Suzzannah Johannes from University of Kansas showed this piece in her student Merit award presentation and it was the most artistic design piece I'd seen in a while. It's a two dimensional victorian furniture leg printed between two pieces of glass. I can't wait to see her work when she gets picked up by Droog Design.

This was one of the best conferences I'd attended, because of inspirations like this. I also met some kick-ass creatives at this thing from the speakers and professionals to students from UIUC, UW Stout, U of Kansas, y'all inspired me. I wonder how often people contact each other after conferences... I hope fairly often. Well, if any of you that I hung out with are ever in Chicago or live here, look me up, and I'll take you out to some good eats. You know my email.

This is Ko.
Over and out.

This is some work by seniors at UIUC. It was exhibited at a small gallery near their studio. The designs are by Matthew Vroom, Greg McNamara, Matthew Whitlock(shown here), and Brandon Parod. Beautiful stuff, most of the pieces were found materials manipulated to have the desired lighted effect.

Toshi Fujimura from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, was voted by a panel of judges to represent the Midwest at the National Conference.

The Sexy Judges. Just sssssexy.

Corin Ludwig showed some of her work from a branding and identity class. She is graduating with her Masters in Industrial Design from Auburn and looking for a job this August. You can see the rest of her fantastic work by contacting her at: 256-490-1876 or ludwicm@auburn.edu

Thumbnail glimpses of the work of this year's student merit award finalists (at least the ones that displayed work in the break area).
The presentations in the late afternoon had the greatest turnout of the day by far. Congratulations to all of the finalists!

top to bottom:
anna engstrom
paul conte
michelle simas
keri bronk
kate witherspoon
sondra law

*If I have misidentified any work, please let me know!
(Update 4/10- kate witherspoon's work was mis-identified as evan gant's. Corrected above and apologies to both students)

Jeff Smith of Reflexdesign borrowed a couple images from one of his employees for his presentation at the Portfolio Workshop. They should not be too complex. They should offer enough to wet the taste buds critical info. Text is not mandatory though. It should be used in moderation. (sorry for that second blurry image, but it was worth seeing ;)

The portfolio workshop was awesome. Robert Fee of SCAD and Jeff Smith of Reflexdesign gave presentations on portfolio dos and don’ts. Afterwards the a panel consisting of (back row LtoR) Jeff Smith of Reflexdesign, Robert Fee of SCAD, Tim Fletcher, (IDSA's very own National Chapter Vice-Prez) of Elumens, Brian Roderman of PDS Development, (front row) Lauren Brenneman of id-one, and Carie Davis of Coca-Cola fielded questions from the student audience.


Robert Fee- "Don't show washing machines to a washing machine design studio." They probably know more than you about w/m. If you design shoes, but want to get into washing machines then consider banging out some quick concept related design. A little ideation is better that nothing.


Jeff Smith - "Always show lots of sketches." If you came into his office without a sketchbook "YOU WOULD NOT GET HIRED!" Wow what a statement. Without it, it doesn’t show the intimacy of your designs and communications. We are designers. This is how we communicate. Sketches are critical.


Digital or tactile???
PDF, CD, web site or printed portfolio -why not all. Let the potential employer choose what they want to see. Be sure to keep file sizes small. Make sure the PDF can be printed well.


Don't go in blind. Send plenty of info to employer. Hopefully they should be at least familiar with one of your images when you follow up phone call or visit studio. Also, another comment to consider... don't illegally use a industry logo to make your design look real world. The company you are interviewing with will kill you.

The morning was devoted to student portfolio review, and since I am one of those students who managed to graduate without an internship and without showing anyone a portfolio, I took the plunge as well. In fact, today is my first time showing my work to anyone outside of Pratt. Many of the students here today are pros at the review process and hustle to see as many people as possible off the schedule. The level of composure and focus is very high, as is the quality of the work.

When I show my work, this is what I worry about: drawing drawing drawing.

But here's what the reviewers are interested in:
*thought process from initial thumbnails through to finished product— "don't be afraid to show the rough initial sketches where the design began"
*describing the problem—what is the market, what are the tech/human constraints, what are the project parameters? This can illustrate project management skills in addition to the creative design aspect
*showing some business savvy—not expertise, but research showing consideration of the user and the environment
*and yes, hand skills

This is not earth-shattering stuff, but it helped me break out of my overwhelming concern about not being a top-tier artist and really focus on what I do well. It is a mistake to work on your portfolio alone until it is perfected—feedback at every step is absolutely vital and certainly not anything to fear.

The IDSA conference is a great opportunity to get feedback and non-academic perspectives. The rooms were packed and the discussions extremely constructive. It's a true exchange—the reviewers are providing a service to the students, but they also have strong motives to seek out creative new work and look outside their own companies and fields.

Thanks to Bill Bickford of Estee Lauder, Jessica Lynn of Rita Sue Seigel Recruiters, Richard Snow of Lighting Services Inc. and Heather Reavey of Continuum for giving me the reviewer's perspective.

If any of the participating students read this, I hope you will leave a comment with your impressions.

Heather Reavey of Continuum smiling as she gives me the hard, cold facts. Post pictures of my own portfolio? Not this time.

Students are awesome! So much enthusiasm, so much passion! Here are a couple of close views of works by studnets from the hosting school.

Summer Hill is a second year grad student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Ross Bartels can stick his foot over his head and happens to also be a first year grad student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The student portoflio kicked off this morning with about twenty-five professional designers interviewing, reviewing, and critiquing the work of student designers.





Reed Kannas from University of Winsconsin Stout being interviewed.




Paul Zavitkovski being interviewed by one of the Midwest Conference organzers, Doug Carpiaux, from Brooks Stevens Design.



Larry Bell speaker from Space Architecture UH critiques the work of Sarah Ringler.

Designers from Pactiv is shown a portfolio by Rachel Buck from Chicago.

A good chunk of the first day is reserved for portfolio reviews. The setup, shown above, is pretty straightforward: students sign up on a Very Large Schedule Sheet, then direct themselves to the appropriate professor or industry professional, identified by one of those little desktop number plaques reminiscent of Carl's Jr. restaurants.

While I (and probably you, if you're reading this), are familiar with the process of portfolio review, the scale of it is something new. Covering 20+ tables in two rooms, reviewers and reviewees from as far off as Virginia and Massachusetts are randomly paired to spend 15 minutes evaluating their Life's Work Thus Far. An organizer explained that they did their best to put students in front of reviewers not from their own school, but the preponderence of Prattsters leads to the inevitable: one reviewee strolled in to the room and looked up to discover she was to show her work to a favorite teacher from 2 years ago.

Other schools are out in heavy force though. A Virginia Tech student stopped to mention that somewhere over 30 students came up from her school for the conference -- no school requirement, just interest and a desire to see how the other folks do it. She and a friend were looking for the model shop and evaluating student work pinned on the walls as they went.

Check back beginning April 1 to see ongoing coverage from the five IDSA District Conferences.