Mike Morisco, a fourth year New Media Publishing student in the School of Print Media just returned from a co-op at Modono Glass based in Chili, NY. Modono Glass, formerly a part of Bausch and Lomb, was looking to expanding their dichroic tile collection into a giftware collection including clocks, mirrors, picture frames, and more. Mike had quite a bit to say about his experience with Modono Glass:

“When I was hired, it was under the umbrella title of ‘designer’ with a very vague description of what that would entail. I was under the impression I was going to be doing some collateral for the company as well as designing and coding their website. I very quickly came to know that this was not going to be the case. By the end of the first week, I was given an assignment to design a set of clocks from top to bottom for the new giftware collection.

Being the only member of the company that had design experience, I was put in charge of nearly everything that we were going to produce. I was the final say on what patterns and colors we were going to use for the different demo products and deciding what patterns and color to offer as a whole for the collection.

In addition to make major design decisions, I was also the one in charge of finding a place to produce the different products we were offering as well as any collateral we needed. I was surprised as to how much RIT’s resources came in handy for recommendations and in some cases production. The knowledge-base of the RIT faculty to point me in the right direction allowed me to make decisions for the company that I knew would be trustworthy.

Being essentially the creative designer for the entire company was a role that I was not expecting, but was one that I greatly enjoyed. One downside to this job that I thought was going to be the best part of it was the need to work from home. Working 5 feet from your bed is not the easiest way to get work done and is not the best way to expand your professional network. My recommendation to other co-op students is to avoid work from home jobs in order to get a real feel for the work world.”

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