Creating For Me

I use art as expression and a stress reliever. I create because I see an idea in my head and need to see it on paper or on a computer screen in order to get it out of my head. When I was an education major, every art teacher I observed and worked with gave me the same advice. They told me to never stop creating. They said that it is so easy to stop doing art for you when you have a full time job. You have other priorities and obligations when you get home and art falls by the wayside. Even though I am no longer pursuing a career in education, the advice still applies. Whatever job I find, I still need to find time in my life for my art. I need to create without rules and guidelines. I need to create for me and me alone in order to keep my passion alive and my mind sane. 

Making My Own Luck

A friend of mine graduated college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting before he decided it wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life. He was interested in websites and how they worked behind the scenes. He taught himself HTML and CSS using free online tutorials. Nine months later, he saw an ad for a web development internship online. One of the requirements for the application was a web portfolio, which he didn’t have. Instead of giving up, he contacted the company via Facebook and asked if there was anyway he could apply anyway. He told them he was willing to work, unpaid, in order to learn and gain experience. He just wanted to be a part of the web design world. Admiring his enthusiasm and self-motivation, they gave him an interview, which led to a three-month internship, which eventually led to a full time position. He could have accepted the fact that he did not qualify to apply for the position and moved on. Instead, he chose to go after what he wanted. He made his own luck. This story is similar to others I’ve heard throughout this semester. Recent college graduates going after their dream job they feel they aren’t technically qualified for and succeeding. I want that to be me. I want to be able to say that I went after my dream. But, honestly, I don’t know if I have the necessary guts to make my own luck. I probably would have passed over that internship because I didn’t have the necessary components to apply. It scares me that I might pass by my dream job because I’m not bold enough to take risks when the opportunity arises. 

Resume

According to the authors of “No Plastic Sleeves”, “best practice is to keep your resume to one page”(206). Since I have had a lot of jobs in my life, this proved difficult for me. It was hard to narrow them down because none of them were shameful or ended on bad terms. I was never fired. I never quit. It was simply that my jobs had expiration dates. Each job shows a different part of my qualities and skills in the working world. I also have awards and activities from both universities. I don’t want my resume to look crowded but I also don’t want to leave out something that will give a potential employer a better sense of who I am. 

Page Layouts

 The pieces are chosen. My presentation book has arrived. Now comes the page layouts. The authors of “No Plastic Sleeves” suggest including “a series of images or thumbnails in order to showcase important aspects, close-up details, or even sketches of the work at various stages”(92). I started laying out my pages in inDesign. For my websites, I chose to show what the home page and interior pages look like. I also added smaller images to highlight certain parts of the site. I did the same for my eBooks. While planning out how the different pages were going to look, I tried to keep the composition of each pages as close to a grid as possible. 

Online Architecture

The authors of “No Plastic Sleeves” warn, “Determining how to name sections of your website and subsequent navigation will tell your target audience a lot about you right upfront” (171). I used an information architecture to plan out the navigation of my site. I knew I did not want a “portfolio” tab in my nav bar. In my opinion, my whole site is my portfolio. I also knew I wanted to categorize my work into digital design, game design and fine art. Then, I wanted to use a secondary nav bar to categorize further. I chose to allow the viewer to choose one of the three main categories from the home page and then include a hover drop down menu on all of the interior pages for the secondary nav. Choosing to organize my site like this shows viewers the diversity of my work. 

What’s Good Enough?

It’s time to build my portfolio. The question is: What work do I put in it? I have eight years worth of work to sift through. What pieces are good enough? What pieces belong? It is easy enough to get rid of the bad pieces. The ones I am embarrassed to show my friends. But I have a good number of pieces I am proud of as well. I know I want to have a good balance to my portfolio. My web portfolio should display work from digital design, game design and fine art. It should show all parts of me and what I am capable of. It should have an generally even amount of work from all of the sub-categories within the main three, such as print, ui/ux, motion, 3D, eBook, painting, printmaking, game art, etc. My print portfolio, however, should focus on design and the sub-categories within it. The authors of the book, No Plastic Sleeves, advise taking “out any pieces that appear to be redundant, or offer essentially the same idea, demonstration, or method. If they simply repeat something that is already well presented, you should consider removing them” (7). By choosing pieces from the different subcategories, I will have more of a diverse portfolio.

Social Media

As a culture, we are constantly connected to each other. That has its advantages and drawbacks. Lori Deschene explains positive aspects of social media in Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind. She says, “You can leverage it to make new contacts or expand your business. You can use it to showcase your expertise, share what you’ve learned, or learn from people you admire and respect. You can use it to stay informed, entertained and connected”(133). I decided to use social media as a tool to showcase work outside of my web portfolio. I have a lot of photography that I would have liked to include on my website. However, I felt it was more appropriate to create a flickr account to display my photographs. I also have videos of my animations and walkthroughs of my eBooks that I showcase on youTube. I also signed up for LinkedIn as a way to keep it touch with my professional relationships. All three of these social media sites are linked to my online portfolio. I have also signed up for pinterest this semester. I have been avoiding pinterest because it was my understanding that it was primarily hair & makeup tips, fashion advice and recipes. However, pinterest has been a great source of inspiration. Its many design boards have quality examples of brand boards and information architectures. They have product designs and posters, letterheads and business cards. Pinterest is (partially) a community of designers and design lovers, sharing good design with one another. (Though, it is mostly hair, makeup, fashion and food).