Preparing my portfolio for a 'professional interview' is proving quite difficult. It's not the same as going for an interview for a job because there is no job, and therefore there is no real context for the portfolio to be built towards.
I have interviewed with my portfolio for design jobs in the past and been successful. I also interviewed at Leek college, South Cheshire college, Mid Cheshire college, and at Liverpool John Moore's university, as part of their application process for joining a course, and each time I received an offer of acceptance.
The only time I have had negative feedback was when I asked if I could have an informal portfolio review from an Art Director at a design agency in Altrincham. The feedback from that session was that the portfolio showed a broad range of things that I could do, but didn't have a specialism and wasn't focused towards a particular discipline or job role. With that in mind, I can feel that this professional interview will fall into the same category.
I have decided to include some work that I did for LIVE clients, on of which was a builder that wanted some vinyl lettering and signage putting on to his new works van. Another was a branding and identity job for a personal trainer that included the design of a logo and brand guidelines. I have also included the brand identity I did for Creative Solutions NW ltd. I feel like this kind of work shows that I can carry out the run of the mill tasks that might be required within a busy marketing or design agency.
To show that I am methodical and precise I have included some pieces of abstract geometric Islamic design, which I absolutely love doing; and a low poly tiger portrait where I have used gradients to give it more of a real feel than most of the low poly images that are out there that look like flat vector images.
I have also included the work I did on the Blackbeard's grooming range. I feel that this is my most in depth piece of work to date since I physically made the beard balms and oils to my own recipes that I was using on my beard at the time. I made the packaging and display box and had my first go at working with gold leaf and pyrography, as well as attempting some signwriting. I approached the whole thing as if it were an existing product range that had a wider identity.
It's interesting that nothing from my time at the university of Chester has made the cut. I would like to include some of the signs that I am currently working on, but I have to hand those in the day before the interview (I can't get my head around how badly that has been organised). I see if I can 'borrow' one of the signs for the interview and give it back later. I really think the interviews should be one of the last things of the year so that we get practice talking about our final projects right before we 'go out into the world'.