11.11.09
Myself and three friends took it upon ourselves to arrange portfolio visits in and around Manchester. Our first portfolio visit was with Bourn who are a graphic design agency that have offices in Manchester and Stockport. We felt we wanted to meet Bourn as we were all very keen on their design work and like what they do.
This was the first time I have had a portfolio visit with other people. I found it quite useful as I could hear feedback that the others received and I had the opportunity of taking parts of their feedback to possibly apply it to my own portfolio if required. A key piece of advice we received during the visit was to network, get your work out there and speak to as many people as possible. Matt (Studio manager) and Mark (Creative director) also said that blogs can also be useful. Mark advised that when putting your portfolio together you need to consider which work is appropriate. Does certain design work have a purpose and should it be in there? It was said that you should also cover a variety of angles. i.e website, corporate, advertising etc to show you can work in a range of different areas.
Mark and Matt were very honest which we greatly appreciated as we obviously want to take professional opinions and feedback into consideration to improve our work. One main piece of advice that I received was that I needed to run to a grid system throughout my portfolio to keep it consistant. Although I do have the makings of a grid in place I agree that there are some inconsistencies on some spreads which I hadn't noticed myself. Even though I have a short explanation of the brief on each project it was also advised that I included a few lines of how I approached the brief and what my solution was.
Overall I generally received positive feedback about my portfolio but will definately be taking all advice into consideration to improve on areas of my portfolio that were suggested. For the future we were advised to start learning the technology. Mark and Matt say things are constantly changing and that you cant stay in one place. Their opinions were that the biggest gap from graduate to juniors is speed, typography and layout they also believe that their isnt enough commercial work in student portfolios. Mark voiced that there is a lack of Corporate and Logo design which he believes is a skill in itself. It was said that you need to have a balance between creativity and corporate.
www.bourndesign.co.uk/
Mark and Matt were very honest which we greatly appreciated as we obviously want to take professional opinions and feedback into consideration to improve our work. One main piece of advice that I received was that I needed to run to a grid system throughout my portfolio to keep it consistant. Although I do have the makings of a grid in place I agree that there are some inconsistencies on some spreads which I hadn't noticed myself. Even though I have a short explanation of the brief on each project it was also advised that I included a few lines of how I approached the brief and what my solution was.
Overall I generally received positive feedback about my portfolio but will definately be taking all advice into consideration to improve on areas of my portfolio that were suggested. For the future we were advised to start learning the technology. Mark and Matt say things are constantly changing and that you cant stay in one place. Their opinions were that the biggest gap from graduate to juniors is speed, typography and layout they also believe that their isnt enough commercial work in student portfolios. Mark voiced that there is a lack of Corporate and Logo design which he believes is a skill in itself. It was said that you need to have a balance between creativity and corporate.
www.bourndesign.co.uk/
