Portfolio reviewer

I was invited by Creative Lives in Progress to be a portfolio reviewer at their upcoming event. The goal of the portfolio reviews was to provide emerging creatives with the chance to connect directly with industry professionals and receive feedback, advice, and insight.

Each industry reviewer provided direct feedback on their work, answered questions, and shared advice and insight in breakout rooms of around four people.

The emerging creatives were students, graduates, or in the first year of their careers. It was fascinating to see the work of young people hoping to break into the industry. Many faced the classic dilemma of needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience.

Here are some points I shared with them:

• Avoid working for free for ‘exposure’ and try to create your own opportunities to gain commercial project experience.
• Visit local businesses to see if they need any design work done.
• Ensure the work produced in college is top-notch; if it’s not good enough, don’t include it in your portfolio.
• Eliminate spelling errors from your work—this is crucial.
• Share your work on social media platforms like Behance, which is an excellent and free portfolio resource.
• Participate in online creative challenges like The 36 Days of Type challenge or Inktober.

After the review session, some of them invited me to connect on LinkedIn, which was a smart move. I shall watch their careers with interest.