter Events
After the meeting they sent me
the schedule of the eid events
that has to be in one page and
indicates a hidden advertising of
the company’s logo which is the
circles.

15. Eid Header and footer
In this task I have been asked to
create a header for the twitter
and facebook accounts that
focused on Eid style without
losing the company’s identity.

16. Hanan Alshawi
MA/ Graphic Design
Summer Internship Report
July 27, 2015