AIGA Alaska Student Portfolio Review

April 29 // 7-9 pm

Online via Zoom // Free

Registration required for meeting credentials

Through this program, AIGA Alaska intends to provide students or emerging designers with honest feedback from design professionals in a casual environment. The end goal is to help students or emerging designers ease into the design industry. This practice is meant to be informative—any criticism of works presented in the portfolio must be constructive.

This year’s Portfolio Review will feature reviewers with extensive backgrounds in the graphic design industry. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be held using Zoom Video Communications. Students, we encourage you to be confident while presenting your work. Professionals, we encourage you to be helpful in both critiquing the work and offering advice on how the students present themselves during the process. To all, we hope you are relaxed throughout, and have a great experience.

We advise registrants to have their portfolios prepared in PDF format to present to reviewers as if they were printed pieces using Zoom screen sharing.

EVENT SCHEDULE:

The event will start with introductions and is then planned to have three rounds or more depending on the amount of students registered and the amount of reviewers that are available. Example of the timeline as follows—a general introduction session followed by 15-minute review sessions with 10 minutes allotted to allow for review time overruns and technical transitions.

7:00-7:30 introductions

7:30-7:45 review round 1

7:55-8:05 review round 2

8:15-8:30 review round 3

The above schedule is for reference only, as timing may be advanced or delayed while in session.

PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES:

• Create a digital portfolio in a manner in which it may also be printed later (a PDF is strongly suggested).

• Showcase your best work—8-12 projects recommended—focus on quality over quantity.

• Overall page count at designer’s discretion to optimally portray each project. You don’t have to cram everything into a single page, but try to keep things concise.

• Include a résumé. In a real-world setting, you will never show your portfolio without also demonstrating your qualifications and education/work history.

• Keep in mind: Consistency is key, and when in doubt, keep it simple (but not plain).

ZOOM VIDEO CHAT GUIDELINES:

• Please enable webcams so interaction is face-to-face.

• Present portfolios via screen-share.

• Keep in mind: Horizontal layouts are optimal when screen-sharing (either horizontal single pages or export as spreads if pages are vertical orientation).

• If you are using a laptop or mobile device to participate, please make sure that the device is plugged in or the battery is fully charged.

• Dress as you would for a real job interview; business casual clothes are recommended. (This is not a job fair and no guarantee of employment is offered or implied; but several UAA students have secured post-graduate jobs through contacts made at AIGA’s portfolio review, so please view this as an opportunity to network with potential employers.)

IF YOU ARE NEW TO ZOOM:

Before the portfolio review, please download the Zoom software and set up your profile. It is a quick process, but if you have any questions about installation or setup, you can contact James at james@alaska.aiga.org for help or answers.

Please download the free software at: https://zoom.us/download (choose Zoom Client for Meetings — or Zoom Extension for Browsers, if you’d prefer to run the software in Chrome or Firefox; you may also download Zoom Mobile Apps for Apple or Android mobile devices.

The student/reviewer pairs will be organized by AIGA Alaska, who will be hosting this meeting.

If you are not already a Zoom user, AIGA Alaska strongly suggests uninstalling the Zoom software from your computer or device shortly after the review ends.

The 2020 Portfolio Review is sponsored by Mad Dog Graphx www.thedogpack.com

When & Where
Wed, Apr 29, 2020 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM AKDT