PORTFOLIO

There are two sections of the Professional Practice module. One part is this website/blog that wages 60% of the overall mark of this module and the portfolio interview, which is the remaining 40%. The task was to present a portfolio that focuses on five different projects that best represent our career aspirations.

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It was incredibly nerve-wracking preparing for this part of the module. I haven’t had much experience in having any job interviews let alone portfolio focused ones. I’ve previously contacted an art director from Lucid Games, where we went through my portfolio, and he spoke to me about where to improve. The art director also advised me on what skills I should focus on throughout my final year of study- 3D modelling. So, with this experience, I felt slightly more confident, but not much.

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My interviewer was Vicki Shields, a freelance graphic designer and art director. Her work displays a wide range of skills from typography to editorial and even some store design. However, I feared that we wouldn’t have much feedback to give me personally because my work is very specialised in games design and some elements of illustration also.

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As I was one of the first students to be interviewed, I still had quite a bit of work to do for my third-year work, not to mention I haven’t really had the chance to focus on 3D modelling quite yet due to other projects being more demanding. Therefore, causing me to include some of my second-year work (my comic book based on Greek mythology and my BBC shortcuts animation). I wished I could have more video game-focused work within my portfolio to make it more specialised; however, these two projects’ shows were used to my benefit. These were the two projects from the second year that I was most proud of and showcased that I have transferable skills that can be applied to various careers, not just games design.

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Overall, this was a huge learning experience. Despite wishing for more sense of direction on how to create a successful portfolio, I was able to put together projects that I was most proud of and was suitable for the career path I intend to take after university. I also took the time to practice my portfolio, ensuring it did hit the 10-minute mark or under whilst remaining passionate and not seeming it was coming off a script. I wanted to begin with an introduction of myself whilst explaining the sort of industry I intended to work in. Furthermore, I wanted to make sure that I was thoroughly knowledgeable and could answer any curveball questions by explaining why I chose specific colours and typefaces and why I came up with this solution for the briefs.

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Even though I took extra time to research my interviewer, I hit a standstill towards the end of the actual interview as I forgot to prepare any questions for Vicki as I was incredibly nervous throughout presenting my work. I didn’t think to do this prior – which makes sense now entirely upon reflection. Another thing that went wrong was that there was no audio throughout my animation, causing disruption and throwing me off completely. I just hope it didn’t come across that I didn’t prepare as I tested to see whether the animation worked the night before.

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Underneath, there are two buttons, one being the interview feedback, where I display my feedback from my two markers on where I can improve for next time, including my thoughts on the feedback also. The other button is my improved portfolio, which shows some of the changes I made to the portfolio and my reflection.