professional practices

kansas city art institute // junior 2 // 2019

the purpose of this course is to prepare students for entry into the professional design community and set them on the career direction of their choice. we will focus on portfolio development, resumé and letter-writing, interviewing skills, take a look a the landscape of design and what type of career options are out in the world upon your graduation.

view online course materials: course syllabus // daily blog

objectives

you will be graded on how much / well you…

curate and visually document your design work in a professional manner
develop a unique, highly crafted and memorable personal framing / identity that represents you accurately / aspirationally to the design field and is consistently applied across a range of materials
develop a digital portfolio system including, but not limited to: behance, professional website, tailored pdf portfolios, and optional non wifi-dependent ipad / laptop and / or print portfolio
demonstrate a high quality of writing through project statements, resumé, cover letters, and critical analysis of professional practices
speak about your work and ideas about design, in a professional, concise, and respectful way
present yourself and your work in a series of informational interviews with design professionals

COURSE STRUCTURE

digital portfolio development – curation, editing, revising, and re-documenting work
personal framing / identity development; resumé and letter-writing
design of a final visual portfolio system
field trips to various design studios and ad agencies in kansas city
guest, faculty, and peer lectures and presentations
readings and discussions over topics relevant to professional design practices
multiple informational interviews in the field and in studio

project 1: portfolio development
view project brief
lecture: portfolio imagery