So what if I told you that you got your dream job, catch is, it only comes in three-month doses. Welcome to my life for the past few years.

Every morning before work I wake up at about 7:30AM, turn on ESPN, catch up on top plays and scores, and get ready for work. I leave everyday for work excited about what I’m about to do. Whether it’s a big project for the quarter or a few colorways that are needed by the end of the day, I leave work feeling like I accomplished something that helped Under Armour that day. Continue reading Training Camp With Tom Spence – Week 2: The Warm Up…

The Location

Located near the inner harbor and downtown Baltimore, Under Armour’s campus sits at historic Tide Point. Once the eastern headquarters of P&G, UA’s campus has an indoor basketball court, full-catered cafeteria, on-site gym, and many other amazing features. It’s about a 5-minute commute from my temporary home in Federal Hill.

The city of Baltimore is home to the Ravens, Orioles, the National Aquarium, and is full of great restaurants and nightlife. The surrounding communities of Locust Point, Federal Hill, downtown Baltimore, and Fells Point neighbor UA. Each community has a different vibe and different events going on. If it’s catching a game at Boardwalk in Federal Hill or getting a custom burger made at Kooper’s in Fells Point, each community has something different to offer.

Day-to-day

The beginning of my day usually consists of working on a quarterly project. During the internship here at UA, an intern project is assigned but the subject matter is of the intern’s choosing. Whether it’s putting a new face on an existing UA product or diving into a new category, the sky is the limit. The intern managers try to keep the design process as real as possible. They set up scheduled meetings to review sketches and research, as well as connect interns with other UA team members who have specific knowledge on the subject matter.

Off-site research is also set up to get us into the field and see first hand products at work. Here we learn from observations, pictures and video, as well as interviews with athletes and trainers.

All of our research, sketches, and refined renderings build up to the end of the quarter and are capped off with a final presentation to the design team.

When I’m not working on the project, inline work is handed down from the different categories. Whether it’s retail color ways for Dick’s Sporting Goods or promotional pieces for athletes such as Miles Austin and Jonathan Papelbon, there’s always something new and exciting each day. Additionally, teams look to interns for help with long-term inline projects, and helping product line managers with building full collections of shoes.

Even after over six months of internships here at Under Armour, I never find myself bored or without anything to do. I usually find myself finalizing the last few details of a promotional shoe or planning the next new steps I need to take for the internship project. Regardless, there’s always work to be done.

In the next few weeks I want to try to cover where to look/listen for inspiration outside the footwear world as well as talk to other UA designers, developers, and managers to see what their daily life is like here at UA and where they find their inspiration.

Thanks everyone for the great comments last week and stay tuned for the next post.

-T

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Tom Spence is currently a senior at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) and a footwear design intern at Under Armour in Baltimore, MD.

Check out previous “Training Camp With Tom Spence” posts:

- Training Camp – Week 1: Rookie Debut (New Series)