For both my Spring and Fall co-ops of 2007, I had the chance to work with the designers at New Balance. I worked with two teams: “Fitness Running and Outdoor” in the Spring and “Lifestyle” in the Fall. At NB, every year is broken up into 4 seasonal quarters, and every quarter brings new projects. As an intern, our assignments ranged from creating new color and material ways for an existing shoe, creating new graphic details or completely redesigning a shoe pattern. By the end of both terms I had examples of my work in a number of different shoes going into production. After I left in the spring, NB reorganized their intern program to assure that interns get experience with real team projects but are also able to create a portfolio piece that is all their own. Working with 3 other interns, our project was to each design a shoe with the end product being a unified line. Creating a shoe from start to final concept with support from such a major footwear brand was so exciting. It started with us working together, gathering research – problems with existing products, new ideas to be applied to footwear, etc. From here we all found unique directions that best fit our individual interests. We used all means – sketches, material swatches, computer renderings – to create our final products. At the end of the 12 weeks we presented our concepts to all of Research & Development and Advanced Products. Our hard work did not go unnoticed - it was a hit! Working at New Balance gave me the chance to put all angles of the design process into practice. In studio we are taught to focus on bringing innovation to products. This co-op made me fully realize the potential for innovation in footwear.