Portfolio Preview - Associate in Arts
Introduction
This document should help you to get ready for the Portfolio Preview without feeling overly stressed.
Download preview checklist in PDF format
What is the Portfolio?
Your portfolio is a showcase of your work.
It demonstrates:
- Who you are
- What you aspire to be
- What you offer to a potential employer
- What evidence you have to present to support the above
In addition to your experiences, skills and knowledge the portfolio
is the
most critical tool for your professional career.
Why Portfolio Preview?
Considering how important the portfolio is to your professional
career, it
is important that you graduate with the best portfolio
possible.
Since the knowledge and skills you develop in your classes
are
progressive, you would invariably want to go back to your
earlier
projects and bring them up to speed by adding, modifying
and
sometimes completely changing them.
The Preview is your opportunity to present your projects and
go through
an interview process that establishes a high likelihood
of success in
developing an impressive portfolio.
When is the Preview?
The Preview is scheduled in the eighth to tenth week of each quarter. A committee of faculty members will conduct the Preview interview. Approval of the faculty committee is a prerequisite for the Portfolio class.
You can sign up for the preview by contacting the department chair at ajadav@aii.edu or 770-689-4816 in the fourth week of the quarter.
What Does the Committee Look For?
The committee is going to look for the following:
- Professional presentation
- Punctuality
- Error-free projects
- Ability to respond to questions about the projects and the industry (research, design, technology)
- Quality of projects
- Correlation between the projects and your career goal
Where Can I Get Help?
Faculty advisor. Be sure to identify an advisor early on. After
that,
meet with your advisor at least once a quarter to show your work
and get feedback.
As you start putting together your portfolio, get feedback from
your
faculty advisor and also from other faculty and students.
Look at other
students' and designers' portfolios.
Look at magazines, movies, billboards, posters, and performing
arts
for design ideas.
Can You Give Me a Checklist?
Here it is:
- Sign up for the Preview
- Carry out thorough quality assurance on your projects. All web sites must be cross-browser, cross-platform compatible, free of spelling and grammatical errors and must function without errors.
- Meet with the faculty advisor to get feedback on your projects
- Be on time
- Dress professionally
- Prepare and package the following. These are the requirements for the Preview and if you don’t have any one of them completed to the required level of quality, you may not get the approval of the committee.
- Online jump page with access to the following:
- Name, Degree, Email
- Personal professional logo
- Resume
- Statement of career goals
- Link to one job posting relevant to your career goal
- Project 1. Website (at least four pages)
- Project 2. Website (at least four pages)
- Project 3. Website (at least four pages)
- Project 4. Illustrations, animation clips, photography, comps, code library, etc.
- Online resource library with links to online as well as print resources that you use for your work in web design and interactive media.
- Portfolio book with the following:
- Resume
- Business card
- Statement of career goal
- Concept notes (including site map) for projects 1, 2 and 3
- Print or Web layout design
- Illustration or Logo design
- Photography
- Examples of copy writing skills
- Bring a backup of all web and print projects
Download preview checklist in PDF format