Advice for a design student.

I am going into my last year studying product design at the University of Oregon. The product design program is only six years old at this school but growing. I feel like I do not have a very impressive portfolio and I do not want to graduate without professional design experience. Does anyone have advice on how to make the most of my last year? Where should I be focusing the most? Should I focus on entering contests and work on side projects? What is a good reference of where my portfolio should be when I graduate?

Post your work up here. It’ll give us a better idea on what your strength and weaknesses are. That way we can give you more targeted advice vs a blanket statement.

Definitely post your work.

I’ll third the advice on posting work. Even if you’re not 100% pumped about your portfolio, the real constructive criticism you can receive from other designers here is invaluable. As far as professional experience goes, you’ll need some, whether it’s before you complete your degree or after. Also, don’t be afraid to take an unpaid position- think of it as a building block and a learning experience that doesn’t require tuition. :slight_smile:

If you’re in Portland and want to talk some more and/or get a portfolio critique, feel free to PM me. I’d love to help.

Get some studio experience any way you can. Unpaid, freelance, heck- contact your local studios as try to schedule tours to talk to guys there.

The year before I graduated I was able to tour a bunch of ID studios to present my work and get feedback from the designers there - people in the field are super helpful and will be more than happy to tell you exactly what you need to work on. It also helped me get a better feel of which studios I was a better fit for and which I wasn’t. Presenting your projects over and over again also will naturally make you reexamine them and find flaws/ways things could be done better.

Try to post all your ideas,work here so that you can get more ideas from here…

My website is mattpoppelaars.com

I would love any advice and constructive criticism!

Hi Matt,

Where would you like to work? At the moment it is hard to know in on what field of design you’d like to focus.
Knowing this will help us to give a more targeted critique.

Right now the portfolio is a little all over the place.