Portfolio Review—10 points
Today I had an portfolio review with Justin Brady, Creative Owner of Test of Time Design. I came across his company while searching for design studios in Des Moines, and was intrigued by Test of Time's work philosophy. Justin and his staff believe the most critical component of a successful project is the client and promise to listen to "every word, sigh, problem, suspicion and question" their clients have for them. Finally, ToT believes in goal-oriented design that functions outside of pure aesthetics by triggering emotional reactions and generating revenue. That all makes sense to me, and I appreciated the straightforward declaration of the philosophy. So, I gave Justin a call, and he agreed to meet with me at Mars Cafe to take a look at my portfolio and just talk a bit about the design business.
The meeting went really well. Justin turned out to be really friendly and gave me some great feedback on my work. I really appreciated his direct nature. He definitely wasn't prone to sugar-coating or softening his opinion. I tend to get along with people who operate that way. Thats not to say I agreed with everything he said. There were some pieces in my portfolio that just weren't his style. Particularly some of my album covers didn't really resonate with him. No worries. I know they aren't particularly weak projects, andif nothing else they demonstrate stylistic diversity. They're staying in, but with a few modifications.
The biggest thing I took from today's review was his advice to always consider your target audience. As we worked through my portfolio, he pointed out several examples where I clearly hadn't taken this into consideration. He definitely had a good point. Its very easy to design something with vague, instinctual direction at an audience, but another thing entirely to take the time to articulate your goal demographic.
I'm very glad to have met Justin and gotten his feedback on my work. He was very positive about the portfolio, and asked me if I'd be okay with him calling me for a project sometime. Uh...YEAH. So I'll be sure to send him a thank you. It was a lot of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment