Say hi to the new kids on the block.
Greetings! We’re the 2022 Simple Truth summer interns, Nidhi Shenoy (Design) and Anh Le (Copy).
As interns, we were immersed in a 90-day trial of being full-time employees at Simple Truth. We were able to participate in interesting, challenging client work that required us to think and create from many different angles. When we weren’t focused on creating great work for clients, we were also working to create a great intern project.
The prompt? No rules, one ask: Create something that reflects your experience at Simple Truth.
From our time at school, we were used to assignments coming with a checklist for getting a perfect grade. Needless to say, the open-endedness of this project was a big adjustment for us. Since the limit did not exist, we had no idea where to start (or stop).
So, we threw a plethora of ideas on a board and hoped something would stick.
Not being able to find “the one,” we started to look around Simple Truth. We noticed the diversity of age and how each generation is a bit different when it comes to workplace mannerisms. That’s when it hit us (cue the Circle of Life soundtrack): Baby Boomers, Gen X and Millennials have been actively participating in and contributing to the concept of professionalism — and Gen Z is this new kid in the group chat, reshaping the conversation.
With that, we got to work. We started brainstorming visual elements that would best capture a fresh, humorous and informational tone.
Next up, we started thinking about what the piece should ultimately be. We wanted it to not only contain valuable information, but to also deliver a fun and enjoyable experience to our readers. To achieve this, we decided the best format would be an interactive guidebook.
In the book, we give a brief history of professionalism and discuss how it shapes out from concept to real life. Then, we explore each generation in the workforce, identifying some of the world events that shaped them and their strengths.
We hope this guidebook will help all professionals in the workplace — especially those who participate in the hiring process — better understand the up-and-coming Gen Z workforce.
This project was a great learning experience. It taught us how to execute an idea from start to finish, both between ourselves and with a larger team.
Overall, the Simple Truth summer internship has given us the chance to push ourselves outside our comfort zones and experiment with ideas, no matter how crazy they are. We’re leaving having gained valuable, hands-on experience and (most importantly) having uncovered “simple truths” about ourselves that we never knew before.
