When I talk to young designers—whether they are my students at Tyler, young gunners at events around the city, or total strangers in my email inbox—the piece of advice I always try to impart is this: find a mentor. Find someone who can show you how to walk the walk, give you tips and tricks, and be a listening ear.
As a young designer freshly out of school, you’re very quickly left to your own devices without the immediate support network you develop in the classroom. Thinking about my own transition at that time, what made it bearable was having people in my corner who knew what I was going through, and who wanted to help.
After being a few years deep into the field, I could trace back my path and really see the influence of those mentors I found along the way. Around that time—with mentorship on the mind—we started the Design Apprenticeship program at J2. It’s in our nature at J2 to connect with the industry and community around us, be it through hosting and moderating panels on design in Philadelphia, curating art events at Huddle, or welcoming in students from various college and high school programs for tours and lectures. Helping to cultivate the next generation of designers with direct mentorship felt like a natural progression. The program would launch in 2023.
We chose the title “apprentice” very deliberately, hoping to explain that this really is designer training, akin to a tattoo apprenticeship. From the start, we hoped the program could be equal parts observation and execution. When we talked internally about how we could make it happen, we shared our own stories with early jobs, internships, mentorship, and talked about the shortcomings of our experiences. Our goal was twofold. One, we wanted to create an immersive learning experience that would empower a young designer to take the next step in their career. And two, to further cultivate a sense of community around J2, both on our internal team and across the city at large. I can distill all of our ideas and wishes for the program to this: “The J2 Design Apprenticeship is an immersive six month role on our creative team, where the apprentice will contribute to routine studio work, enrich their knowledge of production, and explore their desired skillset across a variety of client projects—all while being a part of J2’s day-to-day culture.” With our vision more clearly formed, it was time to set the apprenticeship in motion.
“Passing the torch to emerging designers is essential, and the reward is watching them flourish in real time, helping to shape their development, interests, and connections within a powerful creative network.”
–Justin Carey, Senior Designer
In mid 2023, we brought in our inaugural apprentice: Kathy Chung, a recent Drexel University undergrad from Philadelphia. We immediately saw our values in Kathy’s work, and loved how we could see threads of her story and personality in her portfolio.
After introducing her to the team, to each person’s roles and responsibilities, Kathy jumped right in to our workflow. From the beginning, we knew it was important for the apprentice to become immersed in all facets of the studio, and we reflected that in Kathy’s schedule. On day one, we had her join as a fly on the wall for a brand identity presentation so she could get a sense for how we treat our client relationships and how we build stories with brands. With supervision, she immediately took on executional client work that allowed her and I to build a dialogue as a mentee and mentor. She developed an internal brand for our gallery space, Huddle, from concept all the way through to a final brand presentation. It was a busy few months, but we were able to oversee and develop skills that are essential for any young designer, as well as nurture Kathy’s goals and talents that were specific to her time with us.
“I felt like I was genuinely helping out with everyone’s workload, and enjoyed having that responsibility and feeling like I made an impact on the work that we were doing. The sense of knowing what I was doing, managing my time, and confidently delivering made me feel like a real designer on the team.”
–Kathy Chung, 2023 Apprentice
Now, a year later, we’re deep in round two of our apprenticeship with recent Drexel undergrad Fiona Tran. She’s made herself an essential part of the team, jumping in to logo design week one, crushing the conceptual moodboard game, and contributing a metric ton of work to our new website. It’s so exciting to see how valuable our apprentices become by the end of their time with us, and equally heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to such great team members (Don’t worry—we stay in touch long after the apprenticeship formally ends. The J2 family runs deep).
With 2025 on the horizon—though sad to see Fiona go—I’m excited to continue the program in the new year, refining and bettering it along the way. I can say that the experience of running the apprenticeship has given a lot to me in the way of fulfillment, and helped me to discern the type of mentor I want to be. My hope is that our apprentices leave feeling the same way: a little sad to go, very proud of what they accomplished, and with a tighter vision of the designer they want to be.
