We are excited to release our first project of the summer! For our first infographic we combined sport statistics about the NBA draft lottery with some enticing visuals to produce a statographic. It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning considering our lack of NBA knowledge, but with the help of the Lemon.ly team we were able to figure it out!

Michael was able to bring the visual together with Adobe Illustrator and then dress up the design a bit in Photoshop. Check out the full graphic on the Statographics blog. Let us know your thoughts on the statographic!

-9 Clouds U.

We are happy to announce the beginning of our 2013 9 Clouds U intern session! This week we welcomed Sara and Michael to the office, let’s have them introduce themselves. 

 (Above: Enjoying tacos on the first day!)

Ice Breaker Q&A with the 2013 9CloudsU Interns   

Sara  Hometown: Crofton, NE ~ School: Augustana College                

Happy Thursday! My name is Sara Kohles and I will be the Project Manager intern for 9CloudsU. This summer should be an exciting adventure working with the wonderful Lemon.ly staff! 

1. What has been your most memorable Halloween costume?

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was six, my parents dressed me up as a Cornhusker cheerleader. From the pom poms to the braided pigtails, I was one happy trick-or-treater!

2. Where is your go-to study spot?

Queen City Bakery in Sioux Falls has been the perfect place to fulfill my sugar and caffeine cravings during test days.

3. Are you a cat or dog type of person?

As much as I love college, I miss having pets. Counting the days until I am done with classes? More like counting down the days until I can have a dog.

4. Have you traveled recently or looking to travel anywhere in the future?

I have been lucky enough to spend some time in Japan and Ireland. This next January I am planning on traveling to India!

5. Last but not least, what is your favorite Lemon.ly infographic?

The Healthy Farm interactive infographic is my most recent favorite. It showcases the breadth of Lemon.ly’s talent by pushing the borders of traditional infographics.

 

Michael  Hometown: Lennox, SD ~ School: SDSU                                    

Hi my name is Michael Jordan Mazourek and I am the new design intern at 9Clouds. I am extremely excited for this summer and what design opportunities it holds. When my friends would tell me their dreams of playing for the NBA or NFL, I dreamt about making their logos and designs for their jerseys and helmets. I love sports too, but art has always been my passion.

1. What has been your most memorable Halloween costume?

As a kid, I always had it in the back of my mind that I was preparing to someday become a pirate. I spent four consecutive Halloweens dressed with a parrot, hook, hat, beard, eye patch, and all!

2. Where is your go-to study spot?

Einsteins Bagels in the Union at SDSU for sure.

3. Are you a cat or dog type of person?

Normally I would say I have a dog preference, but within the past couple years my family has acquired a cat (she jumped out of the engine of my mom’s car). She plays fetch, rolls around on her back, and chases us around so she vaguely resembles a dog anyway.

4. Have you traveled recently or looking to travel anywhere in the future?

I am excited to head over to California in a couple weeks, but in the far future I would like to witness the beauty dispersed through Europe’s many countries!

5. Last but not least, what is your favorite Lemon.ly infographic?

That’s a tough question. If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to choose the “Prevent Your Extinction” graphic about BIM. The color scheme, texture, and illustration style all work together powerfully to create a great visual. The comparison between BIM and dinosaurs is a really awesome concept as well!

Michael and Sara have not wasted any time jumping into research and design for some new infographics. Check out tomorrow’s post to see their first project.   -9 Clouds U

Here are the deets for the 9 Clouds U. Internship for 2013.

Check out the video below to get a taste of what the internship entails. 

Cheers!

Students or recent grads of Advertising/Marketing, Graphic Design, or Web Development…Looking for a 2013 summer internship? Submit your resume for 9 Clouds University. To see what has been done in previous 9 Clouds U. classes, keep reading. 

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2013

Submission Email: john@9clouds.com

Details in the post above.

May the odds be ever in your favor. Let the reaping begin…

It wasn’t too long ago that the 9 Clouds staff met the 9 Clouds U. Class of 2012. Three months, a number of infographics, clients and one Ignite South Dakota event later summer is almost over and it’s time for our interns to graduate.

We’ve got a few last questions for these lemonturns. What have they learned? What have they enjoyed? What are their future plans? And what advice do they have for next year’s class?

Morgan Hauck, 9 Clouds U. Account Executive/Project Manager
What will you be doing this fall/next year? Finishing my Senior year up at SDSU!
Where do you plan on living? Brookings!
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from 9 Clouds U.? I’ve learned to not be so shy about my ideas, just speak up and not be afraid to throw em’ out there!
What has been your favorite part about 9 Clouds U.? That’s such a hard question! Everything! The people of 9clouds and Lemon.ly, the clients I’ve got to work with, the the projects I’ve got help with, the feel of a new start-up.. It’s all been so fun and challenging in a wonderful way.
Any advice for next year’s class? Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be open to everything, you never know what you’ll end up learning not only about the biz, but also about yourself!

Brett Hanes, 9 Clouds U. Graphic Designer
What will you be doing this fall/next year? I will continue designing for Lemon.ly as a part time employee.
Where do you plan on living? Sioux Falls, SD
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from 9 Clouds U.? How design interacts with business, and how to design in the “work world”.
What has been your favorite part about 9 Clouds U.? I was treated like part of the team and given meaningful work.
Any advice for next year’s class? Treat every day like an opportunity to learn something.

Heidi Hoffman, 9 Clouds U. Content & Information Architect/Editor
What will you be doing this fall/next year? Finishing up my last year at Creighton University (GO JAYS!)
Where do you plan on living? I just got an apartment down in Omaha so I’ll be living down there for the school year and staying down there after graduation.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from 9 Clouds U.? One of the coolest things about my job was distributing the infographics to blogs and other social media sites. It’s crazy to see how quickly information spreads.
What has been your favorite part about 9 Clouds U.? It’s a combination of learning and showing your talent - the start-up atmosphere is the perfect environment for that!
Any advice for next year’s class? It’s all about what you learn, not necessarily about what you already know so don’t stress out if there are things you’re unsure of.

August is a month full of things to celebrate at 9 Clouds so it’s time to pull out the candles, cut the cake and put on your party hats, friends. We’ve got three birthdays this month.

Morgan
Date: August 14th
Cake: You can’t go wrong with classic vanilla bean cake smothered with butter cream frosting.
How she celebrates: By eating copious amounts of said cake, buying a new outfit, and going out for dinner and drinks w/ friends/family
Best Birthday: My 21st for sure! I sang backup and played tambourine in a random band playing back home then continued the celebration in Vegas with some great pals

John
Date: August, 21st
Cake: My mom’s chocolate cake recipe. She saves it for special occasions, and it is indeed special.
How he celebrates: A great dinner with my friends and family is an ideal birthday celebration. Many of my birthdays over my lifetime have included a Minnesota Twins game.
Best Birthday: One I remember particularly well was in 1998 when I had a World Cup theme. I had a bunch of friends over and we played a soccer tournament with each person choosing a country to represent and play for. We even glued a softball on top of a large, upside down plastic mug and spray-painted the entire thing to create our own World Cup trophy. It was intense.

Amy
Date: August 23rd
Cake: Cheesecake
How she celebrates: By spending it with the people that make the other 364 days a year awesome!
Best Birthday: My 7th birthday I went to the Omaha Zoo, it was pretty legit.

Happy birthday, Morgan, John and Amy!

Well wouldn’t you know it - it’s Miracle Treat Day! John mentioned something about the team going down to Dairy Queen at some point today to snag some blizzards and it turns out our three interns have more in common that they thought. They all have been previously employed at a Dairy Queen and have endured the working side of Miracle Treat Day. Who’d have known right?!

It would seem that working at Dairy Queen on Miracle Treat Day is more of an initiation type deal for becoming a 9 Clouds U intern. I guess that gives our blizzard wizards even more of a reason to treat themselves to some good ‘ol DQ today. 

Who knows, maybe they’ll see a future 9 Clouds U intern!

Well, friends, we are winding down to the last month of 9 Clouds U!

Man, the summer seems like it’s just flying by! With about 4 weeks to go before Heidi and Morgan head back to school (we know, crazy right?!), there’s plenty of work to be done. But don’t worry, Brett will still be here to hold down the lemonade stand (err…fort).

There are a lot of big things happening in the next several weeks and infographics will be coming your way from just about every angle - we’ve got the Olympic craze going on, we’ve got Shark Week lurking around the corner and on top of that we’ve got South Dakota vying for our attention via Facebook. Any way you peel it, these IGs are the (lemon) squeeze!

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Ignite South Dakota (@ignite_sd) is going to make another appearance in Sioux Falls at the Museum of Visual Materials on August 22. This will Ignite’s eighth event in South Dakota - be sure to follow the hashtag #IgniteSD8 to keep up with what’s happening. If you’re interested in being one of our speakers, let us know!

Congratulations, Brofounder Scott Meyer from the 9 Clouds U interns! We’ve been following the #mertzmeyer hashtag all day. Photo compliments of Brofounder, John Meyer.

Our interns are working up in Brookings, SD at the public library today. This is just a fine sample of the artwork they get to enjoy. You could say it accurately depicts how they envision themselves when they work together — although these youngsters don’t quite have the gray hair yet!

Happy Wednesday, everybody!