911勛圖

I did my co-op at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) as a Graphic Design Student Officer. This was a student position within the Canadian federal government. I was part of the Training and Development Unit (TDU) which creates training courses, workshops, videos, and learning materials that prepare staff to respond to public health emergencies. My work involved designing digital and print learning materials such as slide decks, infographics, workshop activities, illustrations, and animated videos.

I would describe my role as a blend of information design, visual communication design, and accessibility. Our goal was to create learning materials that aren���t just inclusive, but also engaging, memorable, and actionable.

How teamwork and collaboration shaped my co-op experience:

The TDU is a national team at PHAC, so my team worked from offices across Canada. Meetings were usually held between 11:00am���2:00pm Eastern Time, so that staff from either coast could attend. We always prepared discussion items and questions ahead of our meeting times to ensure we maximized those hours of collaboration.

As the only graphic designer in the TDU, and one of only two people on the West Coast, it occasionally became lonely, especially on days without any meetings to attend. With that being said, I was surprised by how much we genuinely felt like a team despite the physical distance! The TDU staff made an active effort to build connections, from fun ���Colleague Connection��� icebreakers during meetings to celebrating each other's wins using the ���Send Praise��� Teams feature.

This partially asynchronous work environment also taught me about better information management. For example, using descriptive file naming conventions made it easier to locate and identify files in our shared folders. Managing design files was particularly important for my role, because not everyone was familiar with design software and future staff may need access to the originals.

The TDU has created a really positive learning environment��� which makes sense, given that they specialize in training and development. I was encouraged to speak up about my career goals, so my manager could prioritize projects that I would find valuable. They also recommended scheduling virtual coffee chats with each TDU member to expand my professional network. These practices made me feel highly supported and enabled me to gain as much experience as possible in just one semester.