In order to get our members ready for the upcoming Wisconsin and Minnesota portfolio reviews we held a workshop that invited local professionals to help guide us to the best way to arrange our portfolios. Each member got a 15 minute 1 on 1 session with two of the three professionals, and those who were not currently in a session were encouraged to listen in on other’s critiques to learn as much as possible.

The professionals that participated were:

• James Donnelly from The Design Office
• Clara Beck from Laughlin Constable
• Amy Decker from Dig Design

I know I got a lot of great feedback as every other member I spoke with. James Donnelly was even kind enough to stick around for nearly an hour afterward and talk further about design and answered any additional questions we had.

With the portfolio reviews right around the corner and only coming once a year, it is dire that members and students work as hard as they can to get their portfolios in as good of order as possible. Not only are internships and jobs offered at these reviews, but contacts are made as well. Networking is just as important as your portfolio itself.

With this year’s portfolio workshop a rousing success, I look forward to seeing even more people participating next year.

More photos are available here

Wisconsin Student Portfolio Review March 28th and 29th

$25.00 fee / $26.00 online fee

To Register go to our website: www.wisspr.com

Friday March 21st is the LAST DAY to register!

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to write a little blog about our experiences at University of Wisconsin Steven’s Point this weekend. As most of you know and few students and I attended the 4th annual NowHERE Steven’s Point conference. We had a little trouble getting up there Friday night and missed some of the festivities, but started the day early Saturday morning.

I attended a all day long workshop with Ray Fenwick called “Confessional Typography”, based mostly on the website and books called Post Secret. We were asked to bring two printed out secrets to the workshop, then we picked two at random and were asked to create two postcards using the tone of the secret, focusing more on type. I thought it was really refreshing to be able to work all day on something with my hands. Ray emphasized the power of hand drawn touches, and pushed us to start on the computer. I thought it helped with reminding us all that we do spend to much time on the computer and need to expand our mediums.

Saturday night we atteneded a halarious lecture by Will Staehle about his work. I thought he was a great artist and was surprisingly discovered by entering an Adobe contest. Kinda makes you think about entering more of those things. Overall it was a great weekend and I learned a lot. It was great to see what other AIGA chapters are doing. We must return the favor when they come down for the Wisconsin Portfolio Review!

Hey AIGA,

Kathryn, your web coordinator here. I just wanted to test out the new blog and inform you about some upcoming important dates:

XOXO Eisner Event Friday, February 8 2008 6-11 p.m.
Scott Schwebel from Hanson Dodge February 20 at 11:30 a.m. Art 403
Ad Club “Copywriting” March 3^rd 7 p.m. in the Union
Portfolio Reviews at the Eisner March 28 and 29, 2008
Portfolio Reveiws in Minneapolis on April 11 and 12

Many GD I and GD II students have submitted boards for the XOXO event on Friday, so it would be great if AIGA would go out and support their participating members and peers. The portfolio reviews, held at the end of March and beginning of April, are also very important events that all members should attend. Not only is it a great networking opportunity, you’ll get some advice on your work and its presentation. This should be a great semester, and I hope to see all of you at each event!