The State Fair Group Promo Team
The Company
During the summer of 2021, I worked as a design intern for The State Fair Group. The work I did for them focused mainly on The Sussex County Miners professional baseball team. The team is a part of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league affiliated with the MLB. The company and baseball stadium are located in northern New Jersey. The State Fair Group, however, is the parent company of multiple entertainment companies.
My Experience
As an intern for the State Fair Group, I was tasked with creating promotional posts for baseball games and events held at the stadium. I accessed the photo archives and stock images provided by the graphic design team. I consulted the creative director on the direction of the design.
This was my first experience working with a corporate brand identity. I was limited to two typefaces and three colors that were used throughout all marketing materials. I also had to strictly follow the creative director’s wants even if I disagreed with his choices.
When given an event to create a post for, I would begin brainstorming by viewing what has been done in the past. I had access to prior promotional posts that already received approval and followed the brand’s identity. It would also let me know what photos and layouts have been used in the past to avoid repetitive content.
Player Masks
In my first weeks, I spent most of the workday masking out players on Photoshop. These were placed in a folder for future is in promotional materials. When I first began it would take me quite a long time to complete one mask. But towards the end of my internship, I was banging them out faster than ever. This experience allowed me to master my skills of masking, especially when it comes to people.
All-Star Banner
Posing next to my banner for size comparison
I was given the opportunity to create an All-Star Banner for the team to be displayed in right field. The entire banner was 9 x 24 feet. I utilized the company’s archives of photos and masked out each player for placement. In the end, there were 18 players (including Herbie) that were featured on the banner. It was an honor having my work on display throughout the baseball season.
Promo Posts
A few weeks later, I was re-utilizing these masks in promotional Instagram posts. They were used alongside photography, bold backgrounds, and strong typography. The most common event I made promotions for was fireworks. I wasn’t able to repeat a photo and I often visited iStock for new photos of fireworks. The company I worked for had a subscription to iStock for various needs, one of them being promotional posts.
Branching Out
The State Fair Group also owns the Meadowlands State Fair held at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. While I mainly worked on the content for the Sussex County Miners baseball team, on occasion I did work for the fair and their other baseball team, the New Jersey Jackals.
For example, my mentor had already designed a half-page ad for the New York Daily News and needed me to create a ¼ page ad based on his design. A lot of information had to be displayed with specific guidelines for newspaper print. I met several times with the creative and PR team to discuss my drafts and receive feedback. After a few meetings, the design was finalized for print.
The Billboard
My last big project before the internship ended was creating a billboard design for a bobblehead giveaway night at one of the baseball stadiums. This was a great opportunity because the billboard would be on display on one of the main highways in Northeast New Jersey. The text had to be as big as possible because viewers would be zooming by at 65 miles per hour. I created several drafts that were presented to the PR director.
I continued to meet with them every few days to re-present the billboard designs. With this project, I struggled to maximize the size of the text and the image of the bobblehead. During each meeting, I received feedback that the text needed to be bigger. But doing so would make the image unrecognizable to drivers passing by. My internship ended before the final submission of the design but the majority of the creative work was done by me.
Final Billboard Design