First off, I want my portfolio itself to be a portfolio piece. I was lucky enough to have met with 2018 SCCA Design alum, Justin Av over the winter break on Zoom. He gave me a bunch of amazing insight on navigating the program and finding work afterwards. He showed me what it was like in his position as a senior creative designer at Nordstrom. He was working from home, making lots of moodboards, art directing photoshoots for Nordstroms collaborations, designing physical experiences at events, materials for a new marketing campaigns and a bunch of cool things I want to see myself doing. Then he showed me his portfolio (https://justin-av.info/)… I was floored. Not only did I get a scope of the breadth of his work through perusing his site… but he built the whole thing himself! Seeing that helped me envision my own future. People who go through this program go on to do wonderful things that are so inspiring. I have a ways to go but I really would love to compile my work on a website that I myself built out. I think that would show so much in and of itself to future employers, and I think I would be so proud of myself to finally achieve this. As long as I keep my adobe creative cloud subscription this shouldn’t cost me much. Maybe buying a domain? It’s a low cost for a high return in my journey of selling myself. This is something I never saw for myself before, and seeing alumni succeeding and my classmates making strides in their skills only pushes me further. I am truly so inspired. By the end of my summer internship I want to have built out my own portfolio. By my second year I will be able to boast internship experience and a solid year of work in design school. I will feel much more confident approaching companies for jobs by this point and nothing excites me more than the day I get a call for a job in design.
Secondly, I want to design the branding for a small company (I have no idea who but I would love an opportunity). Having Andrew in class as a guest speaker really inspired me. To see and hear from the face behind all of the designs that were already surrounding me, like Rachel’s Ginger Beer, Westmann’s Bagels and other local businesses widened my eyes. Aside from a product design career I’m also interested in campaigns for brands looking to build their marketing package and rebranding their look. I think branding is so important to the success and integrity of a business. Every company needs a look, and through Jill’s class we have been exploring a lot of these types of tasks. I love being able to execute a logo idea, a poster idea, or even a business card. I would love to be that person that creates that ah-ha moment for a company, for them to feel seen through a design I helped make. A food spot would be really cool, but I’m not picky. Because of this I want to seek out internships that would allow me to explore more branding and marketing. A more tech driven internship would serve me just as well.
Lastly, I would love to start a personal project of designing album covers. I am a huge music guy and appreciate all of the ways that any avenue of art seamlessly flows through music. When it comes down to music videos, merchandise, album/single art, animation, etc… I am in awe with how musicians are able to portray their story and build complete worlds out of their art. There are so many times I hear a song and see the image of how I might make this video, or this album cover, or this t-shirt for it. I would love to make mock album art and merchandise for long enough to start picking up clients to make actual art for them, for money. With my skills in photography and my growing skillset in design I could be a powerhouse in art direction for musicians and their physical presence in the more tangible material associated with their world-building. This is another project I already have all the tools for. I think the process of writing this blog post even had me fired up to just realize I have all of the pieces in front of me, and it’s now my turn to start telling that story and finishing this big puzzle that makes up my life.