Hello! This post highlights some of my favorite work from my Social Media Internship with Swimming World. Over the last eight weeks, it has been my responsibility to collaborate with my fellow interns regarding original swimming media, coverage of major swimming events, and promotional graphic designs. The majority of my time was spent putting together a series of videos to preview the main events at the 2024 US Olympic Swimming Trials, which ran from June 15 to June 23. Since the meet ended, I have shifted my focus to designing graphics for Swimming World’s original web articles, along with other promotions of happenings in swimming media. My internship experience has enhanced my ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with my peers in a remote environment. I hope you enjoy some of the work I have completed up to this point!
Below are links of the many short-form, vertical videos I made in advance of the US Olympic Swimming Trials. Each video was posted on Instagram and Facebook Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Since each file is massive, I am unable to directly embed them into this page, rather, I have attached hyperlinks below to view each.
US Olympic Trials Preview – Women’s 50 Freestyle
US Olympic Trials Preview – Men’s 50 Freestyle
US Olympic Trials Preview – Women’s 100 Breaststroke
US Olympic Trials Preview – Men’s 100 Butterfly
US Olympic Trials Preview – Women’s 100 Freestyle
US Olympic Trials Preview – Men’s 100 Backstroke
US Olympic Trials Preview – Women’s 100 Butterfly
US Olympic Trials Preview – Men’s 100 Breaststroke
US Olympic Trials Preview – Women’s 100 Backstroke
US Olympic Trials Preview – Men’s 100 Freestyle
The process for each of these videos was undoubtedly time-consuming, as most took about 4-5 hours altogether. Prior to recording, I always started by researching the current developments domestically for each swimming event. Once I felt like I had a clear picture for each race, I would write down a script for the video while reading it aloud to myself. Next, I would memorize sections of my script, recording each several times as I went along. After I had a clean product for each section, I would then transport all of them into CapCut. From this point, I would edit the transitions between sections to flow smoothly, source photos of each athlete in the videos from Swimming World’s website, and add close captions to make each video accessible for viewers with auditory impairments. My patented Olympic Trials preview series has been the majority of my internship thus far, but as you will see below, I have recently moved to more of a graphic design focus.
Truth be told, I have not had much of a background in graphic design prior to this internship. After watching many YouTube tutorials, I finally landed on Canva as my platform of choice for designing graphics to use on Instagram (my primary platform so far), X, and Threads. The following posts are a couple of the graphics I have designed so far, along with a bit of explanation regarding each piece.
I designed the “time drop” graphic for Swimming World’s Instagram story during the Olympic Trials last week. My vision was to attract viewers’ attention by designing the outline of the photo like an AirDrop notification on iPhone. The outline of the design came from Canva’s pre-made graphic section, but I added the bubbles, the Swimming World and USA Swimming logos, and I altered the font to mimic the style of AirDrop.
Above is an example of a regular Instagram story and Threads post I make for Swimming World three times a week. My goal was to use a color scheme for the text box and frame that matched the photo, while embedding the image behind the text to make the design look seamless. One of the instructions I have received in graphic design is to not make it obvious that a particular software is being used for my posts (in my case, Canva). I chose to include this post in my portfolio because it features one of my favorites athletes throughout my childhood, Michael Phelps.
The above graphic was posted on Instagram and X after the preliminaries of the Women’s 400 freestyle at the Olympic Trials last week. I identified Erin Gemmell as an athlete to watch for the final, as she is a young star in the sport whose father (and coach) worked with Katie Ledecky in high school. This is easily one of my favorite designs to date. I first started with the blurred background of a swimming pool, to ensure that the image and text were at the forefront of the viewer’s attention. Next, I added two mirrored strips of wrapped text to emphasize Erin’s name and the event she competed in. Lastly, I added a “paper-ripping” effect for her name and photo, as I wanted those aspects to be highlighted the most in this graphic.
Thank you for taking the time to check out a little bit of the work I have completed so far this summer with Swimming World! I will be a part of their internship program until mid-August, so I am excited to see what other opportunities await me.
– Paul D
