Inhaling

Interning at Whiteboard

I swear I bought this planner before I even got the email about the internship at Whiteboard. I was feeling out of control, as if the thin leather could somehow recondition my lack of structure and organization. Between the day I ordered it and the day it finally came in the mail I had been offered an interview with Ross Hagan, Director of Story at Whiteboard, been late to the interview, walked to his office from the coffee shop we were supposed to meet at, and somehow convinced him to give me the job. On the phone I told my mom that this was an opportunity to step off the curb—maybe one of those few moments to instantly prioritize my life. I told her thank god I bought that planner.

After motioning toward two stacks of books and a new Moleskine journal, Ross told me that these first two weeks of the internship would be like drinking water from a fire hose. I got a crash course on Content Strategy in the frame of Whiteboard’s unique take on brand persona and what Lauren Cutrell called “building the personality”. I like that. It’s all about the story. So far, I feel like I’m being brought into the narrative of Whiteboard. During a conference call, while I listened to the back-and-forth between client and creative, trying to figure out what was going on in the process of the project, Ross leaned over and whispered hey, what’s your favorite kind of movie?

There was this second when I got distracted while Ross described the collaboration between content and design and the symbiotic relationship that has to take place. Without the beauty of language and the beauty of visual design the idea can’t succeed at its intended level. He said that the words we write should be aspirational. I thought he mispoke. I was under the impression that he meant inspirational. Only for a second, then I thought about it. And I wrote it down. Later I looked up every definition I could find for the contexts of aspiration.

1. A will to succeed. 2. A manner of articulation involving an audible release of breath. 3. A cherished desire. and 4. The act of inhaling.

I was a little taken back by how applicable each of those definitions are to the creative action of writing and strategizing content. I think my favorite of the four is “the act of inhaling.” Because, it’s everything. It’s taking in a little piece of an entire surrounding and turning it into something powerful. That’s story, that’s design, that’s creativity.

It’s only been two days, but I’m looking forward to these next three months at Whiteboard.

-Cody Ray