Monday, October 6, 2014

Re: Portfolios and Plans

What kind of designer do you want to be, or what do you want to do with this degree? Print, web, user-experience, book, magazine, all of the above? Why? 

My goal is to be a well-rounded graphic designer. I try to take on as many web jobs as I do print. I’m striving to be versatile but I know that can be a bit hard. As we mentioned in class, it’s really hard to be a master at everything. On the other hand, being pigeonholed with one aspect of design can be a huge disadvantage. It’s a little tricky!

I decided to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts because I thought this program was a great way to refine my design skills--in order to teach in the future.

What kind of workplace do you want, ideally? Freelance, small shop, big agency? Why? How will you search for jobs?

My undergrad design professor told me the same thing that Chip Kidd told Carolyn. It’s important to have experience before becoming a freelancer. So after graduating, I worked as a professional graphic designer for 4 years before making the decision to freelance full-time. I was at a crossroad. It was either go back to full-time design or freelance. I decided that I had made enough connections and had enough experience to start out. Thanks to a lot of prayer lol it’s going well. Of course, I want my business to grow. Eventually, I would like to work with other designers. Hopefully that will increase the amount of work I am able to take on.

I've gotten most of my clients through word of mouth. I try to network a lot to make as many connections as I can.

For those of you that have portfolios right now, did you build you own site or use a template like Behance? Or pinterest? Can anyone share links to great portfolios (yours or someone else's?)

I have a website through squarespace.com. I’m a huge fan of their sites. I just took a basic template and added my own code. I manage my portfolio, blog and print shop through them.

My favorite portfolio sites are well designed and clean. Not flashy. I love sites that show off the work, rather than distracting the user with irrelevant design choices.

jessicahische.is/awesome (I know, I’m obsessed)
cargocollective.com/briemery (Design Love Fest blogger)
hatcherdesignoffice.com (my favorite Towson design professor)


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