During his sophomore fall, Joseph Dixon ’18, joined the Campus Activities Board (CAB) as member-at-large, responsible for managing CAB’s social media channels. As part of this position, Dixon learned the fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop CS6 and met two influential students, DK Lee ’17 and Eunice Lee ’16, who encouraged him to apply for the position of digital media tutor with Hamilton’s Library and Information Technology Services (LITS).
Dixon was hired by LITS and spent the following summer on campus mastering the intricacies of various Adobe products, an experience that led him to develop a strong interest in graphic design and digital art. This interest informed Dixon’s internship search, leading him to Experience-Interaction (EI), a small New York City agency composed of 15 people plus freelancers.
Majors: Neuroscience and Literature
Hometown: Brookfield, Conn.
High School: Brookfield High School
EI, though difficult to categorize, falls somewhere between a digital agency and creative agency. “We do a little bit of everything,” said Dixon. “We build websites, manage social media pages, produce photo and video content, and drive corporate rebrands, to name just a few of our services.” Because of the highly collaborative nature of the work EI does, there is no clear division between various job roles, with developers, designers, photographers and producers working closely with one another.
At EI, Dixon works with the production team, the team responsible for meeting with clients, managing projects, and acting as the liaison between clients and the internal creative team (designers and developers.) Because Dixon is the first intern EI has hired, there is no stringent set of expectations which governs his day-to-day responsibilities, giving him the flexibility to drift among the various departments of the company and gain a thorough understanding of how agencies like EI work.
Though he has a handful of small, internal, long-term projects to work on during his idle time, more often than not Dixon arrives at work each morning with little idea of what his day will contain. “I’ve been pulled into an incredibly diverse range of projects, from 35th floor Mid-town cocktail photoshoots to generating ideas for social media campaigns to writing copy for websites under construction,” said Dixon. As a result, he is never bored, and is constantly learning to adapt his skills to the task at hand. After graduation, Dixon hopes to remain in the digital creative sphere, possibly pursuing a career in digital project management.
