Jenna Buboltz joined the LaFleur team in 2020 as a graphic design intern. She focuses on front-end design and web design. Jenna sat down with LaFleur (remotely) to talk about her particular love of web design, getting married during a pandemic, and her outdoor adventures.
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LF: What do you do here at LaFleur, Jenna?
JB: I basically help Nick Wright with projects he’s overloaded with. I do lots of design odds and ends. How do you generalize something you just started? (Laughing.)
LF: What are you working on now?
JB: Right now, I’m working on webpage mockups. It’s a lot!
LF: Is this what you imagined when you started studying graphic design?
JB: I actually studied web and digital media, which is more web-focused than graphic design. So, my dream had been to work on the front-end design of websites, using Adobe XD rather than code.
LF: For the uninitiated, what’s the main difference between front-end design and graphic design?
JB: Graphic design is more textile. You’re designing physical things you can hold onto, like t-shirts or magazines. It’s final. If you find a mistake after you print it, you’re screwed. What I like about web design is that you can always go back in and change what you’ve done. It just makes me less stressed working on a web page that is dynamic and continually evolving.
LF: You live in Wisconsin. How did you get connected with LaFleur?
JB: One of my instructors has done design work for LaFleur. Nick and Falon like Laura, and they wanted to work with some of her students. Since everyone is working remotely because of the pandemic, they were like ‘what a perfect time to work with interns remotely, because even if they live right next door, they’re going have to work from home anyway.’ They reached out and asked if Sierra and I wanted to intern with LaFleur, and we did.
LF: How’s it been working with a former classmate?
JB: It’s been fun. It’s nice to have another intern to work with, so if I’m not sure about something, we can work together to figure it out. And it’s nice that we’ve spoken in person because I’ve never met any of you wonderful people in real life. At least I know Sierra is 3D and real!
LF: It’s so nice when people are real! Have you learned anything in the internship so far that has surprised you?
JB: I’ve learned that when you’re working with an agency, you’re going to see a huge variety of different projects. On any given day, you could be working on video storyboards, web page mockups, emails, or blogs, all for completely different companies. It’s been good to learn how to keep them all straight. And that you can do a ton of projects at once.
LF: Switching between brands can feel overwhelming at first, and then you just get used to it, and it feels like a superpower.
JB: (Laughs.) I was definitely a little hesitant at first, but it’s working out pretty well.
LF: Is there anything you’re doing now that you’re really enjoying?
JB: I do enjoy working on web mockups. I’ve done this for a couple of different jobs now, and it’s fun because you can just imagine everything and all this functionality, but you don’t actually have to make it work. You put it on the screen, and then someone else makes it work. That’s the perfect magic job for me.
LF: When you’re not designing, what do you enjoy doing?
JB: Outside of design, I really like to be active. I like sports; I love soccer, I love hockey. I just got a new bike, so I’ve been trying to get strong enough on a bike so I can keep up with my husband. He is a beast on a bike.
LF: Didn’t you just get married?
JB: I sure did!
LF: Congratulations!
JB: That is also one of my new favorite pastimes — honeymooning! It’s not exactly the kick-start to a marriage that I would have expected, but we’re having fun!
LF: I think when you get married during a pandemic, it’s generally not what you expected. But did you get to celebrate, in spite of all that?
JB: We got married in a barn! I guess with the pandemic, you can still have your “dream wedding,” it just has to fit into the new normal. So, our new normal was just close friends and family, outside. And it was pretty amazing.
LF: I heard you had a pretty adventure-filled honeymoon as well.
JB: Yes! We went to the mountains in Colorado for our honeymoon. We biked up a mountain, we went hiking.
LF: I feel like most people want to look cute and lounge around a pool on their honeymoon. And you decided to get sweaty hiking up and down a mountain.
JB: We’re pretty outdoorsy people; it’s just what we do! Plus, I feel like you end up with good stories from outdoor adventures. I do come from a big family, so we never paid for amusement parks, we always just went hiking or camping. I think that led to my desire to get out and have an adventure.
LF: Sounds like a great blueprint for a good time.
JB: Yeah, the honeymoon hike was pretty epic; we found a little lake at the end! And biking up the mountain was pretty crazy, because biking up the mountain, you’re going three miles an hour and feel like you could fall over with every turn. But going down the mountain, it’s almost more terrifying, because you’re holding on for dear life. I did fall down a few times and bruised the whole right side of my body. It was kind of a thrill, but I don’t know if I’d do it again.
LF: Are you ok? Did you break anything?
JB: I’m fine! It was sandy, so it was a pretty safe fall. It was just that I fell off my bike three times.
LF: You can just cross that one off the bucket list!
JB: Exactly!
LF: Is there anything else you’d want readers to know about LaFleur?
JB: You can tell people like what they do, and they really like their coworkers. It’s a cool thing to be enveloped in.
LF: We’re glad you’re on board!