Hi there! I’m Chris Allen and I’m interning with the Alphabet Arm team this summer. I’m a Marketing student at the University of Maryland, and I’ll unfortunately be entering my senior year in the fall. This is unfortunate because by all accounts I’m on track to graduate in four years, and I’m not ready to leave the ever-charming College Park. My parents don’t think a fifth year victory lap is a worthwhile investment, so here I am gaining work experience for when I’m inevitably forced to move on from life as a turtle.
As a Marketing major I have no formal training in graphic design, and until last semester I was able to say I’d never taken a design course. That changed when I was required to take an introductory computer graphics workshop, but it’s all gravy because now I’m superbly proficient at cropping photos and saving Illustrator files.
The bulk of my experience is in editorial design as I first learned page layout using Adobe Pagemaker working on my high school newspaper. I am currently the Design Editor of the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, The Diamondback, and I spent last summer working on illustrations and layout for Sports Illustrated. As a freshman and sophomore I worked as the Advertising Director for Student Entertainment Events on campus, and was given the chance to create artwork and promotional materials for some of my favorite performers. I now work as Concerts Director, organizing large scale concerts alongside 22 other student directors.
Feel free to check out my portfolio here or send me a note at christopher@alphabetarm.com.