5 - Halfway to graduation and still organizing my life/ work

We are quickly approaching the halfway point of my very last semester here at Quinnipiac University. The fear of graduation is getting stronger by the day while the desire to leave the halls of academia for a world full of possibilities is slowly fading away. For the past 6 weeks I have been meticulously collecting every piece of graphic design work I have ever done to add it to my growing portfolio. As I have become more educated in the design world I started to notice that many of my designs seem to follow a trend or a fashion at the time I was making it. This realization initially angered me. As a designer, well once I realized I was a designer, I wanted to create new and original artwork; things which had never been done before. In my mind the truly successful designers were those able to create something new an inventive. With this mindset I found the majority of my previous work useless in my portfolio.

After finally completing Adrian Shaughnessy’s, How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul, there was one quotation, which stood out to me. The quote came from chapter nine as Shaugnessy recapped the saying from one of his past colleges, Julian House. British designer, Julian House stated, “I don’t believe in originality as an absolute. I think it’s more to do with interesting twists on existing forms. Borrowing from the Modernist designers of the past, for instance, is not plagiarism; it’s more a continuation of the process and ideas that they set in motion.” This quote once again gave me hope that I could be a successful designer. Although I may not have been creating completely new artwork I may have been improving upon the current design and adding my own voice to it. With this in mind I was back to collecting my previous work.

What work do I collect? Do I need it all? Once again Cynthia Baron’s Designing a Digital Portfolio provided me with my much-needed answers. According to Baron, three simple tips can help you when collecting work as a student; keep process materials, keep editable backups of computer files and retrieve any graded work. These three suggestions while help students to collect work that they may not have thought was important. Showing the process of work will help potential employers analyzes your ability to accomplished tasks as well as the way in which you approach design projects. When collecting your work, make sure that you retrieve as many design notes (such as font and color selection) as possible. The ability to explains ones work and decision as to why this font or that color has been chosen will make the designer look knowledgeable about their craft and make the designer appears competent in the design field.

Finally Baron also offers a suggestion for students looking for work. When applying for a job request previous examples of work from that company. Seeing what that company has looked for in the past can give the designer a good starting point when designing their portfolio.