-: Going through a BFA program is incredibly valuable.
I know there are plenty of designer that,
I've met plenty of designer who never went to design school
and they're fantastic, and that's great,
and there's lots of different ways.
But for me, I feel like there's a value to the
course of study that gets you involved in creative thinking.
Not just, 'cause in graphic design,
there's a lot of technical stuff, right?
Especially nowadays, people getting UX/UI design.
People doing...the digital side of things has caused
things to get very technical.
And that's very important but I think that it's important
as a designer, generally speaking,
to be taught in creative thinking.
And design problem-solving, visual problem-solving.
Resumes are great.
They show that you can work with other humans
in a professional environment (laughing),
but if the work's bad, it doesn't matter.
Or if the work doesn't match what the company needs to do,
or why they need a designer, then it's not helpful to them.
So, I always tell people,
it's important to have a really great portfolio,
and I think one of the things you wanna do in your portfolio
is not just show the work that you've done, meaning like,
say you had the opportunity to design a menu for your
friend's startup coffee shop.
Then you did it, but it's not your best work.
But it was like a real gig, right?
And so, you wanna put that in your portfolio.
And sometimes you have to do that, and that's really great.
But maybe you really don't wanna do menu design.
Maybe you would rather do something else.
And so, I was encouraging people to say, well,
especially when they're starting out, sure,
you should put work in there that you've done,
but only put work in there that you,
ideally you wanna only put work in your portfolio
that you really wanna do more of.
Beyond your portfolio, and beyond your resume,
I think that you have to be open and prepared
to seize opportunities when they show up.
And not in a kind of mercenary way at all,
but just to be open, 'cause thing happen,
sometimes you just be in the right place at the right time.
And so you wanna have your portfolio ready.
You wanna be able to talk about your work.
And you wanna be able to be collaborative
and be responsible, so that you can take advantage
of the opportunities when they show up.