AIGA Get a Job Bootcamp

Today I participated in the second annual Get a Job Boot Camp presented by AIGA of Iowa. The purpose of the camp was to give young designers, such as myself, the tools to grow in our field and help prepare us for the future of the design industry. Professional members of the organization shared their experience and advice about their design careers and prepared a series of presentations relevant to design.

The first presentation was called How To... During this time, I received information about how to find a job, how to start the search and how to recognize all potential opportunities to get my name and talent out in the real world. The presentation also gave me tips on how to market myself and present my portfolio.

The second presentation was called Defend Your Design. The presentation gave advice on how to explain design decisions to tough clients and how to answer tricky questions during an interview. Information was relayed through a series of short skits about real life scenarios.

Lunch was a time to work on networking etiquette. Each participant was assigned lunch tables randomly and after we were seated there was a short presentation about the dos and don'ts of networking over a meal. We were then challenged to practice our skills while dining with fellow boot camp attendees.

After lunch, participants were given the opportunity to have portfolios reviewed by professional members of AIGA. This was an excellent time to get constructive criticism and helpful interview advice one-on-one. I feel that through this experience I was able to improve the layout and pacing of my portfolio book. During these reviews, I was asked some really challenging questions that caught me off guard. Since the reviews earlier today, I feel that I have already become more confident about my portfolio and learned how to better talk about my work.

College News Design Contest: Call for Enteries

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ADAI Portfolio Viewing

Today I took part in a portfolio viewing - an event sponsored by Art Directors Association of Iowa (ADAI). The viewing started at 2:00 p.m. at the central library in downtown Des Moines and occurred prior to an awards ceremony for the annual ADAI student exhibition show at 3:00 p.m. I took this opportunity to show and discuss my graphic design work with attending area professionals. I had several discussions with students, design professors and professional graphic designers about my work and received helpful feedback about how to improve my portfolio. I received advice about how to better organize the projects in my portfolio, how to improve the presentation of existing work and ideas for new pieces to include that would make me more marketable as a designer. I feel that this viewing has been extremely helpful as I am currently in the process of reorganizing and updating my portfolio to utilize once I begin job searching. Not only did this opportunity provide me with valuable feedback, but also helped me to become more confident in presenting and talking about my work to others.

After the portfolio review, I stuck around for the awards show and was able to see all of the student work that was selected to be apart of the ADAI student exhibition. It was exciting to see the quality and craftsmanship of work produced by other college students. I found several of the identity systems and packaging projects to be most interesting and inspirational. It was very refreshing to step out of my own work in design and see what others are creating around me.

Lisa Fay & Jeff Glassman Workshop

As an extension to the performances that I attended on March 23 by Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman, I opted to check out a workshop put on by the duo earlier this evening. The workshop started off with an explanation of scores created by the duo. Scores are instructions for movement represent in 2-dimensional drawings, designs, notations and structural patterns. Scores of often created with some sort of graphic medium existing primarily on paper that allow the actors to take their performance ideas from mental images to stage actions that can be documented and performed. Scores are a way to notate the body and the way that it is to move through physical space. The duo also explained a technique called "pivots" that they use in many of their performances. A pivot occurs when a position or movement stops midway and transitions to another, completely unrelated, movement.

In the workshop, students and faculty came up with brief situations to act out. We practiced the scene over and over again to gain a sharp understanding of the specific movement that we made and when and where each movement occurred in space is we made it. After we had a grasp on how to act out our specific scene, we were asked to act out the scene completely solo, but as if our partners were still there. After this exercise, we were asked to combine one persons movements from our group with the movements of one individual from another group. The two disparate scenes then occurred simultaneously to create one new, abstracted scene.

Participating in the workshop allowed me to understand the skits performed by the duo earlier in the week on a whole new level. Although the skits can make sense on a purely theatrical level, they are developed through a very exact and technical process, allowing them to exist as a specific an unique art form of their own.

Above: A variety of different scores created by the duo to map complex movements.

Lisa Fay & Jeff Glassman Performance Duo

Tonight I went to see Lisa Fay and Jeff Glassman perform 4 short experimental movement theatre pieces in the Performing Arts Hall at Drake University. According to an article posted on the Drake website, the duo invents systems to organize theatrical movement and speech in theatre, similar to those utilized by musicians to compose music. They apply these complex composed structures to ordinary human behavior and situations to create a unique form of theatre art.

The first piece the duo performed was about two individuals meeting in a restaurant for a business meeting. Sound became paramount in the piece to create complex, repeated rhythms. Sounds utilized throughout the performance included speech, sounds produced through movement of the human body and through the disruption of inanimate objects, such as the clinging of silverware.

The second performance was a solo piece by Jeff, who created abstract sounds through a microphone that was enclosed inside of his mouth. The sounds were given context and meaning through the movements performed.

The third performance was a conversation that jumped forward and backward in time, similar to an effect caused by a skipping CD.

The fourth and final performance was a scene of a woman coming home after a burglar has ransacked her house. The entire scene was acted out completely in reverse.

Selected Works & Awards: Drake Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition

I am excited to report that my work has been included in Drake University's 39th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition. The show features a variety of works created by 15 students in Drake's Art & Design Department. The show was juried by Jill Featherstone, museum education director of the Des Moines Art Center, who selected 23 pieces to be show from the 79 pieces that were submitted for consideration.

The Tape-beatles

Packaging Design

Work includes: 4 CDs, 4 CD envelopes, Why I Hate the Tape-beatles essay booklet, 4 band buttons & box.
Soulpepper Theatre

Identity System & Booklet

Work includes: stationery, envelope, business card & production catalogue

In addition to having two of my pieces selected for the show, I won the second place overall award for my work on the Soulpepper Identity System & Booklet.

Check out this article about the show: http://www.drake.edu/news/db/official/archive.php?article=5390.

Drake University Mock Interviews

Today I had the participated in Drake University’s Mock Interviews for the College of Arts & Sciences. This event is hosted by the Arts & Sciences National Alumni Council to help juniors and seniors prepare as they seek jobs and internships. My interview was with area professional, Tim Alexander, a senior art director at Meredith Corporation. The interviews.

The activity started with an interview and closed with a portfolio review of my design work. Immediately following the interview, I received feedback and tips for improvement. Through this experience I have sharpened my interviewing skills and have gotten more used to explaining the concepts that accompany my work. This was my first review so far this semester and I already feel more confident! I am looking forward to having more portfolio reviews to help improve my portfolio even more.