Happy Graduation

Congratulations to all the advertising and design students that are graduating this week. Pure awesomeness.

Here is your post-graduation to do list:
1. have a beer
2. thank your instructors
3. take a vacation
4. get the crappy school assignments out of your portfolio

Last week I attended a senior portfolio show at a local college. As one student was showing me his work, I got stuck on a newsletter piece he had in his portfolio.

The newsletter had some pretty heavy, yet really interesting topics like 'Drinking and Sexual Abuse.' What tripped me up was his photo choice in the article. It was a huge, disproportionate photo of a banquet table. Yes there were wine glasses in the shot, which I guess related the drinking part to the story. The size of the shot was off the charts when compared to the copy and I really felt he could have chosen a more emotional and striking photo.

The next page showed something similar: huge photo, uninteresting shot, weird placement. As did the next, and so on.

Well, turns out, this newsletter was the by product of a photography assignment. The students did a large scale photography exercise and then as a subsequent assignment, had to create a newsletter around those same shots. Hence the shots that really didn't fit the stories.

Dude, take that crap out of your book. It is not helping you land a job.

Now that you are done with school, you can be done with the mandatory school assignments that might not be the strongest representation of your creative skills.

Filter through your book and make sure every piece that remains is 100% the best possible work you can do. No one needs to see the assignments that were, albeit for a purpose, not good for your final portfolio.