The Portfolio-Work Relationship: W.A.W.A.

Week 6:

The W.A.W.A. (pronounced wah-wah) or "What Are We About" conversation is one that two individuals have about the status of their relationship. Although the conversation typically relates to romantic relationships, for the sake of IDD, I will be using it to help myself better understand the relationship of an artist's portfolio to their work that they put in it.

Building Design Portfolios had a lot of wonderful things to say about portfolios and presenting work. I hadn't really considered the idea of the way my work would be presented to possible employers outside of the work itself prior to reading for this week. Having read, it surprises me that I hadn't considered the portfolio itself as part of the presentation for my work. I have a portfolio at home, which I thought was pretty sophisticated at one point. I considered it's black leather textured plastic exterior pretty darn classy when I first purchased it back in high school. I now realize that I'm going to have to step it up a little if I want to impress possible employers.

I am actually very excited to know that I can be creative in all aspects of my portfolio, not just in my work itself! It makes me happy to know that I can not only try to impress future employers with my work, but also with the way it is presented. This book also had some great tips about what type of work to display in my portfolio. One of the many helpful tips I have learned in IDD480 is that there needs to be a design process. A design cannot simply be made in one draft...rather, sketches and comps should be created and the design itself should be reworked until it is the best version of itself. Having learned this, I have begun sketching before designing and I plan to include these sketched in my portfolio because BDP notes more than once the importance of showing the potential employer the design process.