[Portfolio Included] When Looking For An Internship…

Hi everyone,

I am currently in my Junior year studying ID. In school, we are asked to incorporate the entire design cycle and while I appreciate the holistic approach, I yearn to invest more in research, strategy, and design thinking.

My passion for research is rooted in gaining a deep understanding of users; from culture and experience to psychology and needs. Subsequently, I’ve studied the leaders in this field (IDEO, RKS’ P/A, etc.)

Ultimately, I am open to any ID related internship, so I decided to treat my portfolio as a sneak-peak, emphasizing the breadth of skills I’ve learned in college. Some of the most consistent feedback I’ve received is if more info is needed, I can present the interviewer with a process book that thoroughly explains the thought behind each project.

http://ryangenena.com/portfolio

  • Do you have suggestions on how I can maintain a condensed portfolio while emphasizing research/process?
  • The forum is full of information for students, however, is there anything specific you can recommend regarding my portfolio and career interest?

Thanks!

Hi Ryan!

I totally understand that yearning. What you need to do is take small steps and incorporating design research/strategy into manageable design processes. That way, your work will become more holistic. Making realistic design proposals is not your no.1 priority during your education, you need to look into the future and establish yourself as a designer with a clear goal and vision.

  • Do you have suggestions on how I can maintain a condensed portfolio while emphasizing research/process?

Yes, present your work more in terms of process. What we want to hear is a story of your design objective and the way you tackled it.
Currently you are presenting lots of loose bits and when you go into depth, sometimes it is about things that are not very essential to the story (i.e. how to sew…) You do have good design skills and I am confident you will find work. If you want to emphasize research even more, present your projects like a research initiative, starting with a question and working towards answering those through design.

Also you are showing a lot of visualizations, this is all about communication so if we look at the toy truck, you first present it like a full scale concept truck and it doesn’t do good to the design. Then at the end we see some CAD work and it grows towards something, when we see it on true scale it is actually quite wonderful as a toy. You can iterate, research and evolve but if you don’t make a great first impression, in this world you don’t often get a second one.

  • The forum is full of information for students, however, is there anything specific you can recommend regarding my portfolio and career interest?

Take a specific stance on what you want to achieve with your design work.

Hi Ralph,

Thank you very much for your thoughtful reply! I see you really took your time to review my portfolio, for that I am grateful.

Among the many suggestions, this resonated with me:

You can iterate, research and evolve but if you don’t make a great first impression, in this world you don’t often get a second one.

I think I am going to make the first few projects two-pages each, one page focused on the process and the other on the design solution. It may not be as condensed, but will be less crowded with imagery and probably read better.

If anyone else has suggestions on how to better present my portfolio for internships, I’m all ears… err eyes :wink:

Thanks Again!