5 Tips for a Successful Portfolio Review

Ink & Pixels 2018: Creative Review is just around the corner, which means you’ll have the opportunity to have your portfolio reviewed by industry professionals. Here are five tips for you to get prepared so you can make the most of it.

Portfolio Tip #1: Don’t take it personally

Portfolio tips- don't take critique too personallyAs creative people, we tend to get deeply attached to our work, but keep in mind that any criticism you receive is not directed at you but at the work you present. Reviewers don’t know how long it took you to make it, or if your piece has a profound personal meaning to you, they will be there to give you a neutral honest opinion about your designs. They are providing you with their time and knowledge to help you have a stronger portfolio.

Portfolio Tip #2: Presentation is key

Ink & Pixels 2017 portfolio tips- presentation

Whether you have a website, a PDF or a print portfolio doesn’t matter as long as you’re paying attention to detail. This includes not having typos and how your work is presented. If you are a product or packaging designer and don’t know how to take crisp, clean pictures, ask a friend who knows photography for help. The internet has plenty of free Photoshop mockups to display your card, flyers, and posters. It would be a shame to have your sharp designs lost in blurry or dark pictures.

Portfolio Tip #3: Keep it consistent

Ink & Pixels 2017 portfolio review-consistencyBy consistency, I don’t mean including only print design, or only website design but rather the quality of the work. Every designer has good and bad pieces, so don’t feel pressured to include everything you’ve made. A few “meh” pieces can bring down the entire quality of your portfolio.

Portfolio Tip #4: Include what makes you special

Ink & Pixels 2017 portfolio review tips-personalize your portfolioNowadays with templates on the internet, pretty much anyone can come up with a business card design, but that doesn’t mean all of them are innovative. Include what makes you special. Examples of this could be your use of color, your minimalist or maximalist aesthetic or the way you mix fonts.

And finally…

Portfolio Tip #5: Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Portfolio review tips-ask questions

Take a look at your work and write down any questions you have. Are you wondering if you should include a particular project in your portfolio?  This is the time to ask your reviewer any questions you have. Take advantage of this, as once you are showing your work to a possible employer there is no turning back.

 

Now is time to get to work and prepare your portfolio. Join us at the next Ink & Pixels, where you’ll get personal reviews from peers and design professionals in the area!

 

We’ll see you there!

 

Pending State-wide Design Policy Needs Your Help

Given the interest in the Baltimore Innovation Village and Open Works, there is no better time than now to contact your delegates and senators to support design-driven initiatives on a state level. This week, we need your help contacting Annapolis legislators (e-mail, in person or by phone) to sign on as a sponsor for the Maryland Design Excellence and Innovation Commission.

Scheduled to be introduced during the 2017 Maryland General Assembly Session, the Commission’s mission is:

  • To distinguish design in all its manifestations for innovations in both the public and private sectors.
  • To further the evidence of how design impacts innovation in government and industry.
  • To measure discrete economic, social and educational benefits of design activity in all its manifestations.
  • To apply economic, social, and educational outcomes of design activity to important public policy issues for Maryland including but not limited to: best practices for the natural and built environment, accessibility, and the delivery of public sector services.

The Commission has been endorsed by IDSA and AIGA Baltimore, and is currently developing partnerships with Open Works, Baltimore Innovation Village, Morgan State University, MICA, and Stanley Black and Decker. 


Do your part to get the Maryland Design Excellence and Innovation Commission Legislation approved by the Maryland General Assembly.

 

Take action now

Please take 15 minutes to call or send an email to your Maryland state senators and state delegates. This is vital in order to secure sponsors to support and introduce the legislation before February 24, 2017 in the Senate finance committee.

You can quickly find contact information for your district’s representatives by visiting the General Assembly of Maryland website. Simply click “who represents me?” in the upper right-hand corner and enter your address.

Here’s a sample message you can use:

“Greetings, ________________! I’m __________, a constituent calling/writing to ask for you to sponsor the Maryland Design Excellence and Innovation Commission in the 2017 legislative session. The commission aims to distinguish design in all its manifestations for innovations in both the public and private sectors. which can apply to the fields of (specific examples: industrial design, architecture, engineering)  Federal funds can be used to secure services and programs such as _____________________________________________ that promote sustainability and accessibility and support careers such as _______________________________. This will impact my field of interest by providing ______________________ Thank you for your time.”

 

Please CC designpolicymaryland@yahoo.com with all correspondence so we can track verifications!
To learn more, visit 
www.marylandbydesign.org 

Thank you for taking action to advance the value and practice of design in Maryland.


Stephanie Yoffee is currently working to establish the Maryland Design Excellence and Innovation Commission to serve as an intermediary between the sectors of design, state government, non-profit, and business. She is collaborating with policy-makers on MarylandByDesign, a design policy platform.

Kathleen Mazurek serves on AIGA Baltimore’s Innovate Committee, working to create an online national resource for design policy. She has worked with Stephanie Yoffee on the Design Excellence Commission since 2015. Kathleen is a Program Coordinator for the Tech Kids After School Program at Liberty Elementary School.


 

 

Human Rights Campaign: Designing for Equality

During Design Week 2014, AIGA Baltimore was joined by Bob Villaflor, the Design Director for the Human Rights Campaign. Bob talked with us about his experiences with the organization and the importance of design in his work.

About the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest LGBT civil rights organization that is fighting for LGBT equality. They aim to spread the word about important LGBT issues by featuring and supporting high profile people who are behind their cause. If you know about the HRC, then Design Director Bob Villaflor is doing his job!

Bob joined the HRC eight years ago and is believed to be the first non-LGBT creative in the organization. His fresh perspective reflects on how far we have come and where it will take us.

What we do as Designers

To quote Bob, “Design plays a critical role in what we do.” With over two million supporters and members, the design team pushes to reach as many people as possible. HRC volunteers are knocking on doors, sharing educational materials, and gathering pledges, which are just some of the tasks the creative team has to support. Being responsible for the visual presence of the organization allows them to put a face to the goal of driving movement among the public.

The most easily recognizable visual aspect of the Human Rights Campaign is their logo. Until its current version, the logo didn’t really exist on a social level, so the design team aimed to consolidate the old version in a way that still reflected the company. The logo had to be simple, elegant, and honest—values inherent to the organization.

Formerly known as the Humans Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), the HRC was founded in 1980 and went through several logo iterations (here’s just a few of them). In the most recent redesign, the HRC design team partnered with SYPartners of San Francisco in a yearlong rebranding effort. SYPartners helped to solidify the brand and eventually settled on the yellow equal sign on a navy blue square. This now iconic logo helped to give an identity to the movement by representing the HRC core values.

Bob explained, “The logo became something for people to rally around.”

A Tipping Point

In 2012, Chad Griffin joined HRC as the organization’s President, which marked the start of a growth point for the organization. Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear arguments on California’s Proposition 8, a ballot proposition that had been passed into law by California voters to deny rights for gay couples to marry. This announcement gave HRC the opportunity to brand the event for its supporters in Washington, DC. Realizing that Proposition 8 was a “court case about love,” Bob and his design team chose to make red the signature color of the campaign. In a bold move, the HRC logo was temporarily changed to muted pink on a red background to show its support for turning over Proposition 8 in early 2013.

In an unexpected turn of events, the campaign went viral, with celebrities and supporters like George Takei, Alicia Keys and Budweiser changing their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures in support. Fans took the campaign and ran with it, remixing and personalizing the logo. The reach was global to the point that it crashed the HRC website and to this day remains one of the most successful campaigns in Facebook history as well as one of the most retweeted of all time. HRC could not have planned for this one hesitant change to be so big, but it made people realize who supported who—which was a big thing to see.


To learn more about HRC, their logo and how it went viral, visit:
http://www.hrc.org/the-hrc-story/about-our-logo


Equality Magazine, Annual Report and Other Campaigns

In addition to their social media and campaign presence, the HRC design team is also responsible for the layout and design of Equality Magazine. At 250,000 copies distributed each quarter, Equality Magazine is the largest LGBT rights publication in the United States. The magazine helps bring attention to anti-LGBT organizations such as the National Organization for Marriage; it also endorses its supporters, recognizing their work in the movement.

The annual report serves as another opportunity to focus on both positive and negative world trends. For the 2013 annual report, HRC partnered with design agency Column Five to develop something that went beyond the standard data-heavy reports that can overwhelm readers. Research and data was compiled into a sharable, easily digestible infographic printed on the reverse side of a book jacket for the annual report. Doubling as a poster, the infographic was shared outside of the organization’s list of major donors.

The HRC design team tackles other campaigns, too, like the “Love Conquers Hate” campaign leading up to the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi. Equality Magazine started this campaign to show support for the LGBT community in Russia. It was punishable to show LGBT support in Russia, so HRC encouraged Olympians and celebrities to share pictures of themselves with the Russian-language version of the “Love Conquers Hate” shirt across social media.

The Future

In the future, the Human Rights Campaign will continue to “fight for people’s lives” not only in the U.S., but also across the globe. Campaigns such as Project One America aim to share the stories of real LGBT people and their families in less-than-supportive areas such as Central Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. On the international front, HRC continues to share their materials, design, strategy, and knowledge with fellow supporters who are trying to raise awareness to audiences across the globe.


Q&A With Bob

What is the biggest hurdle to design around at HRC?
Joint projects. Other departments or agencies can be sensitive over their content.

What advice would you give to designers working with nonprofits who might be against riskier design moves?
Don’t be afraid to put something out there. Consolidating branding of HRC was a big move—so was changing the logo in support of Proposition 8—but it allowed the community to think, to interact with it. Design solutions do take a lot of buy in from senior management, but they do have to trust your decisions in this dynamic time for the organization and LGBT community.

How do you feel about living, working and making changes in Washington, DC—the political heart of the country?
Seeing change is incredible. My family and kids live in a city where lives are being validated—which is funny in a city like Washington, DC that at times can’t seem to get anything done. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a recent win that was seventeen years in the making.

As a designer, how do you handle a bad stakeholder review?
Beer! Think less about the rejection and more about moving forward, about the mission. You are not going to win them all. Some days there is just no time to come up with something perfect and sometimes it’s junk. Other times, it’s about the longview. With HRC, there’s the luxury of not having to have tangible results like numbers, sales, revenue, but that’s not always the case.


Shannon Crabill is a New Media Specialist at T. Rowe Price. Outside of the Internet, you can find her dancing, riding her motorcycle and binge-watching home improvement shows on HGTV. Tweet her at @shannon_crabill.

Mitchell Cole is the web sales manager at Service Photo Supply. Most of his free time is spent indulging in some sort of gaming, controller or dice never far from reach. Find him on Twitter at @mc_mittens.

Kicking off with the Ravens Marketing Team

Kicking off AIGA Baltimore’s Design Week 2014 at ADG Creative, the Ravens in-house marketing team sent in three of their best to talk about how Baltimore’s own NFL team thinks creatively about design and marketing. Bryan McDonough, Heather Blocher, and David Lang discussed how they target Baltimore football’s wide audience across print, digital, social media, and broadcasting in a fascinating presentation, all while showing off their flashy Ravens World Champion rings.

Marketing the Ravens

Emphasize consistency. That’s the team’s key secret for seamless collaboration. The Baltimore Ravens’ marketing team only joins forces with outside agencies occasionally. Almost all efforts take place in-house, even broadcasting. As a graphic designer for the Ravens, presenter Bryan McDonough described the group as being a “mini agency”.

The marketing team has to “churn and burn”—they’re ready to react. While most NFL creative teams ask “how does this help us sell tickets?”, the Ravens are always sold out, allowing more creative freedom. Each campaign piece still must work across all platforms, including print, digital, broadcast, and environmental. The organization also reaches a wide and inclusive audience of women, men, families, young fans, and seasoned fans.

If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the NFL has strict geographical marketing regions when it comes to things like print collateral and tv ads. The Ravens are uniquely sandwiched between two neighboring teams: the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. Luckily, there are no borders on the digital front. Even with the NFL limiting Ravens from print and tv in areas geographically associated with other teams, the web provides ways to market beyond these borders without regional terms.

How an idea becomes a campaign

Each season’s new campaign begins after the playoffs. The success of the players on the field decides when to shift focus to the year ahead. At this point, the design team’s first deadline is printing the next season’s tickets by May. During the summer months, the team prioritizes working with Ravens sponsors.

Ravens' 2014 season tickets
Ravens’ 2014 season tickets

From the very beginning of each campaign, the marketing department’s creative process includes senior management, creative, marketing, and board representatives. Several concepts are narrowed down to the best two or three ideas. The public relations, digital, and print teams collaborate to select which concepts should move forward. Polished into solid presentations, the concepts must be clear to the point where the executives—who don’t necessarily have creative backgrounds—understand the direction and ideas.

In charge of overseeing these efforts, event presenter Heather Blocher serves as Senior Manager of Advertising & Branding. Heather started as an intern and officially joined the marketing group as her first job after college, a prime example of how team members are given opportunities for growth.

The one surefire way to win a campaign? Have Coach John Harbaugh buy in. If creative and marketing have his vote, then the players and fans approve. John can be tough, however. Even with free lunch in the cafeteria, Harbaugh recently put everyone on a diet. No more “Pizza Friday.” It’s just salad. At least everyone gets cake after a win, though. On the other hand, losses do affect morale. The next day everyone is bummed right along with the fans—and a lot goes into game day behind the scenes.

How to “Play Like a Raven”

Give it your all, 110%, on and off of the field. That’s what it means to “Play Like A Raven”—the team’s tagline and annual marketing campaign since 2009. Praised by coaches, players and fans, the phrase remains one of their most successful campaigns.

Focusing on the human element and illustrating the off-the-field “Play Like A Raven” concept, new photo shoots show players training and behind-the-scenes. Quotes from Coach John Harbaugh integrate into the final design to reflect this more personal tone. Landscape posters using this imagery portrayed the players as heroes and role models. The posters were envisioned as inspirational collectables distributed at stadium practice events leading up to the season opening.

Their 2014 marketing both hints back to the original “Play Like A Raven” campaign and pushes the idea to the next level. Fan shots became a major part of the previous campaign’s success. The logical next step uses these even more expansively. Updated photography showcases the vast Baltimore cityscape. A new style guide allows visuals to easily translate from print to web, mobile, and broadcast as the team continues to improve the level of consistency.

Taking the campaign online

Hashtags for the Baltimore Ravens were once inconsistent with mixed messages and sources. Fans generated some with others in the marketing department. For example, #relentless is not specifically related to the Ravens alone. Rather than join these existing and wider conversations, their own threads were started specifically for the Ravens’ team. David Lang, as the Ravens’ Senior Digital Media Manager, discussed how he oversees the website and digital presence, including social media and broadcasting.

David Lang, discussed how he oversees the Ravens' website and digital presence.
David Lang, discussed how he oversees the Ravens’ website and digital presence.

Tackling the confusion, the 2014 campaign includes just one hashtag: #playlikearaven. Since the Ravens are a newer team, creating an abbreviation like the Redskins hashtag—#HTTR for Hail To The Redskins—was deemed less meaningful and effective. Instead, #playlikearaven was trademarked. Beginning in 2014, posters and promotional materials added #playlikearaven, and this encouraged players and fans to share virally on social media.

The marketing team found creative ways to involve the players and the rest of the organization as the official hashtag gained popularity. The most positive and encouraging Facebook posts, tweets and photos were printed after sifting through thousands of social media posts. Displayed at the Ravens’ cafeteria entrance, these images help connect the staff and players with their fans. This interactive element that goes beyond an online “like” or “retweet” reinforces the idea that the Ravens marketing is not just a one-way conversation.

Outside of social media, President of the Baltimore Ravens Dick Cass is a driver for old school methods. Even though holiday cards are still printed, the marketing team did take to the streets late one night. With permission, the team stenciled graphics across the city using an environmentally safe paint from Germany to engage with their fans. But most often, the Baltimore Ravens leave street-level tactics to the fans themselves. They’re the ones who do guerrilla marketing best.


Photos by ADG Creative

Shannon Crabill is a New Media Specialist at T. Rowe Price. Outside of the Internet, you can find her dancing, riding her motorcycle and binge-watching home improvement shows on HGTV. Tweet her at @shannon_crabill.

Brian E. Young is an art director and magazine designer by day and artist by night. When not painting, he’s helping unlock imaginations via his blog and The Uncanny Creativity Podcast. Ask him anything: sketchee.com.

A bunch of type hype: The new Yahoo! logo revealed

For the past 30 days, we’ve witnessed an identity transformation for the still-popular Yahoo! brand. While I personally feel that the new Yahoo logo is a bit of disappointment (and for the purposes of this blog post, I’ll omit why), I think the execution of the identity change was brilliant.

In recent years, graphic designers and consumers alike have witnessed some tremendous re-identity failures. Remember the Tropicana logo change? How about the Gap logo redesign? These redesign failures were so publicly scrutinized and criticized with such poor ratings that they must have terrified many well-known brands from updating their own logos in such a grand scheme.

In stark contrast, Yahoo’s 30-day new identity launch program, which published one new idealized logo each day, not only gained public attention but also eased in the idea of change. This campaign effectively notified consumers ahead of time that change would indeed happen and allowed everyone to get comfortable with it just in time for the big reveal.

Most of all, the addition of one new logo a day published to Yahoo’s platforms was a creative and fun way to engage consumers in the process, shedding a little light on just how many different directions an identity can go. Publicizing the process cued the public (or non-designers) into how much just one stroke can make a big difference on a first impression.

I hope this subtle education goes a long way and that we continue to see similar campaigns, because the more non-designers understand the complexities of graphic design, the better off the creative industry will be.

When she isn’t scheduling social media and writing blog posts for AIGA Baltimore, you can find Kate Lawless designing communications, digital signs, documentation, and interactive software elearning for a large healthcare organization in Baltimore.

You can reach Kate on Twitter @katereez, and find the original blog post and more design and daily musings on her blog, DESIGN/Vines.