Saturday, April 14, 2007
• the power of mini-portfolio
every now and then, i often received emails from some fresh-graduates who ask some tips of how to bag the first graphic design jobs for them. it's funny to think that i've been back in to the same situation as theirs in the past few weeks now, by trying to get a full-time graphic designer position for my self in england.
i honestly didn't plan to do this. but things happen, i must somehow improvise my plan and throw myself back to the job market again, before eventually getting back to the original blue print that i made decades ago *finger crossed*
back to the tips for the newbies, from many that i always share with them, one of my fave is making a mini-portfolio as a self promotion. i started making this thing when i tried to find my first job in New York City, right after i graduated from master's program. it was a decision i finally made after realizing how tough it was just to find job interviews in the big apple. at least compared to my previous experience finding a job in my hometown jakarta where i managed to get all job offers from all 3 companies that i sent my cv to [without mini-portfolio].
mini-portfolio is one tool that i find berrrryyy.... useful in introducing your self and to get noticed from the prospective employers other than just sending your cover letter and cv. it acts as a medium to show how your creative mind works, what your design style is and who you are as a graphic designer. when being done correctly, it will separate you from your fellow job seekers, and i can guarantee you that you'll get at least a job interview from the future employer who has somehow get a glimpse of who you are before they even meet you in person.
i believe that the art of making a winning mini-portfolio lies on the strategy to communicate your self effectively. it's gotta be simple, unique without losing your personal flares. it's like branding strategy in which you use your self as the thing that needs to be packaged and put the brand on to.
successful brands are often achieved through unique ways to communicate what and who they are. it could be from their visuals, wordings, etc, but they all pretty much have the same thing in common... the BIG idea that highlight the personalities which make them so unique and differentiate themselves from the bunch.
as this strategy also applies on mini-portfolio, i normally start doing it by asking my self the question of how do i want to be perceived by the prospective employers. branding is not about beautiful graphics, instead it's all about people's perception toward something. so, as soon as i find the qualities in me that i want people to get, i can start to build this big idea that will hold my mini-portfolio together instead of just making something to parade my design works without having any depth in its values.
compared to my first mini-portfolio which i made in form of a small red velvet book with the ponytail girl logo [the one i put on the previous version of loucee.com], my second one has pretty much changed from before. if in my first, i branded my self as a graphic designer who believes in the power of simplicity, in my second i positioned my self as a well-traveled graphic designer who gain her experiences by living in different countries, working with international clients from different industries and cultural backgrounds. if i have to summarize the big idea of my mini-portfolio, they are: international and world traveler.
i call it the UK version since i made it for the UK job market... :) it represents the stage of where i am now as a professional graphic designer. the piece is consisted of 6 small cards [10 x 11 cm] with 1 introduction [an abstract of my self], 4 design projects from different cities in 4 different varieties of design [logo, stationery, brochure, cards], and a card with my contact infos. this format will also allow me to replace or add other design projects if needed in the future.
before ended up with the final result, i thought about making my mini-portfolio in a form of mini suitcase where i put cards of my design works as its contents complete with geographic infos or pics of objects you can find in all the countries i've ever lived in. but i realized that this idea could be too over the top, overly designed, and distracting from my own design portfolios which should be the main star of the whole piece.
i also include my new logo here; a flying horse. i found it perfect to represent me as a hard-worker and as a frequent flyer... hehe... the cards then are put in a grey-ish envelope with the flying horse as the posted stamp.
other than have it sent out to prospective employers by mail, i also made them in PDF version so that i can always send them by email too. so far, i've sent it to 3 prospective employers, and got my self invitations for job interviews with all of them. so... as far as getting noticed, it's a 100% success rate! and i even managed to get my self 2 job offers eventually, while still waiting for the second interview for the other one. yippeeee!! :P
loucee said it on 12:56 PM | |
Monday, February 26, 2007
• tatoo penggaris
saya bukan tatoo artist maupun orang yang mengerti masalah per-tatoo-an. tubuh saya pun sampai saat ini masih belum terjamah jarum tinta alias polos tanpa tatoo apapun kecuali tai lalat di beberapa titik.. :) namun hingga hari ini tak sedikit teman atau kenalan yang datang ke saya untuk minta dibuatkan design tatoo. biasanya, saya menanggapi request-request ini dengan datar, "yakin mau gue designin?"
masalahnya bukan gak ingin membantu, tapi buat saya men-design tatoo adalah sebuah pekerjaan dengan tanggung jawab dan konsekwensi yang sangat besar. design buatan saya kelak gak akan cuma tercetak di atas kertas yang kalo bosen tinggal dilempar ke tong sampah, tapi akan tertoreh di tubuh yang punya tatoo untuk selama-lamanya. gak bisa dibuang atau ditutupin kalo bosen kecuali ybs punya dana cukup untuk operasi laser atau beli supply plester untuk seumur hidup.
ketika teman sekelas saya si industrial designer asal yunani menyampaikan permintaan untuk di-design-in tatoo oleh saya di awal semester, seperti biasa saya menjawab dengan datar, "mending lo pikirin dulu, deh... gue gak mau asal nge-design. lagian, sebagai seorang designer, bukankah akan lebih baik kalo lo ngedesign tatoo lo sendiri? biar lebih personal gitu loh..."
saya memang meyakini bahwa dalam tatoo design, design yang personal & memiliki arti khusus untuk si pemilik tubuh adalah wajib hukumnya. seandainya kelak saya ingin mentatoo tubuh saya sendiri pun, mungkin saya akan berkontemplasi sampai [kalo bisa] melayang di udara untuk bisa menghasilkan design tatoo yang sungguh-sungguh meaningful, unik, dan gak akan bikin saya menyesal.
sebulan lalu, teman sekelas saya itu menyampaikan niatnya lagi untuk mentatoo design buatan saya. tapi kali ini, instead of menyerahkan sepenuhnya pada saya, ia datang dengan ide design sendiri. si industrial designer ini ingin membuat tatoo penggaris! iya... penggaris lengkap dengan garis-garis pengukur di lengan kirinya.
menurutnya sebagai seorang industrial designer, tatoo penggaris ini akan sangat berguna untuk profesinya. ia bisa mengukur object apapun, kapanpun dan dimanapun ia berada tanpa harus repot bawa-bawa penggaris kemana-mana.
ide yang cukup menarik... hehe... :) dan terus terang saya cukup tergelitik dengan cara berpikirnya. cuma penggaris yang kaya apa? nah... ini yang masih harus dieksplorasi untuk mendapatkan design yang pas.
yang namanya penggaris dimana-mana ya... sama. ia terdiri dari deretan garis yang mengindikasikan jarak percentimeter, atau setengah centimeter, atau permilimeter. secara fungsi, penggaris harus bisa menjadi alat ukur. tapi secara tampilan... hmm... mungkinkah dibuat lain daripada yang lain, unik dan terutama... tetap harus meaningful untuk sebuah tatoo?
selama 3 minggu, kami berdua mengeskplorasi design tatoo ini. jenis satuan pengukur ditetapkan akan ada 2; centimeter dan inches. tadinya kami menaruh angka latin biasa sebagai lambang penunjuk, tapi kemudian ditetapkan untuk menaruh sesuatu yang berbeda dan lebih berarti untuk si empunya tatoo yang berdarah yunani, yaitu lambang angka dalam ancient greek. bentuknya ada yang segitiga, huruf 'r' kecil, juga yang mirip I romawi.
kedua sistem satuan ditaruh dengan cara 'mirror'-ing. ditengah-tengahnya kemudian diisi dengan sebuah pattern. kebetulan si teman pernah melihat design batik geometris yang pernah saya buat untuk thesis saya yang lalu di Pratt. dia menyukainya karena bentuknya yang sangat organik, ditambah dengan makna dari batik semen yang saya ambil waktu itu, yang secara simbolis berarti 'to grow'.
menurutnya, jika dihubung-hubungkan secara filosofis, life is about growing... dan mudah-mudahan design tatoo ini akan terus mengingatkannya untuk tetap tumbuh dan berkembang terus, baik dari segi profesi maupun dari segi apapun juga. bentuk motif yang organik juga somehow merepresentasikan design philosophy-nya yang cenderung eco-friendly. ya, meskipun industrial design identik dengan hal-hal yang berbau mesin nan kaku dan serba presisi, teman saya ini boleh dibilang adalah industrial designer dengan jiwa tukang kebun... hihihi.... project akhirnya saja sudah ia rencanakan untuk membuat living object dari akar dan batang pohon olive yang bisa dipelihara. no ideas of how he's gonna do it though, tapi idenya memang gak pernah jauh-jauh dari tumbuh-tumbuhan.
anyway, minggu lalu saya ikut mengantarnya pergi ke tatoo shop. ini adalah kunjungan pertama dari 2 kunjungan yang direncanakan. tatoo ini memang akan dikerjakan bertahap. tahap 1 adalah membuat penggaris, bulan depan baru akan dilanjutkan untuk membuat batik patternnya.
lucunya, waktu mengantar perasaan saya hampir sama dengan saat saya pergi ke percetakan kalo lagi proof-print. hihihi... :) tatoo ini adalah tatoo perdananya juga, jadi kami berdua sama-sama excited, meskipun mungkin agak beda konteksnya... :P
Thursday, September 14, 2006
• playing with brushes
sooo.... this is how my desktop looks like now. i just made it a couple of hours ago, after found these oh so... fabulous brushes by jason gaylor.
i was actually in the middle of doing two wedding invitation projects when i accidently found the fresh foliage brushes. they are just gorgeous!! and i just couldn't hold my self for not playing a li'l bit with them and started to forget my own projects [i was kinda stuck anyway.... heehehe...].
so yeah, as results... here are some other desktop wallpapers that i did in the past hours. feel free to download them! no need to thank me, because it's jason gaylor who really deserves it for making such a beautiful set of brushes. ME LOVING IT!! :)
the purple flower
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1440 x 900
the green birdy
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1440 x 900
the creme butterfly
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1440 x 900
the blue swan
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1440 x 900
