Recent Senior Designers Websites

I thought you might want to peruse the websites and work by the most recent group of senior designers who just graduated from our program. I think it will give you insight into what is ahead of you in the next few years.

There is a wide range of design work in these websites that I feel depict the individual strengths and talents of each designer. Each are very design-centric.  We talked briefly about developing a personal "style" and what that might mean to each of you. It can be suffocating or it can be freedom. It depends. Hopefully each of you who already feel you have a "design voice or style" will grow and experiment with that even more so that becomes even more solid. 

I know each of you are trying to adjust to my method of teaching. It's different from the other Instructors as it should be. I think it's unique in that I have always put focus on allowing my designers to work with real clients while still in school. It's been called a "Signature experience" and it's rare that this happens while you are still in school.

This "signature professional experience" with real clients allows each of you to not only build a more professional portfolio of work but it also allows you to build a more professional resume.  It's a win win situation for you. Great Portfolio + Great Resume = Great Job.

When I ask outside clients to work with my design students, it is always built on the fact that the clients can have access to  a wide range of concepts and work from you (the designers) for their use (if they so choose); what the you (the designers) get is the chance to have work presented and critiqued by the pros. Anytime you can get your work in front of professional people it means you are one step closer to the life you have chosen for yourself once you graduate. These clients also must agree to let designers use their signature experience in their resumes as "Client-related work" or "Academic Experience."

The end result for you as a designer is a portfolio, resume and the working knowledge of working with some of the biggest names in the design world.

Think about it. Would you rather have a bunch of "class exercises" in your senior graduating  portfolio or would you rather have work that was  created for real clients like CNN, HLN, Oxygen Network, Lifetime Network, MODA, The Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Nickolodeon, MTV, NBCUniversal, The Game Show Network, Disney Channel, HBO, Style Network, Miracle House Organization, E! Network, The N Network, Haggar, Inc., Sonoma Winery, Noble DJ, Twentieth Century Fox Films...just to name a few from the past.There is credibility in both but working with real clients I believe gives you an edge that other graduating designers don't have in their academic experience.

Before any of this can begin to happen we both have to develop trust in each other.
You need to trust that I would never put you in a situation that I don't feel you couldn't take on without success. I will also be your mediator and guide when working with clients and would never let anyone take advantage of your creativity, time or work. 

I feel a great teacher is someone who simply holds the light up and allows their students to move ahead at their own pace. You can bet that I'll be the one that says "we're going this way" and then it will be up to you on what path you take to get there. I see the "fork in the road" as an opportunity and not a dilemma.

I have to learn to trust you as well so that whenever you work with real clients that you can handle the timelines, the expectations of these clients and deliver a product that is professional. Every time I bring a client into the classroom for you my reputation is also on the line. This working relationship keeps all of us honest and working towards the same goal. Your success is a shared success.

Remember that every assignment, every working relationship and every bit of hard work you put towards your own work  is all done for you.  No one else. You truly have to be vested in your own work. You might put your work up on a social network site to gain feedback from your peers or you might ask instructors for their feedback as well, but ultimately it will be your own intuitive decision that makes the final call.
You have to take some risks along the way in order to make your work stronger, deliberate and ultimately, authentic.

Everything you do is for you.

Be open to new ways of thinking, new ways of experimenting, and learn to listen as much as speak.

 

Enjoy these websites: Some of the best examples of design from graduating seniors I've ever seen.
 

Sean Jones
www.seanisgreat.com

Lauren Harvill
www.laurenharvill.com

Jerad Hill
www.jeradhilldesigns.com

Matthew Rinehart
mr-rinehart.com

Shu Chen
 www.shuchendesign.com

William Kweon
www.willkweon.com

David Bardis
www.bardisdesign.com

Alexandria Hepburn
www.alexandriacreative.com

Nevena Peeva
www.nevenapeeva.com

Eric Davis
 www.ericlanedavis.com

Simmeyon Strickland
www.simcreative.com

Macy Hilliard
www.macyhilliard.com

Nusrat Alam
www.letloosenus.com

Laura Sharp
www.sharpdesigns.co

Morgan Sjoblom
www.morgansjoblom.com

Amy Dinsmore
www.amythedesigner.com

Deborah Bush
www.deborahbush.com

Anna Masuzawa
www.annamasuzawa.com

Kwame Amuleru
www.amuleru.com