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Chicken or Egg - Internship or Portfolio
Greetings all,
To preface, I am a student and the U of M and has found it difficult to say the least to attain employment, or internship status for that matter, at a respectable firm without a complex portfolio of material to impress my suitors. It appears to be similar to the chicken and the egg complex, where without the job one cannot accumulate a portfolio, and yet without the latter one cannot attain the previous. Has anyone else had this ironic experience?
Comments
It is actually not a chicken or egg scenario, what you need is some student work. Ingredients: fake ads made out of the craziest ideas you have, throw them in a book, and network and interview like crazy. Revise, rinse, repeat.
you can make your own self-driven projects too. Make a site for a family friend or create your own brand of wine. Christmas and birthday presents also make great opportunities for designs.
To piggyback what Natalie said, try finding a business down the street who could use some identity help. Redesign them. Maybe even show them. They may or may not buy it, but either way you can put it in your portfolio.
All of the mentioned above are great ideas!
No job nor opportunity is going to fall in your lap. I'm sure you feel frustrated that the U isn't providing opportunities for you. Why wait for them to make it happen—when you can? Network, network—network! Call up some local shops and do informational interviews. Put together some fake work. "But it's fake"? Who cares. I'd rather look at work that's fake that can show-off your talents than no work at all.
Hang in there. Good Luck!
This has been frustrating for me too, and I totally agree with the "make it fake" advice. To show skills in tri-fold brochure design, I researched tips for reducing one's heat bill and mocked them up in a power company branded informational. If you can't think up a company out of thin air, search around on http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/ and find a company you are familiar with, then design something "for" them. Just, of course, be sure to indicate the nature of the work (not actually commissioned, just student work) in your portfolio. Cheers!
I can sympathize with your situation. I agree with the fake it until you make it advice...Ya gotta start somewhere, its a hard road for many creatives right now. Especially out of the gates - but if you can build something out of nothing, make it look real, make it compelling and show off your skills - viewers will not only assume its a real company or project but it will get the results you want - attention for doing good work. Keep at it, your not alone....
Get involved with AIGA/MN (American Institute of Graphic Arts) the MPLS chapter has student memberships, is a great place to network, and has an event called Portfolio One-On-One where you get a chance to have your work critiqued by people in the profession. Great way to find out where you need improvement in your "fake" portfolio.
http://www.aigaminnesota.org/
I am graduating this week. I have internships but the work I do isn't exactly ideal for my portfolio. so I do campaigns on the side as people have mentioned here. I also attend AdFed's Mentorship Circle events. I bet you would get a lot out of those events. You should attend the next one. It should be in January or February. There is a student rate too!
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